3 incumbents, newcomer to join St. Charles District 303 board

Voters backed three incumbents and a member of the St. Charles Unit District 303's citizens advisory board for school board seats.

Of the seven candidates vying for three 4-year terms on the school board, incumbents Joseph Lackner received 4,567 votes, Matthew Kuschert had 4,278 votes and Becky McCabe received 3,966 votes, according to unofficial vote tallies.

Challengers Dolores J. Van Hiel received 3,327 votes, Lauren Duddles had 2,503 votes, Barbara Diepenbrock had 1,607 votes and Elias Palacios had 770 votes. Alexa Teipel withdrew from the race, but her name still appeared on the ballot. She garnered 599 votes, unofficial tallies show.

In a three-way race to fill one unexpired 2-year term, Thomas Lentz, who serves on the district's citizens advisory committee, led with 3,578 votes, retired educator Mike Backer received 2,972 votes and Richard Rivard had 1,018 votes, unofficial tallies show.

District 303 serves about 12,000 students from St. Charles and portions of West Chicago, South Elgin, Wayne, Campton Hills, Wasco and Elburn.

During the campaign, nearly all candidates said they supported continuing with the same sex education curriculum it has used for years rather than using the state's recently adopted national standards for sex education.

Rivard was the only candidate who said he would support the district adopting the national sex education standards, which includes a personal health and safety program for elementary education and sets guidelines for curriculum at all grade levels.