Longtime Urbana resident chosen to fill vacancy on school board
Jun. 7—URBANA — The newest member of the Urbana school board is a longtime local resident, a mom and grandma.
And she's planning to study the issues, she said.
"It will take studying and finding out what the parents and the students would like to see done," said Lola Jones, who has been chosen to fill the sub-district 4 vacancy on the board and was set to be sworn in at the board study session Tuesday.
Jones, 62, said she's lived nearly all her life in Champaign-Urbana and all her adult life in Urbana.
She's retired from the Illinois Department of Human Services, where she was an administrative assistant, after 17 years, and then she drove a school bus for Champaign and Urbana school districts for six years.
She also has worked delivering for Davis Mail Services, and once worked temporarily for the athletic department at Urbana High School.
A mother of two, grandmother of eight and great-grandmother of one, she said she's always been involved in Urbana schools through her children and grandchildren. Both her children are Urbana High School alums.
She's spending her summer babysitting some of her grandkids, she said.
Jones was one of four candidates interviewed to apply to fill the vacant school board seat.
One of her primary goals on the school board is to improve and increase community engagement and parent involvement, according to a school district announcement.
"I am very interested in discipline, in how we can better reach our students who are out in the streets after graduation," Jones said.
Her appointment will run until April 2025, according to the school district.
