Five candidates seeking spots on East Aurora School District Board of Education in April 4 election
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories looking at contested races in the Aurora area in the April 4 general election.
Five candidates, including two incumbents, are looking to fill four four-year spots on the East Aurora School District 131 Board of Education in the April 4 election.
The candidates include incumbent Juan Manuel Sifuentes Jr.; Judd Lofchie, a former Aurora alderman and mayoral candidate; Saul Olivas; Teasa Ezeh; and incumbent Alex Arroyo.
Lofchie, 65, who works as a lawyer and commercial Realtor, said if elected he hopes to connect students with more vocational opportunities for those who either can’t afford or aren’t looking to go to college.
West Aurora School District has a vocational center, and Lofchie would like to see East Aurora institute a similar program, focusing on trade careers like plumbing, manufacturing, electrical and mechanical jobs.
“I can utilize my connections through a huge networking group to start leveraging internships and more vocational programs for our students,” Lofchie said. “Around 100 kids a year are not graduating and we need to help our students become productive citizens.”
Saul Olivas, 41, currently works as a first-grade teacher for Oswego-based School District 308 and was named Kane County Early Educator of the Year in 2018. He previously worked for the East Aurora district.
“I’ve been attending the school board meetings for the last eight years and thought if I’m already here, I might as well be up there (on the board),” Olivas said. “I’m invested in the community and a product of District 131. I’m the only candidate with classroom experience, which brings a diverse perspective.”
Olivas said he was also motivated to run for school board to make sure the curriculum is appropriate for students and to make sure they have plenty of avenues to be successful after graduation.
Arroyo, 53, said school safety is one of his highest priorities if reelected. He said he was particularly moved by the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, last year because many of the students there had backgrounds similar to East Aurora students.
“Before COVID, we were starting to make strides in mitigation and safety and practices and then our whole world was flipped upside down,” Arroyo said. “We had to get each student online and 5,000 hotspots. Nationwide, it was always a trial and we learned from our mistakes. We are a better school district because of it.”
Arroyo, who works for United Airlines, has served on the board since 2015. He said he is proud of the $50 million worth of construction work approved by the board, which will ensure each building in the district has heating and air conditioning.
Sifuentes, 42, has served on the board since 2019. He said with the country moving into a post-pandemic environment, the district needs to focus on school safety, referencing Monday’s mass shooting at a Nashville private elementary school.
“My second focus is on student achievement and getting students back in par with the rest of the state or even better and making sure every student has the tools they need to succeed,” Sifuentes said.
Sifuentes is the only current board member with children who go to school in the district, giving him a unique perspective, he said. He said he has worked to ensure the district is financially responsible and to make sure that all stakeholders are heard, including students and parents.
Teasa Ezeh, 47, works as a daycare provider and also serves as the leader of HomeTown’s neighborhood group, the Community Support Team. She currently has children attending middle school, elementary school and preschool in the East Aurora School District.
“I already look out for all our kids in the neighborhood and this just felt like an extension to look out for them on an even greater scale,” Ezeh said of running for school board.
One of Ezeh’s highest priorities if elected is to make sure students are supported emotionally as they come out of the pandemic.
“With students being back out in public, they are facing the social skills they lost,” Ezeh said. “There are some serious issues with bullying and some kids feeling grief from isolation, so we need to open up more social and emotional learning opportunities to get past that gap.”
