Three Community Consolidated School District 89 parents were sworn in as new members of the Board of Education during an organizational meeting on Monday, May 5. Lyndsay Cowles, Ariel Steffens, and Laura Wilmarth Tyna all took the oath of office on Monday. They were elected to the Board in April.
Board member Steve Neurauter was re-elected to the Board of Education and also took the Board oath Monday evening.
Cowles, Steffens, and Wilmarth Tyna will fill the seats of Donna Kemp, Jay Lerch, and Haydee Núñez, who did not run for re-election to the Board.
At the same organizational meeting, Yannick Koger was elected Board President; Steve Neurauter was elected Board Vice-President; and Scott Pope was re-elected as Board Secretary Pro Tem.
About the new Board members:
Lyndsay Cowles
Lyndsay Cowles comes from a family of educators, so she is excited to contribute to her community’s schools as a member of the Board of Education. She and her husband have lived in the CCSD 89 area for seven years. Their daughter attends Park View Elementary School, where Cowles was part of the PTC.
Cowles has worked for more than 20 years as a teacher, administrator, and district leader. She is currently the Senior Director of Academics for the Noble Network of Charter Schools.
She earned her PhD in education from Indiana University.
Ariel Steffens
Prior to running for the Board of Education, Ariel Steffens served as the secretary and treasurer for the Arbor View PTC.
She and her wife live in Glen Ellyn with their three children who attend Arbor View Elementary and Glen Crest Middle School. The family stays busy with band, basketball, cheerleading, chorus, Dungeons and Dragons Club, and the Inside Out Club at school.
Steffens earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Illinois and a master’s in marketing from DePaul University. She currently works in sales strategy for Good Foods.
Laura Wilmarth Tyna
Laura Wilmarth Tyna loves education and loves learning. She is the Director of Community Engagement and Experiential Learning at Lewis University. In that role, she often works with schools around community-engagement issues.
She and her husband have two children who attended Briar Glen Elementary School. They are now students at Glen Crest Middle School and Glenbard South High School.
Wilmarth Tyna frequently volunteered in her children’s classrooms. She also served on the committee that helped write the district’s current strategic plan.
Wilmarth Tyna earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois and a graduate degree in Maryland. She is completing her doctorate in education from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.