Kate Amaral expects to stay involved in Lake Bluff School District 65 after falling short in her bid for one of three vacancies on the school board in Tuesday's election.

Amaral, who ran as an independent candidate, collected 374 votes to leave her trailing the three candidates endorsed by the Lake Bluff School Board Caucus: Susan Rider (448 votes), Mark Barry (396) and Leigh Ann Charlot (391).

"I'm glad I ran," said Amaral, who has served as Lake Bluff PTO president this past year. "I'm pleased with the dialogue it fostered and initiated a lot of conversation by people with ideas and feelings about the district."

"That alone is good," she added. "It increases the involvement of the community."

Amaral said greater communication by the school district emerged as an important issue for all the candidates, and now she said it will be the new board's job to follow through.

"It's clear people want more communication," she said.