SF School District

Sioux Falls School District Election

The Sioux Falls School District will hold their election next Tuesday, May 13. There are 4 candidates running for 2 seats, with 1 incumbent running.

While you can vote for 2 candidates, I am only endorsing ONE candidate; Patricia Ringold.

I was in a weird position this time around to NOT know any of the candidates personally so I was able to do my research like everyone else, reading bios, media questions and the candidate forum. I have kept an open mind, and she rises to the top every time. Besides being just an average Jane (not a ladder climber looking to add something to her resume) she has years of experience in youth education and when she talks about the school system and kids you can tell she truly cares and understands.

As for the other candidates, they are all OK, so that is up to you, but what steered me away from them were some of their long winded, meaningless, canned answers. Kelly is the incumbent, yet she hasn’t said a peep about what she has accomplished so far on the board and blabbed about training HS school students for the trades, which is great, but she kept talking about the students as if they were part of some kind of economic development big picture instead of encouraging them to pursue higher education. Werner is a Trumper, but he does have some great ideas, unfortunately he thinks it is OK to display the 10 Commandments in the school room even though it is a clear constitutional violation. Duffy is a canned candidate that the Dems pulled from their hat. An accomplished attorney who made sure she answered every question perfectly. She was handpicked by out going board member Reiter who now serves as her treasurer of her campaign. This kind of crap irritates the piss out of me. Carly, you are done, enjoy your school board retirement. Why do outgoing candidates in this town always have to recruit a replacement for them? It’s irritating and to be quite honest with you it is extremely UNETHICAL and lacks integrity. I think Carly accomplished a lot of great things on the school board, so BRAVO! But let the chips fall where they may. This is why I am telling people to NOT vote for Duffy. This setup disqualifies her and you would think an attorney would know better. Oh, and none of the candidates mentioned our exploding property taxes. You want to know why? Because they avoid controversial topics like a 10 foot pole. I like leaders with spines.

School Board Candidate Forum on Wednesday

You can watch the event HERE! There are four candidates, but it is pretty obvious who will emerge on top. I am attending the Change Makers event on Saturday where 50 concerned citizens get to question the candidates in an open forum/round table. Can’t wait. I will focus on the 1st Amendment in my questioning. Be prepared candidates, I don’t accept BS answers, and I will call you out. I think anyone who runs for political office, especially locally, needs to study the constitution forward and backward. If you don’t understand the highest level of government law, you don’t understand governing.

Sioux Falls School Board rips the State Legislature to shreds

This was fantastic. It was about time a local governing body told the public what they really think of our legislature. I have been following our legislature for 20 years, and they have always been morons, but over the past 5 years you almost wonder if the only people we elect are crazy and (extra) stupid? This happens because we don’t have open primaries, oh, and our Dem party is almost non-existent. (FF: 1:00:00)

See what happens with public engagement in Sioux Falls

Not sure which SFSD Board Members pulled their arses from their heads, but this was a wonderful way to engage the public about elections, etc.;

Nearly two dozen people attended an informational meeting about what it takes to be a school board member, and how to run for school board, for the Sioux Falls School District on Tuesday night.

Sioux Falls School District Board of Education President Carly Reiter and vice president Dawn Marie Johnson led the meeting, and explained that board members approve budgets and policies, hire and oversee the superintendent, develop and review policies, represent community interests in education and attend appropriate city, state and national events.

Imagine that, when you have a meeting at 6 PM on Tuesday night you can actually get people to attend (though this is at the same time of the council meeting.) You are also helping people to navigate the political landscape. While I appreciate the public engagement, we know that they will be handpicked, funded candidates that Poops and Matt Paulson pull from one of their prosperity gospel churches. The right wingers will likely put someone up to, though they didn’t have much luck the last two elections. I wonder if they also talked about how to file a campaign finance form that is not perjured?

I think it would be great if 24 people ran for school board. That’s what public engagement is about, not hiding in your basement doing jumping jacks.

Sioux Falls School District asks parents about cell phone use

The SFSD put out this survey recently;

Hello SFSD Parent/Guardian,A committee is meeting to learn more about cell phone/smartwatch use during the school day. Please take the survey by clicking the one-time-use link. Do not forward the link.

Each email address we have on file for parents/guardians receives one invite for the survey.  If you have more than one child, consider answering with your oldest child in mind or coordinate with the other parent to submit responses that represent your feedback for two levels – either elementary, middle, or high school.

The deadline for the survey is Friday, January 31, 2025.

We thank you for your time and participation.

Sincerely,  

Sioux Falls School District

I think they should be banned, and I wouldn’t even allow them to bring them on school property. If your parents need to get a hold of you they can do like my mother did, call the front desk and ask to speak to your child.