First African American elected to the Morton High school District 201 board in Cicero & Berwyn

Keating, Kelly, & Jaramillo-Flores Reelected, Lwanga Becomes 1st African American Elected to Board  

In Morton High School District 201 election results from Tuesday's Cook County Consolidated Election, incumbents Joe Keating, Margaret Kelly, and Jessica Jaramillo-Flores were reelected to new terms on the board. Kasumba "Kal" Lwanga of Berwyn was elected to fill the post of retiring board member Laura Martin-Salazar.

In all, eleven candidates stood for election on Tuesday. Below are the winning candidates vote totals:

Jessica Jaramillo-Flores (NonPartisan) — 14.25% — 4,458
Kasumba ''Kal'' Lwanga (NonPartisan) — 11.85% — 3,708
Margaret A. Kelly (NonPartisan) — 16.22% — 5,074
Joseph E. Keating (NonPartisan) — 15.28% — 4,781

With his victory, Kal Lwanga becomes the first African-American to be elected to the Morton 201 Board.

“I am deeply grateful for the support I received from the voters of the Morton District 201,” said Lwanga. “This historic win could not have happened without the belief that my supporters had in the idea that Morton High School is an institution that has endured for more than a century and can only continue to succeed with our collective investment in our children. I humbly accept the charge I have been given to fight for the best education this great community can offer its young people, and I look forward to working with Board President Jeffry Pesek and the rest of the Board.”

Morton 201 Board President Jeffry Pesek congratulated the victorious candidates and looked forward to rolling up his sleeves and working with them in the future.

“In the past few years, the Morton 201 Board of Education has worked hard to balance our budget, deal with an ever-declining level of funding from the ever-unstable State of Illinois, all while working to ensure that we provide the best possible education we can to the students in our charge," added Board President Jeffry Pesek. “Joe Keating, Margaret Kelly, and Jessica Jaramillo-Flores have been a vital part of that effort. And, we look forward to working with Kal Lwanga and all the members of the Board as we strive to continue to improve Morton 201 as we move into the future.”

The reelected and newly elected members of the Morton 201 Board of Education will be sworn in and take office at the District’s May 7th board meeting.

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