5 Candidiates vie for 3 School Board seats

Incumbents Mary Ellen Havel-Lang and David Stackhouse will seek to retain their seats in April. Tim Boylen, who was selected to fill Jim Gibbs' vacant seat for the rest of this year will not seek formal election to the seat for the remainder of the term. That means we will be getting one new face one the board, and hopefully one with a fresh perspective.

Running in addition to Havel-Lang and Stackhouse are:

• Jill Camber-Davidson, former citizen representative on the Finance Committee and current citizen member on the Education & Policy committee.
• Terry Shimek, who took over Camber-Davidson's seat on the Finance committee when her 2-year term expired.
• A relative unknown, Al Slane, of Cottage Grove

There will be no primary. The top two vote-getters will be elected to 3-year terms. The 3rd place finisher will be elected to a 1-yr term which closes out the rest of the seat left vacant when Jim Gibbs resigned.

Here's hoping we get more than one new face on the board. The role of the school board is to weigh the district's educational needs as presented by administration against the fiscal burden absorbed by the taxpaying community. We need a board that works well with the administration without getting overly cozy. We need board members that can exercise fiscal responsibility.