When chatting with long-time Irving Elementary School teachers Nick and Kara Sakellaris, their relationship takes some explaining.
First off: No, they aren’t married. Kara is married to Nick’s younger brother Max, who teaches at Oak Park and River Forest High School. For many years, Nick’s wife, Courtney, worked at OPRF as an assistant athletic director.
“Everyone always thinks Kara and I are married,” said Nick, who teaches third grade. “It takes a little family-tree explanation.”
Nick, also known as “Mr. Sak,” grew up in Oak Park Elementary School District 97, having graduated from Lincoln Elementary and Emerson Junior High (now Brooks Middle School) and eventually OPRF. He just completed his 29th year of teaching, all at Irving. He has a son at Irving, a daughter at Julian Middle School and a son at OPRF.
Meanwhile, Kara finished her 15th year at Irving, and 19th year of teaching overall after moving here from Wisconsin. She has a daughter at Irving and a son at Julian.
Whew. Get all that?
Good, because it provides context for something else. The pair was named 2025 co-recipients of the Oak Park Education Foundation (OPEF) Staszak Outstanding Educator of the Year Award, which honors a dedicated District 97 teacher. It is named after William Staszak and highlights his legacy of service to Oak Park as a village trustee and a founding member of OPEF’s board of directors.
The award was announced at an all-school assembly on May 21. It was the first time the award honored a pair of recipients.
To say the pair is really involved at Irving Elementary is a gross understatement. They coordinate the annual Irving Sleepover in May, which this year drew 300 kids from kindergarten to fifth grade. Not only does an endeavor like that take a lot of planning, it also takes a lot of coordination of parent volunteers onsite. But the kids love it.
They do too, and that’s just the start. They host the fall PTO Trivia Night, coordinate reading projects and plan out a three-on-three basketball tournament for Irving students, complete with boys and girls divisions.
They also teach two Eagle Extras after school programs, including a class called Let’s Get Saktive, which are games in the gym for kindergartners through second graders. The other, for third through fifth graders, is Strat-O-Matic, which is a classic baseball board game played with dice. For years, they also organized the school’s annual Fun Fair.
There’s also the Be Like the Saks Night, where up to 30 kids get together to play dodgeball in the Irving School gym, order pizza, drink lots of pop and play Wheel of Fortune (Kara’s favorite) and watch professional wrestling videos (Nick’s favorite).
In other words, where you see one, you’re likely to see the other. That includes in their neighborhood; when a chat is necessary about a school-related thing, they can usually be seen strolling up the street in quiet conversation.
“I feel like everything that I’ve seen and know about them, their dedication to their kids, their passion for education, they are a fun group,” said Latonia Baker, OPEF executive director. “They are an extension beyond their own classrooms. You can tell they are loved by the students sand appreciated by the parents and go above and beyond for the Oak Park community.”
OPEF board member Luke Staszak, William Staszak’s son, said that while there were many renowned nominees, it wasn’t hard to choose them both for the award.
“When we saw the nominations come through, what really stuck out was that these are two individuals who have had such an impact on the Irving community,” Staszak said. “They each individually could have been winners, but they affect the community together, so it made sense to put them together.”
It’s been quite a year for Nick. He missed 10 weeks of school this year due to quadruple bypass surgery, and also dealt with Stage 4 Hodgkins lymphoma in 2003 and 2007.
“The Irving community was unbelievably supportive in all those times,” he said.
The May 21 award announcement was a surprise by design. But let the record show that neither Nick nor Kara are big fans of surprises.
“I had no clue what was going on,” Nick said. “We were under the impression it was the OPEF assembly for the summer for the kids.”
Added Kara, “I was mortified when I walked in and saw balloons and all the things. I saw the superintendent and the assistant superintendents and (I thought), They are not talking to us about the robotics club you can sign up for.”
But Irving Elementary’s feelings about the duo are perhaps matched only by their feelings for Irving Elementary.
“I was sad to leave my old school, but this is my home and Irving is the best school,” Kara said. “There are so many things we do at Irving. People think we’re a little bit crazy.”