Minnesota and North Dakota Voter's Guide

Forum Communications Co., in collaboration with the League of Women Voters of Minnesota and of North Dakota, is providing this voter guide to help keep you informed ahead of the 2024 election.

  • Learn where candidates running for office in your community stand on the issues.
  • Build your ballot before voting. Print or email the information to use as a reference when you actually vote.

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Voter Guide

ISD #2769 School Board Member {_getChooseLabel(this.selections.length)}

School board members oversee the care, management, and control of schools. This includes hiring, firing, and overseeing superintendents, who manage the day-to-day affairs of the district. They also set levies to fund the district and create school policies.Learn more here: https://www.lwv.org/blog/voting-local-matters-why-vote-school-board

Click a candidate icon to find more information about the candidate. To compare two candidates, click the "compare" button. To start over, click a candidate icon.

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    Miguel Angel Urrutia Calvo
    (NP)

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    Sarah Lynn Eckel
    (NP)

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    Jennifer Goodnough
    (NP)

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    Jennifer Zych Herrmann
    (NP)

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    Steve Just
    (NP)

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    Trevor Seales
    (NP)

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    Naomi Elizabeth Skulan
    (NP)

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    Kurtis Wulf
    (NP)

Biographical Information

Why are you the best candidate for this position? (750 characters)

If elected, what will your top three priorities be and why? (500 characters)

If forced to cut the budget in the face of declining revenues, what would be your strategy? (500 characters)

How would you address any racial and economic disparities in our education system? (500 characters)

Please describe how you will engage teachers and families in your decision making process. (500 characters)

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As a parent of three students and a 17-year resident of Morris, I've seen the outcomes of our school district. Our children have had positive experiences at every level of instruction and each teacher has had a learning impact on their lives. I'm grateful for what we have in ISD 2769. I believe in our school district and supporting the community. As a person with a graduate degree, I value education and critical thinking skills. As a person who enjoys travel and exposure to culture, I value other viewpoints. As a person with faith in Christ, I value altruism. As a person with military experience, I value servant-leadership. As a person with a wife of 20 years, I value commitment. I'm curious, practical and caring.
The top priority is to learn about the leadership culture at our school district to understand the top-down efficiency. Second priority is implementing the cell phone use policy and navigating the construction project funded by referendum in the first two years. Third priority is developing a voice for our rural school district at the state level and making sure we have as much influence as we can have on the impact of future legislation.
As a CPA small business owner, I approach budgets with an open-mind, a solutions-oriented attitude and a temperament with resolve. First, why do we have declining revenues? Is/was the decline preventable? Label the revenue decline as a short/long cycle, variable or systemic. Can we source new/different revenues next cycle? Protect core services first: student education & safety and teacher pay. Then review discretionary spending and assess cost vs. benefit.
First, I must recognize the role of my privilege to help me hear the voices of those who do not share in my privilege. I believe racial and economic disparities marginalize certain people and I may not fully understand the challenges. The first step is to reduce or eliminate my ignorance by actively engaging and listening to concerns of those who are marginalized. Understanding specific issues will help me act and advocate in an impactful way so everyone can share the same starting line.
Everyone has my ear. I'm easy to find/contact and always willing to listen. I understand every story has two sides and I will always commit to hearing both sides of every story before I consider myself to be "informed" on matters of personal opinion. I also believe in evidence-based decisions and will weight personal opinions with available research and objective metrics. I expect to be challenged with skepticism because public decisions should be transparent and have merit after scrutiny.
I am the best candidate for this position because I am a dedicated, hard-working, passionate parent who can get things done. I will always do the needed research and community listening on topics to be an informed school board member and faithfully represent the people of the Morris community. I am not afraid to think out-of-the-box to create solutions to the problems in our district and will not be a passive school board member. I will advocate for the rights of our children, teachers, and community members as a member of the school board, and will always be open to listening to the needs and problems experienced by community members. If you vote for me, I promise you I will help get things done!
1) Cell phone policy - partly because this is a state requirement, and partly because cell phone usage, particularly in the high school, can be such a detriment to learning. We need to have a straightforward and well-researched policy. 2) Staff wages - staff wages were a big issue last year, and I think we need to address issues of low wages, burnout, and workload for the school's staff. 3) Staff shortages - because of issue #2, staff continue to leave, creating shortages in key areas
Focus first on the basic needs of the school - what are we required to provide and how can we continue to provide that sustainably (this means continuing to not overburden staff, as continual staff departures / burnout ends up costing more money). Look at who would be affected by budget cuts and how to minimize the impact on the largest number of people, while also protecting vulnerable populations (such as children needing special education services, ESL students, etc.).
One issue I think Morris Area needs to work on is better serving our Spanish-speaking students. We have a lot of children who are learning English as a second language, and I think we need to work hard to provide more support for those students. We also need to work hard to address instances of bullying or racism experienced, particularly in the high school.
I would love to ask teachers and families who would be affected by a policy or decision what there thoughts are. For example, when looking at a cell phone policy, I think it would be imperative to talk to teachers about what they see and what they need in a policy. Similarly, it will be important to talk to families and determine their needs, then try to come up with a solution that meets the highest needs of both groups.
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Powered by League of Women Voters Education Fund

The League of Women Voters of Minnesota and North Dakota crafted the questions sent to the candidates in the Spring of 2024. They reached out to candidates based on contact information in their public candidate filings. Candidates with email addresses were invited and reminded with emails. Candidates with only mailing addresses were sent a letter. Candidates with phone numbers received a phone call as well.

Candidate responses are published as they responded and have not been edited, except when responses were longer than the given character limit. In those cases, the responses are truncated.

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