Here's who won the Prior Lake-Savage Area School Board elections

Prior Lake American

Four teacher-endorsed Prior Lake-Savage Area School Board candidates won seats after Tuesday’s election.

Candidates Stacey Ruelle, Michael Nelson, Jonathan Drewes and Enrique Velazquez snagged seats in a field of 11 board candidates. The four received endorsements from the Prior Lake Savage Education Association and generally voiced support for the recent district referendum and for transparency in board decision-making.

Incumbent Ruelle received the majority of the votes with 9,093, or nearly 16 percent of the vote, with all precincts reporting. She was followed by Nelson and Drewes, who both received around 6,400 votes. Velazquez came in fourth with 5,965 votes.

Ruelle will keep her seat on the board, while Nelson, Velazquez and Drewes will take the seats of outgoing members Richard Wolf, Ben Hanson and Todd Sorensen. Wolf, Hanson and Sorensen did not run for re-election.

The school board members will take office during a meeting in January 2019.

Ruelle has served on the school board since 2010 and has lived in Savage for 19 years. She has been the Prior Lake Soccer Club administrator for nine years. She said the biggest issue facing the district in the next four years is growth.

Velazquez has lived in Prior Lake since 1999. He said the biggest issue facing the school board in the next four years is rebuilding public trust and growth.

“This is a tremendous win for education, and I’m happy for myself but happy for education and the district,” Velazquez said in an interview. “We’re already in the early stages of construction, so I think the (focus) is continuing on the path of construction, looking at how we’re spending and how we’re putting best efforts to providing spaces and resources needed.”

Nelson has lived in Savage for 15 years with her husband, Andy. She works as a designer and coach. Nelson said the biggest issue facing the district in the next four years is managing growth, helping students feel comfortable and addressing concerns about school security.

Drewes has lived in Savage for 20 years with his wife, Dawn. He owns a financial planning practice.

“I think across the group of us, we feel our students won tonight and that’s what matters,” Drewes said. “We’re proud of the community for voting on the side of students. We feel good about it.”

Drewes said he is ready to learn more about what being on the school board entails.

“I’m going to learn the job, continue to learn what I don’t know and contribute to the knowledge I do have and do what’s right for our students,” he said. “I think our community simply wants people who are concerned about our students and we will all listen.”

During the campaign, the candidates said they would monitor and oversee referendum construction projects in order to address the enrollment growth in the district. Voters approved a $109.3 million referendum in November 2016 to build a new elementary school, construct a new building for the Bridges Area Learning Center and add on to Prior Lake High School and six other schools.

“I take pride in being a part of a community that said ‘yes’ by a nearly 2-1 margin to supporting our kids,” Drewes wrote in a candidate Q&A response. “The board must now ensure those plans are executed efficiently, on budget and on time. The board must take a sensible approach to managing open enrollment.”

The other candidates also said that open enrollment would need to be managed or limited in order to maintain class sizes at the elementary level.

“We’re going to continue to need to address (growth) and honor the commitment the community made with the referendum vote in November last year and make sure we deliver on what we said we were going to deliver,” Ruelle wrote. “That’s well on its way to happening.”

The candidates all said that if a resident came to them with a concern, they would listen and then determine the appropriate action.

“What is important to remember is that after listening, there are established protocols for addressing concerns as a board member,” Nelson wrote.

Ruelle said she expects thorough debates among the school board members to continue with the addition of new members.

“I expect that to continue, and rightly so, as we are all seven different individuals who represent all stakeholders in Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools,” Ruelle wrote in a statement. “After a decision is made by the board, it is critical to move ahead with one voice in the direction that was voted on.”