schools110409

On the homepage

Vikings

Favre's stats put him in MVP picture

Out There

Pardon Board

Petters

Petters jury will resume deliberations Tuesday

Home | Local + Metro | East Metro

Elections move St. Paul school board to next task: Hiring a superintendent

A mix of newcomers and incumbents appeared headed for victory, shuffling the makeup of several metro-area school boards.

By GREGORY A. PATTERSON, Star Tribune

Last update: November 4, 2009 - 12:06 AM

Print this story

Follow local news on Twitter

More from East Metro

The St. Paul school board is getting two new members, and Mayor Chris Coleman could be getting a louder voice on solutions to help the district raise student achievement.

Vallay Moua Varro, Coleman's top education aide, easily won Tuesday's special election for a two-year seat over real estate agent and businessman Pat Igo. That seat came open in the summer when Tom Conlon resigned.

In the race for three four-year seats, Jean O'Connell, Elona Street-Stewart and John Brodrick prevailed. O'Connell, a retired 3M executive and political independent who ran a campaign that stressed her ties to community business, will be the second newcomer to the board.

The board is facing several challenges, including hiring a new superintendent and working through tight budgets.

Sounding very much like current school board members, Varro said, "My number one job right now is to get the superintendent hired." Because Varro is taking a seat that opened through a resignation, she could be sworn in as early as next week, she said.

Newcomer O'Connell isn't scheduled to be sworn in until January. Still, she said, she would like to weigh in on the superintendent search, which the board plans to conclude by the end of November.

Street-Stewart, O'Connell and Brodrick edged out incumbent Tom Goldstein.

Edina

Incumbent Jeff Johnson was last in the five-candidate field for four seats. With nearly 90 percent of the votes counted, Johnson trailed Lonni Skrentner by a few votes. Incumbents Idith Almog and Randy Meyer were the leading vote-getters. Challenger Regina Neville was the third-place vote getter.

Forest Lake

Three candidates who joined forces beat two incumbents. Taking the early lead were Kathleen Bystrom, Karen Morehead and Erin Turner. Forest Lake schools have struggled under tight budgets in recent years, and board members have disagreed over whether they should propose a levy increase to voters for more school funding.

Bloomington

At least one incumbent appeared headed for defeat as challenger Melissa Halvorson Wiklund was the leading vote-getter among the 15 candidates vying for four school board seats. Four incumbents were on the ballot, but incumbent Maureen Peterson was trailing another incumbent, Mark Hibbs, for the fourth and final spot with about half of the 33 precincts counted.

St. Anthony-New Brighton

Two school board candidates who criticized the district for open-enrolling hundreds of students from other districts were behind as of late Tuesday.

Sandor Miko and Kelly Everhart appeared to be going down to defeat, according to incomplete election results. Both had made a campaign issue out of the district's acceptance of students who lived outside the district but enrolled in St. Anthony-New Brighton schools. Such students make up 45 percent of the St. Anthony-New Brighton student population. Miko and Everhart charged that the students from outside were clogging district schools and forcing district residents to pay more taxes to renovate district schools.

South Washington County

With four seats contested, challenger David Kemper, a network technician from Woodbury, led the field. Incumbents Marsha Adou and Tracy Brunnette appeared to be holding onto their seats, and newcomer Laurie Johnson also appeared to be prevailing.

Belle Plaine

One of first final results of the night came in this tiny district, where Gary Steinhagen defeated incumbent Jennifer Johnson. Another newcomer to the board will be Jeremy Updike, who joined incumbents Mike Daly and Judy Nagel to win four-year seats.

Staff writers Heron Estrada Marquez, Sarah Lemagie and Norman Draper contributed to this report. Gregory A. Patterson • 612-673-7287

Recent East Metro stories

St. Paul superintendent vote set for Monday - November 4, 2009

St. Paul superintendent vote set for Monday - The final three candidates for St. Paul schools chief have different backgrounds and each brings a unique set of strengths. More

Six suburbs elect new mayors; councils also see fresh faces - November 4, 2009

Six suburbs elect new mayors; councils also see fresh faces - From Prior Lake to Lino Lakes, voters had their say on issues of taxation, development and fiscal philosophy. More