On June 25 a group of elected women who serve in the attendance areas of School Districts 204 and 203 gathered for dinner and dialogue at La Sorella di Francesca in downtown Naperville.
Naperville City Councilwoman Judith Brodhead and Vice-president of Indian Prairie School District 204 Board of Education Cathy Piehl decided the time had come to bring back a Mary Lou Cowlishaw tradition. In 2009, Cowlishaw, who served on the District 203 School Board for more than two terms and then served for 20 years in the Illinois State legislature, asked Brodhead to organize a dinner for elected women in the area, especially those elected to non-partisan offices. The last time the dinner took place was 2009, shortly before Mary Lou died after a long illness.
Wayne Cowlishaw, her husband, believed that Mary Lou’s goal was “to bring about decisions by leaders on public education issues which would foster and maintain an educated electorate.”
Brodhead and Piehl agree that in today’s world, more than ever, now it is critical for our leaders to coalesce around common goals. Certainly maintaining an educated electorate is a common goal.
The dinner provided an opportunity to develop relationships with one another and build trust.
“We all have constituents who are counting on us to maintain the excellent quality of life we enjoy in the communities we live in,” noted Brodhead in the press release. “Having a well-educated electorate is essential to ensuring this. Therefore it is critical for us to know and understand the issues well, build partnerships, and promote collaboration using the various roles we play in the community. We also recognize that despite the increasing number of female leaders in the country, women are still in the minority, and the perspective of a woman is often underestimated. We purposely broke the group up into smaller tables so we could ensure more opportunities for everyone to get to know one another.”
The enthusiasm in the discussions Tuesday evening was contagious. Topics of conversation included everything from personal educational experiences to pension reform to family life.
Also in attendance were Naperville CUSD 203 Board of Education members Jackie Romberg, Suzyn Price, Susan Crotty, and Kristin Fitzgerald; College of DuPage Trustee Dianne McGuire, State Senator Linda Holmes, State Representative Jeanne Ives, DuPage Forest Preserve District Trustee Mary Lou Wehrli; DuPage County Board member Tonia Khouri; Will County Board member Suzanne Hart; Naperville Township Trustees Kerry Malm, Janice Anderson, and Rachel Ossyra; and Naperville Park District Commissioners Marie Todd and Kirsten Young.
