Tim Molepske, who is running as part of a three-person slate that does not include Hyman or Mandel, said the tenor of national politics inspired him to run. But he agreed with Hyman that families are most concerned about the issues closest to their child.
Still, he said, people today are quick to jump into an “us vs. them mindset.“
“We’ve got to try to keep it focused on local issues and local successes,” Molepske said.
Election results in Anoka-Hennepin, the state’s largest school district, may shift the board’s current partisan 3-3 split. That divide has threatened to slow or even halt budget and curriculum decisions.
Incumbent Jeff Simon, who is running again after 13 years on the board, said that in an effort to remain nonpartisan, he’s never affiliated with a political party. But, he said, the issues considered by the board have, in recent years, increasingly come with a “partisan lens.”
Simon said parents and community members hear about a culture war issue from national media and assume something dangerous is happening in their schools and that the school board has the authority to fix it.