Election nets no changes to Bourbonnais School Board

BOURBONNAIS – Five members swore an oath to continue to serve on the Bourbonnais Elementary School Board this week.

There will be no new faces on the board, however, as all who earned seats in the April 1 consolidated election were incumbents.

Officer positions will also remain the same.

During its Tuesday reorganization meeting, the board voted to keep longtime member Jayne Raef in her role as board president.

Stephan Moulton will also keep his role as vice president, and Kelly Dunnill will remain secretary.

“Because it was the same board members, it was probably the easiest reorganizational meeting I’ve had,”said Superintendent Adam Ehrman. “Same board members, same people in the same positions.”

The canvassed returns from Kankakee County Clerk Dan Hendrickson, which were certified April 15, showed the final vote tallies for all six candidates running for four-year terms, as well as the unopposed candidate seeking a two-year term.

A total of 3,701 votes were counted in the race for the four-year terms.

The top vote earners were: Jamie Freedlund (2,225 votes), Erika Young (2,221 votes), Betsy Keller (2,055 votes) and Stephan Moulton (1,748 votes).

The two challengers – Kevin Haberzetle (1,312 votes) and Fredda Rodewald (1,176 votes) – did not earn enough votes to unseat any of the incumbents.

Brian Fritz was appointed to the board in June 2023. He filled the vacancy left after former member Nicole McCarty did not run for reelection.

Fritz ran unopposed to complete the unexpired two-year term, bringing in a total of 2,619 votes.

Along with Fritz, the terms of Raef and Dunnill will expire in 2027.