Despite a serious challenge by a slate of candidates backed by Lyons Village President Christopher Getty, three incumbents retained their seats on the Brookfield-Lyons School District 103 board on April 5.
Joanne Schaeffer, David DeLeshe and Deanna Viti-Huxhold outlasted all five candidates backed by Getty. But with four four-year seats up for grabs, Getty-backed candidate Mitch Milenkovic won a spot on the board.
Meanwhile, newcomer John Kiser defeated Getty-backed candidate Doug Lane for the one two-year term up for election. The Stickney firefighter edged out his opponent by a 1,479 to 1,274 margin.
“I was very nervous,” said Schaeffer of the concerted challenge against the incumbents and the implicit political impact on the board if the slate won a majority. “I’m just happy the school board is OK. We have good board members who deserved to be elected.”
When the smoke cleared, the incumbents won pretty handily.
Schaeffer led the way with 1,913 votes, followed by DeLeshe (1,649) and Viti-Huxhold (1,511). Milenkovic was the nearest competitor, winning 1,282 votes. Lilia Ortiz-Rivera (1,096), James Dever (1,047), Al Ermitage (922) and Daniel Rank (828).
Three incumbents win in D102
With all 24 precincts reporting in the race for the school board in LaGrange-Brookfield District 102, election night went primarily to incumbents. In addition, three out of the four candidates endorsed by the District 102 Delegate Assembly won election to the four open four-year school board posts.
Taking in the most votes (2,014) was incumbent Joyce Easter Fitch, who won re-election to the board along with her campaign running mate, incumbent and board President David May (1,921).
Also re-elected to the school board was incumbent Dawn Aubert, who finished just one vote behind newcomer Matthew Scotty (1,964).
Scotty, Fitch and May were all endorsed by the Delegate Assembly, although the latter two declined the group’s support and ran alongside two incumbents, Aubert and Donald Sands.
Sands, who was appointed to the board in July 2010, finished fifth with 1,605 votes. Also falling short were Peter Daniels (1,567), who had been endorsed by the Delegate Assembly, and Kay Mautz (852), a former teacher who ran independently.
Peter Tiemeyer won election to a two-year term on the board in an uncontested race.
Stanek leads the way in D95
Longtime teacher Doris Stanek crossed paths with many families during her tenure in District 95. That kind of name recognition apparently paid off on April 5 as Stanek was the top candidate in the race for three open seats on the D95 board, snagging 1,708 votes (30.6 percent).
Re-elected to the board were incumbents Lynn Waterloo and Christopher Blackburn, while Brian Elwart finished fourth.
Waterloo will begin her third term on the board, finishing second overall in the voting with 1,537 votes, while Blackburn earned a second term with 1,267 votes. Elwart tallied 1,065 votes.
Two Broadview residents win in D94
Broadview residents Jon Hoadley and Diane Little won two of the four open seats on the Komarek School District 94 board on April 5, edging out incumbent Al Sarro, who was appointed to the board in 2009.
Hoadley is a lieutenant with the Broadview Fire Department. Little is active in the Komarek School PTA.
Winning re-election were top vote-getters Christopher Waas, the current D94 vice president, and Patricia Martinson.
District 94 wasted no time in seating the newly elected board members. All four were sworn in at the board’s regularly scheduled meeting on April 12.
