October 4, 2000
BLOOMINGTON - Ballots in the annual election of members to the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors and Legislative Commission were counted in the IHSA Office Wednesday (Oct. 4).
Under the IHSA Constitution, the Board of Directors consists of nine elected member school principals. Seven principals are elected from seven geographic divisions. Two are elected at large. It is the responsibility of the Board to determine IHSA policy, interpret the by-laws, and employ staff to administer all of its athletic, activity and business programs. The IHSA Constitution provides for a 35-member Legislative Commission consisting of 28 principals and seven athletic directors elected from geographic areas of the state. It functions as the Association's screening committee for proposed amendments to the IHSA Constitution and By-laws, meeting annually in the fall of each school term and when called into special session.
The Board expanded from seven members to nine this school term. Re-elected to three-year terms on the Board Wednesday were Lexington principal Mike Hawkins from Division No. 5 and Roxana principal Patrick Sullivan from Division No. 7. Elected to a two-year term to fill a vacancy in Division No. 4 was Geneseo (Darnall) principal Emmett Aubry. Former Board member Linda Lane, now principal at Chicago (Southside College Prep), was elected to a three-year term at large. Newcomer Rena Talbert, principal at Fairfield, was elected to a one-year term at large. Lane, who represented Division No. 1 previously, won the race for the racial minority position on the Board. Talbert won the race for the under represented gender (female) position on the Board.
The five Board members elected Wednesday will join these holdovers: Chicago (Manley) principal Katherine Flanagan from Division No. 1; Hoffman Estates (H.S.) principal Dennis Garber from Division No. 2; Downers Grove (South) principal Craig Zeck from Division No. 3; and Monmouth (H.S.) principal Gary Collins from Division No. 6. Treasurer of the IHSA, a position appointed by the Board, is Mt. Zion principal Greg Bradley.
For spots on the Legislative Commission, there are 21 geographic districts each electing a principal to represent the schools in the district. In addition, there are seven athletic directors elected at large from the seven respective geographic Board divisions. (Each Board division contains three Commission districts.) Beginning with the 2000-01 school term, another seven commission members were scheduled to be elected at large from each of the Board divisions. These commission members will represent minorities and females and may be principals (official representative), athletic directors or activity directors.
The following principals were elected to the Legislative Commission as regular members to represent their geographic division: John Jursa of Chicago (Prosser) from District No. 1; Tom Cachur of Park Ridge (Maine South) from District No. 4; Todd Prusator of Rochelle from District No. 10; Rich Wherley of Eureka from District No. 12; Ron Conner of Clinton from District No. 15; Ron McGraw of Knoxville from District No. 16; Rich Kulupka of Mt. Sterling (Brown Country) from District No. 17; and Don Smith of Pinckneyville from District No. 21. All of those terms, except for District No. 12, are for three years. District No. 12 is for one year.
They will join these holdover principals on the Legislative Commission: Floyd Banks of Chicago (Dunbar) from District No. 2; Richard Chamberlain of Villa Park (Willowbrook) from District No. 5; Greg Johnson of McHenry from District No. 6; Tom Paulsen of Naperville (Central) from District No. 7; Dr. John McGraw of Tinley Park (H.S.) from District No. 8; Ralph Heatherington of Wheaton (North) from District No. 9; Bob Doan of Villa Grove from District No. 13; Pat Halloran of Coal City from District No. 14; Larry Ackerman of Hillsboro from District No. 18; Wayne Trumann of Freeburg from District No. 19; and Mike McCollum of Effingham (H.S.) from District No. 20.
Athletic Directors elected at large to three-year terms from their geographic Board divisions Wednesday were Tom Sidote of Calumet City (T.F. North) from Division No. 3, and Dave Bartlett of Macomb from Division No. 6. They will join the following other elected athletic directors on the Legislative Commission: Tom Winiecki of Chicago (Gordon Tech) from Division No. 1; Doug Smith of Woodstock (H. S.) from Division No. 2; Terry Niedzwiecki of Loves Park (Harlem) from Division No. 4; Dale Doehring of St. Joseph (S.J.-Ogden) from Division No. 5; and Don Hawkins of Nashville from Division No. 7.
Elected Wednesday as minority-gender representatives on the Legislative Commission were: Beverly LaCoste of Chicago (Phillips) from Division No. 1; Washington Bush of Hoffman Estates (Conant) from Division No. 2; Sandy Abbinanti of Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest) from Division No. 3; Christine LaCroix of Aledo from Division No. 6; and Larry Houston of Tamms (Egyptian) from Division No. 7.
Wednesday's results will require the Board of Directors to appoint several representatives to the Legislative Commission when it convenes for its regular October meeting Oct. 16. New Board members Lane and Aubry were members of the Legislative Commission from Districts No. 3 and 11, respectively. In addition, the Board will name at large minority-gender representatives from Divisions No. 4 and No. 5, where no candidates were on the ballot.