Packed School Board Races, Algonquin Village Board: Election 2023

ALGONQUIN AND LAKE IN THE HILLS, IL — Election Day is Tuesday and many will be heading to their local polling place to make their selections for local mayoral, city council and school board races.

Election Day is Tuesday for several local races across McHenry County. For those wishing to take a peak at your sample ballot before you head to the polls, you can do so here. And if you want to find out where your polling place is, the McHenry County Clerk's Office has information on that on their website.

In McHenry County, there are several packed city council and village board races, including Woodstock's city council race where nine candidates are vying for three open seats.

The Algonquin Village Board of Trustees race is also contested and five candidates are vying for three open seats. Incumbents Brian J. Dianis, Margaret "Maggie" Auger and John Spella, will face newcomers Deniz Namik and George Nwogu.

Meanwhile, state education officials say they are curious to see what the turnover rate for candidates will be this election as several new candidates vie for open seats in many packed races across the Chicago area, including McHenry County. At the same time, incumbents who made it through heated school board meetings — some even facing safety issues and threats from parents peeved over COVID policies — are ready to hand the baton to someone else.

Among candidates who told Patch in recent months they'd be stepping down is Joe Stevens, who was first appointed to the D300 school board in 2006 and then elected to his current seat in 2007.

The District 300 school board race is among the more contentious in the area with eight candidates vying for four open seats.

After 17 years on the board, Stevens told Patch in December that it's time for "new blood." Stevens, who is 77 years old, says he will miss being a part of the school board.

"In reality, I will miss it but these last few years have been especially difficult with the pandemic, and a very vocal minority who attack us on a regular basis," he said. "My hope is that whomever replaces me on the board will have one goal and only one goal, the truly best interests socially, emotionally, and educationally of the children of this district."

Leslie Lamarca, who was first elected to the D300 school board in 2019, also will not be running for re-election.

Incumbents Stephen J. Fiorentino, who will be seeking his third term as a school board member, and Nancy Zettler, the board's vice president who will vie for a second term, are running for re-election against six other newcomers.

• 8 Candidates File To Run For D300 School Board

Other packed school board races we will be watching include Huntley Consolidated District 158, where nine candidates are seeking three open seats, and Community Unit School District 47, where seven candidates are vying for three open seats.

Thomas Bertrand, executive director at the Illinois Association of School Boards, told Patch earlier this year that the typical turnover rate for school board races during an election is 20 percent. That refers to the rate of incumbents who either lose their seat to a different candidate or who decide not to run at all.

Last election, which was in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bertrand said school officials expected a higher turnover rate, but many incumbents stayed the course and that rate stayed around 20 percent. This election, he said, may be different.

"We will see. I think a lot of board members hung in there and endured during the pandemic, and now that we are having a return to normalcy, they are tired," Bertrand said. "Some board members, they wanted to see the district through the pandemic and now it's time to hand it off to someone else."

The differences vary by communities and much of the interest, and disinterest, is still fueled by COVID-related issues and school board meeting headaches, Bertrand said. During the pandemic, parents voiced strong opinions regarding thoughts on masking and other policies effecting their children.

Districts where school boards dealt with higher stress levels during meetings may see fewer incumbents deciding to run again, according to school officials. Meanwhile, more interest from parents and the community on how school boards are run and district policies is fueling interest in various districts.

"But certainly where you saw contentious board meetings, there seems to be more interest," said Bertrand.