Three of Mount Vernon School Board’s seven positions are up for election Nov. 2. Rick Elliott’s, Sherry Grunder’s and Lori Merlak’s positions all expire then.
School board members serve for four years.
Grunder is not running again. “I can’t see going for four more years on the board,” she said at the June 14 school board meeting. She was first elected in 2013 and has served as both vice president and president (currently) of the board. “Overall it’s been fantastic,” she said.
Elliott and Merlak are still thinking about whether they’ll run again. Elliott was first elected in 2015. Merlak was first elected in 2013 and has served as both president and vice president of the board.
The four other current school board members are Denise Brannaman (first elected in 2015), Nannette Gunn (first elected in 2015; currently school board vice president), Jeremy Kunz (elected in 2019) and Lance Schoff (elected in 2019).
To run for a school board position, someone must be a United States citizen, 18 years or older, a resident of the school district and meet all the requirements to register to vote.
A candidate must also file together in the district office between Monday, Aug. 23, and Thursday, Sept. 16, an affidavit of candidacy (signed and notarized) and nomination petitions signed by at least 50 registered voters in the school district.
Copies of nomination papers are available at the district office, county auditor’s office, and on the Secretary of State’s website at http://sos.iowa.gov/elections/electioninfo/SchoolElections.html.
July meetingJuly’s school board meeting will be held Thursday, July 15, instead of Monday, July 12, so as to not conflict with regional softball finals on the 12th.
Return to Learn plan Mount Vernon School District is planning for a full opening of school in August, without masks or hybrid learning, assuming conditions continue to allow that. The district plans to follow last year’s Return to Learn Plan for opening school, with some tweaks.
Building projectsThe new softball project should be completed by late July or early August. The fence is in and dugouts are done, and the field is potentially playable now. Watering and seeding are being done.
The front elementary school parking lot has been ripped up and should be re-paved by mid-July.
Tech positionSharing a technology position between the school district and the City of Mount Vernon is under review and needs a lot more discussion, so it won’t happen this year, superintendent Greg Batenhorst said.