Mid-Prairie preps for school board elections

WELLMAN — Mid-Prairie has posted the paperwork for hopeful school board candidates in the upcoming election, with four seats going to the ballot box Nov. 7.

District Business Manager and Board Secretary Jeff Swartzentruber said some of the current decision-makers were unlikely to return to their at-large positions.

“Only one board member has communicated to me that they plan to run,” he said, although he declined to identify who, saying the communication was informal. “The other three have either said they are not seeking re-election or are still deciding.”

With four-year offices, the seats on the ballot are currently held by Jeremy Pickard, Mary Allred, Denise Chittick, and Marianne Schlabach, all elected or reelected in 2019.

An informational page on Mid-Prairie’s website provides blank versions of the election filing paperwork, including the state affidavit of candidacy and the nomination petition, which requires signatures from at least 50 eligible voters in the school district.

That paperwork can be filed with the Washington County Auditor’s office as early as Monday, Aug. 28, and no later than Thursday, Sept. 21 at 5 p.m., according to a candidate guide prepared by the Office of the Iowa Secretary of State, which was also posted on the district’s website.

Mid-Prairie’s last school board election in 2021 was highly competitive, drawing nine candidates in a race for three seats and a turnout of 2,411 voters, an astoundingly high number for the non-general, local election.

Several candidates in that race said reactions to the district’s COVID-19 pandemic policy were a factor in their decisions to run, an element that may also explain the unusually high-energy electorate.

This year will mark the second race since the pandemic began, and potentially the last in which each incumbent had a say in the schools’ COVID-19 response.

“I think people, over the last year, year-and-a-half, have really wanted to be involved in what’s going on,” said then school board President Jeremy Gugel before the 2021 elections. “That has drawn more interest from people.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com