Pritzker, Osmond slated for IASB offices

The nominating committee for the IASB Board of Directors has slated Phil Pritzker of Wheeling CCSD 21 as president and Joanne Osmond, Lake Villa CCSD 41, as vice president. Association officers will be voted upon during the Delegate Assembly at the Joint Annual Conference in November.

Phil Pritzker

Pritzker is in his 27th year of local board service. He was appointed to the Wheeling Board of Education in July 1989 and elected in November 1989 and six times since. He has served as board president and vice president and has chaired the district finance committee since its inception in 2003. He joined IASB division leadership as a director-at-large in the North Cook Division in 1995. He was division chair for 12 years before becoming director in 2009.

Pritzker has served for nearly two years as vice president of the IASB board and as chair of the Resolutions Committee.

“I have come to understand that regardless of where we come from in terms of public education – rural, semi-rural, urban, or suburban – that we all have important experiences that we have shared with our local communities,” Pritzker said.

“As long as we engage with one another, there is the ability to truly understand positions and reasons why we may sometimes differ on legislative proposals. We are all dedicated to improving the lives of our children. The students need to be our collective focus in order to fulfill the promise of public education.”

Pritzker has worked in real estate and property management for 29 years. He and his wife, Sue, have five daughters and nine grandchildren. He studied secondary education at Bradley University before his business career.

“I have a lifelong interest in public education,” Pritzker said. “With a business background and a variety of experiences in leadership roles, I bring a long-term view to my school board perspective.”

Joanne Osmond

Osmond served on the Antioch Community High school board from 1991 to 1995. Since 1995, she has been a member of the Lake Villa elementary school board. She has served since 2007 on the Special Education District of Lake County Governing and Executive Board. Osmond has been a Lake Division officer for IASB since 1996, serving as chair and director.

Along with serving on the Association’s Executive Committee, she has been Illinois delegate to NSBA, conference co-chair, and a member of the policy subcommittee and the executive director selection subcommittee. She brings “a passion for policy” and expertise in technology to her role.

“The directors look to the needs of all school boards in Illinois,” Osmond said. “While this is similar to the responsibility of the local school board, it takes on a deeper meaning when all children in Illinois enter the equation. A director must be equally versed in the local education issues and the impact of decisions on children across the state.”

Osmond is a small business development advisor and program developer and an entrepreneur. She and her husband Glen “Bud” Osmond have five children and six grandchildren.

The nominating committee, which met in August, is chaired by IASB Immediate Past President Carolyne Brooks and includes directors Roger Pfister (Shawnee division), Sue McCance (Western), Mary Stith (Kishwaukee), Dave Barton (Two Rivers), and alternate John Metzger (Egyptian). The Association leaders elected by school board delegates will assume office at the close of the annual meeting of IASB’s Delegate Assembly on Nov. 21.