Julia Walsh, a former Arlington Heights village trustee and long-time teacher, was appointed Monday to the Illinois State Board of Education by Gov. Jim Edgar.
Walsh was one of two Arlington Heights residents who filed a legal challenge earlier this year to a citizen-initiated referendum on whether citizens should have the right to vote on any expansion of gambling in Arlington Heights.
Also Monday, Edgar reappointed Deborah Miller to the state board. She is immediate past president of the Schaumburg Township Library Board, lobbyist for the Illinois Library Association and partner in the Miller Consulting Group of Hoffman Estates.
“I feel like I wear more hats than a character in a Dr. Seuss book,” said Miller, 57. “I would like to see the board of education move forward in technology and to be more visible in the community. I will work to those ends.”
Edgar also reappointed J. Thomas Johnson, 48, of Park Ridge, to the Illinois Gaming Board. Johnson is currently chairman of the board.
Walsh and Diane Siles, the other litigant in the referendum challenge and a former Village Board member and teacher, are partners in a public relations firm and founders of the Northwest Economic Alliance, a group that supported Arlington International Racecourse in its bid to get a gaming casino.
The suit filed by Walsh and Siles was successful, but the Village Board placed an alternate question on the April ballot, which asked if casino gambling should be allowed at the racecourse. It was approved by 38 votes.
Walsh said Monday that she believed her combination of experience as a teacher, elected official and active participant in the business community qualified her to serve on the board, which oversees elementary and high school education in the state.
“I’m really happy,” said Walsh, 61, who taught for 25 years and was a village trustee for 12 years. “I heard there was a vacancy and wrote a letter to the governor. I believe I have a well-rounded background for the job.”
Walsh was named Teacher of the Year by the state board of education in 1976, when she was teaching a combined 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-grade classroom at Olive Elementary School.
Walsh also taught kindergarten for several years at Olive and taught in the gifted education program for Arlington Heights Elementary District 25 at Westgate and Patton Elementary Schools.
