Lamb, Juby join incumbents on Geneva 304 school board

Voters returned Geneva school board President Mark Grosso and board member Bill Wilson to the board Tuesday.

And they added to the board newcomer David Lamb, who works in investment advising, and former board member Leslie Juby, a substitute teacher who is a trustee of the Illinois Math and Science Academy.

Four 4-year terms were up for election. Board members Matt Henry and Tim Moran did not seek re-election.

Unofficial results with all 24 precincts reporting showed Grosso as the leading vote-getter with 2,444 votes. Lamb came in second with 1,907 votes. Juby was third with 1,605 votes. And Wilson received 1,509 votes.

Of the remaining candidates, Dan Garrett polled 1,490 votes, Jeffrey DiOrio 1,402, Fred Dresser 1,367, and Robert Cabeen 1,124.

Juby was on the board from 2007 to 2011, when she was defeated. This is the second term for Grosso, and the fourth for Wilson.

Garrett, Lamb and Dresser had called during the campaign for the school board to use more of its reserves to pay down the district’s outstanding debt.

All agreed the quality of education provided by the district is great, but Lamb said the district should be pushing students even more.

Juby worried that the focus on the district’s spending and debt overshadowed what she sees as the board’s primary purpose, to educate children. She disagreed with Garrett, who said school districts should take a more businesslike approach. Juby noted that, unlike a business, the district does not control “input” — or its students; it has to educate whoever it gets.

Garrett had suggested giving the superintendent an incentive to cut spending to a set goal: A 10 percent pay increase if he does so, and a 5 percent pay cut if he does not. He also said he thought the district could get by with 20 fewer teachers, and suggested not replacing the 14 retiring this year.

None of the candidates favored participating in the proposed online charter school.