Who's Running for School Board?

I was at the library tonight and saw the information posted by candidates in the April election. There was a section for school board candidates. I haven't seen anything in the paper about the school board elections, but I could have missed it.

Anyway, I checked out what each candidate posted at the library:

Frances Bohon did not post anything.

Amber Kiggens-Leifheit posted stuff from her website (www.don'tvote4amber.com) and the name kinda sounded familiar to me. Then I realized she was the treasurer of the Yes Committee, and that she works for the school district! So I didn't read any further. We all know that Amber would always vote yes to raise property taxes, and she would offer no change to the current slate of school board members who unanimously voted to put the last referendum on the ballot. Superintendent Bruce King said the district will be back with another referendum if things don't CHANGE. And when he does, we already know Amber will be all for it. Amber represents the status quo and "business as usual"... what we need is CHANGE.

Christine Miller: Christine's information mentioned mistakes that were made by the school board. In particular she mentioned no sidewalks for the new Washington School. She also mentioned the problem of wasteful spending in Madison. She was the only candidate to mention that, and the only one you will ever hear talking about past mistakes made by the school board. You won't hear Frances or Amber admit that mistakes were made. Christine goes on to say that we can't undo these mistakes, but the best we can do is elect people who can keep similar mistakes from happening in the future. Christine also does not support starting a girl's hockey team. She understands that a month ago the district was short on money and threatening to cut sports, and now they want to add more. She supports cooperation within the community, such as a partnership with the community hockey league, that will provide opportunities for youth to participate in sports, but not cost more money to the taxpayer. These are all things I support, and it's refreshing to have a candidate who thinks outside the box. That's exactly the kind of new blood we need on the school board. Now, she did post some letter to the school district about holocaust books in the school libraries. I admit she lost me on that one. I don't agree. But then again, I don't agree 100% with any candidate I vote for. Sometimes it comes down to a compromise and you pick the candidate who you feel will represent you the best. And I think it's high time we had a school board member who represented the interests of the taxpayer. I'm not voting for Christine to become a history teacher. But I'd consider voting for her because she is the only candidate talking about changes needed in Madison, and she is the only candidate talking about solutions that will save the district money, and she is the only candidate that won't rubber stamp the next referendum onto the ballot. We all know it's coming, and sooner than later based on recent news accounts detailing how the district seems to be going on a spending spree.

I'm not sure if there is anything in the newspaper about the candidates or if there will be a candidate forum planned. It would be good for the community to know more about all of the candidates before casting their votes in April.