Aaron Graves reclaims top spot in Springfield Education Association

Aaron Graves, who resigned his seat as Springfield Education Association president a little over a year ago, defeated two other opponents Tuesday to reclaim the union's top position.

Graves won with 275 votes to Angie Meneghetti's 253 votes, according to official Illinois Education Association tallies. Jeffrey Garman finished with 109 votes and there were 33 write-in votes for Crysta Weitekamp, a former SEA president and the current second vice president.

Previously: School union presidency race Tuesday pits some familiar names against one another

Graves has served as first vice president since January when he won a special election. He is a sixth-grade literature/writing teacher at Grant Middle School.

Meneghetti is the current SEA president and will remain in that position until June 10.

Meneghetti became SEA president in February 2021 after Graves resigned after being arrested by Springfield police on suspicion of domestic battery.

Graves was not formally charged in the Jan. 31, 2021, incident.

In March, Meneghetti defeated Garman in a special election.

Leslie Termine of Washington Middle School ran for first vice president unopposed.

The SEA has 1,168 members, according to the IEA. In addition to teachers, there are education support personnel, security officers, social workers and case workers, speech pathologists and librarians, among other professionals.

Voting took place in each of the school buildings Tuesday though the votes weren't tabulated in the IEA offices until Wednesday.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.