2 District 113 Board Incumbents Decide Not To Seek Re-Election

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — The Township High School District 113 board will have at least two new members after the April 2019 election. Board members Debra Hymen and Alena Laube will not seek another four-year term on the board, Pioneer Press reported. Five of the seven seats will be on the ballot, with only Board President Elizabeth Garlovsky and Vice President Stacey Meyer certain to remain to presiding over the district's next permanent superintendent.

Seven candidates will be seeking the endorsement of the District 113 Caucus, according to Highland Park News. They include three current board members who have declared their intention to run again, Gayle Byck, Michelle Culver and Kenneth Fishbain.

Laube told Pioneer Press she would step down after one term to spend more time working directly with at-risk Lake County youngsters. Laube did not immediately responded to a request for comment on the decision not to seek re-election.

Hymen was elected to her first of two terms on the District 113 board in 2011. She is a real estate agent who moved to Highland Park in 1983 and previously served 12 years as a member of the North Shore School District 112 board.

Last year, Crain's Chicago Business reported on a bizarre lawsuit in which Hymen has being sued for fraud involving a purported marijuana farm millionaire and music producer – Ricco Garrett, also known as "Tito Ali." (According to court records, a motion to dismiss that case, No. 18-L-518, was denied last month by a Lake County judge, who has tentatively scheduled a pre-trial hearing for June 2019.)

Hymen declined to answer whether her departure was related to the lawsuit. She said the reason she was not seeking another term was because "board service has changed" since 1996.

"In the 22 years since I was first fortunate enough to be elected to the District 112 Board of Education, Board service has changed dramatically. I have thoroughly enjoyed my years of service and will miss learning something new every day, as I have all these days, months and years. I feel I have become a better parent, community member, professional, wife, human being through the educational experiences afforded me through my board service and I am honored to have been able to serve my neighbors this way. We still have a lot to do before April, 2019."

The school board elected in April is expected to preside over a new superintendent. The district has been led by co-interim superintendents Ben Martindale and Linda Yonke since the board negotiated a settlement agreement to part ways with former Superintendent Chris Dignam.

Two of the incumbent board members who plan to run again for the five open seats were appointed to fill vacancies on the board, while Culver is completing a first term on the board. Byck replaced Julie Gordon's seat after she resigned last year for personal reasons. Fishbain, a past board president, filled a vacancy created when David Small resigned in May after Dignam's departure, writing it had become clear his views "with regard to the strategic direction of the District and various other matters are at odds with the majority of the Board."

The District 113 Caucus is meeting with interested candidates on Nov. 14 and Nov. 15.

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