There could be some volatile meetings ahead for the Elgin School District U46 Board of Education: Tuesday’s election apparently has split the board virtually in half as voters chose three candidates who have been highly critical of how things have been going in the district and two candidates who generally endorse the current approaches.
The unofficial top vote-getters for four four-year board seats were incumbent Traci O’Neal Ellis of Elgin, with 14.7 percent of the vote, followed by pro-status-quo challenger Sue Kerr of Bartlett with 14.2 percent, anti-status-quo candidate Jeanette Ward of West Chicago with 14.3 percent and challenger Phil Costello of Bartlett with 14 percent.
For the lone two-year seat that was open, Republican activist Cody Holt of Elgin ran well ahead of teacher Kai Rush of Elgin, with 55.6 versus 44.4 percent of the votes.
Also seeking the four-year seats, anti-tax challenger Ed Novak of Bartlett garnered 13.8 percent of the vote, pro-status-quo challenger Larry Bury of Bartlett obtained 11.8 percent, incumbent Jennifer Shroder of Elgin got 8.8 percent and pro-status-quo challenger Arisleyda Taylor of Streamwood 8.4 percent, according to the unofficial returns.
In the next few months the school board faces the need to hire a new superintendent, approve a new five-year strategic plan, redraw its school attendance boundaries, consider whether to close any schools and decide how far it is going with a new grading system. As all this looms, five of the board’s seven seats were up for grabs, with only two of the current seat-holders running again. On such issues as taxes, spending, ethnic diversity, the new grading system and testing, the board seems likely to be divided with Ellis and Kerr plus holdovers Veronica Noland and Donna Smith on one side, versus Ward, Costello and Holt on the other.
Proclaiming victory Tuesday night in a party filled with conservative politicos at the Elgin Public House, Ward said that “I will continue to take a stand for the taxpayer, the citizen and the students.”
“And no more global citizen!” Ward added, referring to a move at Monday night’s school board meeting in which the board had agreed to teach the viewpoints of different cultures and religions of a “global society” rather than just those who contributed to “our American heritage.”
Speaking to the same cheering crowd Tuesday night, Holt said that “special interest groups and unions have been defeated,” referring to how the Elgin Teachers Union had endorsed Ellis, Kerr, Bury and Taylor.
Kerr said Thursday that “I know we have different opinions and I look forward to some interesting discussions. But I’m a great believer in understanding what other people think and finding some common ground.”
Before deciding to run for the board, Costello had helped organize town hall meetings in Bartlett to discuss unusually high tax bills in the DuPage County sections of District U46 and Elgin Community College District 509. At least part of that increase was caused by a mistake in the Kane County clerk’s office that resulted in Kane County taxpayers shouldering an unfairly low share of the total levy.
Suggesting that the anti-tax anger was an important factor in the voting, Costello, Novak, Ward and Holt won overwhelmingly in the DuPage County precincts. For the lone two-year seat, Holt beat Rush by a 3-1 margin in DuPage. For the four four-year seats, Costello, Novak and Ward took 60 percent of the DuPage votes between them.
Rush actually beat Holt in their home Kane County by more than 400 votes. But Holt’s overwhelming numbers in DuPage, plus a 300-vote Holt margin in Cook County, more than compensated for the Kane result.
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Ellis, the well-known incumbent who drew by far the biggest number of votes in her home Kane County, got just 8.2 percent of the DuPage County votes, finishing in sixth place there among the eight four-year candidates.
Ward, Costello, Novak and Holt had been endorsed by such groups as the Elgin Township Republican Committee, the Elgin OCTAVE political action committee, theNewYou46 political action committee and, in the case of Novak and Ward, by former congressman Joe Walsh.
Some or all of the other six candidates — incumbents Ellis and Shroder, plus challengers Bury, Kerr, Taylor and Rush — got endorsements from the Elgin Teachers Association and the new group Concerned Voters of the Fox Valley. Shroder herself, in fact, had urged her followers to vote for the other five instead of for her, saying she would rather lose the election than see Costello, Novak, Ward and Holt win.