Local News
School board candidates make themselves known
OSKALOOSA — Charles Sampsel and Susan Boxler are running for an at-large seat on the Oskaloosa School Board.
Voters will go to the polls on Tuesday, Sept. 8, to choose between Sampsel and Boxler. School Board members Lin Yoder and Anne Whitis are also running unopposed for their seats on the board.
Sampsel and Boxler are both running for the school board for the first time.
“This is my first formal running for an office,” Sampsel said.
Sampsel said he is running for school board because he wants to give back to the community. Also, he has three children who are graduates of Oskaloosa Community Schools and has a fourth child who is a freshman. Sampsel has a business degree from William Penn University, and he wants to use his knowledge to help with money matters.
Some issues Sampsel campaigns on include the graduation rate. This past year, the Oskaloosa High School graduation rate was 88 percent.
“That’s unacceptable,” he said.
Sampsel wants to focus on the curriculum and talk to teachers about the curriculum, not to micro manage but to facilitate learning.
Boxler is a former teacher and has taught pre-K to seventh grade in private and public schools in Arizona, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. In Indiana, were kindergarten wasn’t mandatory, she started her own kindergarten program and added it to a pre-school.
Boxler believes her education background as a teacher in several states could be a boon to the school board.
“I can be an excellent help,” she said.
Boxler has two children in school, one is in eighth grade and the other is a sophomore.
Oskaloosa has “solid schools here,” Boxler said.
Boxler said she doesn’t have any specific issues to campaign on. She wants to keep an open mind.
“Children have to be put first,” she said.
The polls are open in Oskaloosa on Tuesday from noon to 8 p.m. To vote in the school board election, people must be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years of age and registered to vote in Mahaska County.
Herald Editor Duane Nollen can be reached by email at oskynews@oskyherald.com
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