School board member Mrs. Sandy Lessentine announced her resignation at the school board meeting on Monday, March 1. Lessentine has been representing the town of Schererville on the board for the past six years and has introduced many positive contributions during that time. 

   “I think I’ve brought a different way of looking at things to people because many people see things in their own purview. They can’t always see things [from] other people’s viewpoints, and I think I’ve done a good job of opening up people’s eyes to saying, ‘it’s okay to agree to disagree,’” Mrs. Lessentine said. 

   Mrs. Lessentine works as a math teacher and tutoring specialist during the day at Homewood-Flossmoor High School. She explained how the experience of being immersed in the world of education first-hand impacted her perspective while on the school board. 

   “I think sometimes when you have members of the board that have never worked in education, they really don’t know what is capable. I think having people in education on the board helps because then, while it’s a completely different side of education on the board, it’s all policies and procedures. It also helps to know what is truly possible and what can and can’t be accomplished,” Mrs. Lessentine said.

   Mrs. Lessentine did not share her decision to resign with anyone prior to announcing it publicly at the board meeting. Her decision came as a shock to everyone, including her close friends and family. 

   “I just felt that if I mentioned it to anyone else, or anyone else caught a whiff of it, it might become something that it wasn’t. I didn’t want people making up my story. It’s my story to tell. If I don’t say anything, nothing gets misconstrued. It’s my words that people can hear, it’s no one else’s. Along with that, I didn’t want anyone to talk me out of it. I knew people were going to try to talk me out of it. And, again, it’s not their calling, it’s my calling. This is one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made in my life,” Mrs. Lessentine said. 

   Mrs. Lessentine decided it was her time to resign due to personal spiritual reasons. She will be utilizing this newfound free time to serve in larger capacities. 

   “I am a very spiritual person, and I believe that God calls you in ways and at times that you’re not always sure if it’s your time, but I just have to trust that because he’s ordering my steps and that’s the direction I need to go. I feel that I have signs all the time around me that tell me what I should be doing, where I should be going, and I just started getting signs that he wants me to serve in a larger capacity,” Mrs. Lessentine said.  

  Although being on the school board serving a tri-town community and over 10,000 students and staff members is a large capacity, Mrs. Lessentine is being led to serve the community in other ways. She will be beginning some new projects, and expanding some current projects, such as her podcasts.

   “My best friend and I started a ‘Little Blessings’ podcast two years ago, and a ‘Little Blessings’ page just to bring people some joy and some peace and to let them know that even during your worst days, God will provide little blessings if you just open your eyes and look for them. In that time from just doing those little podcasts, our followers have grown. We’ve got over 2,100 followers,” Mrs. Lessentine said.

   Mrs. Lessentine and her friend recently started a second podcast called “The Formula.” They are continuing their podcast journey by adding another podcast and visuals into the mix, and they are currently working on creating a studio space to film.

   “God put on our heart that we needed to take another step. And we started another podcast called “‘The Formula.’ ‘The Formula’ is five F’s on how to live a great life. And that is focus, fellowship, faith, fitness and finance’ and we found that God kept bringing those things to us each time,” Mrs. Lessentine said. 

   Along with the two podcasts, Mrs. Lessentine is doing more things for the community such as working with homeless students to provide them with extracurricular activities, officiating weddings and many more things that are not yet underway. Her goal is to bring, “peace, joy, love and God’s word” to other people.

   “If I can do that every day for the rest of my life, then that’s what I want to do. Now, I obviously can’t quit my day job, I have to have my day job, I have to be able to pay my bills. But I had to start clearing things off of my extracurricular schedule that I could clear up, because I want to focus on this. This is the direction I want to go,” Mrs. Lessentine said. 

   As Mrs. Lessentine moves to serve the community in other capacities, she still has a positive outlook regarding what is happening next for the school board. She believes that this was the right decision for her, and it will turn into the right decision for someone else as well.

   “As hard as it was, I also feel I am in a very good place; I feel like we have great community members, and I feel like there’s going to be a really good person who’s going to step up like that in my heart. That was the final piece. When God finally laid on my heart that someone good was going to go in there, like someone was going to come in and continue the good work and work with this board; I finally had that peace, then my heart said ‘it’s okay,’” Mrs. Lessentine said.

What Happens Next?

   Mrs. Sandy Lessentine submitted her dated resignation on March 2, 2021, after publicly announcing her resignation at the school board meeting on March 1, 2021. The March 1 meeting was Mrs. Lessentine’s final time sitting behind the blue table. School Board President Mrs. Cindy Sues explained some of the things that must happen in order to fill the vacant seat.  

   “The effective date of the resignation is important because, by statute, the remaining board members have thirty days to appoint a qualified individual to serve the remainder of Mrs. Lessentine’s term. Should the board fail to act, or if a tie vote occurs in the process that is not cured prior to the end of the thirty day period, the Lake County Circuit Court Judge will make the appointment of the replacement,” Mrs. Sues said. 

   The vacancy is being advertised on the Lake Central School Corporation website, as well as through social media and word of mouth. In order to qualify for the position, the replacement must meet the requirements provided for regularly elected board members: being at least 21 years of age, and residing in the residential district, which is Schererville.

   “Community members interested in filling the seat should go to https://lcsc.us/ and choose the open school board position link for all information. The board will then interview the potential candidate(s) at a future open public meeting, if necessary,” Mrs. Sues said.