February 15 is the date of the spring primary election. There are currently 9 people running for 4 spots on the Board of Education for the Appleton Area School District. The February 15 election will bring that down to 8 who will go on to compete in the April 5th election for 4 spots on the Board of Education.
Most of the candidates now have campaign pages up and running, and I have posted those below along with links to the areas on their sites that give background information or the reason why the candidate is running.
[For what it’s worth, in so far as AASD’s pandemic response is an issue to voters, Deb Truyman, Andrea Klitzke, and Mike Schinke are generally considered to be the candidates most in favor of removing the mask mandate and working to return school operations to something as normal as possible as quickly as possible. Deb Truyman has advocated for movement in that direction in her position as a sitting board member. Andrea Klitzke has been one of the leaders of the parent group that advocated first for a return to in-person learning and now is advocating removal of the mask mandate. Mike Schinke was a part of the effort last year to get the kids back in school. ***Edit: I had originally said that Mike was associated with the group advocating for the ending of the mask mandate, but he contacted me and clarified that although he follows the group, he is not an active member. He did add, “I think your statement that I support getting back to normal is accurate.”***
Current board members James Bacon and Jim Bowman have, in their votes, demonstrated less inclination to move quickly on returning AASD to normal operations.
The other candidates do not seem to have released statements on their positions regarding the mask mandate or a return to normalcy.
Also of note, Pheng Thao is accepting donations through ActBlue.com which is a fundraising website for Democratic candidates, and fellow candidate Nick Ross has publicly posted support for Mr. Thao.]
Incumbents
- James Bacon
- James Bowman
- No Campaign Page
- Deborah Truyman
Challengers
- Andrea Klitzke
- Jason Kolpack
Dave Moscinski[Dave was eliminated in the 02/15/2022 primary]No Campaign Page
- Nick Ross
- Mike Schinke
- Pheng Thao
Thank you – this is an awesome resource! That local newspaper barely covers the candidates, now I can do my own research.
However it’s too bad that more don’t have Web sites and only Facebag pages. By being solely on that horrid social media platform, they are not getting out to a wider audience, especially those of us who quit years ago. If All Things Appleton was only a Facebag page, it would not be the amazing resource it is.
Thank you for your kind comment. I’m glad you find the page to be useful.
The facebook pages should all be viewable even to people who do not have facebook accounts themselves. I do agree, though that it is nice when they have actual websites.
Hi Jessica,
Thank you for the continued informative “look” into the City of Appleton happenings.
I want to let you know that I have now posted my background information on my facebook page and will have a website up and running soon. Here is the link to my fb page with the updated information. Feel free to update your page with this information. https://www.facebook.com/DebforAASDBoE
Sincerely,
Deb Truyman
Hi Deb. Thank you for the comment. I have updated the post with a link to your background information.