D228 Board President's Candidacy Still Up in the Air

Bremen High School District 228 school board president Deb Stearns and the rest of the school district community will have to wait a little longer to find out if she will be on the April 9 ballot. Resident Ronald Szabo objected to her candidacy, and appeared before the district's Education Officers Electoral Board on Friday, Jan. 11.

During the special meeting of the electoral board, Stearns's lawyer, John Murphy, outlined a motion to dismiss Ron Szabo's objections to her candidacy. Murphy spent the majority of the nearly half-hour meeting explaining why the electoral board should dismiss the objections before answering questions from the board about his motion.

Murphy said there were several reasons to dismiss the challenge, the first being that Szabo did not "state the interest of the objector." Murphy said that without the statement, the objection itself was invalid. 

"The statement of interest is missing, that is a fundamental flaw of which justifies dismissal of this petition," Murphy told the board.

Board members heard a majority of Murphy's motion before stopping the proceedings to ask if Szabo would like a few days to go over the motion and form a written response. Szabo, who is acting without legal council, took the opportunity and was given until Wednesday, Jan. 16, at 9 a.m. to file a written response.

Following Szabo's potential reply to Murphy's motion, the board will reconvene on Jan. 23, to make a final decision on Stearns' candidacy and if she can remain on the ballot.