Incumbents win in U-46 board race
Elgin Area School District U-46 voters have chosen three veteran board members over three challengers.
According to unofficial totals, Joyce Fountain, Donna Smith and Dale Spencer were narrowly elected to new 4-year terms Tuesday.
With 147 of 147 precincts reporting, Spencer, of Bartlett, emerged as top dog, receiving 7,998 votes.
Smith, of Hanover Park, received 7.081 votes.
Fountain, of Elgin, received 6,877 votes.
"I'm pumped," Spencer, a Bartlett mortgage consultant said when reached Tuesday evening. "I'm only one of seven, but I'm going to fight for community trust every step of the way." Spencer was first elected to the board in 2005.
Fountain, of Elgin, is a professor at Elgin Community College. She has served on the board since 1993.
"I think we're going to keep moving toward academic improvement," Fountain said. "That's not going to change."
Smith, of Hanover Park, has been a board member since 2001.
How to deal with a shortfall in state funding and a rise in home foreclosures was one of the major issues to arise during the race.
To balance out a $17 million increase in negotiated salary and benefits for union employees, U-46, the state's second largest school district, recently cut the equivalent of 348 full-time positions.
Raising test scores to meet No Child Left Behind bench marks and views on settlement in the racial bias lawsuit pending against the district were also hot topics.
Nineteen of 40 elementary schools, three of eight middle schools and all five high schools failed to meet state standards on 2008 report cards.
The 4-year-old lawsuit, ruled a class-action case in August, has cost the district more than $6.7 million in legal fees thus far.
The trio defeated Gary Percy, an aircraft maintenance technician from Elgin, a member of the district's Citizens Advisory Council since 2004; 21-year-old
Kevin Echevarria, who owns and manages Elgin's Delicia Tropical Cafe; and Ed Stade of Bartlett, the owner of Stade Homes.
Spencer, Echevarria and Percy were endorsed by the 2,400-member Elgin Teachers' Association.
Board members will be sworn in May, district spokesman Tony Sanders said.