What this election means for the Douglas County School District — and chaos on the board

Since the 2022 elections that resulted in a new majority, the Douglas County School Board has made headlines both regionally and nationally.

This new majority, made up of trustees Susan Jansen, David Burns, Kathleen Dickerson and incumbent Doug Englekirk, is decidedly and loudly alt-right. They began planning the takeover well before their first day on the dais, according to text messages released in connection with the controversial public records request.

They were very clear about what their first actions would be: create a policy banning transgender students from playing sports in the district and hire Joey Gilbert as the board’s new attorney. This led to a number of complaints and problems because Gilbert had no experience in education law, and the board’s previous attorney advised the board not to pursue a transgender sports ban because they would inevitably be sued.

Taking the advice of the previous legal counsel, they quickly fired the law firm that had served the district for decades and managed to hire Gilbert.

Gilbert told the board he would create an anti-transgender policy and fight it in court on behalf of the district if they were sued.

This policy never came to fruition.

Since then, he has racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills to the district that could total as much as half a million by the end of this year, with more than $100,000 paid to him in the first two months alone. The district’s total annual budget for legal counsel at the time was just $160,000.

Although anti-transgender policies have not been implemented, the following has happened since the 2022 elections:

The lawsuit reveals that four outsiders train and instruct trustees how to vote:

Nick Maier, who spent almost $80,000 so far on supporting candidates across the region;
Virginia (Ginny) Starratt
Lynn Muzzy
Jan Muzzy

While board member Englekirk largely sided with the board majority, he only spoke against it on a few issues, such as chose not to fire then-Superintendent Keith Lewisrecovered conversations between the new board members and four outsiders discussed the fact that they should not “trust” him because he had given Lewis a positive annual evaluation.

It seems that with the candidacy of candidate Antoinette Marie Casselberry, these people have found a new candidate to support. Maier has already made thousands of donations to Casselberry, but Englekirk is not on the list of beneficiaries despite opposition from Erinn Miller, who is seeking to oust Englekirk from District 3 in Lake Tahoe.

So far, Casselberry has made huge profits Donations of $16,672, with Maier first on the donor list, and Jan Muzzy also on her list.

Casselberry is competing against Melinda Gneiting to replace Linda Gilkerson, who, along with trustee Carey Kangas, has consistently spoken out against a majority of the board since its inception in 2022.

While Englekirk may not have the backing of these four individuals behind the scenes, the Douglas County Republican Central Committee has indeed endorsed Englekirk and Casselberry for these positions, just as it endorsed Burns, Jansen and Dickerson in 2022.

Board seats are to be non-partisan, and this support breaks with the tradition of keeping party politics away from non-partisan campaigns.

Meanwhile, candidates Miller (District 3) and Melinda Gneiting (District 5) enjoy the support of We Deserve a Better Board, a group that formed after disagreements began to mount in 2022 with the board’s new majority.

Most of the board often referred to the group as “Marxist” and “liberal,” even though most of its members were also registered Republicans. All board candidates the group endorses are described as “conservative Republicans.”

New candidates

Erinn Miller (District 3) is a Lake Tahoe resident with three children enrolled in the district and is running against incumbent Englekirk. She serves as a parent representative on the district’s Family Life Committee and has served on numerous other district committees. She and her husband are affiliated with Douglas Pope Warner and have repeatedly spoken out against the actions of the board majority, stating that Gilbert’s law firm miscalculated the district, exceeded its responsibilities and failed to represent the district in an effective manner. way. She expressed concern about the lack of civility and decency shown by most of the board during meetings and hopes to represent the needs of all schools, especially lakeside schools, regarding declining student enrollment. You can read more about her at We deserve better management.

Melinda Gneiting (District 5) has been a resident of Douglas County for 24 years, holds a bachelor’s degree in social work, and has four children enrolled in the district, two of whom have already graduated. She also expressed concern about the current management’s expenses and the fees Gilbert’s company continues to charge. He wants Gilbert’s office to be replaced by a law firm qualified to work in education. She said she wanted “balance and normality” to return to the district. Gneiting said she cares about students with special needs, parents’ rights, financial responsibility, building positive relationships and not allowing “boys to compete in girls’ sports.” You can read more about Gneiting on her website.

Antoinette Casselberry (District 5) is running against Gneiting and moved to Douglas County from Santa Cruz, California in 2020. She attended private Catholic schools throughout her studies, then graduated and began working in the dental industry. She earned a degree in dental hygiene from Loyola Dental School and a bachelor’s degree in health sciences from St. Patrick’s University. Franciszek. She is a member of the Elks Tahoe/Douglas Lodge and serves on the advisory board of the Douglas County Community and Senior Center. She worked as a volunteer after-school assistant coach for the Santa Cruz Track Club, raised money to stop child trafficking in Madagascar by running marathons, and served as a CASA (court-appointed special advocate) in Santa Cruz for three years.

Casselberry has stated that she wants to help DCSD regain its status as the best school district in the state and noted that academic achievement has been declining over the past ten years. She said she would be a “moderating force” ensuring the board had “balance and respectful dialogue.” One of her goals is to keep transgender students out of sports, stating “no boys in girls’ bathrooms or locker rooms. Protect girls’ sports.” She said she also wants to bring back the DARE program. You can read more about Casselberry here website.

Iwona Wagstaff will continue to hold his designated position because he is running unopposed.

Trustee Carey Kangas will not be elected and will be replaced by Markus Zinke, who is also unopposed.

Marek Zinke is a district parent and co-founder of the Parents’ Group, which tries to bridge the gap between the school authorities and parents. He spoke to the Record Courier in March 2023, after the Parents’ Group had been established. During that interview, Zinke said the Parents’ Group was formed because they often cannot attend school board meetings, which are held on Tuesdays at 4 p.m., and often do not even know what the board is voting on.

Co-founder Stephanie Christensen told RC that many board members have never attended the district with students, which means they may not have a parent’s perspective on some issues. Parents had the opportunity to review the curriculum and submit surveys to the group, which then presented them to the school board as a whole. However, it does not appear that this group will be active as of 2023.

What the elections mean

After a cursory search of Zinke, little is known about his position on the current board conduct. However, he does not have the support of Maierra, the other four people behind the scenes who dictate their desires to the majority of the board. Although, since he’s running unopposed, that’s what happened did not register any donations during his candidacy and received no endorsement from either the Douglas County Republican Central Committee or the We Deserve a Better Board group.

Linda Gilkerson and Carey Kangas have been the most outspoken board members about the majority, who will leave the board in January after the election. If Casselberry can win Gilkerson’s seat, the board could tilt toward a majority of members supported by Maier and Englekirk.

However, if Gneiting manages to win the seat and Miller manages to unseat Englekirk, a super-majority will not be considered unless Zinke joins forces with the current majority on the board. He did not receive the endorsement of the Douglas County Republican Central Committee or the We Deserve a Better board group.

If Gneiting and Miller manage to win seats, everything will depend on which way Zinke falls: towards the current majority or the newly formed majority.

Gneiting and Miller made it clear that if elected, they intended to seek a new general counsel for the district and relieve Gilbert of his position. The reason for this is that the district paid his company $400,000 in just one year and that he had no experience in education law.

If Zinke sides with the current majority, or if Casselberry and Englekirk keep their seats, the board will operate as it has since its inception in 2022: four members essentially make all decisions, Englekirk occasionally acts unfairly, and three dissenting board members almost every motion submitted by a majority of the board.

So far, Douglas County has turned out more in this election than any other Nevada county. Currently, 21,205 ballots have been cast in early voting, representing 51% of all active registered voters in the county.

Election night is November 5. Time will tell what the future holds for the board and the Douglas County School District.