School Board Election

Figuring out for whom to vote in today’s school board election has been a puzzle. I’ve voted against two of the individuals running—Dan Coons and Amber Marty—in previous elections.

At 4:39 a.m. it looks like I’ll vote for Coons and Adam Haluska.

After reading the limited information available about this race, I changed my mind about Coons. He lists among his reasons for running the idea of providing continuity while the district completes current construction projects and the newly hired superintendent becomes acclimatized to his job. There is something to be said for that.

The other pick is where the puzzle comes in.

It’s between Adam Haluska, who’s lived in the district the last five years, and Jim Hauer who has lived here eight years. Both have children in district schools.

Haluska is a financial adviser for Edward Jones, originally from Carroll. In college he played basketball for the University of Iowa and continued professionally for a couple of years. He believes the district is hiring the right people to educate its children and said he doesn’t want to make waves with drastic changes. His father worked as a high school principal.

Hauer is from West Union where he started a commercial roofing business. He has 37 years experience owning and operating the business and has attended school board meetings and workshops over the last six months. He said he believes Solon schools are on the right track.

I would like to have read Haluska had been attending school board meetings. He hasn’t, although I’m not sure there is as much benefit in that as others suggest. There is plenty of continuity on the board even if Coons doesn’t win the election. What I’m looking for is level headedness and the energy and optimism of youth. Haluska appears to have that.

I reached out to some friends about the election and barring any shockers I’ll head to town and do my civic duty after the polls open.

School board elections are important and few people are talking about it this cycle. Turnout in our community trends higher as a percentage of registered voters than the gigantic Iowa City Community School District, so I’ll look forward to reading the returns on the county auditor web site after the polls close.