Board term: 2015-2019

Profession: Union carpenter

Background: John Laesch was born, raised and home schooled on the mission field in West Africa.  He completed grade school in Lisbon, Illinois, and high school in Newark, Illinois.  After a four-year tour of duty as a Naval Intelligence Analyst in the Middle East, John earned a history degree from Illinois State University.  During an unsuccessful run for U.S. Congress, Laesch took up a multi-generational family trade as a union carpenter.

Laesch moved to Aurora in 2008 where he has taken to restoring a 110-year-old historic house into an energy-efficient home.  As part of his continuing education, Laesch has earned several certifications from the Building Performance Institute and continues to advocate for energy saving initiatives as part of his job and his most recent volunteer position: the East Aurora School District 131 Board of Education.

Laesch has interlaced his diverse education background that includes home schooling, private school, public school, military school, Waubonsee Community College, Illinois State University, the carpenters’ training center, and the Building Performance Institute to show students they can do anything they want to do, as long as they educate themselves towards that goal.  Laesch believes there are endless opportunities for those who choose to seize them.  He believes his job on the Board is to give students as many opportunities as possible in a safe environment.

Laesch spent four years as a volunteer organizer and, for a time, the co-chair of Northern Illinois Jobs with Justice.  A number of teachers and retired teachers in that organization exposed him to the growing effort to privatize education, rob public employees of their pensions, and inundate the field of education with red tape and increased standardized testing.  As a board member, Laesch would like to work with teachers to develop effective education models rather than business models.

Laesch entered the race for East Aurora School District 131 Board of Education due to an erosion of democracy and decreased transparency.  Laesch feels there is a lot of work to do ahead and he invites anyone interested in East Aurora to share thoughts or concerns about how the Board can do better.