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With nine candidates contesting just three seats for the 2021 ISD 197 school board election, we decided to dive deeper into our candidate coverage and create a printable voter’s guide. This printable chart shows the candidates and various positions and biographical details, as well as info on the levy renewal.
Download the chart, print it, share it, use it. Remember to vote on Tuesday, November 2.
Get More Info
This printable voter’s guide is just a summary of candidate positions. For full responses and more details, be sure to check out our detailed voter’s guide, with more info on candidates, including links to watch candidate forums and read candidate questionnaires. The detailed voter’s guide will be updated through the election with the latest questionnaires, news, and information.
A Word About the Chart
We did our best to include important issues surrounding this year’s school board election in the chart. Unfortunately, few questions related to education have simple answers that fit in a chart. For more detailed and nuanced responses, see our candidate Q&As.
It’s also important to note that the candidate summary was written by us, not the candidates, based on reviewing multiple candidate responses in forums, questionnaires, and their own websites. It’s hard to summarize a candidate’s position in a few words, and we attempted to focus on what they emphasized the most.
If you have questions about a candidate’s position, we encourage you to contact the candidate directly.
Oct. 20, 2021 Update: Chart Changes
We updated the chart with a new version today. Here’s an overview of the changes we made:
- Fixed a typo in Mark Grondahl’s name (sorry, that’s embarrassing).
- Corrected Morgan Steele’s volunteer info. She has not volunteered for the district.
- Added an endorsement for Robert Reese from GOP SD 51. They are “recommending” Reese.
- Changed “Kids in district” to “Kids in ISD 197 schools” to more accurately reflect what we’re getting at.
A word about our definitions:
- Volunteer for the district: All the candidates have volunteered for organizations that reside within the boundaries of ISD 197, but we’re focusing on who has volunteered directly for ISD 197.
- Kids in district/Kids in ISD 197 schools: We tweaked this question to more clearly get at what we’re talking about—do the candidates’ children attend ISD 197 schools? Again, not schools that reside within the boundaries of ISD 197, but ISD 197 schools. St. Joseph’s or St. Croix Lutheran or the Academic Arts High School are all within ISD 197 boundaries but are not ISD 197 schools.
Again, it’s hard to put any nuance in a chart. If you have questions or concerns, please ask the candidates.
Oct. 20, 2021 Update: More Chart Changes
With tonight’s Optimist Club candidate forum we updated the chart again:
- Updated ‘attended candidate forums’ to show how many forums candidates attended.
- Updated Stephanie Auran’s “No response” on levy support to “no” based on her comments tonight.
- Added note that GOP “recommended” candidates.
Oct. 24, 2021 Update: Added Endorsements
We updated the chart again with additional endorsements:
- An email from the GOP SD 52 “recommended” Stephanie Auran, Mark Grondahl, and Robert Reese, so we added that to the endorsement column. It’s worth noting that previously Auran never answered if she sought endorsements and Grondahl said he didn’t seek any.
Oct. 25, 2021 Update: New website
Updated the chart again with a new website and then again with the new candidate forum numbers:
- Noted that Tim Aune now has a website and added a link.
- Updated the ‘attended candidate forum’ numbers with the Mendota/Somerset PTA candidate forum.
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