Tag: 2021 SSB Election

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Living in Society

Solon School Board Election Update

Typical of off grid communications that go on during a school board election, I found out by happenstance the Solon Economist will host a candidate forum for the Solon School Board election on Wednesday, Oct. 20, at 6:30 p.m. at the Solon Center for the Arts. If you can, please attend. Thankfully the forum was moved to a larger venue than in 2019. This is the only announced forum to date and it’s typically the big one.

This blog is planning to cover the forum, and I expect will get to press before the larger, more clunky news organizations with printing presses, cutoff times, and such.

The significance of the date is this: Oct. 18 is the last day to request an absentee ballot from the Johnson County Auditor’s office. When candidates and their canvassers are talking to voters, they shouldn’t wait until the forum to get an absentee ballot. Request one now. The completed, mailed ballot is due into the auditor’s office by 8 p.m. on election day.

The auditor’s office indicated a petition was received for satellite voting at Solon High School. Details to come once it is announced. Monday, Oct. 4, is the deadline for petitions for satellite voting.

This is a good time to mention other election deadlines. These are copied and pasted from the auditor’s website:

Dates and deadlines
  • Tuesday, August 24: First day auditor’s office can accept requests for mailed absentee ballots, 70 days before election day.
  • Tuesday, October 5: There will be no City Primary Election in Iowa City or University Heights. (Other cities do not have a primary requirement.)
  • Monday, October 11: Johnson County does not observe the federal Columbus Day holiday and our office will be open.
  • Wednesday, October 13: First day absentee ballots can be mailed and first day in person early voting is allowed by state law. Note that ballots are not required to be ready by this date. More information on when voting will start will be available closer to Election Day.
  • Monday, October 18: Voter pre-registration deadline and deadline to request mailed ballot, 5 PM. In person early voting and election day registration are still available after this deadline.
  • Monday, November 1: Last day for in person early voting at auditor’s office.
  • Tuesday, November 2: Election Day. Polls open 7 AM to 8 PM. Vote at regular polling places. All domestic mailed absentee ballots must arrive at auditor’s office before the polls close at 8 PM in order to be counted.

Click here for all of my coverage of the Solon School Board Election.

Categories
Living in Society

Solon School Board Candidates on Facebook

While working on my election coverage, I found six of seven candidates for three positions on the Solon School Board are campaigning or have pages devoted to school board on Facebook.

Incumbent Dan Coons does not have a public Facebook page, so readers can watch for coverage of his campaign in the Solon Economist or at the upcoming public forum.

Here is an alphabetical list of candidates and their Facebook pages:

Erika Billerbeck: https://www.facebook.com/Billerbeck-for-Solon-School-Board-100985075683571/

Tim Brown: https://www.facebook.com/TimBrownSCSD

Dan Coons: No public Facebook page.

Kelly Edmonds: https://www.facebook.com/Edmonds4Solon/

Stacey Munson: https://www.facebook.com/Stacey-Munson-for-Solon-School-Board-108708788241054/

Michael Neuerburg: https://www.facebook.com/MikeforSolonSchoolBoard/

Cassie Rochholz: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100055956696963

Give the links a click and learn more about the candidates.

Click here for all of my coverage of the Solon School Board Election.

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Living in Society

Participate in the School Board Election

Editor’s Note: The plan for Solon School Board election coverage is to post at least one weekly article on Saturdays until the election. I am looking at data provided by the county and will have an analysis soon. I’ve been told there will be a candidate forum and like in 2019 I plan to attend and cover it. Both the Solon Economist and Iowa City Press Citizen indicated they will provide some coverage of the campaigns. All of my posts about the 2021 school board election can be found here.

I encourage readers to participate in the Nov. 2 Solon School Board Election. In 2019 we had record voter turnout. It would be great if voter turnout improved this year.

The seven candidates are Erika Billerbeck, Tim Brown, Dan Coons, Kelly Edmonds, Stacey Munson, Michael Neuerburg, and Cassie Rochholz. Their addresses, emails and telephone numbers were posted on the Johnson County Auditor’s website. We increasingly live in a do-it-yourself news environment so I recommend if you have questions about policy, go directly to the candidates.

The main controversy in the district has been handling of the coronavirus pandemic by school administration. The board hired Davis Eidahl as superintendent in 2015 and renewed his contract at least once. Eidahl and his predecessor Sam Miller spent time together as principals in the Davis County school district near Ottumwa. Based on their common background it is clear continuity has been important to the school board. COVID-19 threw administration a curve ball and the fallout has not finished. Will this be a change election? That depends upon participation.

What the school board does is important whether or not we have children of school age. One thing is certain: Solon cares about school board elections.

~ Published by the Solon Economist on Oct. 7, 2021.

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Writing

A Nonpartisan School Board

To run for school board a candidate submits a nominating petition with at least 50 district voters’ signatures on it to the school district office. There is no party affiliation and everyone so nominated is placed on the ballot. I heard on Thursday ballots have been finalized and sent to the printer.

I will analyze the nominating petition signatures when I receive them from the county. They are a public record available by paying a small fee. I won’t be sharing any secrets because nominating petitions aren’t secret.

For now, I have the voter profile for each of the seven candidates for Solon Community School District board of directors. They are Erika Billerbeck, Tim Brown, Dan Coons, Kelly Edmonds, Stacey Munson, Michael Neuerburg, and Cassie Rochholz.

There is a lot of information in these documents, which are also public records. For now, I’m most interested in party registration, the effective date when the candidate registered to vote, and in what recent school board elections they voted. I make no judgment about the candidates by posting this chart. It is data sent by the county, selected and formatted by me.

Data provided by the Johnson County Auditor

Electing someone to the school board is definitely not partisan. More than in other elections a voter seeks the best person for the job. While that seems like an antique idea in a society where everything is politicized, the best board members are not defined by party. Likewise, formal political parties have little influence over school boards.

During the 2019 Solon School Board election there were six candidates for two positions on the board. Three were Republicans, two no party, and one Democratic. Two Republicans won the election, Adam Haluska and Jami Wolf. The dynamic of the race was anti-incumbent because of recently completed collective bargaining between the district and the union. The negotiations drove some to run for school board. I spent as much time as anyone figuring out which candidates would meet my goals for board members. I ended up liking each of the six candidates for different reasons, none of which was party. Party membership played no role in my choice. My sense is it doesn’t for most people voting in a school board election.

Thus far I have spoken with one of the seven 2021 candidates. Like everyone, I’m learning. The dynamic of the election is complicated by the coronavirus pandemic. If the election is a referendum on the school district’s policies regarding COVID-19 and how those policies are implemented, I believe the election favors the two incumbents and another candidate who offers something compelling to voters, the way Jami Wolf did in 2019. It is possible the incumbents could lose the election yet they have broad name recognition within the district and have each been elected multiple times. A challenger will face a steep, difficult summit of the mountain that is incumbency.

Looking at school board candidates through a partisan lens is one factor among many. I don’t recommend making too much of the chart. Do look at it, though, and draw your own conclusions.

Here is a link to the county auditor site where readers can find contact information for the candidates. Do phone or send them an email with your questions. I hope you’ll follow my posts as we learn more about the community and the seven candidates for school board.

All of my posts about the 2021 election can be found here.

Categories
Living in Society

Solon School Board Election

When the Solon community is unsettled about how K-12 schools are being managed, a lot of candidates run for school board. Thursday, Sept. 16, was the filing deadline for the Nov. 2 election and seven candidates filed for three non-partisan positions. They are:

  • Erika Billerbeck
  • Timothy Brown (incumbent)
  • Dan Coons (incumbent)
  • Kelly Edmonds
  • Stacey Munson
  • Michael Neuerberg
  • Cassie Rochholz

I have biases in this race based on who and what I know about the candidates and issues. That is part and parcel of living in a community and other voters may feel the same way. I plan to research all seven and lay out their agenda as much as it is spoken in public and knowable. There will be a series of posts to make up for the lack of coverage by major television, radio and print media. I intend to stay neutral although I already know who will get two of my three votes.

My agenda is straight forward. 1). Make sure there is adequate, timely coverage of relevant events in the election process. 2). Include all the candidates. 3). Elect another woman to the board to work toward gender equity. 4). Make sure no political extremists are elected to the board.

The right wing Heritage Foundation and their political action group Heritage Action have a presence in Eastern Iowa. They targeted school boards nationwide in the upcoming elections. Centered primarily on opposition to what they call “critical race theory,” the cadre of their activists includes many anti-vaxxers. In our district I don’t expect there to be a problem, yet I want to evaluate each candidate using this litmus test. As a former chair of the county board of health, I know vaccinations will mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in our community. I have little tolerance for political candidates who are anti-vaxxers. Here’s hoping there aren’t any.

There is dissent about the school district decision to not mandate face coverings on school property after a federal judge put a stay on the recent law prohibiting mask mandates. Signatures were collected on a petition for a mask mandate and submitted at the Sept. 16 school board meeting. The way the coronavirus pandemic was handled by the district will be an election issue.

In 2019 the board’s handling of contract negotiations with the union was not well received. Discontent resulted in six candidates for two board positions. In the end, voters supported the incumbent instead of throwing him out over collective bargaining. If it wasn’t important enough to convince voters to remove the incumbent when it was a hot issue, it becomes part of the background noise. If incumbents Brown and Coons lose this election, it won’t be solely about the collective bargaining agreement.

Post filing deadline, candidates are busy deciding about their campaigns. The main decisions are about budgets, yard signs, a campaign website, and how to win votes. Those that carefully deliberate on these four things and work hard to execute their plan will come out on top.

This is an election about whether dissatisfaction about the way the district is being run will be enough to remove two incumbents, who themselves are strong candidates with a record.

Here is a link to the county auditor site where readers can find contact information for the candidates. Do phone or send them an email with your questions. I hope you’ll follow my posts as we learn more about the community and the seven candidates who seek a position on the Solon Community School District board of directors.

My posts about the 2019 school board election are here.

Click here for all of my 2021 coverage of the Solon School Board Election.