Fourteen months after failing to get elected to the District 97 school board, finishing fourth in a field of six candidates competing for three seats, Vincent Gay was appointed Monday to the school board to fill the vacancy created when Becky Perez resigned her seat on the school board last month for unexplained reasons.
The school board chose Gay from a field of 11 other applicants for the position. The school board voted 4-0 to appoint Gay at a special meeting held June 15 and Gay then immediately took the oath of office. Gay will serve on the school board until at least April 2027, when the seat will be among four other seats up for election.
“The board was fortunate to receive applications from a number of highly qualified candidates who demonstrated a strong commitment to public education and service to the Oak Park community,” said Cheree Moore, board president, in a press release issued after the special meeting.
Gay has worked in education since graduating from Temple University in 2003. First, he taught U.S. history, mostly Advanced Placement, in Montclair, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City, that is similar in many ways to Oak Park.
Gay came to Chicago in 2009 and worked as an administrator in the Noble Charter Network eventually serving as the principal of two high schools, Baker College Prep High School and Goldner College Prep. In 2020, in search of a new challenge, Gay went to work for OnYourMark a company that provides high dosage, mostly virtual tutoring focusing on reading to elementary school students. There he works in sales and manages partnerships with school districts around the country.
“I have a lot of experience working in and around schools,” Gay told Wednesday Journal in an interview after being sworn in.
Gay, 45, has lived in Oak Park for 11 years and has two sons, one a rising sophomore at Oak Park and River Forest High School and another who will start sixth grade at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School this fall.
Gay is former co-president of the Whittier School PTO and also served on a principal interview committee when his oldest son attended Lincoln School.
He also coaches youth sports, volunteers as an eighth-grade sexual health educator, serves on the board of the SlowFire Arts Foundation, and writes a monthly column for Wednesday Journal focused on education, youth sports, and civic life.
The school board interviewed three of the 12 people who applied to fill the vacancy. Gay said he thought his experience running for the school board helped him make a good impression.
“Having been a candidate I had thought through what board service looks like,” Gay said.