Amy Scheller, a newcomer to local elections, was the top vote-getter in the race for three seats on the Emporia board of education.
Scheller received 3,229 votes while incumbents Mike Crouch received 2,942 and Brent H. Windsor received 2,413 votes. The fourth person in the race, retired businessman Danny J. Giefer, received 1,768 votes.
“I guess (I’m) obviously just a little bit disappointed, but I want to thank everybody for voting for me,” Giefer said Tuesday night after the votes had been tallied.
He was optimistic about the quality of the board that had been elected.
“I got to know them during the campaign and they were excellent,” Giefer said. “I really got to know Amy and am not surprised that she was the top vote-getter. ... The school district can’t go wrong with the ones they elected.”
Giefer said that he hoped to become more involved in councils and committees that help advise the schools and set priorities for the board’s attention.
Scheller said she was excited about the prospect of joining the board when terms expire on June 30 of this year.
“I think a lot of our time and attention’s going to be focused on the budget,” she said. “Not necessarily this year, but strategically for the next couple of years.”
With state income prospects not looking good, she said, “we’re really going to have to make sure we’re thinking as creatively and as fiscally responsible as possible to make sure we’re getting the most of our tax dollars and reaching as many students as we can.”
The next school year will be the fifth of a five-year strategic plan, with board members preparing to look toward the next five years.
“I’m also looking forward to what’s the next step,” she said. “Do we need to re-evaluate our goals? Do we need to re-evaluate our strategies? Are there some different ways to go?”
She wants to get feedback from teachers and students to see where successes and needs may be, and to see what Superintendent John Heim will recommend to the board.
Scheller said that Adequate Yearly Progress testing and teaching to meet standards for No Child Left Behind also would need attention, as standards rise and more students’ scores are likely to fall below AYP.
She also wants to make sure that technology is available in classrooms, within the tight budget constraints.
Improving prospects for students after high-school graduation — whether students go directly into the workforce or on to technical college or universities — also is a concern Scheller wants the board to consider.
“I think there’s a few things that Emporia can do to improve that,” she said. “I’m thinking more along the lines as kind of a vocation path. ... We would help kids enroll in classes that would prepare them for that career arena” such as health care, education or engineering.
She also wants to encourage students to further their educations, by helping them visit colleges, make applications “or just planting those seeds of hope that we can go on to college.”
Scheller will attend state-sponsored classes for newly elected board members to help them understand the way school boards operate and the complex budgeting processes.
“I’m really looking forward to that. I even have an e-mail off to a professor at ESU to see if I can audit a class on school budgeting,” she said.
Scheller noted that she had enjoyed campaigning and learning the issues, while simultaneously hearing from voters who had ideas and suggestions for the board to consider.
“It’s just awesome how democracy works, that we have this opportunity to share our opinions through voting, through forums ... and ask questions directly,” Scheller said. “There’s nothing more exciting to me.”
In the Southern Lyon County district, incumbent Kent Grieder defeated challenger Robyn Bechtel on a vote of 162 to 104. The two ran for a position created after the district was realligned.
Others elected were: Craig A. Clark, 235 votes, Position 1; Jeanette Schmidt, 227, Positiojn 2; William C. Veatch, 217, Position 3; and Kenny Hamman, 245, Position 5.
In the North Lyon County school district, three candidates — Sally Helton Anderson, William "Bill" Leffler and James Scott Davis — ran unopposed for three open positions.
Anderson received 80 votes for Position 4; Leffler, 95, Position 5; and Davis, 62, Position 2.