Following the Nov. 6 election, the Klein ISD board of trustees bid farewell to two long-standing board members—Steve Szymczak and Bill Pilkington—at a Nov. 12 meeting. Julie Benes defeated Szymczak, who has been on the board since 2003, for Position 4, receiving 17,814 of 45,421 votes cast in the race, according to voting results provided by Harris County. Szymczak received 17,116 votes in the Position 4 race. At the board meeting, Szymczak, whose six children all graduated from Klein Oak High School, thanked his colleagues and various members of the community. “Too many of you to count have made my job as a trustee quite easy," he said. "The level of professionalism among Klein ISD staff is unparalleled in Texas.” Moving forward, Szymczak said he will remain active in the district as a volunteer, including working at homeless shelters and a food bank, as well as mentoring Klein ISD students and boys detained at the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center. “Worry not for this old board member,” he said. Pilkington, who served two terms as board president, also expressed gratitude for his time on the board. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than here," he said. "I think I got a whole lot more out of this board than anything I ever gave.”