Knockoff Naomi

A few extra candidate commentaries for Minnesota. I'm no Kritzer, but I'll do what I can.

ISD 196 Minnesota school board election candidates

Many thanks to the Sun for getting candidate profiles out promptly after the filing deadline, well before early voting opens up. (There will be a debate, but after early voting begins.)

I believe voting works like this: Eagan, Apple Valley, and Rosemount residents of Minnesota's School District #196 will be able to mark up to 3 bubbles on this list of 16 candidates. The 3 candidates with the most total votes each will win.

These are in alphabetical order by last name, within my preference clumps.

Rebecca Gierok -- leaning yes

Maybe a little feel-good sunshine and rainbows and optimism that we can all get along at school board hearings, but I'm interested. But both in the Sun and on the website, a focus on "equity" and "mental health."

Sources: Sun, candidate website.

Bianca Virnig -- leaning yes

Pro-health-safety things; did COVID & budget stuff for schools for a living.

Mentioned "equity gap" & "access to resources, opportunities, & supplies they need to succeed and thrive."

I'm really, really trying not to favor a candidate because they like rainbow sequins and turquoise hair dye, but darnit, it's taking all my nerdy might.

Source: Sun.

Kaia Ziegler -- leaning yes

  • Caution: There's a Kaia, but also a Kayla and a Kyle to throw things off. My cheatsheet: I like the one with an I in it.

Running on being a recent District 196 grad (she's 21). I think that's awesome -- you don't want a board full of no one with life experience running things, but I love idea of someone for whom public school is a pretty fresh memory getting involved in this way. I sat on a board full of older adults as a "student rep" once and threw myself into reading all the docs, etc ... I really like that kind of perspective. It's amazing how much I've forgotten about really being young since I was actually that young, even though I swore I never would. I'm officially in the "How do you do, fellow kids?" meme range, and I like that Ziegler is old enough to be a serious adult who digs in and does the work, but young enough to have an intuitive personal sense of what she's doing it for.

Talks about things like "equitable education," so yay. Like Angrimson, talks about providing opportunities for people who aren't really the college types.

Uses the phrase "together, we can," as opposed to the aggressively confrontational stance taken by so many candidates.

Source: Sun.

Craig Angrimson -- TBD

Incumbent. All incumbents voted for a mask mandate as Delta increased, so I'm curious where he stands on things.

Lots of union endorsements and proud of his "blue collar" background (and current occupation, it seems).

Nothing public I can find really taking a stand on ... like ... where money should go.

I need to figure out how to get ahold of him and ask more.

Source: Sun.

Art Coulson -- TBD

Longtime incumbent. All incumbents voted for a mask mandate as Delta increased, so I'm curious where he stands on things.

Looks like he's been involved in Native American issues; it'd be interesting to know more about if/how that's informed his relationship to various types of equity in his work on the school board.

Nothing public I can find really taking a stand on ... like ... where money should go.

I need to figure out how to get ahold of him and ask more.

Source: Sun.

Teresa Maki -- TBD

Can't tell; business/HOA experience & age as only advertised assets.

Source: Sun.

Sakawdin Mohamed -- TBD

Can't tell. "Voice of reason" phrase feels in line with a certain kind of conservatism I might not like?

Nothing public I can find really taking a stand on ... like ... where money should go.

I need to figure out how to get ahold of him and ask more.

Source: Sun.

Jessica Turner -- TBD

Can't tell. "Unheard" & "transparency" & "accountability" word choices feel in line with trends this year for a certain kind of conservatism I might not like? But much more vague than other people I'm sure are dog-whistling.

Nothing public I can find really taking a stand on ... like ... where money should go.

I need to figure out how to get ahold of her and ask more.

Source: Sun.

Loren Jay Balazs -- leaning no

The only person who said "politics" or "political" who didn't seem to be using it as a codeword for:

  • It's high time we spent less money making up for historical investment gaps in non-white people

or

  • It's high time we stopped letting teachers help our kids learn that we've steered money and power away from non-white people, think through how they feel about that, and learn what people have tried to do about it if they didn't like it.

Instead, he seemed to mean, "OMG, I just got back to America from a place where masks are like sneezing into your elbow and WHAT IS GOING ON HERE why are our school board meetings filled with people who have a problem with this?"

But something about his wording just gives me "good heart but not going to get the job done as well as other people" vibes.

Source: Sun.

Kyle Anderson -- no

  • Caution: There's a Kyle and there's a Kaia and a Kayla to throw things off. My cheatsheet: I like the one with an I in it.

I feel like "represent those who share in the belief that education should be more transparent with clearer outcomes" seems like a dog whistle for trying to conservatize public education in ways I don't agree with, based on which other candidates kept using the words "transparent" and "outcomes" talking in feel-good vague language about who they "represent."

Source: Sun.

Kim Bauer -- no

Attacks on "politics," and there's that "transparency" / measurable-achievement trend I'm seeing this year among people who seem to want to conservatize public education in ways I don't agree with.

Source: Sun.

Kayla Hauser -- no

  • Caution: There's a Kayla and there's a Kaia and a Kyle to throw things off. My cheatsheet: I like the one with an I in it.

There's a vague sense of total-control over kids for 18 years that I find old-fashioned in parenting. It seems to still be popular among people who gravitate towards hierarchy and structures of believing the world has a bit of authoritarian rightly and naturally cooked into it.

It seems to me that I'm seeing the word "parent" show up with ... a little undercurrent of that kind of tone ... from candidates trying to conservatize public education in ways I don't agree with. Like here with "a parent's right."

This candidate also is really, really insistent about accusing the current school board of being terrible and power-hungry. "Voices not being heard," "not considering all views," "do not want their policies questioned," "need to listen to all concerns."

If I had to wager a guess, I'd bet someone here's pissed that their kid still has to wear a mask to school during a respiratory public health emergency despite their impassioned speech at a school board public hearing?

Source: Sun.

Curtis Henry -- no

This is like a bingo card for "probably trying to conservatize public education in ways I don't agree with."

Not only do we have "political views," we have a platform of open antagonism toward both the current board and teachers (due to teachers' "personal beliefs" and "personal political views") as well as current pedagogical standards which apparently aren't "real," though high-stakes testing is apparently awesome and scores need to be improved.

No mention of "parent" as a primal authority figure, but "taxpayer" appears.

And "back to," just in case you weren't sure that nothing new under the sun could possibly be a good idea. (I can't remember anymore which other candidate(s) used "back to" & "again" & "re-" phrasing, but it was definitely a trend.)

Source: Sun.

Derek Kottke -- no

Explicit teacher's-union-buster wording.

Calling the schoolboard (which is, from what I can tell, 6/7 men and 6/7 white, and where this year's two incumbents running for reelection won't even take an open stand on anything controversial in their written materials...) "radical." OK dude.

And there's that usage of the word "parent" again as a sort of antonym to "school board" ... I don't like it.

Source: Sun.

Jacob Mark Rylander -- no

Again, a platform of open antagonism toward the current board and school staff. "Ignored," "contempt," "broken trust." Literally compares experience at war with what the job description will entail if elected.

This candidate is very focused on apparently having no rights: "right to be heard," "right to disagree," "right to be represented." (Why do I have a feeling that this candidate has had plenty of mic time at school board hearings already?)

We've got "parent" as an implied persona in opposition to the school board again.

To round it out, a nostalgic "bring back" paired with two more good-sounding but seemingly-only-appearing-as-a-dog-whistle words: "transparency" and "accountability."

Source: Sun.

John Schaefer -- no

Attacks on "politics."

A platform of open antagonism toward pedagogical standards ("there are areas of education that are being attacked") -- which is funny because I probably actually agree with that sentence word-for-word, but I don't think we agree on which areas of education.

I could be wrong, but the vague battle-cry language and use of certain 2021 buzzwords makes me feel like this is not a candidate who would steer District 196 public education in ways that I think are good for the future.

Source: Sun.