Voters on Tuesday selected Susan Brinkman, Michael Helbert, Angie Schreiber and Grant Riles to serve on the Emporia USD 253 Board of Education.
Helbert, Schreiber and Riles are all incumbents, and Brinkman, who was the top vote getter, will be a newcomer to the school board.
Brinkman received 2,284 votes.
“I’m humbled,” Brinkman said. “I am just so grateful to the voters and everyone who worked on the campaign. It’s just really humbling and exciting at the same time.”
Brinkman is the assistant director for the Center for Great Plains Studies at Emporia State University. She will start her term on the school board in July.
Brinkman said after being a teacher, a parent and serving on the kindergarten through eighth grade configuration committee she felt it was the right time to run for the school board.
“I’m very excited to get started,” Brinkman said.
Helbert received 1,984 votes, Schreiber 1,741 votes and Riles 1,684 votes.
Helbert, a self-employed attorney, said he is gratified to receive the votes and said he wasn’t sure how people would perceive him.
“I’m very happy to have the chance to continue to serve the district,” Helbert said.
This will be his second term on the school board.
Helbert said he ran for the school board again because he wanted to see the grade configurations processed through. He also said it’s important to have continuity in tough times and added that several board members have experience with it comes to dealing when cuts in education.
“It’s helpful to have people who have been in the trenches before. I think experience matters,” Helbert said.
Schreiber, the business manager for Sacred Heart Parish, watched the votes be tallies at the courthouse. She said she was pleased with the tight race.
She also said she was pleased that three new candidates ran for the school board.
“It will be fun to get to know Susan and get her on board,” Schreiber said.
She added that she’ll continue to serve students and patrons of Emporia.
Riles, who also watched the results at the courthouse, said he’s grateful for the community’s trust.
“Boards across the state are facing a lot of challenges,” Riles said. He said that all the people who ran for the school board were good candidates.
Riles has served on the board for 16 years and will start his fifth term. He is a senior corporate development specialist at Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation.
The two candidates on the ballot that did not get elected are Deborah Cotterman, who received 1,104 votes, and Ingrid Ponciano, who received 1,073 votes.
“We had some excellent candidates,” Cotterman said.
Cotterman said she is disappointed she did not get elected but will still continue to work with the school district.
She said she’s excited to see what’s taking place in Emporia schools and said that she plans to run for the school board again in the future. Cotterman is a facilitator of early childhood learning environments at ESU.
Ponciano, too, said she will probably run for the school board again in the future.
Ponciano said she is pleased with the votes she received and is also pleased with the four people who were elected on Tuesday.
“I think we’re getting good people on the board. I was able to get to know some of them,” Ponciano said.
Ponciano is a family therapist at the Mental Health Center of East Central Kansas.
“I’m very happy for the town and for the kids because they’re going to be represented by very qualified professionals,” she said.