St. Michael newcomer Jennifer Peyerl earned her way onto the St. Michael-Albertville School Board Tuesday night, as election results trickled in well after most voters had gone to bed.
In a tight race, Peyerl and current board member Jeff Lindquist have tied, unofficially, with 2,174 votes each, earning them two of the three open seats.
Veteran Gayle Weber, who has also served as board chair and is one of the longest tenured board members, was third with 2,084 votes.
Birk finished about a point behind Weber, with 1,982 ballots. Lisa Gray, who pulled out of the race due to illness, but not in time to get her name removed from the ballot, earned 1,480 votes, good for nearly 15 percent.
The STMA School Board will convene to canvass the election results, and will file its official report with the state.
Birk is just 102 votes behind Weber, but isn’t within the 1 percent margin of error for a recount at this point.
ob_one1963 says
This will be interesting. Birk brought stability to a position that could prove otherwise rocky. He managed the leadership role quite well. Since standing up to the vaunted teachers union after earning their derision over a couple of minor issues, Birk has been ousted, only to be replaced by an individual (Peyerl) who was 100% backed by the MEA, earning text messages the day prior and election day to all teachers in the district ordering their members to vote ONLY for Ms. Peyerl. If there is a lesson to be learned here, cow-towing to the teachers union will not guarantee your seat. Floating levy’s to bolster teacher ranks and pay will not guarantee your seat. We will now get to witness exactly how objective Ms. Peyerl and the new chairperson will be. I will not hold my breath. We should also hold on to our wallets.
Becky says
That’s weird. My comment is gone. These are the final numbers of the STMA school board election from the Minnesota Secretary of State website:
http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/Results/DistrictPrecinctResultsByOfficeInElectionId/20?officeInElectionid=9259