1 newcomer joins Gurnee District 56 board

In one of the larger races on Lake County ballots, a mix of three incumbents and one challenger were elected to the Gurnee Elementary District 56 school board.

Seven candidates ran for four seats on the panel. All four seats have 4-year terms.

With ballots counted in all of 18 precincts, unofficial totals showed incumbents Brian Weir, Becky Kotsinis, Helen Scott and newcomer Lynn Schroetter came out on top Tuesday.

Weir was first with 719 votes, followed by Scott with 688 votes, Kotsinis with 669 and Schroetter with 595.

Newcomer Jon Holmberg, incumbent Tim Roegner and newcomer Paul Charleston rounded out the pack, with 546, 530 and 452 votes, respectively. Roegner was elected to the District 56 board in 2007.

While the race was relatively quiet, the candidates differed on some issues.

Charleston and Holmberg, for example, were critical of a roughly three-year-old effort to issue iPads to all students. Other candidates called the effort a success, although Roegner acknowledged there were some software-update glitches at the start of this academic year.

Charleston, who is black, also complained about the lack of minority representation on the school board.

Kotsinis voiced concern about rising class sizes.

District 56 includes Gurnee, Wadsworth, Beach Park and Waukegan.