Lake County Gazette

Anne Geraghty Helms is vying for a spot on the Lake Forest District 67 school board.

Helms, an attorney and graduate of Georgetown Law School, represents children and families who are facing issues that impact their safety and security.

"Sadly, most of my job these days is focused on issues created or exacerbated by the pandemic, like housing security and hunger," Helms said during a recent forum hosted by the League of Women Voters. "I'm running for the school board because service to the community is part of who I am and I'm hopeful that my professional experience will offer an additional perspective to the board."

Helms said her biggest priority is getting students back into school full-time

"The second is to look at the data around any sort of learning loss that we've had in the past year," Helms said. "And also social-emotional and what I mean by that is that our kids, even when they've been in school, haven't had opportunities to play and interact as they would in a normal year."

Helms said that is incredibly important for their development.

"Finally, we have this wonderful opportunity to hire and implement a new superintendent in a way that is beneficial for our community," Helms said. "So, I think we need to really spend the summer planning and being ready to get back into our schools and grow our community so we can move forward."

Helms said the last year has been a really hard year.

"I am a mother and I've been at home with my kids," Helms said. "I've seen them struggle, they've seen me struggle and so we obviously have a lot of work to do to get back to normal."

Helms said the board needs to focus on bringing some normalcy back into kids' lives.

Helms said administrators need to be good financial stewards and she thinks it's incredibly important for the board to be vigilant in the coming years to make sure that it stays that way.

Helms said when the new superintendent comes on board, he or she should be prepared with a strong financial plan for getting the district through the rest of the pandemic.