2013 ICCSD School Election, part 2
This is stale, day-old news by now but I wanted to post the results of Tuesday’s ICCSD School Election anyway. I guess it’s the reporter in me. (Plus, I have been very busy and want to keep the blog fresh and shiny.)
Tuyet Dorau (43 percent), Chris Lynch (36 percent), and Brian Kirschling (35 percent) were elected to the school board. Kirschling edged Phil Hemingway by 105 votes — which is doubly heartbreaking for Hemingway because he missed a spot on the board by 89 votes in the previous election. The best thing was the record turnout: 8,750, or 11.88 percent. It shattered the previous turnout record from 1995 (5,814, or 10.83 percent, according to the CRG).
Also noteworthy about the election was the east-west split. Dorau and Lynch, the only candidates from the west side of the district, received overwhelming support in Coralville, North Liberty, and the west side of Iowa City. Voters in the precincts on the east side of the Iowa River split their support between Sarah Barron, Karla Cook, Gregg Geerdes, Hemingway, Kirschling, and Jason T. Lewis.
How did my candidates do? Not only did Dorau receive the most votes, she became the first person I have voted for to actually be elected in God-knows-when. The last time I know for sure I voted for a winner was 200_ when I voted for Tom Vilsack for governor. That was, I am pretty sure, the last time I happily voted for a blue Republicrat. In my defense: I was mostly motivated to avoid the embarrassment of having a governor named Gross. Anyway… Hemingway fell just short again with 34 percent and Lewis garnered 27 percent. I would like to extend condolences to Mrs. Cook, who was by far the best math teacher I ever had. I voted for her a few years ago and wanted so badly to vote for her again. However, I do not remember her teaching any lessons about addition by subtraction.
The reasons for closing Hoover are still fuzzy to me. I understand the financial incentives behind having fewer but bigger schools, but I like the concept of neighborhood schools and think it is ridiculous to close a school when enrollment is increasing. That is space the district needs. If Hoover will be closed as an elementary school and be amalgamated with the City High campus, which people seem to think it will be, I think it would be best to repurpose the building as some type of educational annex. I would suggest turning it into an honor’s center, but do not like the idea of giving a certain group of students their own special building. (When I was in high school, I always got the impression the “honors” label was rather dubious and pretentious. It seemed to marginalize everyone in the regular courses more than anything.)
Tuyet Dorau (43 percent), Chris Lynch (36 percent), and Brian Kirschling (35 percent) were elected to the school board. Kirschling edged Phil Hemingway by 105 votes — which is doubly heartbreaking for Hemingway because he missed a spot on the board by 89 votes in the previous election. The best thing was the record turnout: 8,750, or 11.88 percent. It shattered the previous turnout record from 1995 (5,814, or 10.83 percent, according to the CRG).
Also noteworthy about the election was the east-west split. Dorau and Lynch, the only candidates from the west side of the district, received overwhelming support in Coralville, North Liberty, and the west side of Iowa City. Voters in the precincts on the east side of the Iowa River split their support between Sarah Barron, Karla Cook, Gregg Geerdes, Hemingway, Kirschling, and Jason T. Lewis.
How did my candidates do? Not only did Dorau receive the most votes, she became the first person I have voted for to actually be elected in God-knows-when. The last time I know for sure I voted for a winner was 200_ when I voted for Tom Vilsack for governor. That was, I am pretty sure, the last time I happily voted for a blue Republicrat. In my defense: I was mostly motivated to avoid the embarrassment of having a governor named Gross. Anyway… Hemingway fell just short again with 34 percent and Lewis garnered 27 percent. I would like to extend condolences to Mrs. Cook, who was by far the best math teacher I ever had. I voted for her a few years ago and wanted so badly to vote for her again. However, I do not remember her teaching any lessons about addition by subtraction.
The reasons for closing Hoover are still fuzzy to me. I understand the financial incentives behind having fewer but bigger schools, but I like the concept of neighborhood schools and think it is ridiculous to close a school when enrollment is increasing. That is space the district needs. If Hoover will be closed as an elementary school and be amalgamated with the City High campus, which people seem to think it will be, I think it would be best to repurpose the building as some type of educational annex. I would suggest turning it into an honor’s center, but do not like the idea of giving a certain group of students their own special building. (When I was in high school, I always got the impression the “honors” label was rather dubious and pretentious. It seemed to marginalize everyone in the regular courses more than anything.)
