District 34 United slate holds lead in Antioch school board race
A team of incumbents and their running mates swept the field Tuesday in a crowded and hotly contested race for six seats on the Antioch Elementary District 34 board, unofficial results showed late Tuesday.
A coalition of six candidates running as District 34 United outdistanced challengers aligned as Parents for Education. Thirteen candidates combined ran for three, two-year terms and three, four-year terms.
Incumbents Mary Beth Hulting, Tiffany Cappel and Lori Linck finished ahead of Christopher Hartman, Scott Shaffer and Sonia Williams for the four-year spots. Hulting, Cappel and Linck earned 1,223, 1,230 and 1,150 votes, respectively. Hartman, Shaffer and Williams earned 763, 843 and 796 votes, respectively.
Incumbent Paul Green, who ran a solo campaign unaffiliated with either slate, fell short in his bid for another term with 306 votes.
For the two-year spots, District 34 United candidates Kelly Beall, Tamar Lasko and Joshua Cornwell led Pam Adams, Kristen Fielder and Kevin Fielder, unofficial results showed. Beall had 1,298 votes, Lasko had 1,243 votes and Cornwell had 1,214 votes, over Adams, who had 932 votes, Kristen Fielder, who had 771 votes, and Kevin Fielder, who had 755 votes.
It has been a turbulent few years in the district dealing with COVID-19 mitigations and a politicized climate that was said to have contributed to the resignation of Superintendent Brad Hubbard in May 2022.
District 34 serves 2,610 students from Antioch, Lake Villa and Lindenhurst in five schools.
• Daily Herald staff writer Mick Zawislak contributed to this report.