Owatonna school board members look to district’s future on Owatonna

OWATONNA — Three board members held onto their positions in the election on Tuesday, while at the same time welcoming Bill Bernard to the Owatonna school board.
With four open seats — and only four candidates in the race — Vilnis Giga pulled in the most votes with 2,043. Donald McCann, however, came in a close second with 2,011 votes. Corey Mensink received 1,982 votes and Bernard garnered 1,801 votes.
Bernard, a newcomer to the school board amidst three incumbents, said he hopes to bring a new perspective to the school board. Bernard has been a stay-at-home dad for 13 years, “a conscience choice,” and he serves as the girls lacrosse coach at Owatonna High School. In his run for the board, he said his goal was not to reverse anything the board has done, but instead to find ways to “make something good even better.”
“I guess a large part of it for me is I think we have a lot of great things going in Owatonna and to me our schools are one of them,” said Bernard.
He said his first order of business will be to get caught up on everything the school board has been doing, in time to take office in January.
Though this is Bernard’s first time running for public office, incumbent candidates said the make-up of the board is a recipe for success.
“Overall, I think we’ve got a board that will continue to maintain a high standard of education in the district,” said Mensink.
Mensink serves as the market president for US Bank in Owatonna. He said his hope for the board is that it will continue to look for programs and opportunities that give Owatonna students a competitive edge.
“Moving forward, what I see is a board and a district that is going to be innovative in our approach,” said Mensink.
Giga, a retired school teacher, said many important tasks lie ahead for the Owatonna school district, among them continuing to implement a strategic plan that has already been introduced in the district. Other important initiatives, he said, included the scorecard system of accountability — a part of the strategic plan — and items like the New School Structure, the 9th Grade Academy and Response to Intervention.
“The most important thing that our school district must look to is student achievement,” said Giga. He said in his mind, a school board member’s job is not to come up with the cheapest school system, but the one that will work the best for students.
McCann, who works as a group manager at Viracon, said the voters sent a strong message when they voted down a bond referendum in 2008. He said in the coming years, he sees a need for the board to take scarce resources and distribute them in the best way possible. He also said he thought the board needed to maintain measures of accountability.
“I think student achievement is very important as we move forward,” said McCann.

Melissa Kaelin can be reached at 444-2372.

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Member Opinions: By: NoteTaker on 11/4/09 "(McCann) said he thought the board needed to maintain measures of accountability." Accountability to whom? Be specific. By: VoiceOfReason on 11/4/09 This is the Owatonna People's Press, I am sure they found a way to screw up the quote. By: NoteTaker on 11/4/09 True enough, but I'm confident that, as is so many times the case with elected officials, Mr. McCann, with all due respect, is not ignorant about the vagueness of his statement. By: smile on 11/4/09 I'm sure our elected school board members will do a great job! It takes courage to run for school board and have to deal with all the negative comments and press. I wish you all the best and have confidence you will all do what is best for the students of Owatonna! By: Mech_D on 11/5/09 Whom-m-m-m Where is Sanburn's comment?
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