For Cheree Moore, being voted president of the Oak Park Elementary School District 97 board of education means her life has come full circle.
Moore is a District 97 alumnus, having graduated from Ralph Waldo Emerson Junior High in 1997. She joined the board in 2019 and was re-elected four years later and became board president at its May 13 meeting.
Plus, she currently has an eighth-grade son and two sixth-grade daughters at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School. Brooks Middle School was built on the site of the old Emerson Junior High.
Thus, her life has been intertwined with the district. Now she will lead the board into its next phase, with new vice president Jung Kim, who was also elected in 2019 and has served as both board vice president and president in her tenure.
“I think there is going to be a lot of collaboration with community members,” Moore said of her vision for both the board and the district going forward. “When I initially ran, I was like, ‘We’re going to involve the community and make them proud of D97’ … and then the pandemic happened.”
But the job is a lot more than increasing community involvement and collaboration, she said. There is obvious fiscal responsibility, for one, especially with the potential for federal or state funding cuts.
“A lot of families are really struggling and they are worried about their jobs and prices going up,” she said. “So how can we be better stewards of taxpayer dollars? Making sure we’re asking the tough questions and making the tough decisions. Is it a must-have, a nice-to-have, and how much is it going to cost?”
Improving district structures – essentially how it operates, processes, procedures and protocols – is also important to her. That translates to working with superintendent Dr. Ushma Shah to support teachers and administrators to ensure efforts are not duplicated.
Middle school safety for both students and teachers, an important issue for the district since the end of the 2023-24 school year, is also on her radar.
“No one should go to work feeling unsafe, students shouldn’t go to school unsafe,” she said. “(But) we’re talking about people ages 11 to 13 and what are actual expectations for them? Some things they are going to do, because they just don’t know.”
She’ll rely on the insights of Kim in her new role, as she is one of her best friends.
“Cheree hadn’t been in a leadership position before, and I felt like I could support the transition and support what she wants to do,” said Kim, who has an eighth-grader at Brooks and a freshman at Oak Park and River Forest High School. “I think there is always a big balance. Everything comes to the board president and I think sometimes you have to know (when) the board has to be looped in.
“I think just being that triage point, so to speak, it’s a tricky point.”
Gavin Kearney stepped down as board president May 13 and became a board member with Nancy Ross Dribin, Venus Hurd Johnson, Holly Spurlock and newcomer Dr. Becky Perez, elected April 1.
“We joined the board together six years ago, we were re-elected together,” Kearney said of Moore and Kim. “They are experienced and know how things function. I think that it will be a smooth transition. They’ve been around to see what it looks like when we do it well.”
Kearney was particularly impressed with Perez and what she will bring to the board, especially in the way of experience. Perez has a Ph. D in school psychology from Indiana University, and a master’s degree in educational psychology from the same institution. She is also the parent of two District 97 students.
“I have always been interested in educational policy and I think folks don’t know as much about my training at Indiana University,” Perez said. “My hope is that I can bring some connection between community and educators to everyday conversations around policy. As an educator and a parent, asking critical questions about how decisions are made and inviting the right people to the table.
“I don’t want to create something new, I want to build on what we have.”
Kearney also said the May 13 meeting was a bit surreal, as he was board president for the first half of the meeting, and after the new board was installed, he became a regular board member.
“There are points where the president says, ‘Next agenda item,’ and you think reflexively but you think, ‘I can’t do that anymore,’” he said. “I am eager to support Cheree and Jung, but I am looking forward to having some of my time back each week.”
