District 25, County Agree: School Board Candidate Lives Within The Boundaries

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — Despite questions over her residency, the first-time candidate who received the most votes in Tuesday's election for the Arlington Heights School District 25 board is living in the system's boundaries, according to officials who consulted records from 80 years ago.

Anisha Ismail Patel captured 20.54 percent of the votes (3,188) Tuesday in the District 25 race for its four open board seats, according to the unofficial results by the Cook County Clerk's office. Before the election, however, questions arose over which district Patel actually lived in. Boundary lines indicated that her home in the 500 block of East Lincoln Street, where her family has lived since 2008, was actually in Community Consolidated School District 59, even though her three kids attend District 25 schools. Patel's situation is not unique; several other houses on that block face a similar situation.

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On Thursday, the Cook County Clerk's office determined Patel does indeed live in District 25, according to the Daily Herald. To make their ruling, officials used records from Aug. 11, 1937, to determine where the boundaries were, the report stated. Those documents show that land that includes Patel's home was annexed into the district, the report added.

Patel's house is one of three in that area that District 25 officials are looking at because of a discrepancy in boundaries, the report stated. Even though the residencies should be part of the district, the actual boundary lines say otherwise, the report added.

RELATED: Residency Issue Could Spoil 1st-Time District 25 Candidate's Potential Win

"I am relieved to put this matter behind me and behind us as a community," Patel told the Herald.

Although county officials had established Patel's residency, the district still needed time to do their own due dilligence. In a letter to parents, Superintendent Lori Bien said the school system also determined that Patel was a district resident, receiving confirmation from lawyers Friday afternoon.

"I wish I could have made a statement sooner, but we were doing our due diligence as a Board and we needed to wait until we had final guidance from the Cook County Clerk and the School District’s attorney to make sure this issue was resolved," Board President David Page stated in a message included in the superintendent's letter.

Once election results are certified and made official by the county April 25, Patel will be sworn with the other three top vote-getters during the board's April 27 meeting:

• Erin Johannesen: 17.47 percent (2,712)
• David Page: 15.77 percent (2,448)
• Richard Olejniczak: 15.03 percent (2,333)

More via the Daily Herald

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