EVERETT — In a tight race for a spot on the Everett School Board, incumbent Karen Madsen is trailing district watchdog Jessica Olson by less than 200 votes. It appears both will advance to the general election on Nov. 3.

In the competition for another Everett School Board seat, Pastor Jeff Russell is leading, with retired Navy captain Pam LeSesne in second place.

The top two vote-getters in each race advance to the general election.

Controversy involving school leaders motivated several people to run for the six-year school board seats.

Everett School District leaders have come under fire for secretly recording a teacher in her classroom, racking up more than $200,000 in attorney fees related to legal battles over student newspapers, and hiring a new superintendent without giving the community a chance to comment on the finalists.

Olson has criticized school leaders for making decisions under “a cloak of secrecy” and avoiding questions from taxpayers.

“I thought my message might resonate well with people who have had it up to here with what’s been going on in the district,” the homemaker said.

She believed in her message but didn’t expect to get so many votes in her first run for public office.

“I’m shocked,” she said. “I’m really pretty stunned. I really thought I’d be finishing third.”

She planned to celebrate by taking her kids for a milkshake at McDonald’s.

She has 41 percent of the vote, to Madsen’s 40 percent in the race for position 4 on the school board.

Retired teacher Annie Lyman is in last place with 16 percent.

Madsen is president of the Washington School District Directors’ Association and has served on the Everett School Board for 12 years. She is an educational consultant who taught high school science for 10 years.

Madsen has touted improvements made during her time on the board — including an increase in the number of students taking challenging courses and rising graduation rates.

She did not immediately return calls Tuesday night.

In the race for Position 3, Russell has a comfortable lead with 4,727 votes — 47 percent. LeSesne has 3,778 votes — 38 percent, and Bennie Walthall, a retired urban planner and architectural designer, is in last place with 1,150 votes — 12 percent.

Russell has served on the Everett Public Schools Foundation and the district’s Career Technical Education Advisory Committee. He believes the community’s familiarity with him may have helped set him apart from his competitors. He also believed his message resonated with voters.

He wants schools to pay more attention to students interested in vocational education, and he believes the school board should operate more openly.

“Given some of the recent well-publicized missteps in the school district, I think people are eager to hear a message that the school board will be transparent and collaborative in their decision-making,” he said.

LeSesne has tutored students and believes high school students should have an adult mentor in addition to their parents. LeSesne, who has a mechanical engineering master’s degree, also supports a rigorous math and science curriculum.

She did not immediately return calls Tuesday night.

Everett is one of the state’s largest districts with 26 schools, more than 18,000 students and a $188 million annual operations budget. The position pays $50 a meeting, up to $4,800 a year.

Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292, kmanry@heraldnet.com.