Election Day brings out voters in Huntley concerned for District 158 students, spending

When the polls opened at 6 a.m. Tuesday at the Huntley Village Hall, just one man was waiting to cast his vote before rushing off to work, said Eugene Jumbeck, who has worked as a technical election judge for 20 years.

By midday, though, a steady flow of voters – including those in the throes of raising families to some older voters – was moving through the polling place, the Huntley resident said.

“It’s been a good mix of voters,” Jumbeck said.

Tuesday marked Election Day for a slew of local races, including for municipalities, as well as school, park, library and fire protection districts, across McHenry County.

Schools were top of mind for many voters who turned out to vote in Huntley, including Jumbeck said, who said while he does not have any children of his own, a concern for children in area schools influenced his vote this year.

“I am always interested in school board issues,” he said.

The election marked the first school board contests in Illinois since reopening from the pandemic and a time that brought heightened emotions over how best to handle the public health crisis.

Since then, there also has been significant disagreement at various levels over the propriety of certain books that are considered LGBTQ friendly both at school and public libraries. Other divisions have emerged over the type of curriculum offered in classrooms including gender, sexuality and the nation’s history with race.

McHenry County ballots featured nearly four dozen competitive races and more than 360 candidates.

In Huntley, where 12 candidates are running for the Huntley School District 158 school board – nine for three four-year seats and three for one two-year seats – some of the concerns centered on finances, test scores that remain below pre-COVID-19 levels, and the overall educational climate, both candidates and voters said.

One of the voters motivated by those concerns was Dana Wiley, of Huntley, who two years ago ran unsuccessfully for the school board and still has two children attending Huntley High School.

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Election judge Tom Reichardt checks in a voter on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, during the 2023 consolidated election at Del Webb Sun City’s Prairie Lodge in Huntley. (Gregory Shaver — gshaver@shawmedia.com/Gregory Shaver for Shaw Media )

She said she wants spending in the district to be “done wisely” and parents to have some “insight and input” in their children’s education.

She is concerned with curriculum and discipline as well as spending on infrastructure, busses and maintenance, she said.

Wiley said she has no plans on running for the school board again, citing the “onslaught” of negativity spewed on social media. But, she said, she will continue to “praise people who are courageous enough to do so.”

The school board election also brought out Huntley residents, Bryan and Erin Reed, whose three children attended District 158 schools.

They said the health of the schools keeps the home values high in Huntley.

Having strong, healthy schools makes “Huntley a destination for good schools,” Bryan Reed said.

Erin Reed said she has concerns with some of the candidates running for the school board who are “far too extreme with their agenda.”

She said she has many friends who are teachers and voted for candidates who support the teachers union.

“We have to have a good school board looking out for students who stick to healthy agendas,” she said, adding that the school board also needs to focus on the financial health of the district, leave the teaching to the teachers, and not push social agendas.

“The social stuff is not what the school board is for,” Erin Reed said. “What kids are being taught needs to be left to the teachers.”

Suzanne Norten, also of Huntley, said though she has no children in the district and feels the community is in a good place, she voted in favor of school board candidates who “focus on academics rather than social” issues.

She voted based “just on Christian values,” Norten said.

Rich and Carolyn Restagno, who moved to Huntley from Lake County for lower taxes, said they cast their votes based on candidates who they think will keep their taxes from being raised.

The topic of finances was at the forefront of a candidate panel held in March where candidates discussed the school board’s decision in December to raise its property tax levy by the maximum allowed under state law.

Many school board hopefuls called foul on how the district prioritizes its finances while others defended the move, saying the amount the district spends per student is among the lowest in McHenry County and necessary to keep up with inflation.