Voters choose experienced leadership in Schaumburg District 54

Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 will keep three experienced members of its leadership group at the helm for another four years.

With all 82 precincts reporting, incumbents Bill Harper, Barbara Hengels and Mary Kay Prusnick held clear leads over challengers Johannes Laun and Joseph Wein in the race for three seats on the district's board of education.

Hengels had 3,848 votes, Harper 3,408, Prusnick 3,336, Laun 2,693 and Wein 2,608, according to unofficial totals.

Harper saw the outcome as a vote of confidence in the school board's leadership.

"I attribute a lot of it to people feeling the district is in good shape, both financially and in its programs, and didn't seem to feel there was a need for change," he said.

"I think the school board works well together," Prusnick added.

In a race in which every candidate agreed the district was performing well financially and academically, the only matter up for debate was how best to maintain that success in the face of unknown challenges ahead with state funding and other issues.

Laun focused on keeping the academic curriculum rigorous and forward-looking, helping to prepare students for career choices likely to be different from those of today. Many jobs students are currently aspiring to will be obsolete in 10 or 20 years, he said.

Wein argued that the district needs more community involvement in its decisions, and said he believed allowing another uncontested election to occur was the wrong way to get such a process started.

Harper, Hengels and Prusnick said their different perspectives have been important ingredients in the district's success. Far from agreeing with each other on every issue, they nevertheless believed their individual personalities complement one another on the board.

As far as the ability to adapt to the future, Harper said the three incumbents had put the district in the best possible position to do so. And they've proven their ability to make sometimes tough decisions that put the success and development of students first, he added.