Politics & Government

Voters Retain Three Incumbents Who Saw Maine 207 Through Tough Times

Joann Braam, Donna Pellar and Sean Sullivan retain their seats.

Last year, , and sat at long meetings hashing out how to handle a projected $17 million deficit in Maine Township High School District 207's budget. 

It was a challenging task, and voters apparently want them to stay on the job. Last night, they re-elected the three incumbents to the District 207 Board of Education. 

"I plan on providing the best services we can and managing the district's finances as well as we can. I think the voters' message here was that they are satisfied with the operation of the current board," said Sullivan, who was the top vote-getter with 4,650 votes, or 26.2 percent of votes cast.

Find out what's happening in Niles-Morton Grovewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The district operates Maine West High School in Des Plaines and Maine South and Maine East High Schools in Park Ridge. Students from Morton Grove, Niles, Glenview, Park Ridge, Harwood Heights and Des Plaines attend the schools.

"I'm really happy and grateful that people have confidence in me," said Braam, who received 4,071 votes. "The message I try to get across is that we want to continue to have great schools but also make sure our finances are in the shape they need to be in the long term. I think people know we are fortunate for what we've got in terms of our schools."

Find out what's happening in Niles-Morton Grovewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Pellar-Ryden, whose 4,239 votes made her the second-highest vote-getter, could not be reached for comment. 

Challengers Marijo Bustos and Eric Poders also ran. Poders received 2,670 votes and Bustos got 2,088.

The district and board went through a period of turmoil last year, when it laid off 135 district employees.


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