Scott Williams, swilliams@wolfrivermedia.com
Shawano School Board member Bruce Milavitz was apparently ousted Tuesday in a four-way contest to fill three board seats representing the city of Shawano.
Unofficial final results show Milavitz finishing in fourth place, just nine votes behind newcomer Rich Belongia, who finished the night with 2,469 votes to Milavitz’s final tally of 2,460 votes.
Belongia recently made an unsuccessful attempt to become Shawano’s next mayor.
School Board incumbents Diane Hoffman and Derek Johnson were re-elected by relatively comfortable margins. Hoffman finished first with 3,431 votes and Johnson finished second with 2,655 votes.
Hoffman, who will be serving her sixth term on the board, said she was pleased that voters seemingly understood her position on school issues and that she is willing to listen. She predicted positive things for the district in the next three years.
“I see us moving forward in a positive direction,” she said.
Milavitz, a local business owner, was seeking his second term on the School Board.
Belongia, also a local business owner, pledged to bring new ideas to the school district and to work “side by side” with teachers to improve the schools.
The winners will each get a three-year term on the board. Members are paid $60 a meeting.
The district also had an open board seat Tuesday representing the town of Herman, to complete an unexpired term. Nobody filed to run for that seat, and there was no immediate indication if anyone won with write-in votes.