Richmond-Burton to see two open seats after board president resignation, election

With one board member resigning and another seat left without a candidate in the upcoming April 4 election, the Richmond-Burton High School District 157 board will need to appoint two members to its ranks.

Board President Tracey Highley resigned from the board this week, citing a move out of the district, Superintendent Tom Lind said.

Highley was in the process of renovating a home in McHenry before the resignation “but was a resident of Richmond still” at the time of her departure, Lind said.

Highley’s seat was not up for election this year, Lind said. She was reelected to a four-year term in 2021, so her seat will need to be filled by appointment.

Jennifer Read was named the District 157 board president after Highley’s departure.

We will put an application out and start taking names of those who want to do it.

—  Superintendent Tom Lind

Six seats are up this year, although only five candidates filed. Read and Jeremy Miller were both appointed to the board and are running for two of the three open two-year seats.

Incumbents Steve Holtz, Dawn Holian and Elizabeth Furlan are running for four-year terms.

A sixth seat currently held by Oscar Ramirez also will be filled by appointment, Lind said.

“We will put an application out and start taking names of those who want to do it” for both seats, Lind said. Prospective board members then will be interviewed by the board, which will choose the replacements, Lind said.

Lind also is superintendent for Nippersink School District 2. The two districts share office space and staff.

District 2 has four open seats, three of which are four-year terms. Five candidates – Alie Stansbury, Ryan R. Andrus, Joe Quinn, Tom Schwartz and Natalie Mailfald – are running for the four-year terms, and Mary Shufelt is running for the two-year seat.

One incumbent, Marcy Garrison, withdrew from the District 2 race, according to the McHenry County Clerk’s Office.

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