Meet District 113A School Board Candidate Cynthia Kelly

LEMONT, IL — The upcoming election is less than a month away, and early voting has already begun. In Lemont, one of the contested local races is the race for District 113A Board of Education. There are four open positions on the board, and Cynthia Kelly is one of the five candidates running.

Kelly has served on the board for eight years, and has served as both board president and secretary. She has also previously served as PTA/PTO president at Old Quarry and a two-year term on the School District 113A Educational Foundation.

Kelly has a degree in communciations from the College of St. Francis. She works as a finance clerk for the village of Lemont.

Kelly believes the the most pressing issue facing the board is a growing population in the district.

"Because the population of our schools continue to grow, we are out of room in our three buildings. We are looking for economical ways to reopen an existing building," she said. "I have been keeping an eye on our student enrollment projection report as well as our staffing patterns/needs report. Our staff is constantly reviewing priority areas within our district. We refuse to go back to deficit spending."

During her term as a board member, the district has gone from a S&P rating of BB with a negative outlook to AA with a stable outlook, Kelly said.

"Stay within budget and do the most with the tax money we receive from our tax payers," she said when describing how taxpayer dollars should be handled by the board.

Kelly said the board has accomplished much since she joined in 2011.

"One accomplishment I am extremely proud of is winning the Governors Hometown award this past year. Our project was one of four winners across the state. The event was organized to benefit the 113A Educational Foundation and the Hope & Friendship Foundation," she said.

The current board was also awarded the Excellence in Board Governance award from the state in November, Kelly said.

"We were one of only twenty four school districts in the state to receive this Award form IASB. I plan to keep this level of commitment to our board and school district for the next four years," she said.

Incumbents Dave Molitor, Al Malley and Damon Ascolani are also running for re-election in April.

"I feel we have a proven success record that pretty much speaks for itself," she said of her fellow board members.

There are four open positions on the board in the upcoming April 2 election. The other four candidates include incumbents Ascolani, Molitor and Malley, and newcomer Laura Smith.

If you are a candidate in the upcoming April 2 election, you can email andrea.earnest@patch.com for a candidate questionnaire.