Elmhurst School Board Gets New Leader

ELMHURST, IL – The president of the Elmhurst School District 205 board stepped down Tuesday after five years.

"It is time for others on the board to lead and so as I step away from leading, I will keep relentlessly pushing us forward, just from a different seat," President Kara Caforio said before the board was set to reorganize.

The board appeared to have planned its selections. The longest-serving member, Jim Collins, quickly nominated member Athena Arvanitis as the new president. No one else was nominated, so she got the job.

From left, Beth Hosler, Kelly Asseff, Kelly Henry and Courtenae Trautmann take the oath of office Tuesday. Asseff and Henry are new to the board. Hosler and Trautmann were re-elected. (David Giuliani/Patch)

Arvanitis, who was elected in 2021, was the assistant principal at New Trier High School before leaving in December. She had been with New Trier for 19 years.

Arvanitis praised Caforio, whose term lasts for another two years.

"As president, Kara experienced the happiest and most challenging years of public education, from her work on the referendum to leading the board during the pandemic," Arvanitis said in prepared remarks.

Caforio said she got her start in the district when she signed up for the PTA a decade ago to improve her daughter's school.

"I never dreamed I would end up in this seat," she said.

Member Beth Hosler was elected as vice president, while Courtenae Trautmann kept her job as secretary.

Also at the meeting, residents Kelly Henry and Kelly Asseff took the oath of office, along with returning members Hosler and Trautmann.

All four were seen as progressive candidates in the April 4 election. They handily defeated the candidates perceived as conservative, Tom Chavez, Linda Nudera, Lan Li and Jammie Esker Schaer. A ninth candidate, Ben Zulauf, belonged to no faction.

Leaving the board were Karen Stuefen and Chris Kocinski. Stuefen served a dozen years, while Kocinski was there for four.

Their colleagues commended them, and both gave speeches. Kocinski noted the turbulent four years.

"We recognized early on that serving on the board is a family sacrifice," he said. "That was especially true during these past four years, especially when some of the issues became quite heightened. It wasn't always easy to be a child of a school board member. I was always proud of how our family handled that."

In Illinois, school board members are unpaid.