BROOKINGS – Local businesswoman and parent Jackie Van Balen Johnson is the fourth person to have submitted her petition for Brookings School Board.
Two three-year seats are up for election, with the posts currently held by Debra DeBates and Roger DeGroot.
Joining Van Balen Johnson on the April 13 school board ballot will be Keli Books, DeBates and Jade Nelson Withers. DeGroot is not seeking re-election.
The election will also feature races for mayor (candidates are Jeff Miller, Ope Niemeyer and Bradley Walker) and two seats on the Brookings City Council (candidates are incumbent Patty Bacon, Dr. Isaiah Crevier, Nate Holden, Nick Schmeichel and incumbent Nick Wendell). Mayor Keith Corbett is not seeking re-election.
The filing deadline for candidates in all races was last Friday.
Van Balen Johnson earned her health administration degree from the University of South Dakota and has been in Brookings for the past 16 years. She currently works for Brookings Vision Center and is the chief finance officer for MR Johnson Furnishings. She also assists as a dance instructor at Madison Avenue Dance.
“Everything that the board decides affects parents in the community, and right now there’s not a whole lot of parental viewpoints on there, people who have kids in the school district, and I really think that having parents on there will affect those decisions greatly,” Van Balen Johnson said.
Van Balen Johnson has served on the Education Board at Peace Lutheran Church for its elementary school program.
She said the board’s top priority is figuring out how the schools are going to function for another year amid the pandemic, with only the potential for getting back to normal later this year. Precautions have been good, but they haven’t benefitted everyone, especially students with special needs and who are in the MCL programs, she added.
“I really want to help as much as I can, keeping our kids safe and providing the best education that we can. And I think that so far, we have done that. We need to continue to do that and show that we, as a town and school district, can keep our children safe and provide the best quality education that we can,” Van Balen Johnson said.
“Brookings School District has had a lot of really good things happen, and we don’t want to deviate from that plan. But we also want to make sure that when there are changes that come up that there are qualified people on the board making those changes,” she said.
Contact Matthew Rhodes at mrhodes@brookingsregister.com.
