Board of Directors
A board of directors governs Chicago Friends School. The board adopts school policies and is legally responsible for the financial health and operation of the school. The executive committee is comprised of a clerk (chair), recording clerk (secretary), and treasurer.
The board holds monthly meetings at the school, which are open to members of the Chicago Friends School parents, staff, committee members, and volunteers.
Director Biographies
Rebecca Conant (Clerk), is a Chicago-area educator and lifelong Quaker. She was born into the 57th Street Meeting and raised in Quaker meetings around Chicago. She is currently a member of Clear Creek Friends Meeting in McNabb, Illinois. She has spent most of her professional career in the field of education at museums and other nonprofits (including Grande Prairie Public Library, The Field Museum, The Chicago Academy of Sciences/Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Lincoln Park Zoo, The Adler Planetarium, and the Lincoln Park Conservancy). She also had her own classroom at Near North Montessori, where she taught middle school science. Rebecca has a B.S. in geology, art history and studio art, an M.S. in environmental biology, and an M.P.A. in nonprofit management.
Jane Fremon grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, the youngest of four children in a family deeply committed to education. A 1975 graduate of Princeton University, she was a member of the second class of women ever to matriculate there. Her master’s degree is from Bank Street School of Education. After working as a teacher, Jane spearheaded the effort to bring a Friends School to Princeton and served as head there for 31 years. She now works as a consultant to schools and serves on the board of Friends Council of Education. Jane’s writings on Quaker education and pedagogy have been published by Friends Council on Education, Friends Journal, and Independent School Magazine.
Mary Ellen Isaacs is a retired educator and a Quaker. She has been a learning disabilities teacher, educational diagnostician, and non-profit executive, with a primary focus on literacy acquisition. She completed a masters degree in Learning Disabilities at Northwestern University (1979), and a Ph.D. in Language and Literacy Studies at University of Texas at Austin (1996). For 25 years, until her retirement in 2022, she directed Literacy First in Austin, TX, a bilingual early literacy intervention program that ensures all students are proficient readers by third grade. Literacy First engages national service (AmeriCorps) volunteers and adults from the school communities as highly trained literacy tutors for K-2nd grade students in low-income schools. Mary Ellen and her husband, Ted, now live in Wilmette, IL. They have been members of Quaker meetings in Brooklyn, NY, Durham, North Carolina, and Austin, TX.
Neil Lichtman, who grew up in the Jewish faith, attended Quaker schools in New Jersey; Haddonfield Friends School through 6th grade, and Moorestown Friends School through 12th grade. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania (B.A.), the University of Virginia (M.A. in foreign affairs), and the Harvard Business School (M.B.A.). A Unitarian Universalist, Neil has been president of the DuPage Unitarian Universalist Church and co-chair of their capital campaign, and he is currently co-chair of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Generosity Network. His business career was primarily in advertising, marketing, and business strategy with 23 years at Leo Burnett and eight years at Maddock Douglas.
Renata McAdams is a teacher in the tradition of project- and inquiry-based progressive education. She has taught in a variety of schools — public, charter, and independent — including seven years at Chicago Friends School. Though she is not a member of any Quaker meeting, her time at CFS ingrained in her a profound respect for Quakerism and Quaker education. She now lives outside Washington, D.C. and teaches at The Maret School, which has been described as “the Friends school that isn’t a Friends school.” She is married and the mother of two young children, Morgan and Niko.
Alyssa Vejendla is a former teacher who was born and raised in the Chicagoland area. Her time at DePaul University receiving her teaching degree cemented the desire to stay local to her roots, largely informed by her experience working with youth in neighborhoods across the city. Alyssa taught in charter, public, and independent schools over her career — most recently at Chicago Friends School. Alyssa likes to think that she is still teaching, as she has joined the family business in helping seniors navigate the Medicare process. Alyssa does not currently have a religious affiliation, but learned a deep appreciation for Quakerism during her time at CFS and is passionate about progressive education. Alyssa resides in Chicago with her spouse and is regularly involved in the Chicago Friends School community.
John Zimmerman has been working in Friends education for almost 25 years, the majority of his time being spent at Princeton Friends School in a variety of jobs, from after-school to Director of Admissions. He is currently the Head of School at Scattergood Friends School in West Branch, IA. John also has an extensive background in theater and brings his creative collaborative approach to bear on the problems facing small Quaker schools.
Additional information