Local voters will have some choices to make next spring as several of next April’s elections will be contested.
Multiple candidates have filed nomination papers in the races for local school boards plus the Wilmette Village Board and Park District.
At New Trier High School, Blanca Zaragoza-Kaufman and Jennifer Yeo, both of Glencoe and Wilmette’s Bernadine Hossfeld will take on the New Trier High School Caucus slate of Glencoe’s Jean Hahn, Wilmette’s Sally Pofcher and Winnetka’s Courtney McDonough, according to the Cook County Clerk’s office.
Hahn, currently the school board’s vice president, is seeking reelection with Pofcher and McDonough running for first terms.
At Winnetka 36, Patrick Conway, will pursue an independent run for the school board. Earlier this year, Conway interviewed with the Winnetka Caucus Council for the seat. He did not win the backing of the Council, but was nominated on the floor at a November general membership meeting.
However, the Caucus general membership approved the Council’s slate of incumbent Emily Rose — currently the board president — alongside Katherine Myers-Crum, Marena Rudy and Luke Figora who are running to join the board.
The school board elections at Avoca District 37, Wilmette 39 and Glencoe 35 do not appear to be contested as only the minimum number of candidates filed seeking election, according to the clerk’s office.
At the Wilmette Park District, five candidates will be seeking four available slots on the board. Incumbent commissioners Mike Murdock, Cecilia Clarke and Julia Goebel are seeking reelection for new four-year terms.
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Looking to be elected are residents Patrick Lahey and Scott Krone. Lindsay Anderson, who was appointed to the park board in 2021, has decided not to seek a full term.
At the Wilmette Village Board, there are four candidates for three seats.
Incumbent Gina Kennedy will be running for a new term. The ballot also includes Steve Leonard, who previously served on the village board before resigning in 2018 when he moved out of town, has come back to Wilmette and now wants to rejoin the board.
The final two candidates are Gerald “Gerry” Smith, the current chairman of the village’s human relations commission, and John Kolleng, a former member of the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals.
Incumbent board member Dan Sullivan is leaving the board after serving and another incumbent, Peter Barrow, is not seeking a full term after being appointed to the village board in 2020, according to village officials.
The entire Glencoe Caucus slate will not be opposed, but the election may still draw interest as voters given a $15 million bond sale referendum regarding the future of the Glencoe Golf Club.
The municipal elections are scheduled for April 4.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.