The Evanston/Skokie District 65 School Board elected member Mary Rita Luecke as board president in a highly debated 4-3 vote at a Monday school board meeting.

Board member Julie Chernoff, who has served on the board since April 2003, was elected vice president. Chernoff ran against newly elected board member Jerome Summers and also won in a 4-3 vote.

Luecke ran against newly re-elected board member Mary Erickson for the one-year president position.

Luecke was elected board president in April 2003 but stepped down from the position in September 2004 after the board voted to extend Superintendent Hardy Murphy’s contract for three years. Luecke, who wanted to extend Murphy’s contract by only one year, said she could not ethically agree with the three-year extension because the district’s goals did not reach that far into the future.

“I think the work of the district merited a one-year extension,” Luecke said after Monday’s meeting. “When you have long-term contracts you should have long- term goals.”

During the meeting, board member Marianne Kountoures questioned Luecke’s ability to work with the superintendent.

“You go to work with the board you have, not the board you want,” Luecke said.

At least two board members and Superintendent Murphy said they were offended by this statement.

“I’m appalled by that comment,” Kountoures said.

Luecke said she thinks she and Murphy will be able to work together as they have in the past.

Kountoures and other school board members also questioned Luecke’s ability to return to a position that they said she left abruptly.

“As the leader when things go well … you accept the applause,” Summers said. “When things don’t go well, you take the heat.”

Luecke said she has demonstrated her ability to lead under difficult times, such as when outgoing School Board President Hecky Powell used the term “mutt” to refer to bi-racial children at a school board meeting in March 2003. The comment — which Powell made before he took over as board president — attracted a lot of media attention.

“I didn’t step away from the heat with that,” Luecke said.

Board member Jonathan Baum, who voted for Luecke, said she “led this board with dignity.”

“She stepped down as a matter of conscious,” he said.

Luecke said she feels the board should consider electing the president at a meeting that is not open to the public.

“I’m not sure airing dirty laundry (to the public) is the best way to build a well-functioning board,” she said.

Also at Monday’s meeting, before the new board members took their seats, exiting Board President Powell and board member Bob Eder each were presented with a silver engraved bowl to honor their service on the board.

Superintendent Murphy hailed Powell’s work as a school board president.

“I am proud of you,” Murphy said. “You have been a role model.”

Kountoures said Powell is someone “you want in the trenches with you.”

Powell did not run for another term in the April election. In a past interview, he said he wants to devote more time to his restaurant, Hecky’s Barbeque, 1902 Green Bay Road.

“It has been a productive four years,” Powell said Monday.

Powell praised the board’s ability to balance the budget and successfully negotiate employee contracts without strikes. He also said test scores among black students are the highest they have ever been.

Eder ran for another term but he was unable to win a seat on the board. In the April 5 election, he fell less than 500 votes short of Summers.

“I’ve really appreciated (Eder’s) ability to ask the tough questions,” said District 65 Chief Financial Officer Ed White.

Newly elected school board members Summers and Sharon Sheehan, as well as current school board members Erickson and new president Luecke were sworn into office at the meeting.

Chernoff said she is excited to work with Sheehan, who is a math teacher at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, Ill.

“I’m thrilled to have a teacher on the board,” Chernoff said.

Reach Lensay Abadula at [email protected].