Lake County school board races emerge on first day of filing

A few contested races for school boards in Lake County materialized Monday as filing began for the April 2 consolidated local election.

In Stevenson High School District 125, five candidates filed for four seats on the Lincolnshire-based district's board. Incumbents David Weisberg, Terry Moons, Heena Agrawal and Amy Neault were joined by newcomer Ellyn Ross in filing the necessary papers at the Lake County clerk's office in Waukegan.

Elsewhere, four candidates filed papers for three seats on the Green Oaks-based Oak Grove School District 68 board. Board President Anthony Giamis and Vice President Amy Frantz are running, as are newcomers Raabia Khan and Agata P. Karpowicz.

Whereas candidates for village, library district, park district, township and fire district boards started filing Monday at the respective agencies' offices, school district candidates must file with the county clerk.

Fifty-one candidates were in line when the office opened at 8:30 a.m., said Todd Govain, the clerk's director of elections. The earliest candidate appeared at 6:30 a.m., he said.

"Everything went smooth and everyone seemed happy and content," Govain said.

People who filed simultaneously for the same board positions will be entered into a lottery to determine ballot position. The lottery will be held at 10 a.m. Dec. 26.

Candidate filing will conclude Dec. 17.

All Lake County school boards will have seats up for election in April. Most races were uncontested as of Monday.

For example, Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128 board member Lisa Hessel was the only person to file for any of the four seats that'll be up.

Likewise, in Round Lake Area School District 116, incumbents Kevin Devera, Annette Negrete McGinley and Scott Jewitt filed to run, leaving a fourth seat open for now.

And in Mundelein High School District 120, incumbents Joanne Anderson and Jane Siegel and newcomer Lisa Yaffe filed for the three seats on the ballot.