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McNally in, Vyzral out in D303 school board race

For the first time in several elections, every St. Charles Unit District 303 School Board position on the ballot was contested. Unofficial results show voters didn’t want a big change as nearly all the incumbents coasted to victory. However, there will be one new face on the board.

In a contest with eight candidates, the top four were assured spots on the new school board. Those top four places went to incumbent Corinne Pierog with 3,216 votes with all 46 precincts reporting. Newcomer Ed McNally received 2,999 votes. Incumbent School Board President Steve Spurling earned 2,848 votes. And incumbent Jim Gaffney received 2,606 votes.

That left no room for incumbent Mike Vyzral. He received 1,447 votes. That put him in seventh place, far from retaining his board seat. Nancy Muzzey was the fifth place finisher with 2,256 votes. Retired teacher Jim Conro finished sixth with 2,071 votes. Richard Leidig Jr. finished last with 1,432 votes.

Non-incumbents tried to make hay with voters over the district’s tax rate and the decision to turn Davis and Richmond Schools into grade level centers. McNally was one of the more vocal citizen opponents of the grade level centers during the decision process. He said during the campaign it is too soon to tell if the transition is a success. A general lack of test score information may make it difficult to ever truly judge the impact of the grade level centers, McNally said. However, his main criticism of the grade level centers was what he described as a quick decision process by the school board that didn’t sufficiently weigh all the parental concerns and educational implications. That message appeared to resonate with voters as McNally received the second highest vote total of all the candidates, according to unofficial results.

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