Newcomers Lead D210 Race, Incumbent Retains Seat: Election '23 Results

NEW LENOX, IL — With polls now closed, the Lincoln-Way Board of Education will prepare to welcome four board members after a total of 10 candidates were in the running for the four open seats.

Unofficial results provided by Will County election officials show Catherine Johnson, Caitlin Olejnik, Dana Bergthold, and Nathan Sandoval as the top four vote-getters.

However, because state statutes stipulate that one of the board members must be from the unincorporated areas of the district, incumbent Richard LaCien, Jr. will remain on the board. LaCien Jr. received the most votes of those representing unincorporated areas and will take the final seat despite finishing in vote tallies behind Sandoval.

LaCien Jr. was among those who filed for a seat on the seven-member board, along with Johnson, Tessa Quinlan, Gena Sambo, Olejnik, Sandoval, Bergthold, Mark Bamman, David Collins and Katarzyna A. Topor.

Incumbents Beth Janus-Doyle, Joseph A. Kirkeeng and Christopher M. Lucchetti did not seek re-election.

The district draws in students from five elementary school districts: Frankfort 157-C, Manhattan 114, Mokena 159, New Lenox 122 and Summit Hill 161.

Here are the unofficial results from Tuesday's election, and Patch will update unofficial vote tallies as they are released by Will County election officials.

With all precincts reporting:

• Catherine Johnson: 5,906
• Caitlin Olejnik: 4,962
• Dana Bergthold: 4,636
• Nathan Sandoval: 4,590
• Richard LaCien, Jr. (incumbent): 4,100
• David Collins: 4,000
• Tessa Quinlan: 3,316
• Gena Sambo: 3,191
• Mark Bamman: 2,974
• Katarzyna A. Topor: 2,545

Among the district’s biggest priorities, candidates said ahead of Tuesday’s election, is making sure that the Lincoln-Way district can retain quality teachers and staff members as well as attract quality new teachers and educators to the district.

Quinlan, who is the parent of a special needs student, said in a Patch candidate questionnaire that she believes that she would like to see improvements within the district for all students and that the district could “be a voice” for everyone in the community.

“We live in a well-respected district,” Quinlan wrote. “Our LW District has exemplary status amongst our general education students, which says a lot about the administration and teachers who serve our student body. We can maintain that success, and leverage that to create the same exemplary status for our special services students.”

Quinlan said if elected, she would like to help drive change in the district for the better when needed, while also helping to maintain the integrity and respect the district has earned over the years. She said that she is running on a platform centered on diversity, equity, and inclusion for students who may have not had opportunities in the past.

She said she wants to be part of a Board of Education that operates on a healthy financial acumen and that does not work outside its approved budget.

Johnson approaches her candidacy for the Lincoln-Way 210 board from the perspective of a public school teacher. The 38-year-old Spanish teacher at Carl Sandburg High School and mother of two sons said that she would like to see test scores from around the district improve after she says that scores in both Advanced Placement and college boards testing have declined since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is the utmost importance of every school to always keep student learning (and thus, all the various factors that influence student learning) as the focus,” Johnson wrote in her Patch candidate questionnaire. “While D210 has made significant strides in improving these test scores, they are still not back to pre-pandemic levels.”

She says as an educator, the single most important factor under the control of the school is the level at which students learn. She, like Quinlan, said that retaining quality teachers needs to be a focus for the district. She said that teachers are choosing to leave the profession for a number of reasons – the biggest being a lack of support from within the district itself.

Johnson cited her experience as an educator as a reason why she may have an advantage over other candidates seeking board seats in Tuesday’s election. While she does not believe that the current District 210 has failed local residents, Johnson said she wants to be part of a board moving forward that provides support – not only for teachers and staff members that work within the district – but for students as well.

But, like other candidates, she said that improvements must be made within the district’s financial means.

“I understand the importance of ensuring that every dollar spent is done so wisely and with the best interests of our students and community in mind,” Johnson wrote.

For Sandoval, a local attorney and father of three, ensuring that Lincoln-Way students leave the district as critical and independent thinkers remains a top priority.

He said that while core subjects such as reading, math, science, and other subjects are critical to student success, how those classes are taught in relation to dealing with real-world issues is even more important, Sandoval wrote in his Patch candidate questionnaire.

“We are going to be faced with tough decisions that require an honest and sober assessment of the situation,” Sandoval wrote. “We might not be able to afford everything that we want, and we must prioritize the most important functions of the district, the education of our children in the core subjects.”

Based on that model, Sandoval wrote, he plans to prioritize improving the way students learn if he is elected to the District 210 Board of Education.

He said that while the state has issued guidance on student performance and curriculum, too many times, the standards established in Springfield do not meet up with the local needs, goals, and challenges of students in districts like Lincoln-Way 210, he wrote.

Sandoval wrote that it is important for districts like 210 to break away from a model of one size fits all education and must focus on how local students can be best served. To that end, he said he is “willing to say no and push back” on proposals that do not align best with the needs of local students.

Like with other candidates who responded to the Patch questionnaire, Sandoval points to a lack of proficiency in reading, math, and science as a major concern for District 210 officials. While he said that those scores cannot be blamed on the current Board of Education, the board must, moving forward, work to find ways to better equip students toward a better overall education.

He said that too many times, the state has failed students, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and must do forward as districts like Lincoln-Way 210 move ahead.

“Our students have been significantly set back emotionally, socially, and academically,” Sandoval wrote. “Our teachers and students will be attempting to dig out of this hole for years to come.
“I have more confidence in the parents of this community to do what is in the best interest of the health of their children than I do in the politicians in Springfield. Our district did not advocate personal responsibility and medical freedom, and we need to embrace both ideals.”

The remaining candidates did not respond to repeated requests for participation in the Patch questionnaire surveys.