Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
For the first time in eight years, there will be a contested election for a seat on the New Rockford-Sheyenne school board.
Zachary Smith, a New Rockford resident and formerly a chiropractor at Nicolai Chiropractic, is running for the seat held by Mike Schaefer, the board's current vice president who has filed for reelection, setting up the first contested school board race since 2015.
Meanwhile, the seat currently held by Travis Benson is also up for election, and Kyle Alfstad is challenging for the position. Benson, however, has not filed for reelection, meaning Alfstad will be running unopposed.
Alfstad is a farmer from northwestern Eddy County who, along with Schaefer, recently helped coach the NR-S archery program to their best season in program history.
The position he's running for is a three-year term representing the former Sheyenne District.
Schaefer's seat, meanwhile, is a three-year position for the former New Rockford District.
Schaefer has been on the NR-S school board since 2019, when he was elected to a 1-year unexpired term previously held by Mike Jacobson, who was elected to Todd Duchscherer's seat that same year.
Schaefer was unanimously elected to the role of vice president by his fellow board members in July last year.
His opponent, Zachary Smith, has been employed at the Spirit Lake Health Center as a chiropractor after leaving Nicolai Chiropractic in December 2021. Smith still lives in New Rockford, however, and his children attend school at NR-S.
Smith stepped to the podium when the removal of a full-time music position was on the agenda of a recent school board meeting, encouraging the school board not to reduce the music program by a full-time position.
"This is not the avenue to take to balance our budget," he said.
Both Smith and Schaefer, as well as Alfstad, have committed to participating in a Q & A article in next week's edition of the Transcript. Each candidate will be asked the same set of questions, and their answers will be published to help voters understand where they stand on the issues.
Voters will have their say on Tuesday, June 6, when the lobby of the New Rockford-Sheyenne Public School gymnasium opens for voting from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
On a related note, back in February School Board President Mike Jacobson asked for the community's input regarding a potential change to election policy at NR-S.
The change would be to forgo the old New Rockford and Sheyenne district requirements for school board elections.
Currently, it is required by district policy that the school board be composed of three members from the former New Rockford district, two from the former Sheyenne district, and two elected "at large" from anywhere in the combined district.
At their regular meeting on Monday, May 8, Jacobson and other board members shared some of the input they received. No motions were made at the meeting, and Jacobson told the Transcript on Wednesday that the matter is dropped.
"I wanted to get feedback from the public on if this is something that they wanted because it's the public that has to vote on it," Jacobson son said. "And I got enough feedback from specifically the people in Sheyenne, that no they weren't ready to do that. Some of the people felt that Sheyenne would lose its voice, and I understand that."
