In any given election cycle, we're often encouraged to look at the voting record of candidates seeking your vote. As the 2023 campaign season ramps us, we would like to make that a little easier for you. Lansing has four Board of Education (BOE) seats on the ballot in November: Michelle McQuillan and Aaron Yoakam are running to retain their seats (and we hope they do retain their seats) and Pete Robinson is choosing to run for Lansing City Council (we don't support that, based on his performance on the BOE). Carla Wiegers is not seeking reelection. Jeff Bollin, Amy Cawvey, and Mary Wood have two years left on their current terms, so they won't be on the ballot.
The voting record of each current board member is an important part of this election cycle. For the members seeking reelection, you can review the decisions they've made in the past year and a half and decide if you trust them to continue making decisions for our schools. In Pete Robinson's case, you can decide if you trust him to make decisions for our city based on the decisions he has made for our schools. The remaining four board members may not appear on your ballot, but their voting record can help inform you on the candidates they choose to endorse.
The spreadsheet below shows the board votes from January of 2022 to April of 2023. It breaks votes out into 3 categories: Administration and Logistics, Curriculum and Educator Conduct, and BOE-specific Governance and Oversight. We learned in a Kansas Association of School Boards training conducted during a monthly BOE meeting that votes of 7-0 or 6-1 can indicate a board is working together and coming to a unified decision. Votes of 3-4/ 4-3 can indicate division among the board. As you look at the voting record, you may have questions about the information presented for the vote. The Board Docs page on the USD469 website contains the agendas for each meeting with supporting documentation attached. Also, the YouTube channel for the district has recordings of all BOE meetings.
In the coming weeks, there will be Candidate Forums for stakeholders to learn more about our candidates and ask questions. We hope you find this information useful in answering questions you may have or inspiring questions you may want to ask of our candidates.