Candidates vie for District 214 school board

When COVID-19 was declared a global health issue in March of 2020, schools across the country, including those in District 214 (D214), announced their closure to thousands of panicked and confused citizens. Although this was a national mandate, local school governments imposed their own policies with respect to individual districts’ school closures. To Mount Prospect resident Elizabeth Bauer, ...

On the ballot of the District 214 (D214) school board election, Frank Fiarito is known as, well, Frank Fiarito. However, in the lunchroom and playground of District 26 (D26) Prairie Trails School — where he volunteers during his lunch hour to help out — Fiarito goes by something else entirely: Ketchup Man, Pretzel Man, Mr. Frank, DJ Frank or Mrs. Frank, among others. While the origins of most...

Bill Dussling was appointed to the District 214 (D214) school board in November of 1998 despite the election that spring after a board member stepped down. Then-board members Bob Zimmanck and Miriam "Mimi” Cooper took Dussling under their wing and offered a piece of advice: “Bill, remember as a board member, it’s all about the students.” This is a nugget of truth that Dussling held dear...

Catholicism has always been a lively, pulsing vein in Alva Kreutzer’s life: her mother studied to be a nun (though she decided public schooling was more of her calling and had seven children instead) and, for all of high school, Kreutzer attended an all-girls Catholic school. When Kreutzer graduated, she began to realize how much of a bubble she was in. As she encountered people and new perspectives...