Board of Directors

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.

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.

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.

Additional information

Chicago Friends School Bylaws