Voter guide for Eastern Iowa school board seats on the November ballot

Residents of Corridor communities are gearing up to run for school boards as Iowa’s Nov. 7 local election approaches.

School boards establish the vision and goals for the public schools in their district and set standards for the performance of schools and superintendents, according to the National School Boards Association. School boards — whose members are unpaid in Iowa — typically are responsible for making the final financial and budgetary decisions for their schools and districts and ensure taxpayers get the most for their tax dollars.

This voter guide includes Cedar Rapids, College Community, Linn-Mar, Iowa City and Clear Creek Amana school boards. The Gazette will be speaking with candidates about their campaigns and priorities in future stories.

If there is a school board race in Linn or Johnson counties that you don’t see mentioned but think we should be covering — or are running in one of the races mentioned — let us know by emailing grace.king@thegazette.com.

The filing period to run for school board is Aug. 28 through 5 p.m. Sept. 21. There are no filing fees in Iowa.

Cedar Rapids

School board President David Tominsky, 47, vice president Cindy Garlock, 69, Dexter Merschbrock, 37, and Jen Neumann, 50, are running for re-election on the seven-member board. If reelected, this would be a second term for each of them.

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Tominsky, the chief relationship officer for the startup accelerator NewBoCo, said he’s passionate about all kids in Cedar Rapids getting a high-quality education.

“I’m excited about the prospect of our work with Dr. (Tawana) Grover as our leader and really transforming this community into something that is truly thriving,” Tominsky said. Grover began as superintendent of the district April 3.

“There’s so much more to do,” said Tominsky, commenting on the district’s $445 million facility proposal and addition of a magnet high school this fall.

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Garlock, a retired educator of 33 years who taught in the Cedar Rapids Community School District, said the school board has been “dealing with a lot” over the last four years. This includes navigating the COVID-19 pandemic; a derecho that damaged school buildings, some severely; a cybersecurity attack on the district last summer; and then-Superintendent Noreen Bush’s death.

“I feel like now is our time to actually do the work we all hoped to do four years ago,” Garlock said. “Right before everything fell apart, we were really looking at student achievement, and I think we need to get back to and focus on that again. That’s what we’re here for — to make sure kids get the best education they can.”

Dexter Merschbrock, 37, a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, said the Iowa public schools are “facing a crisis.” Merschbrock wants to continue to “bring the voice of the community” to the board table in a second term.

Some of his priorities include collective bargaining policies that promote cooperation with teachers and support staff; budget decisions that value essential workers first with higher pay and benefits; and expanding curriculum and programs to prepare students for careers in building trades, health care and education.

“My hope is to run a campaign that my own kids can look back on some day when they are older and be proud of as well,” Merschbrock said in a campaign statement.

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Jen Neumann, 50, owner and chief executive officer of deNovo Marketing in Cedar Rapids, said she feels a “level of responsibility” to remain on the board after it seated a new superintendent this year.

“We have a lot of kids who are dealing with mental health issues and learning loss from the pandemic,” Neumann said. “Teachers are stretched very thin. Supporting our educators is important. We can’t expect them to deliver quality education without giving them the tools they need to succeed.”

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College Community

School board President Randy Bauer, 68, Angie Ehle, 51, Greg Kelsey, 51, and Dawn Kousheh, 50, are running for re-election on the seven-member College Community school board.

Bauer, director of operational resources for Alliant Energy, has served on the board for 23 years and was first appointed to fill a resignation in 2000.

In another term, Bauer said he would support the district providing more technical and trade career opportunities for students in addition to the other career academies the district has invested in, like agriculture and health care.

“I’m pretty excited about what we’re doing with that,” Bauer said. “Not every student learns the same way, and there are a lot of opportunities to give our kids more exposure to careers they could think about post-high school.”

Bauer also serves on the board of directors for the Grant Wood Area Education Agency, which provides educational services to local schools. He previously was elected as mayor of Walford.

If reelected, this would be Ehle’s fourth term on the school board. Ehle is the nonprofit Wheelchair Ramp Accessibility Program coordinator and board liaison, director of youth ministries at First Presbyterian Church near Ely and serves on the Collins Retiree Volunteers in Iowa board of directors.

Ehle said she’s proud of the district’s “innovative” approach to teaching students and developing them as people.

“There’s opportunities to continue to grow,” Ehle said. “This fall, we’re starting girls’ rugby. I’m really excited for that to begin. We’re thinking ahead and outside of the box to give students so many ways to be successful.”

This would be Kelsey’s fifth term if reelected. Kelsey is a principal engineer in government systems at Collins Aerospace. Kelsey said he began as a school board member before his children were old enough to be students in the district.

“I felt it was important to have a voice on the governing board of the school district in which my children — my neighbors children — were enrolled and to try to effect positive change,” Kelsey said. “I still feel I have some thing to offer. I feel a civic duty personally, and that’s important to me.”

Kousheh, a clinical laboratory scientist at the University of Iowa, said she is proud of the district’s effort to complete a 10-year facility plan to address growing student enrollment. As a part of that plan, a new fifth and sixth grade school will open in August and the ninth grade center is expected to open in the fall of 2024.

This would be Kousheh’s second term if reelected. She was initially appointed to the board in July 2019 to fill a vacancy.

“For me, it’s giving back to the school district for the education our girls received,” Kousheh said, speaking about her two daughters.

Linn-Mar

School board President Brittania Morey, 42, and Barry Buchholtz, 67, are running for re-election on the seven-member Linn-Mar school board.

Vice President Clark Weaver, 73, and Sondra Nelson, 70, who both retired from teaching in the district before serving two four-year terms, are not running for re-election.

Morey, vice president of marketing and communications at the Hiawatha ICAN Student Success Center, said she is running for a second term because it’s “important to make sure we have strong public schools to support a strong community.”

Some of Morey’s priorities in a second term would be school funding and fulfilling the goals set in a strategic plan being presented to the school board Aug. 14. “We’ve set some pretty high goals,” she said.

Buchholz, a financial adviser at LPL Financial and owner of Buchholz Financial Services in Cedar Rapids, said he believes Linn-Mar is a really good school district with a good reputation that attracts educators and students.

If reelected, this would be Buchholtz fifth term on the board. He hopes to continue to focus on the growth of the district. It is in its second year of a five-year facility plan, which includes construction of a new administration building, a larger performance venue and an indoor athletic center added to the high school, among other projects.

Weaver, who is not running for re-election, said he would like to see other school board candidates put students first, as well as taking care of educators and support staff like bus drivers and people in the nutrition and custodial departments.

"I dearly love the district,“ said Weaver, who was a teacher, coach and substitute teacher for 49 years in Linn-Mar schools.

Iowa City

In Iowa City, Molly Abraham, 62, Charlie Eastham, 81, and Lisa Williams, 44, are running for re-election on the school board.

Maka Pilcher Hayek, 47, is not running for re-election. “I have learned a lot from sitting on the school board, but I want to continue my work in public education in different ways,” she said.

If elected, this would be Abraham’s first elected term on the school board. She was appointed to fill a vacancy on the board in September 2022.

Abraham, a retired educator who worked at West High School for 38 years, said she didn’t anticipate running for election.

“I changed my mind,” she said. “I had a long career working for public schools, and I want to continue to do that, collaborating with people, educators, families and other stakeholders to enhance our school district.”

If reelected, this would be a second term for Eastham, who retired from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics as a senior research assistant in the Department of Internal Medicine and as a computer consultant.

Eastham said he wants to continue to focus on reducing proficiency gaps for students of color, in English Language Learner programs, in special education and with lower socioeconomic statuses.

“One of my reasons for running again is because we have an excellent strategic plan and diversity, equity and inclusion plan that I think will allow us to improve the education experience for all students in the district,” Eastham said.

This would also be a second term for Williams, an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Iowa, if she were reelected.

Williams, who also coaches the City High School’s mock trial team, said she wants to continue working to expand preschool opportunities for families and increase students’ access to mental health services.

“The work we do on the school board is really important. It touches the lives of students and families in our community, and I find it really fulfilling,” Williams said.

Clear Creek Amana

Of the four school board members up for re-election on the seven-member Clear Creek Amana school board, only Jennifer Downes is running for another term.

Matt McAreavy, 53, Eileen Schmidt, 53, and Jen Mooney, 48, are not running for re-election.

McAreavy, who has served four terms on the school board, the first of which was an appointment to fill a vacancy, said he is proud of the work the school board has done.

During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, McAreavy said the district balanced “safety against panic,” and got students back in the classroom to learn.

The school board also hired a new superintendent, Corey Seymour, who began July 1, 2022.

Mooney, who served two terms on the board, said it’s “time for some new perspective” and families of younger students in the district to be in leadership positions.

Schmidt, who has served three terms in the school board, agreed that “it’s time for somebody else to jump in my seat,” she said.

How to run for office

To run for office, prospective candidates must file an affidavit of candidacy and collect signatures on nomination petitions.

Nomination petitions and affidavits of candidacy, as well as information on valid signatures, are available for Linn County cities at linncountyiowa.gov/vote under the “Candidate and Campaign Resources” tab.

In Johnson County, more information can be found on the auditor’s website at johnsoncountyiowa.gov/november-7-2023-city-and-school-election.

How to vote

The first day to request a mailed absentee ballot is Aug. 29.

Oct. 18 is the first day in-person early voting is allowed under state law. Early voting details will be shared by each county’s auditor’s office closer to the election.

The voter preregistration deadline is Oct. 23, which is also the deadline to request a mailed absentee ballot.

The last day of in-person early voting will be Nov. 6.

On Election Day, Nov. 7, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters must vote at their assigned polling place.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com