Sunith Kartha was elected president of the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board of Education Monday night, beating the incumbent president, Candance Chow, in a 4-3 vote.
It was a surprise ending to an otherwise routine night, when Kartha and Chow began a new four-year term, while newly elected members Lindsay Cohen and Joseph Hailpern took their seats at the board table.
Running unopposed for vice president of the board was Anya Tanyavutti.
In addition to Kartha, Chow, Tanyavutti, Cohen, and Hailpern, the other two members of the board are Omar Brown and Sergio Hernandez.
Lavish tributes were paid to outgoing board members Tracy Quattrocki, a past president, and Claudia Garrison, who served last year as the board’s vice president. Neither of them had sought reelection this time around.