Nicole ‘Molly’ Molinaro knew she wanted to be the strong advocate she needed growing up. Not wanting to be “selfish” and solely focus on her own child, she decided to run for a seat on Proviso High School Township District 209’s Board of Education in this April election.
Molinaro, a Westchester resident, said she herself was a student who “fell between the cracks.” Having begun working at 14 alongside her grandmother, her focus was to make money and find a way to move out on her own.
After graduation, she pursued a career in commercial insurance underwriting, which spanned nearly 20 years. She then decided to go back to school to become the first in her family to earn a college degree.
She began pursuing her degree during the COVID pandemic and is on track to complete her associate’s degree in applied science in May. Molinaro said she hopes to pursue a career working alongside children teaching them about horticulture.
“We are in the end stretch and now I just want to keep going until they call me doctor, hopefully one day,” Molinaro said.
Being involved in trades is a quality Molinaro appreciates about Proviso D209 in Forest Park.
“Proviso is a really large trade and union township,” she said. “So we really need to look at those opportunities as a high school district to partner with these opportunities within the trade and apprenticeships. Really promote that, because not everybody is meant for a four-year university.”
As part of her college experience, Molinaro said she works as a tutor, which has given her first-hand experience tutoring former Proviso students at Triton College.
While Molinaro said it isn’t only Proviso students who are struggling in writing when they get to college, she wants to work to provide the support she felt she needed when she was a student and ensure others, like her son, feel supported by the system.
“I wanted to get involved early so that public education at Proviso High School district was an option whether he could get into PMSA or not,” Molinaro said. “When I moved into this area eight years ago, a lot of families moved out.”
Parents and students aren’t reaping the benefits of the tax dollars that have gone into the district, she said.
“Public education is not a privilege,” Molinaro said. “It is not something you should have to move to achieve or pay $20,000 a year to have your child get a good education.”
Proviso has the foundational qualities to make quality education possible and for the district to do better, she said/
Being civically engaged, including starting an ecological commission in Westchester, Molinaro said she has been out in the community and believes if Proviso is able to get a cohesive board, opportunities will arise for others to get involved.
Molinaro also said the idea of a board mentorship and civic integrity engagement program would be beneficial for all.
“It is a non-partisan race for a reason, but it does not behave as a non-partisan board,” she said. “We need to get back to our core of civic integrity…we cannot continue to have politicians ruling or other mayors making decisions about the high schools when they have their own K-8 schools to worry about.”
As part of the Proviso 209 United slate, Molinaro said each candidate has skill sets that would benefit the entire township. Her background in underwriting has given her the experience of knowing how to read and apply policies.
Additionally, she said, it is also about making the board a more welcoming place for others, calling previous issues and drama “discouraging and intimidating.”
“If all of the drama and chaos is removed, is this something you would want to do? And I think a lot more people would consider it if it looked like it worked like it was designed to,” she said.
Molinaro said she would focus on ensuring equitable allocation of resources.
As a tutor at Triton College, Molinaro said she has met several Proviso students who did not receive the proper English-learning assistance they needed in high school to be able to properly move on to college. This also applies to special education.
Additionally, how the curriculum is rolled out needs to be relooked at, she said, adding that there doesn’t seem to be much thought and discussion put behind it.
“What do we need to do? Where do we need to think creatively,” Molinaro said. “There are a lot of things happening in our country federally, so we really need to start looking where money is being allocated and making sure it is for students, and it is equitable in meeting each student where they are.”
It is not simple, she added, but she believes Proviso can get it done.