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REGIONAL— St. Louis County School Board member Dan Manick had a bit of a surprise after finishing third in an eight-way primary contest for county commissioner in August.
“When I entered the …
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REGIONAL— St. Louis County School Board member Dan Manick had a bit of a surprise after finishing third in an eight-way primary contest for county commissioner in August.
“When I entered the commissioner race I knew I was a long shot,” Manick said. “I always had thought it was a bit of a bummer because I would lose my seat on the school board. I found out after I lost that no one had filed for the seat.”
So now, Manick is back in campaign mode, spreading the word that he wants to stay in his current job representing the Cook area on the school board for another four years. With no candidate officially on the ballot for the school board seat, Manick is asking voters to write in his name on the blank line that will appear.
“It was like my version of the lottery that I could still run for the board after all that,” he said.
And Manick said he has work to do on the school board, to help continue the growth of the district’s enrollment as well as address areas of concern with school performance.
“I’m not happy,” Manick said. “We need to get our test scores (MCA) and ACT scores better. They’re not quite where they should be. I would like to see a better overall report card to show people.”
He said board members, in recent years, have been good about voicing their concerns.
“We voice our displeasure,” he said. “We try different things, whether it is intervention, we know the buck stops with us. We’re spending money on new things.”
“We need to be more pro-active with the curriculum,” Manick said. “We need to do a better job with getting kids prepared for trades.”
No matter what, said Manick, the school board needs to always improve, and resting on successes, as they come, does not serve the students well.
Voters across the Cook area will have the opportunity to weigh-in on the race on Nov. 6. Because of the unusual electoral boundaries within the school district, residents of Vermilion Lake Township will also be voting for the Cook representative.