Minnesota school board elections enter silly season

Silly season has officially begun in the 2024 school board elections with candidates, voters and interest groups going to great lengths to support their candidates, even if it means breaking norms, policies and laws. Here are three quick examples of what I’ll call “interesting” behavior.

Brainerd

The chair of the Brainerd School Board, Kevin Boyle, was caught colluding with district staff to manipulate the filing process for candidates. A data practices request revealed text messages between Boyle and Kelli Forsyth, the election clerk and administrative assistant to the superintendent. The texts show an ongoing conversation with Forsyth feeding Boyle real-time updates on who was filing to run for the school board. The texts also indicate Boyle was trying to convince one candidate to remove his name from the ballot, texting “Andrew is refusing to drop.” Andrew Mendez did not drop out of the race and is the only candidate not endorsed by the teachers’ union or the Minnesota Parents Alliance. I assume Boyle was concerned that Mendez would draw votes from the union candidates (including himself) and dilute their vote.

Boyle’s unethical behavior was called out at a September school board meeting forcing him to apologize in public saying, “By asking this district employee to proactively supply me the information, I inadvertently crossed a line and essentially used the privilege of my position to get that information communicated to me in a way that is not available to the general public, and I also failed to consider that my request was inappropriate.” 

Mankato

The parent-backed candidates in Mankato must be catching on with voters because an all-out attack has been launched by the incumbents and their supporters. First, the incumbent members of the board who are not up for reelection issued a joint statement in support of their colleagues being challenged in November. There is nothing wrong with this endorsement on its face, but it does show how those protecting the status quo quickly band together against an outside threat. This is why they call it the swamp.

Second, a video appeared on Facebook from an unhinged voter who awkwardly confronted candidate Elizabeth Hanke while Hanke was out door knocking. Hanke is backed by the Minnesota Parents Alliance. Dinah Langsjoen chased Hanke down the street and asked her to read a statement “out loud” because “that’s your statement and I want to either hear you defend yourself or answer the question that I blatantly ask you about your racism.” Hanke wisely turned and walked away from this loaded conversation. The statement, by the way, was Hanke questioning the creation of affinity groups by race at Mankato schools, that separate students based on the color of their skin.

Watch the video yourself, prepare to cringe, apologize for the swear word:

(UPDATE: Ms. Langsjoen took the video off Facebook. Next time I’ll remember to make my own copy.)

Teachers’ union stealing the parent message

You know you’re winning when your opponents steal your message. Recent polling shows voters trust parents more than anyone else when it comes to educating students so the teachers’ union is now selling their endorsed candidates as “parent backed.”

This is awe-inspiring gaslighting from the teachers’ union.