Campaign kerfuffle: Concerns rise as School Board election looms

BRAINERD — An administrative law judge has yet to make a ruling in the case of Fair Campaign Practices complaints against three candidates running for Brainerd School Board, and concerns about campaign literature are far from over in Brainerd, going as far as the call for a sitting board member to resign.

The newest issue at hand is a mailer sent to district residents from an organization called Restore Our Schools. It urges voters to “just say no” to “liberal” School Board members Kevin Boyles, Michelle Brekken and John Ward, all of whom currently sit on the board and are running for reelection.The mailer goes on to claim “over 500 families have left the district due to unsafe learning environments and a lack of transparency” and accuse the three board members of dismissing parent concerns, allowing pornographic content in the school libraries and focusing more on pushing political agendas than improving academic performance.

Financial reports filed with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board show $12,000 worth of contributions given to Restore Our Schools, half of which came from sitting board member DJ Dondelinger through his company, Dondelinger Automotive. The other $6,000 came from Glen Cook through Guests Inc.

District resident and former Brainerd teacher Sally Boos spoke of the mailer and Dondelinger’s contribution to Restore Our Schools during the public forum of the School Board’s meeting on Monday, Oct. 21. She called the statements on the mailer “shameful, disgusting lies and distortions.” With respect to the mailer’s claim that the board members dismissed parents’ objections to inappropriate books in the libraries, Boos noted those who spoke about the books at board meetings and formally challenged them were not parents.



https://www.brainerddispatch.com/news/local/campaign-kerfuffle-concerns-rise-as-school-board-election-looms