Christensen leads school board votes

With four open seats and four candidates, there wasn’t much of a race for the Red Wing School Board Tuesday night.

Current Board members Mike Christensen and Heidi Jones, who have each served one term on the board, will reassume their seats.

Christensen led vote totals all evening and ended with 5,825 votes. He was followed by Jones with 5,693. Board newcomers Mark Ryan and Janie Farrar ended the night with 5,566 votes and 5,327 votes respectively.

Farrar, a stay-at-home mom who has been actively involved with several community organizations, including the elementary Parent Advisory Committee, said she’s eager to bring a voice of younger families to the board.

Ryan, a retired teacher and educational consultant, said he wants to help the district come up with a long-term plan, and include the entire community in that process.

Farrar and Ryan will take the seats vacated by former Red Wing dean of students Dennis Porter and longtime member and current Board Chair Mitch Boldt.

“I’m going to miss Mitch and Dennis a lot,” Supt. Karsten Anderson said. “Dennis added decades of experience in schools, voice of reason. Mitch was a visionary thinker who kept pressing issues and I think it made a positive difference.”

Still, Anderson said he has been impressed with the work Farrar has done with the PAC and with Ryan’s background and is looking forward to working with them both.

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