Iowa City voters to decide special school board election Tuesday

IOWA CITY - J.P. Claussen, Paul Roesler and Janice Weiner square off Tuesday in a special election to determine who fills an open seat on the Iowa City school board.

The winner is to weigh in on issues that have divided the board in recent months, including facilities planning and attendance zones.

The expedited special election process - which lasted about five weeks - came after board member Tom Yates resigned on May 13.

Either Claussen, Roesler or Weiner is to fulfill the rest of his term, which expires in September 2019.

The new board member is to be sworn in on July 26, the first school board meeting after the election, board President Chris Lynch said.

How the vote turns out is likely to tip the board's decision concerning the drawing of attendance zones for Liberty High - the district's third high school - opening in fall 2017, and the fate of Hoover Elementary, 2200 E. Court St., which was slated to be closed as part of the district's 10-year Master Facility Plan.

Claussen said he supports revisiting keeping Hoover Elementary open, while Roesler and Weiner said it's in the district's best interest to close the school.

On boundary issues, Claussen supports routing Kirkwood Elementary students to nearby Northwest Junior High and West High, while Roesler and Weiner would route those students - most of whom are considered low-income - to North Central Junior High and Liberty High in an effort to balance socioeconomic levels across all three high schools.

Despite these key issues, Lynch said he expects low voter turnout due to the timing of Tuesday's vote.

'It's a challenging time in the middle of summer,” Lynch said. 'You combine that with generally low turnout when there's a (regular) election in September - that's a challenge.”

It's difficult to predict Tuesday's turnout because it's the first of its kind in Johnson County, said John Deeth, an elections technician with the Johnson County Auditor's Office.

'We've never had one that was a special election just for the Iowa City school board,” he said. 'So there's not really a benchmark to go by.”

School board elections generally draw few registered voters, Deeth said. The highest rate - during a regular school board election in 2013 - was 11.9 percent.

About 66,700 eligible voters were registered as of last week, he said.

Polling places for the school board election are different from regular polling spots, said Deputy Auditor Carrie Nierling. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

She recommended checking your polling place online at jcauditor.com or by calling 319-356-6004.

Votes are to be counted once polling places close, she said, and unofficial results should be published on the auditor's website soon after.