Suburban School Official No-Show For Over Year, Says She's 'Active' In District

WILLOW SPRINGS, IL – Adriana Hawkins, a board member for Willow Springs School District 108, describes herself as "active" in the district.

That may have been once true, but not anymore.

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According to the district, Hawkins, a real estate agent, has not attended a board meeting since May 2025.

Hawkins did not return messages for comment Wednesday.

Top district officials don't know why she is a no-show.

In response to a Patch inquiry, Assistant Superintendent William Seidelmann said this week that his last communication with Hawkins was in June 2025.

"At that time, she informed me via email that she would not be in attendance for the June meeting but anticipated attending the July Board meeting," he said in an email.

The July 2025 meeting was canceled. Hawkins never returned.

"Beyond our communication in June (2025), she has not shared with me the reason for her absences, so I really cannot speak to the circumstances surrounding them," Seidelmann said.

In a promotion on a real estate website, she said she lives in Willow Springs with her family, where she said she was active in the district.

Hawkins was first elected in 2017. She has gone unopposed in all three of her elections.

The board's online meeting minutes go back to 2021, although most of 2025's are missing. Because of that, it was left to the board to confirm that Hawkins' last attendance was in May 2025.

In previous years, Hawkins' attendance has been less than stellar. She missed 55 percent of meetings in 2021, 36 percent in 2022, 45 percent in 2023 and 60 percent in 2024.

For the meetings she attended, she was often recorded as showing up a few minutes late.

The district had a similar situation a few years ago.

In June 2023, the board's law firm, Evergreen Park-based Odelson, wrote a letter to board member Renee Ristic, suggesting she failed to perform her official duties.

The lawyer also warned that the board would publicly decide whether she lived in the district or had willfully failed to perform her duties.

If she resigned, Ristic was told, she could avoid the public debate.

Ristic resigned.

As of last year, the district served 384 students, two-thirds of whom came from low-income families, according to the Illinois Report Card website. In neighboring Pleasantdale District 107, 17 percent are considered low-income.