NEENAH (NBC 26) — In a typical school board election in the Neenah Joint School District, Brian Epley says maybe five people will run, said Brian Epley, President of the Neenah School Board.
“I've been in two elections myself," said Epley. "And there have been, I think, anywhere from four to six.”
For this primary race, there are eight names on the ballot, and voters will only be able to choose three.
“Last couple of years in the pandemic, there could have been some additional spotlight because of some of the decisions we had to make," said Epley. "So I can see how that could have increased people's interest. Our attendance at our meetings is is up a bit.”
Virtual school board meeting attendance was high when the pandemic first began, he said. Even now, as meetings have resumed in-person, a lot of parents are still showing up.
“Unlike many years when school board races tend to be rather quiet affairs this year, there is considerable interest," said Dan Rossmiller, Director of Government Relations for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards.
From the virtual versus in-person debate, to mask mandates and quarantine protocols, school boards have had to make a lot of decisions over the past two years, he said.
“Some of those were controversial," said Rossmiller. "And school board members, by their nature, are not health experts. They've been called upon to deal with many, many issues that are sort of outside the normal realm of school board decision-making,”
Many parents haven’t been happy and some are doing something they probably never imagined they’d do in their lives: running for school board.
“The theory behind electing local school boards is that you want the school board to reflect the values of the community and what is important to the community in terms of its the education of its children," said Rossmiller.
You can view elections results here.
