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Oswego School District Board to fill pending vacant seat early next year

The Oswego School District 308 Board of Education seat that will open upon the pending departure of Ruth Kroner will not be filled until early next year.

Kroner announced on Oct. 25 that she will be stepping down from the board in December since her husband has taken a new position that will require their family to move to Arizona.

Board President Donna Marino announced Monday evening that the process to fill Kroner’s seat for the remainder of her term will begin in January.

The board will have 60 days to appoint an individual to Kroner’s seat once she is no longer a resident of the district, Marino explained.

Kroner was elected to a four-year term in April 2019. Her seat will be included in the April 2023 election.

Once Kroner officially leaves the district and steps down, the board will make applications available online and will send out emails alerting the community, according to Marino.

The board will interview a select number of candidates, Marino said, and then choose Kroner’s replacement from the roster of interviewed applicants.

Marino clarified the board will need to select an Oswego Township resident “in order to represent those constituents” since Kroner has been a resident of that portion of the school district. Oswego Township covers the northeast portion of Kendall County, including most of the village of Oswego, parts of Aurora and Montgomery and the unincorporated Boulder Hill subdivision.

Board Attorney Maureen Lemon of Ottosen DiNolfo Hasenbalg & Castaldo, Ltd., said that two provisions of the Illinois School Code apply to filling a school board vacancy.

Lemon cited the two passages, which state, “Whether elected or appointed by the remaining members or regional superintendent, the successor shall be an inhabitant of the particular area from which his or her predecessor was elected if the residential requirements contained in Section 10-10.5 or 12-2 of this Code apply.”

The second passage cited, Section 10-10.5(a), “Sets out the mandatory board representation rule applicable to community unit school districts.

“Because the school district is currently subject to the residency restrictions contained in Section 10-10.5, the person who fills the vacancy must be a resident of the particular area from which the board member vacating was elected,” Lemon said.

OSD 308 Director of Communications and Public Relations Theresa Komitas said that while the temporary replacement for Kroner’s seat must come from the area she resided in, any member of the community can run for her seat in 2023.

Those with questions about the process to fill Kroner’s seat or who are looking to be placed on a notification list for the start of the application process can email Board Secretary Ursula Studer at ustuder@sd308.org.

The Board of Education will next meet at 7:15 p.m., Dec. 6, at Oswego East High School.

Source: The Daily Chronicle

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