On Nov. 2, voters in the Mounds View School District will elect three residents to serve a four-year term on the school board. Six candidates, Shauna Bock, Diane Glasheen, Christine LaDuke, Yolanda Magee, Tim Root and Jon VanOeveren, are running for the three open positions. With students and teachers facing crucial issues like the COVID-19 pandemic, diversity & equity and mental health, understanding the candidates’ stances is especially important.

The safety of students and teachers at school has always been a priority. With schools reopening during the pandemic, most candidates agree that Mounds View’s mask mandates are important, but some disagree on the decisions made last summer regarding COVID management in Mounds View schools. 

Root was disappointed with the school board’s initial decision to make masks optional at school, especially after the state issued guidelines saying districts should require masks. He was also frustrated that the board then left the decision up to the superintendent, believing that the board should have been more transparent with their decisions. “I believe there needs to be fundamental changes to the way the board operates just to be answerable to the students and the parents and the staff in the school district,” Root said.  

On the other hand, Glasheen, who was previously on the board, agrees with the decision-making process. “The day-to-day operations essentially lie with the superintendent and administration. We are made aware of the day-to-day things, but we are not making those decisions,” she said. 

In regards to safety and health, issues concerning mental health are important to all candidates. Bock, running for re-election, wants to continue to focus on helping students, especially when dealing with the pandemic’s effects. “I think we have a whole new level of mental health we need to be helping our kids with,” she said. 

Another topic currently controversial in education is critical race theory (CRT). LaDuke does not believe it is being taught in Mounds View schools, and she wants to keep it that way. She believes CRT breeds division. “It stresses that all whites are inherently oppressive, and everyone else is a victim,” she said. 

Root is another candidate who has a strong opinion on critical race theory, and he disagrees with LaDuke on this issue. He agrees that Mounds View does not teach critical race theory, but he does not agree with her on what it means. “[CRT] is the college-level academic study of how United States laws interface with race,” he said. “Some people misattribute certain things to [CRT].”

Ensuring diversity and equity is also important to many candidates. Magee decided to run after being approached by a diverse group of students and alumni who brought to her attention that there has never been a person of color on the school board. She wants Mounds View students and families of color to feel represented on the school board. 

Some candidates also bring up unique perspectives that others have not mentioned. VanOeveren wants to move towards having green schools and be a carbon-neutral district by 2030, and to expand affordable early education. “The cost of early childhood is incredible. It’s like paying for a kid to go to college for a year,” he said. 

Another issue he wants to address is continuing having an online option for students. Many students have enrolled in an online option but have gone to other districts to do so, which has caused Mounds View to lose revenue. 

Bock also wants to emphasize different post-secondary options. “We promote traditional colleges, 4-year colleges and maybe not such a great job at promoting trade schools or 2-year colleges, [military] or just going into a career after high school,” she said.

Although all candidates have different backgrounds and views, they all want the best for Mounds View and its families. Anyone age 18 or older is eligible to vote in this election. Voters can show up to their nearest polling station to cast their ballots on Nov. 2 or cast an absentee ballot before election day. To learn more about how to participate, visit the election information on the Ramsey County website.