It’s nearly May, which, to the delight of students everywhere, means school will soon be winding down. But you, as a voter, have important homework before the school year comes to a close.
The Primary on May 20th is a time to select who will appear on the November ballot to represent you. The Upper Adams School Board will have seven candidates vying for four open seats.
I want to highlight 5 and encourage you to vote for 4 of them to fill those seats: Kay Hollabaugh (current Board member), Deb Steckler, Rachel Elliott, John Lindemulder, and Eric Markle.
Each of these five candidates brings a passion for giving back to the community as well as preserving and strengthening the integrity of our small but mighty district. Each one believes in working together with each other, administrators, and educators. Each believes in the importance of public education. They have (or have had) children or grandchildren in our district and ties to the community.
What these five candidates do NOT bring with them is a political agenda or partisan thinking, as some of the current directors of the UASD Board have unfortunately done. The effects of which have already negatively impacted our students through the loss of large grants and opportunities, undermined the expertise of educators, and unnecessarily planted seeds of distrust in our district.
Each of these five candidates has cross-filed to appear on both Republican and Democratic ballots because the position of School Board Director should not be partisan or about furthering the ideals of a political party or group.
On May 20th, vote for candidates who promise to put students first and be fiscally responsible without compromising educational experiences or outcomes. Vote for candidates who value quality educators, the arts, and extracurricular opportunities for all students, and support them through their words and actions. Vote for candidates who believe in our district so much that they speak highly of the education their own children and grandchildren receive in Upper Adams.
As any teacher knows, mnemonic devices are a powerful tool, so to help you at the polls, use this acronym to remember the names of these excellent Canner candidates:
Vote for four and Help (Hollabaugh) Students (Steckler) Excel (Elliott) & Learn (Lindemulder) More! (Markle).