2 primaries needed to narrow St. Cloud school board field

Two primaries will be needed to narrow the fields in a general and special election for four St. Cloud school board seats.Eight people are running for three seats with four-year terms and three people are seeking one two-year term. The special election would be for the final two years of Deb Lalley’s term. She is resigning Dec. 31.
The Aug. 10 primary would trim the race for the four-year term to six candidates and the two-year term to two. Candidates have until 5 p.m. today to drop out and not have their name on the ballot.
The three incumbents, who were elected in 2003 and re-elected without opposition in 2006, are all running again. Jerry Von Korff and Bruce Mohs are running for four-year terms, and Sigrid Hedman-Dennis, who is chairwoman, is running for the two-year term.
They are joined by an assortment of opponents including two Somali immigrants.
Von Korff, a lawyer who turns 65 in June, Mohs, a retired teacher who has been active in the Technical High School alumni association, and Hedman-Dennis, who is on the nursing faculty at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University, have been on the board for seven years.
Whoever is on the board in January when members are sworn in will start the district’s third superintendent search in seven years. Steve Jordahl is resigning after two years in the district. Former Superintendent Bruce Watkins will serve as interim superintendent through June 30, 2011.
The district also will be confronting a difficult budget situation that will depend on decisions made at the state level, will continue its work on improving academic success for black students and could still be dealing with a federal investigation into alleged discrimination against Somali students at the two high schools.
Mohs and Von Korff will meet six challengers in the primary. The top six with the most votes will survive the primary.
Among the challengers are:
Al Dahlgren, a 51-year-old regional manager for Winmark who lives in St. Joseph. He ran unsuccessfully in 2008 and says the board needs a conservative voice. Dahlgren has been a critic of the board and regularly attends board meetings. He has two children who attend Apollo High School.
Vic Schulz of Waite Park is making his first run. He is a school health and safety consultant who once did work for St. Cloud school district. The district discontinued his contract because it was dissatisfied with the work, director of business services Kevin Januszewski said. Schulz said the district still owes him money
chulz, who is 67, said his campaign has nothing to do with his dispute with the district. He regularly attends school board meetings.
Peter Hamerlinck of St. Joseph was active in the effort to get voters to approve a tax increase that paid for the construction of Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph. The 44-year-old also worked on two other property tax increase campaigns. He is the president of the Kennedy Parents Teacher Association and has two children in the district.
Lydia White of St. Cloud has been regularly attending meetings and challenging the board’s policy on public input. White has been a regular speaker at board meetings. She is 49 and is trained as a lawyer. She is the co-chairwoman of the CreateCommunity education committee.
Frances Ann Kayona is a 47-year-old associate professor in education administration at St. Cloud State University. She is running to be more involved in the community and schools.
Hassan Abdullahi Yussuf, a 29-year-old tax professional and interpreter, says there are tensions in the schools, and he can bridge the differences. He is an immigrant from Somalia who moved to the U.S. in 2001.
Adrece Thighman-Nabe withdrew her candidacy Wednesday.
The special election to replace Lalley will have Hedman-Dennis against Steve Sorensen, a 59-year-old federal employee and National Guard member and Mohamed Yusuf, a 36-year-old program manager at Lutheran Social Service.
He is a Somali immigrant who came to the United States in 2001. He said it is important to have Somalis on the school board because they are becoming a part of the growing community. Somali-speaking students make up about 9 percent of the students in the school district.
Hedman-Dennis, who turns 56 in August, said the two-year term just seemed like the right place to land. She said there are still things to be worked on in the school district.