Incumbents Paulsen and Hanlon, newcomer Yeboah top field in Wheaton Warrenville 200

Voters in Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 on Tuesday chose a mix of incumbents and new voices from a field of 10 candidates for four school board seats.

With all precincts reporting, challenger Mary Yeboah led the pack with 5,041 votes, according to unofficial results. Incumbent board President Brad Paulsen was in second with 4,671 votes, followed by electoral rookie Angela Blatner, who secured 4,355, and board member Rob Hanlon, who had 4,312.

Falling out of contention were Tom Paulsen with 4,188 votes; Amanda Spans with 4,166; Michael Evans with 3,869; Kevin Nickell with 3,741; Anjali Bharadwa with 3,028; and Steven Gross with 1,075.

Yeboah, who was making her second bid for a board seat, put a spotlight on persistent academic achievement gaps in the district.

Blatner, Nickell, Evans and Spans launched a slate out of frustration with the pace of reopening schools.

But sitting board members noted the district was one of the first school systems in DuPage County to welcome back elementary students early in the fall for classroom learning five days a week.

"There's no doubt that during this election cycle and the entire school year, you could see and feel and read how people's politics and their views of the seriousness or the lack of seriousness of the pandemic influenced how they behaved toward the school district and the school board and our superintendent," Paulsen said Tuesday night. "And that made its way all the way into the election season as well."

• Daily Herald staff writer Scott C. Morgan contributed to this report