Seven people have filed for three openings on the Columbia Heights School Board. The field includes three incumbents: Hala Asamarai, who works as an instructional specialist; Molly Lewis, a social worker for Hennepin County; and Laura Palmer, a custom art framer. The four challengers are William Gauthier, Janet Kendall, Mike Novitsky and Joanna Stark. Army veterans Gauthier and Kendall are retired. Gauthier was a fleet maintenance manager. Kendall worked in account management. Novitsky owns an auto recycling company. Stark works full time and is a parent volunteer for sports and scouting groups.
The Columbia Heights School Board is comprised of six members who serve alternating four-year terms. Elections are held every two years. Because the number of people filing in 2018 was more than double the number of available seats, there will be a primary on August 14. The vote will reduce the field from seven to six, with two candidates running for each available seat. The general election is Tuesday, November 6.
Following are the candidates’ e-mail responses to five Northeaster questions: 1) How long have you lived in Columbia Heights? 2) Do you have children in the district? 3) Your education 4) Current employment 5) Why are you running?
Hala Asamarai was elected in a 2016 special election and is now running for her first full four-year term. She has been a Columbia Heights resident for 18 years. One of her children recently graduated from the district, and another will be a freshman at the high school in the fall. Asamarai has a bachelor’s degree in physiology, a master of arts degree in teaching, and an education doctorate in instructional leadership with a focus on education technology. She has a teaching license in life science for grades 9 through 12 and an administrative license as a K-12 principal. She is an instructional specialist for Minneapolis Public Schools.
Asamarai wrote that she is running again because she has found great fulfillment in serving on the school board and is excited about using her experience, expertise and passion to make a difference in students’ lives. Her priorities, she said, include “making sure all of our students get equitable opportunities for success; closing the achievement gap while challenging and supporting all our students; maintaining transparency in our work, so we can appropriately involve stakeholders; and listening to the voices of all students, families and community members.”
William Gauthier grew up in Columbia Heights, graduated from its high school, and moved back to the city in 1993. Two of his sons graduated from Columbia Heights High School. Gauthier attended Lakewood Community College and attended the University of Minnesota’s Executive Leadership training at the Humphrey Institute. He served in the Army as a mechanic and worked for the State of Minnesota as an OJT diesel engine rebuilder. He was the fleet maintenance manager for the City of Minneapolis.
He is running “to insist on a learning and working environment free of harassment and violence in our schools.” He wants to get resident students back into the school district. Gauthier questions the upcoming school bond referendum, which will appear on the ballot in the November general election. “My question is, who is doing the budget? Every four years are we going to get asked for more money they didn’t budget for? A lot of people are retired and on a fixed income.” He would like the district to hire more teachers and offer more classes in industrial arts.
Janet Kendall is a Columbia Heights High School graduate who has lived in Columbia Heights for more than 25 years. Her grandchildren, she wrote, “have been in the district but this fall are going to another district.” Kendall focused on business classes in high school and after the Army worked in “office/account management” until retiring in 2015. She is running for school board, “because I want to see a quality education for all youth at our schools. With graduation rates at 83 percent or so, I don’t feel that is good enough. Low test scores in math and reading, we need to do a lot better.”
Kendall added that she does not feel there is clear communication between the district and the community. “Decisions are made prior to school board meetings with very little discussion if any, happening before the votes.” Bullying, harassment, physical assaults and classroom disruptions should not be tolerated by anyone, Kendall added. She has suggested that the board “reach out to other surrounding districts for advice/suggestions to improve in all these areas. We cannot continue business as usual. I want to see a thriving district again.”
Molly Lewis, elected in 2014, is running for a second term. She has lived in Columbia Heights for more than 31 years. She has four children. One son recently graduated from Columbia Heights High School. In the fall, two sons will attend the high school and a daughter will attend Columbia Academy. Lewis, also a Heights graduate, earned a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice from Winona State and has completed several master’s level courses in social work at the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas. She has worked for Hennepin County since 2000 and is a social worker in the parent support outreach program. Lewis is running “because I believe that Columbia Heights Public Schools need leadership who understand children from diverse backgrounds as well as varying strengths and capabilities.” She said that her personal and professional life experiences have given her “some unique perspectives that I am able to utilize as a board member. It is my hope that our schools will continue to have strong academic programs and activities and that our community will support all of our learners.”
Mike Novitsky has lived in the Columbia Heights school district for 42 years. He does not currently have children in the school district, but both of his children graduated from District 13 and he has two granddaughters now attending school in the district. His son, Nick Novitsky, is a Columbia Heights City Council member.
Novitsky graduated from a Minneapolis high school and attended Minneapolis Vo-Tech, where he received certification in auto mechanics. He owns and operates an auto recycling company. In addition, he works at a private Jewish school in St. Paul as a facility manager. The building, he added, also houses a charter school.
He is running for a school board seat because he wants “to bring back parent involvement with the children and make the district responsible for the funding that they get from the taxpayers.” He also would like to see “hometown students with less open enrollment.”
Laura Palmer is running for her third term. She has lived in Columbia Heights for 26 years and has two children in the district, one at Columbia Academy, the other at the high school. She also has two grown children who attended Columbia Heights schools from 1991 through 2007.
Palmer attended the College of DuPage, an Illinois community college, and works as a custom art framer for Aaron Brothers at Michael’s Arts and Crafts. She is running because “It has been a remarkable experience to serve on the school board these last seven years. I am running to promote the district and all it has to offer for our students, family, and the community. Election season is an excellent platform to ‘get the word out’ and hopefully encourage all at the table to work together. There are amazing things happening in our six buildings, and of course, challenges.
“The next board, as always, will have to navigate the wants and needs and make tough, and often, heartbreaking decisions,” Palmer added. “There is a great deal of complexity to school finance, regulations, mandates and court opinions that must be taken into account and navigated in a manner that least disrupts the classroom.”
Joanna Stark is a Columbia Heights schools alumnus who has lived in the city for 28 years. She has “children who attend two out of the five public schools in Heights.” Stark went to Hennepin Technical College and is currently employed. “It has been delightful to work a full-time job for seven years, at one of the best companies around,” she wrote. Stark was a soccer coach and now volunteers with Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts.
“My role as a board member would center on serving all of the children in our community. We are a diverse community and we have to celebrate that diversity! Our schools should serve the educational needs of all the children. If elected I will bring to the table an obligation to be attentive and pay attention to the parents, children, and community members pertaining to their wants and educational needs. I will work diligently to earn back the trust and to retain the trust of the parents, children and community members. I will strive for transparency, accountability along with zero tolerance for bullying, harassment, assaults and incorporate a strategic discipline system within our schools.”
Candidate contact information is available on the Minnesota Secretary of State website, https://candidates.sos.state.mn.us/. Put “School Board Member (ISD #13)” in the “office title” box, and click on the individual names to view their contact info. The Columbia Heights school district’s website is www.colheights.k12.mn.us.