School boards elected

Devlyn Brooks
Jun 19, 2022
2 min read

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

May 23, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

The last of the state's spring school board elections were held Tuesday, and although the Bemidji School District was not among them, several area districts did have elections.

Most Minnesota school districts have already switched their school board elections to November -- when the state's general elections are held -- because they have been required by a law to do so.

The districts which held elections this week were still going through the transition, so some school board members were elected to unusual term lengths. Some were elected to 5 1/2-year and 3 1/2-year terms, for example.

Here are the results from area elections:

Cass Lake-Bena

Two incumbents ran unopposed in the Cass Lake-Bena School Board elections. Terry Vail won a three-year term with 41 votes, and Sherry Erickson won a five-year term with 36 votes.

Bagley

The Bagley School District elected Melva Theis and Paula Davis to 4 1/2-year terms. Theis placed first with 329 votes, and Davis, an incumbent, placed second with 323 votes. Others running included Arthur Lang, 106 votes; write-in candidate Wendy Fultz, 33 votes; Chuck Waibel, 31 votes; and Stacey Bukoski, 16 votes.

Laporte

One incumbent and a former board member won seats in the Laporte School District against strong write-in campaigns. Incumbent Jay Buchanan won a three-year seat with 163 votes, and John Fallgren placed second with 115. Write-in candidate Tim White, Joan Miller and Jim Fullerton received 27, 23 and 14 votes respectively. There were also seven other write-in votes.
In the five-year term race, former board member Marcia Tysver won with 93 votes. Write-in candidates Joan Miller, Tim White and Jim Fullerton received 72, 39 and nine votes, respectively. There were five other write-ins as well.

Park Rapids

One incumbent and one challenger won races for the six-year and four-year terms in the Park Rapids School District. Incumbent Dennis Dodge, who is completing his second, three-year term, won the six-year term with 360 votes. His opponent, Fred Hofer, received 80 votes.
Frank Schaap won the four-year seat with 333 votes, and challengers David East and Peter Dombrowski received 82 and 26 votes, respectively. Dombrowski had announced his withdrawal from the race prior to the election.

Blackduck

The Blackduck District elected two seats of unreported lengths. Challengers Dale Compton and Bob Stroeing won the seats with 193 and 146 votes, respectively. Twenty-seven year school board veteran Pat Gilstad took third with 137 votes, and Mavis Lossing had 123 votes.

Kelliher

Incumbent Dave Wuollett took first place with 142 votes, and Gary Leonhardt placed second with 140 votes in the race for two, four-year terms in the Kelliher School District. Jerry Stensing received 126 votes; Wendell Krueth, 109; Gene Erickson, 75; and Marianna Lindberg, 60. There were four write-in votes.