Mix of incumbents and newcomers win in Hawthorn District 73

A mix of newcomers and incumbents will lead the Hawthorn Elementary District 73 school board.

With all 28 precincts reporting, unofficial results showed the four available seats will go to newcomer Robin Cleek, who had 816 votes, followed by incumbents Jeffrey Bard, the current board president, with 775, and Jayson Tran with 773, and newcomer Sonali Patil with 671 votes.

Newcomer Jamie DiCarlo had 634 votes.

Cleek, a lawyer and currently a stay-at-home mom served on the district's reorganization committee in 2014.

"I did my very best to pound the pavement and make it about the issues, not a popularity contest," she said.

Cleek said retaining teachers is an issue for the district, and that it's time the board "really start considering teacher feedback" during exit interviews, and come up with a plan going forward.

Bard, who has served eight years on the board, sought re-election to a third term so he could follow through with pending matters such as full-day kindergarten and school boundary restructuring, which will begin in 2015-16.

Tran has served six years on the board.