Voters chose three newcomers Tuesday for the Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 School Board.
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According to unofficial election results from the Cook County Clerk’s Office, Sara Dixon Spivy, Frederick Arkin and Jennifer Cassell were voted onto the board, with 45 of 46 precincts reporting as of 11:15 p.m. Tuesday.
Dixon Spivy received 4,452 votes, Arkin received 4,158 votes, and Cassell received 3,932 votes. Turnout was 16 percent, according to unofficial election results, with 45 of 46 precincts reporting.
Dixon Spivy, Arkin and Cassell will serve four-year terms.
Incumbent Sharon Patchak-Layman, the fourth-highest vote getter, served two terms at on the District 200 board, and two terms on the District 97 board before that.
“I had a lot of support in the community, and we just didn’t have enough to make it happen again,” she said. “I’m honored to have served the community for 16 years.”
Patchak-Layman said she hopes the new board members are committed to equity for all students at the high school, particularly minority students.
“That’s what we want: Quality education for all students,” she said.
Patchak-Layman said it was an interesting campaign, in terms of the amount of money involved and the number of individuals making endorsements. She added that she’d hate to see money be an issue that prevents people from running for school board in the future.
Patchak-Layman received 2,386 votes, Guillermo “Gil” Cabacungan III received 777 votes, and Michelle Mbekeani-Wiley, who dropped out of the race, received 936 votes.
In addition to the achievement gap, another topic of discussion during the campaign has been the need for a new pool at OPRF.
The newest development in the board’s pursuit of a new pool involves working with the village of Oak Park by moving the school’s tennis program to the parking lot just south of village hall on Madison Street. That would allow more space to build a new pool on the west side of the high school.
Messages left with Dixon Spivy, Arkin and Cabacungan III were not immediately returned Tuesday night.
Caitlin Mullen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.