District 128 Picks New School Board Member

LIBERTYVILLE, IL – The District 128 school board has appointed Casey Rooney to fill a vacant board of education seat. The school board voted to pick Rooney as its newest school board member during a special meeting on Aug. 7. She will fill the position vacated by the recent resignation of Mackenzie Thurman.

Rooney will fill the position for about eight months until the next election, according to a post on the District 128 Facebook page.

Rooney was selected from a field of 21 applicants. The initial applicants were narrowed to five finalists, and the finalists recently completed individual interviews with the school board.

Rooney moved to Libertyville 24 years ago after being relocated with Baxter Healthcare from the San Francisco Bay area. She and her husband are parents of three Libertyville High School graduates. She is currently the Client Services Manager for RetireUp, Inc., a tech company located in Libertyville’s Innovation Park, and holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

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In addition to working in the community, Rooney has been a very active volunteer in District 128 and District 70, having served as a board member of the Butterfield Family Association, a board member for the LHS Parent CATS for 10 years, and an LHS Parent Representative for the District 128 Calendar Committee for eight years. She is also a member of the Auxiliary Board for Youth & Family Counseling, which provides professional counseling services to Lake County residents, according to school officials.

“We’re very pleased to have Casey join our team,” said D128 Board of Education President Pat Groody. “She brings a unique skill set and community commitment to our already diverse Board team, and we look forward to working with her.”

When asked about her interest in serving on the Board, Rooney said, “I have a great deal of experience in working on school committees, teams and parent boards, from D70 through D128. These groups require a great deal of collaborative communication in order to achieve the best outcome. The strength of our D128 schools is an asset to our local community and our personal property values. I am supportive of the money it takes to make this possible. Yet, I am also a fiscal conservative, and I will be a good steward of our community’s tax dollars. My organizational skills and team building expertise will be an asset to the D128 board.”