York High School Critic Mulls School Board Run

ELMHURST, IL — Tom Chavez, an Elmhurst resident who has criticized York High School's curriculum, said this week he would consider running for the Elmhurst School District 205 board.

"It really depends on if I believe the current school board can manage the curriculum issue," Chavez said in an email.

Chavez's statement was in response to a Patch inquiry. The election is in April 2023.

In recent weeks, Chavez has spoken at school board meetings, saying York is indoctrinating students with Marxism and critical race theory.

In particular, he has taken issue with social studies teacher Lindsey DiTomasso's use of the curriculum from the Zinn Education Project. It is named after Howard Zinn, a liberal historian who once told a biographer that he was "something of a Marxist." Chavez said he wants teachers to present both sides of history.

Even if criticism mounts against York's curriculum, it does not mean that candidates will run on that issue.

Last school year, a Facebook group calling itself "Reopen D205" denounced the district for failing to fully reopen, spoke out at board meetings and held protests. But none of its members ran in the April 2021 election. One entered the race, then pulled out. Chavez himself was a vocal participant in the reopen movement.

In Illinois, school board members are unpaid.