School Board Election is November 2: Meet the Candidates

The school and city election is scheduled for November 2 and this election cycle we have 3 seats on the school board up for election. There are 4 candidates running for these seats and include incumbents Brenda Klenk and Matt Sallee who are both seeking a second term on the board, as well as Shannon Ingamells and Amy Thole. Incumbent Traci Trunck has decided not to seek a third term in office. Look for Traci's reflection on her service to the board in an upcoming column!

Today's post is a bit longer than normal due to the information that is being shared regarding these candidates. I encourage you to please take time to read the entire article to learn about these community members running for the board. 

Brenda Klenk (Incumbent) 

Brenda was born and raised in Ossian, Iowa and a proud graduate of Allamakee County Schools. After graduation, she attended the American Institute of Business in Des Moines and earned an Associate's Degree in Court Reporting. She is employed by the State of Iowa Judicial branch and most days can be found at the Black Hawk County Courthouse.

Brenda and her husband Ken have been married for 26 years and have three daughters and one son in law, all proud Hudson graduates with the exception of Amelia who has just started her freshman year at Hudson High School. Ellie and her husband Caleb reside in Honolulu, Hawaii where Caleb is stationed in the Air Force. After graduating from Iowa State, Annelise is now attending grad school at Drake. Brenda and Ken keep very busy with their three dogs, and keeping up with Amelia who is very active in school activities that include multiple sports teams.

Brenda is seeking a second term because she feels passionate about being a voice for her neighbors, friends, and community. She believes it's not enough to sit around and talk about what you want to happen. It's better to volunteer your time and be part of the process.

When considering the greatest challenge facing education in Iowa, Brenda recognizes that mental health issues in our school systems has become prevalent, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, for students as well as staff. She says that "While we must continue to move forward and work through the fears and obstacles COVID-19 has created, we must find ways to help, encourage, and support our students and staff so we can keep the classroom focus on education."

At the local level, Brenda believes one of our challenges is giving our students multiple career opportunities so they are ready for whatever path they choose upon graduation. Having classes and hands-on experiences while in high school will give our students a greater understanding to make educated decisions about their future and hopefully lead them to successful careers.

She hopes to continue representing the Hudson community with integrity and assure our citizens that there is a great deal of thought and consideration put into the decisions made as a board member. She hopes to be part of improvements to our school's learning environment, educational programming, as well as our facilities so we are ready to meet the needs of all current and future students.

Matt Sallee (Incumbent)

Matt grew up in Indianola, Iowa and graduated from Indianola High School in 1990. He went on to attend the University of Northern Iowa and graduated from UNI with a Marketing Degree in 1994. He is currently employed by Stanley Black and Decker and serves as the Director of Product Management for Metal Storage. He was a long time employee of Waterloo Industries prior to being acquired by Stanley Black and Decker in 2017. He really enjoys his job and gets to work with a team to develop world class storage products for brands such as CRAFTSMAN, DEWALT, STANLEY and MAC Tools.

His family  has been proud to call Hudson home for 24 years. His wife Dee also graduated from UNI and works in the High School as the Athletic/Guidance Assistant. They have two wonderful daughters who were both extremely active while in the Hudson school system. His oldest, Madison, graduated from Hudson in 2017 and UNI in 2021. She now works for VGM as a Project Event Coordinator on the Moxie Team. Kylee graduated from Hudson in 2021 and is now a Freshman at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, SD where she is studying Business and a is member of the Track and Field Team. 

As an incumbent, Matt is seeking a second term on the board in an effort to give back to the school and community that has treated his family so well. The Hudson school system has opened up many doors for his daughters and successfully prepared them for their future endeavors. He enjoys being part of a team that will ensure these opportunities will be made available for all Hudson students in the future.

Matt believes the pandemic has created the biggest challenge facing education in Iowa. The debates over in-person vs. online education and masks vs. no masks have created a huge divide in some communities. He also points out that Hudson faces the same challenges created by the pandemic. With the exception of the state wide shutdown, he is proud that Hudson students have attended school in person the entire time since the pandemic began. The staff and students do an excellent job of mitigating the risks.

If he is successful in securing a second term, Matt will bring the same common sense approach to the board that was demonstrated during his first term. He looks forward to working with the larger team to continue to improve our facilities and learning environment in order to provide our students, staff and community the best education in the area.

Shannon Ingamells

Shannon grew up in Cedar Falls and holds a BA Degree in Community Health Education from the University of Northern Iowa and an Associate Degree in Nursing (RN) from Inver Hills Community College. She is currently employed by Unitypoint at Home and has varied experience in school nursing and health issues during her time working as a nursing manager with schools in the Cedar Valley.

Shannon and her husband Wade, a Hudson native, have been married for 20 years. They lived in Minnesota when they were first married. Shortly afterward, they moved back to Iowa and have been happy to call Hudson home for the past 18 years.  Their oldest daughter Emily, graduated from HHS this past May and is a freshman at the University of Iowa. Their son Zach, is a sophomore at HHS. They have 2 dogs - a 10 year old Boxer named Max and a 7 year old Bassador named Roger. 

Shannon has been thinking about running for the Hudson School Board since her children were young. She decided this year to run because she feels her experience in health care, school nursing, child and adolescent health, pediatric nursing, and mental health would bring a lot to the board. She has an interest in educational law as well as collaborating with others to arrive at the best outcome. She is accustomed to working in unique situations with an adverse and complex set of barriers. She has extensive background working with children with special health care needs in the school setting and collaborating with the AEA. She believes it takes a village to raise a child and wants to help impact the educational experiences our children in Hudson have. 

Shannon believes in the uniqueness of each child and that it can be challenging for educators to find that uniqueness about each child and meet each child and their families "where they're at". At the same time believes if those unique attributes of each child can be found and lifted up to help them reach their full potential their opportunities in life will be limitless. 

As a smaller school district, Shannon feels there may not always be the opportunity to offer a myriad of educational options and activities to students. For instance, her daughter was able to take the CNA course through the Waterloo Career Center her senior year. This was an amazing experience and sparked an interest to pursue a degree in nursing at the University of Iowa. It was a bit challenging to make this work into her schedule her senior year due to the differences in class scheduling at Hudson vs. Waterloo Schools. But, in spite of those challenges we were able to work it out and create a very positive experience. She feels more students should be allowed to explore options such as this to open many more doors of opportunity for them. 

If elected, Shannon hopes to make a positive impact by the choices and decisions that are made as a board member.  She has experience working in schools with positivity programs in place and the energy you feel when you walk into those schools is beyond compare. She hopes to accomplish making Hudson Schools a place where students want to learn and teachers want to teach, where they wake up every morning and are excited to be there.  She is not saying this isn't the case now. But, she feels with all that is going on in the world currently students and teachers are facing the greatest challenges they may have ever had in their lifetime. There are so many concerns with mental health issues, illness, loss, etc., etc. that we need to find new and unique ways to live, love, learn, and teach. 

Amy Thole

A lifelong Hudson resident and the daughter of Tom and Christy Lichty, Amy grew up on a farm outside of Hudson. She is a 2008 graduate of Hudson High School and holds degrees from Hawkeye Community College and the University of Northern Iowa. She is currently employed at Hawkeye Community College where she serves as the Associate Director of Athletics. 

Amy and her husband Michael have a one year old daughter, Charlotte. She is drawn to board service in Hudson because of the way Hudson shaped her life during her formative years. She grew up attending Hudson Community Schools and graduated in 2008. The education she received at Hudson gave her a strong foundation to continue on to higher education. Traveling around the world and living out of state, provided the clarity needed to move back to Iowa and start a family. The reason she would like the opportunity to be on the Hudson Community School Board is to give back to Hudson Schools so my children can have the same positive experience she did.

As an administrator at a postsecondary institution, Amy recognizes that mental health is one of the greatest challenges facing educators in Iowa. She feels that it is paramount that we do all we can to connect students with services that will enable them to be successful in life. 

At the local level, Amy is interested in helping address the challenges Hudson will face in the near future as district enrollment grows. As class sizes increase, it will be important to ensure that we continue to provide the smaller class sizes that make our school district so appealing. Amy also realizing that it will be important to ensure we have the programming necessary to meet the needs of our growing community, ranging from early childhood education all the way to college and career readiness. She hopes her service to the board will add a solution oriented voice to address the complex issues facing the district while planning for the future.