NORTHEAST WIS. – Statewide and local education elections drew many voters in Marinette and Oconto Counties, where residents were divided on the state ballot for Superintendent of Education but generally favored Brittany Kinser over incumbent Jill Underly.
In the State Superintendent of Education contest, incumbent Underly won with 53% of the vote to Kinser’s 47%, but locally Kinser outperformed Underly, winning over 60% of the total votes cast in Oconto and Marinette counties.
Kinser won 64% of Oconto County votes, scoring 9,998 votes to 5,549 for Underly.
The results were closer in the city of Marinette, where Kinser received 1,437 votes, or 53%, to Underly’s 1,271, according to the county’s unofficial results.
While the race was nonpartisan, Underly had more support from the Democratic Party, while Kinser was backed by Republicans, including those who questioned recent changes to the state’s school accountability program. Changes to the way student progress was characterized on the state’s standardized tests were criticized.
Just a couple of days before the April 1 election, which had focused on test scores and how best to measure student progress, Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a Republican-supported bill that would have restored the state’s academic standards to the benchmarks the Department of Public Instruction had set for 2019-2020. In his March 28 veto announcement, Evers said he objected to what he called the legislature’s efforts to undermine the State Superintendent’s authority and independence, which Wisconsin’s constitution grants.
Two school district referendums in Marinette County received opposite results. The Beecher-Dunbar-Pembine school district’s referendum carried, with 634 votes supporting it and 472 votes against it. The Marinette School District’s referendum was defeated with 2,525 votes against it and 2,171 votes for it.
For local school board elections in both counties, the Peshtigo Times made several attempts to verify the numbers by the April 7 print deadline. However, we encourage readers to check with their local school district clerk with any questions. Due to limited resources, we weren’t able to cover every local school board ballot. For school districts with ballots in more than one municipality, we made an effort to tally votes from the various polling places, but weren’t able to verify all of these numbers.
The contested Marinette School Board race pitted five candidates for three open seats. Tim Pelzek won the most votes with 2,334, while Maria Fong-Baake earned 2,253 and Hank Matthews garnered 2,093 to be elected. Candidates not elected included Terri Florek with 1,763 votes, Eric Grenier with 1,504 and Eric Craver with 1,438 votes.
In Coleman School District’s uncontested ballot for school board, Jeremy Hoida won 1,498 votes, Geoff Seefeldt garnered 1,349 and Barbara VanDrisse received 1,342. The district includes the villages of Coleman and Pound and the towns of Bagley, Beaver, Brazeau, Grover and Pound.
In the Crivitz School Board race, voters elected the top three vote-getters to a three-year term: Kaitlin Deschane with 1,603 votes, Cory Siebert with 1,563 and Amy Grandaw with 1,550. The candidate in fourth place, Sonny Graese with 1,502, was elected to a one-year term to fill the open seat Board Member Sara Roman was appointed to fill in fall 2024, according to the school district. Roman received 1,412 votes.
In Peshtigo School Board’s seat 4 contested race, Miranda Seefeldt won with 1,026 votes to Kelsey Lossett’s 771. Ballots for seat 2 and 3 were uncontested, with Jenni Schwittay garnering 1,735 votes for seat 2 and Joe Nault earning 1,726 votes for seat 3.
In Coleman School District’s uncontested ballot for school board, Jeremy Hoida won with 1,498 votes, Geoff Seefeldt garnered 1,349 and Barbara VanDrisse received 1,342. The district includes the villages of Coleman and Pound and the towns of Bagley, Beaver, Brazeau, Grover and Pound.
In Niagara School District, three candidates ran unopposed for three School Board seats, with newcomer Adra Brietzke collecting 453 votes to join Lisa Swanson with 604 votes and Kimberly Champeau Dumke with 536 votes.
In the Wausaukee School District, uncontested candidates Brandon Tayor received 1,178 votes and Bill Orlando collected 1,085 votes.
In Gillett School District, school board candidate Trisha Ondik won with 934 votes, followed by Lorie Beyer with 917, Robin Banaszynski with 846 and Tonia Kruschke with 721, according to unofficial results, the school district said.
In Goodman-Armstrong Creek School District’s uncontested school board election, Robet Swanson received 191 votes while Laura Klescewski received 168 votes, according to unofficial returns.
In the Lena School Board race in Oconto County, voters cast 690 ballots for Edward Huberty and 629 ballots for Nicole Zaidel. The district includes the towns of Lena, Little River, Oconto, Spruce and Grover and the Village of Lena.
In Oconto Unified School District, Crissy Thome Kumhala was elected School Board Member Rural Seat with 1,212 votes, and Sara Trepanier was elected School Board Member City Seat with 1,207 votes. Due to the number of municipalities involved, these counts are unverified.
City of Oconto Falls voters re-elected Oconto Falls School Board Members Chad Earley with 646 votes and Sarah Schindel with 566.
In Suring School District, Rhonda Stuart was elected School Board Member for the Towns of Bagley, Maple Valley and Spruce Area and Amanda Seiber was elected School Board Member for the Towns of Doty, Mountain and Riverview.
Due to the number of separate ballots involved, verified vote totals weren’t available.
In the Wabeno area, Trinity Shepard was elected with 1,371 for a three-year term to represent the Forest, Langlade and Marinette County parts of the district. Daniel Christianson was elected with 1,376 votes for a three-year term to represent the Oconto County part of the district.
In Oconto Unified School District, Crissy Thome Kumhala was elected School Board Member Rural Seat with 1,212 votes, and Sara Trepanier was elected School Board Member City Seat with 1,207 votes.
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