2 LTHS Hopefuls Won't Say Whether They Were Picked

LA GRANGE, IL – Elvia Nava, one of the 15 applicants for the open Lyons Township High School board position, declined to say Friday whether the board has given word that it selected her.

On Monday, another candidate Leah Werab also declined to say.

In emails to rejected candidates Thursday, the board said it settled on a candidate, but it did not identify the person. The board plans to make the appointment Wednesday.

When Patch reached Nava at her work Friday, she said she could not use her phone for other purposes.

When Patch said it only had one question – whether she was selected by the board – she again said she could not talk. Patch requested that she call back after work; she did not do so.

On LinkedIn, Nava lists herself as a senior project manager at Parsons Corp. in Des Plaines.

She graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering. She later received her master of business administration degree at National Louis University.

Werab, a former one-term La Grange School District 102 board member, texted Patch, "I know who you are. It will be announced on 7/5. Please stop calling and texting me."

Werab is a seventh-grade English and language arts teacher for Elmhurst School District 205. She received her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Purdue University and a master of education degree in instructional leadership from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Of the 15 candidates, nine have told Patch that they received emails from the school board on Thursday informing them they were not selected.

They are Shawn Kennedy, Ericka Taylor, Brett Lettiere, Tim King, Justin Clark, David Herndon, Greg Norgle, Tim Vlcek and Fred Whiting. Some of them criticized the interview process.

Nava and Werab were the only candidates reached who would not say.

The board has likely asked the winning candidate to keep the informal decision secret until a vote is taken. A news release is likely being drafted before the board's meeting Wednesday on the winning candidate.

Candidates Anthony Arendt and Nader Hamdan did not return messages for comment.

Patch could find no contact information for Sofia Teresa Duran and James Williams.

The candidates are vying to fill the seat left vacant by member Julie Swinehart, who resigned June 1, a day after graduation.

Swinehart took a job on the East Coast last summer. She had privately planned to resign for months, not answering Patch's repeated inquiries since February.

If Swinehart had resigned before the deadlines for the April election, the voters, rather than the board, would have chosen her replacement.

Last Monday, the board interviewed the candidates for up to 10 minutes each. It chose to do so behind closed doors, as it can legally do.

In Illinois, school board members are unpaid.