Well it's that time again. Time to close the pools and elect four new members to serve four year terms to the Des Moines school board.

Since Des Moines has a fairly large district with 30,783 students anda budget of appx. $420,650,000 funded by local residents and homeowners, it behooves the general populace to get involved by participating in the selection of school board members.

This time around three incumbents are fighting to remain in their seatson the Des Moines School Board: Connie Boesen,  Patty Link, Teree Caldwell-Johnson, against 6 challengers: Margaret Buckton, Felipe Galardo, Timothy Halsted, Veola Perry, Thalia Sutton, and Zachary Toillion, whom you can read about by following the link.

The board members elected on September 8 will serve four-year terms, new for the first time since the state law recently passed requiring four-year terms. As a result, school board elections will be held every two years thereafter.

Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sept. 8. Information for voters, including polling places, can be found here. Several other municipalities will hold elections for board members and or referendums for spending the .01 cent sales tax and various public measures. See the ballots here.

This year you can register and vote the same day at the polls. I will be serving as Precinct Chairperson at Precinct 75 in Des Moines at 2501 Park Ave. this year along with Shirley and Delores with whom I have worked several elections. One of them always brings some yummy baked goods and they are both lots of fun to work with and to talk to. Should be a great day. See you at the polls!