Page, Glasgow, Olejniczak, Crusius win in Dist. 25

The Arlington Heights Elementary District 25 board will look relatively the same, as all three incumbents and one newcomer have been elected to serve, according to unofficial election results Tuesday night.

As of 11:45 p.m. vote totals are: David Page with 5,278, Denise Glasgow with 5,152, Richard Olejniczak with 4,798, Philip Crusius with 4,521 and Herb Ruterschmidt with 3,233. According to the Cook County Clerk website 43 of the 45 precincts have reporting.

The five candidates — including newcomers Ruterschmidt and Olejniczak — ran for four open seats. Incumbent Kenneth Nielsen did not run for another term.

Olejniczak, a businessman and member of the Ivy Hill PTA, is the newcomer to the board. He said his main campaign issue is teacher pensions and he wants to focus on expanding the world languages program in the district.

Glasgow, a former teacher and administrator, was elected to her third term and said that her background in education gives her a special insight on the issues the board handles.

Crusius said one of the most important issues for the next board will be selecting a new superintendent, as Sarah Jerome plans to retire at the end of her contract in June 2014.

“We want to get a lot of people involved and set a good direction for our schools,” Crusius said.

Page, a financial adviser who launched an unsuccessful campaign for the state Senate in November, is the current board president and said this term will be his last.

“I always had a picture that I would do three terms. When I started my oldest daughter was in kindergarten and at the end of this term my youngest will have graduated from eighth grade so it seems like bookends and it just feels right,” Page said.

“There’s a lot of good work for us to do in this next term and we’re going to continue to push the district to new heights,” he said.