District 161: Borgens, Perros Oust Incumbents

Running together, newcomers Stacey Borgens and George Perros captured two of the three open seats for Summit Hill School District 161's Board of Education, knocking out incumbents Ken Balcerzak and David J. Macek.

Current Board President Sean William Doyle, who campaigned jointly with Balcerzak and Macek, retained his seat.

Borgens was the high vote-getter with 761, followed by Perros (675) and Doyle (539), according to the unofficial results from the Will County Clerk's Office.

Balcerzak and Macek earned 473  and 493 votes, respectively. Candidates Michele Zilinskas and David Faber rounded out the race with 300 and 403 votes, respectively.

"Since this is my first campaign this is amazing," Borgens said. "I’m still in somewhat shock. I prepared for the worst and the most amazing thing happened. I hope to live up to all (the voters') expectations.

"I’m very excited about the people who came out and supported me and George," she added. "They know that we’re willing to put out the effort. We’re taking care of everyone. Not just the students, but the teachers and the taxpayers."

Borgens said the next step for her is to meet with administrators throught the district's schools and find out what their needs are. She also said she's preparing to spending a lot of time getting up to speed with the requirements of the job.

"I think it’s all a great big learning process," Borgens said. "I’m not going to say I’m an expert at any of this. It’s going to be homework, and I’m ready to do the homework. I said I was going to work hard for everybody."

But before she dives into the waters of being a newly elected school board member, Borgens, who has two children attending Summit Hill schools, has a few other things to do first. Like handling a book fair at and getting some shuteye. 

"This will probably be my first good night’s sleep," she said.

Bolded names=Winner