3 incumbents, newcomer to join St. Charles District 303 board

  • Top left to right Barbara Diepenbrock, Lauren Duddles, Matthew Kuschert, Joseph Lackner, bottom left to right, Becky McCabe, Elias Palacios and Dolores Van Hiel are candidates seeking three 4-year terms on the St. Charles District 303 school board.

    Top left to right Barbara Diepenbrock, Lauren Duddles, Matthew Kuschert, Joseph Lackner, bottom left to right, Becky McCabe, Elias Palacios and Dolores Van Hiel are candidates seeking three 4-year terms on the St. Charles District 303 school board.

  • Left to right, Mike Backer, Thomas Lentz and Richard Rivard are candidates seeking an unexpired 2-year term on the St. Charles District 303 school board.

    Left to right, Mike Backer, Thomas Lentz and Richard Rivard are candidates seeking an unexpired 2-year term on the St. Charles District 303 school board.

  • Barbara Diepenbrock

    Barbara Diepenbrock

  • Lauren Duddles

    Lauren Duddles

  • Joseph Lackner

    Joseph Lackner

  • Matthew Kuschert

    Matthew Kuschert

  • Becky McCabe

    Becky McCabe

  • Elias Palacios

    Elias Palacios

  • Dolores Van Hiel

    Dolores Van Hiel

  • Mike Backer

    Mike Backer

  • Thomas Lentz

    Thomas Lentz

  • Richard Rivard

    Richard Rivard

 
 
Updated 4/5/2023 4:02 PM

Voters backed three incumbents and a member of the St. Charles Unit District 303's citizens advisory board for school board seats.

Of the seven candidates vying for three 4-year terms on the school board, incumbents Joseph Lackner received 4,567 votes, Matthew Kuschert had 4,278 votes and Becky McCabe received 3,966 votes, according to unofficial vote tallies.

 

Challengers Dolores J. Van Hiel received 3,327 votes, Lauren Duddles had 2,503 votes, Barbara Diepenbrock had 1,607 votes and Elias Palacios had 770 votes. Alexa Teipel withdrew from the race, but her name still appeared on the ballot. She garnered 599 votes, unofficial tallies show.

In a three-way race to fill one unexpired 2-year term, Thomas Lentz, who serves on the district's citizens advisory committee, led with 3,578 votes, retired educator Mike Backer received 2,972 votes and Richard Rivard had 1,018 votes, unofficial tallies show.

District 303 serves about 12,000 students from St. Charles and portions of West Chicago, South Elgin, Wayne, Campton Hills, Wasco and Elburn.

During the campaign, nearly all candidates said they supported continuing with the same sex education curriculum it has used for years rather than using the state's recently adopted national standards for sex education.

Rivard was the only candidate who said he would support the district adopting the national sex education standards, which includes a personal health and safety program for elementary education and sets guidelines for curriculum at all grade levels.

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