Filing for the general election began this morning, and six area school boards will have seats up for grabs this fall. Deadline for filing is noon Aug. 22. Tippecanoe Valley, Triton, Wa-Nee and Wawasee each will have three contested seats. Warsaw will have four and Whitko will have two. Candidates must have 10 valid signatures, which can be from the entire school district or within their district. For Warsaw Community Schools, the board is voted on by district. A voter has to live in a district to vote for that position, so it will not appear on every ballot within the school district. The four seats up for Warsaw are: District 1, which includes Prairie Township and Wayne 6, 7 and 9; District 2, which includes Plain 1, 2, 3 and 5; District 5, which includes Wayne 3, 4 and 10, Warsaw 2-2 and Warsaw 3-1; and District 7, which includes Wayne 8, Clay Township and Lake Township. Board President Jennifer Tandy currently represents District 5, with Board Vice President Matt Dick representing District 1, Dan Metzger representing District 7 and Delores Hearn representing District 2. Due to term limits, Hearn can not run for re-election this year. Tandy, Metzger and Dick filed for re-election at 8 a.m. today. Representing the three board members, Tandy said she was very pleased that the board had achieved many of the objectives that were identified four years ago. She said, “I am very proud that we developed and have been committed to implementation of the Warsaw Community School Strategic Plan. Our accomplishments have included expanding (Advanced Placement) and Dual Credit Courses that help students save money on college costs, expanding the quantity and availability of foreign languages to the middle school grades, bring (science, technology, engineering and math) to our schools, and allowing for collaboration among our teachers through our investment in the professional learning communities.” Regarding re-election, she said, “I have dedicated significant time to my involvement with the schools and within the Indiana School Board Association. I look forward to focusing on the ongoing transition to our new superintendent, further expansion of our competitive academic curriculum and STEM, and ongoing collaboration with our teachers, staff, OrthoWorx and the Warsaw community. I am very appreciative of the opportunity to serve our community by dedicating my efforts to the ongoing enhancements of our educational programs for the students that we serve.” For Tippecanoe Valley School Board, the original filing is done at the Kosciusko Clerk’s office. Seats up for election are: District 3, Franklin Township in Kosciusko; District 4, Henry Township, Fulton County; and District 5, New Castle Township, Fulton. Currently representing Valley for those districts are Mark Wise, Bryan Murphy and Rod Eaton. The original petition for Triton School Board is to be filed in Marshall County. Seats up for election are: District 1, Tippecanoe Township in Marshall County; District 2, Etna Township, Kosciusko; and District 4, Town of Bourbon, Marshall County. Teresa Barnhart won District 1 in 2010, with Andrew Cook winning District 2 and Marcia Keyser winning District 4. Wawasee board positions up for election are: District 1, Tippecanoe Township; District 2, Turkey Creek Township; and District 3, Van Buren Township and Jefferson Township Precinct 3. Currently representing Wawasee in those districts are Robert Fisher, Mary Lou Dixon and Rebecca Linnemeier. Original filings for the two Whitko Community School Board seats are to be filed in Kosciusko. Seats open include: District 4, covering Jackson, Monroe and Washington townships in Kosciusko; and District 5 in Richland and Cleveland townships in Whitley County. In 2010, the last time those seats were up for election, Deborah Collier won District 4 and Marilyn Jane Gebert won District 5. Wa-Nee Community School Board original filing is at Elkhart County. All three seats are in Elkhart County and include Harrison, Locke and Union townships. They are represented by Larry Weaver, Ed Moser and Lou Bonacorsi.
