Carmichael, Kulkarni, Benjamin and Drumke lead in District 128

In a crowded race for four open seats on the Libertyville-Vernon Hills High School District 128 board of education, unofficial results Tuesday had incumbent Don Carmichael and newcomers Sonal Kulkarni, Cara Benjamin and Kara Drumke leading in a field of 10.

The only other incumbent, Kevin Huber, was in fifth place.

The unofficial results include day-of and mail-in ballots received so far, but not early voting totals, provisional ballots and the remainder of the mail-in votes.

Carmichael led the pack with 3,335 votes, followed by Kulkarni with 3,289, Benjamin with 3,172 and Drumke with 3,124. Huber had 2,746.

Carmichael opposed a hybrid school system at the start of the pandemic, and Huber supported starting the school year with some students learning in person.

Carmichael, a retired high school teacher, was seeking reelection after winning election to an unexpired term two years ago. Kulkarni is an information technology executive. Benjamin is an on-hiatus high school English teacher and private ACT/SAT tutor. Drumke is an attorney and a reading interventionist at Fremont Elementary School.

Also running were businessman Jim Connell, Libertyville Elementary District 70 school board member Chris Coughlin, wealth adviser Sean Gay, attorney and corporate executive Dale Sherman, and pediatrician Katy Talerico.