3 newcomers elected in Dist. 38

Incumbent Vickie Gallichio retained her seat on the Big Hollow Elementary District 38 school board, and she'll be joined by three newcomers following a close election Tuesday.

With all 14 precincts reporting, unofficial totals showed Julia Mazur leading the way with 1,096 votes, followed by Gallichio with 892 votes, Heather Janquardt with 873 and Joe Bridge with 766 votes.

Mazur said she was "very excited" to lead all voting in the race.

"It is very encouraging to see the community come out and support me like that," she said. "I am really looking forward to getting the community more involved with the board."

Narrowly left out of the running was Margaret Mallahan with 761 votes, incumbent James Devito with 727 votes and James Jocheim had 570 votes.

The campaign was relatively quiet, free of most controversy, although the candidates acknowledged claims the district needs to be more open with community members and parents.

Candidates said they would strive to develop new ideas to make sure the community is more involved with the board in an effort to have more of an open government.

Some of the ideas include sending out e-mails to parents regarding board meetings and bringing in more volunteers by offering reduced fees.

Other goals cited by the candidates were improving the sports fields at the school and working with Grant Township to secure a state grant for a "Safe Routes to School" program.