Duluth school board voter's guide

DULUTH — Four of seven Duluth school board seats are on the city's general election ballot next week, with six candidates vying for slots. Three people are running for two at-large seats: Incumbent Kelly Durick Eder, Loren Martell and Amber Sadowski. Incumbent Sally Trnka is not pursuing re-election. Incumbent Rosie Loeffler-Kemp faces Bogdana Krivogorsky for the District 1 seat and District 4 incumbent, Jill Lofald, is running unopposed. The Star Tribune asked each candidate questions about issues facing the board. Answers were edited for length.

Loeffler-Kemp, 60, lives in the Lester Park neighborhood of Duluth and works with Gayle Koop Foster Care and Education First.

Why are you running?

I've been active for 27 years on public education issues and have served on numerous school and community boards that work on behalf of youth and families. Using my eight years of experience as a school board member and my knowledge as a highly involved parent that has seen four children recently graduated from Duluth Public Schools, I look forward to serving the community again. I am passionate about using my leadership skills to continue to advocate for Duluth's schools, to ensure students reach their full potential, staff have a great place to work, and our public schools are the schools of choice for Duluth families.

Declining and unbalanced school enrollment has long been an issue in Duluth schools. Explain your position for or against adjusting school boundaries.

I support revisiting the boundary study discussion that was put on hold in 2020. It is important that we have an updated demographic study of where our students live, as this does change. Community involvement in this process will be needed. It is important that our district staff are involved, especially our transportation department. It is imperative the community understands there are many deciding factors that go into adjusting school attendance areas and a boundary study is a process which includes research, discussion and community input.

The school district is working with an outside group to gauge the desire to retain school resource officers (SROs). Explain your position for or against SROs in Duluth schools.

Should the Duluth school district mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for all employees and eligible students?

I am willing to consider a requirement for the COVID-19 vaccine for all eligible employees and students with exemptions for medical or religious purposes and regular testing for those not vaccinated. Keeping our community and schools safe is a top priority, therefore I highly encourage our teachers, staff, and students to get the vaccine following current guidelines from the Minnesota Department of Public Health (MDH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). We value the input of the St. Louis County Public Health [department] in these matters.

We have offered vaccination clinics at our middle and high schools for not only eligible students but also parents and guardians. Taking these types of preventive measures is the best thing we can do to maintain in-person classes and extracurricular activities as we navigate through the pandemic.

Martell, 69, lives in the Central Hillside neighborhood of Duluth and is semiretired.

Why are you running?

Declining and unbalanced school enrollment has long been an issue in Duluth schools. Explain your position for or against adjusting school boundaries.

In 2013, ISD 709 finished running up a bill of hundreds of millions to build "right-sized," perfectly-placed schools to serve our community for the next 30 years. The school system is now supposed to be operating at such a high degree of efficiency, millions of extra revenue should be available annually in the budget. ($4,921,821.92 is projected for classrooms this year, according to Exhibit A-1, in the long-range plan's review and comment documentation.) This promise was smoke and mirrors; its failure evident from the district's ongoing fiscal problems. Instead of perfectly-placed schools, the district has very uneven student numbers, especially between east and west Duluth. We have to try to adjust to that reality, but there is risk. The broken promises of its consolidation project has already led to a significant loss of enrollment. Redrawing boundaries may cause more students to leave, especially in the east.

The school district is working with an outside group to gauge the desire to retain SROs. Explain your position for or against SROs in Duluth schools.

The conversation around SROs is worthwhile. I would always be willing to have a discussion about how resources are best spent. I've also been upfront in admitting that it would be very difficult to convince me to remove those officers from the schools. Everyone has too often seen horrific scenes from schools on the evening news broadcasts. There was another shooting in Texas, just a few weeks ago. The relationship between officers and students should be continually reviewed and monitored, to make certain no one is being treated with unfair bias. At this moment I'm convinced, however, that the overall security of students and staff is better served with officers present. Given the instability and ever-present possibility of violence in our current culture, a police presence also helps protect the district from liability exposure, something the board must consider.

Should the Duluth school district mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for all employees and eligible students?

Sadowski, 42, lives in the Woodland neighborhood of Duluth and works as an office manager.

Why are you running?

I deeply value and support public education, a cornerstone of our society and economy. I have lived in Duluth for over 15 years and have been a proud public school parent since 2010. I bring a background of teaching a wide range of students in urban, suburban and rural settings, including my current work at a local nonprofit that serves at-risk youth, many of whom have experienced homelessness. In addition, I have early childhood education experience gained by providing child care for six years. Serving on several local boards/committees has provided me opportunities to learn about complex funding streams, including identifying gaps in funding and streamlining funding priorities. I bring a proven ability to work collaboratively with individuals from a wide range of viewpoints, with a positive and solutions-based perspective.

Declining and unbalanced school enrollment has long been an issue in Duluth schools. Explain your position for or against adjusting school boundaries.

As a community, we know that we need to address the inequities that have occurred as enrollment numbers at our schools have become unbalanced. This is an issue that has come up countless times with families and community members I have spoken to, most of whom acknowledge that ensuring all of our students have reasonable class sizes and equal class offerings will require a strategic look at our boundaries. I would support examining methods for changing our boundaries to address these disparities. We need to ensure all our students have equitable opportunities in school. I would support changing our boundaries by using student-centered, mitigated methods to help with the transition. Since the last boundary study the pandemic has changed our schools in a variety of ways; it will be important to thoughtfully re-engage with community partners if/when school boundary planning begins.

Our district is using several methods to collect feedback about the SRO program in our schools. Marnita's Table facilitated gatherings that brought together a wide range of people to share a meal and discuss this topic. A survey was recently sent out to collect more feedback from our community. It is important that our district analyze this data, as well as take extra steps to ensure all voices are considered, including our students, parents, teachers, administrators, community partners and leaders/elders of color in our area. As the role of SROs is clarified, it will be critical that the information is clearly communicated.

Should the Duluth school district mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for all employees and eligible students?

I support following guidance from MDH and the CDC. We need to follow health guidelines that keep our students healthy and in school so they can thrive. I strongly encourage vaccinations for students and staff in our schools and support recommended COVID testing, for which there are state grant dollars available.

Durick Eder, 45, lives in the Piedmont Heights neighborhood of Duluth and is an associate biology professor at the College of St. Scholastica.

Declining and unbalanced school enrollment has long been an issue in Duluth schools. Explain your position for or against adjusting school boundaries.

The school district is working with an outside group to gauge the desire to retain SROs. Explain your position for or against SROs in Duluth schools.

I am looking forward to hearing from the community how they want school resources officers involved in our schools. It is important that our whole community has a chance to give feedback about how school resources are involved in our schools before the board makes a decision.

Should the Duluth school district mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for all employees and eligible students?

I believe vaccinations are the strongest protection we have against COVID-19. To correctly implement a COVID-19 vaccination requirement in our district, we must have enough staff and guidance from federal and state entities on a reporting strategy and requirements for any waivers.

Lofald, 67, lives in West Duluth and is a retired English, speech and theater teacher.

I am seeking re-election because serving a second term will provide important consistency in leadership and the knowledge gained during the pandemic will help lead to a better recovery. I have deep roots in the western district and have built solid relationships with so many wonderful neighbors and friends. I have been a teacher and coach at Denfeld High School for over 30 years and I will bring that knowledge and understanding to decisions. Clearly, there is more work for us to do and we are "Better Together."

Declining and unbalanced school enrollment has long been an issue in Duluth schools. Explain your position for or against adjusting school boundaries.

We listened to our community and placed a hold on the 2020 boundary study. I support going back to the drawing board and begin anew with our new district leadership team and a consulting firm that the board and administration have researched and found to be the best fit. Research, discussion and best strategies for boundary changes are an important part of the process. I will support our commitment to equity and innovative strategies to clarify the goals of any boundary work. We can go slow to go fast when considering boundary changes. Understanding the "why" for Duluth's boundary work is key.

The school district is working with an outside group to gauge the desire to retain SROs. Explain your position for or against SROs in Duluth schools.

The district has been working with Marnita's Table to help engage our community in this important work. It would be premature of me to take a position on our SROs before receiving the work of our consultants. I attended both community engagement opportunities held in September and listened to many perspectives and insights from my neighbors. I am committed to continuing this listening and educational journey. I have been a part of two presentations by our SROs, principals and others who have highlighted the roles, relationships and responsibilities of these officers. Coupled with my over 20 years of working at Denfeld with SROs in the building I am confident I have the work ethic, the skill set and the experience to help collaborate with our school board on this important decision.

Duluth Public Schools mandated masks and that has given our students and staff some protection from the spread of COVID. We continue to promote hand-washing, COVID cleaning and are thankful for a modern air filtration system in all of our schools. At this point our COVID numbers have not presented huge closures or quarantines. We have held vaccine clinics in our middle and high schools. As we near the potential opportunity for our 5- to 11-year-olds to receive the vaccine our district is prepared to roll out a "get vaccinated" campaign to re-energize our community. I worry about the measures necessary and the potential cost and ineffectiveness of a mandated vaccine for all. I support vaccines and want all to get them so we can continue with in-person school and extracurriculars, but worry about the unforeseen consequences of a mandate.