Fifth Candidate Enters Northfield School Board Race

Rob Hardy has filed to run for one of the four open Northfield School Board seats in the 2012 election.

Hardy joins already  Ellen Iverson, Anne Maple and Noel Stratmoen, all incumbents, and .

Hardy told Northfield Patch that he has served three years on the ' District Educational Program Advisory Committee, three years on the board of the Cannon River STEM School, where he was one of the founders of the school, and served as the chair of the external review committee for in 2011. Hardy has also at and has been a classroom volunteer and substitute teacher (2000-2002) in the Northfield Public Schools.

In 2008, Hardy was one of eight candidates who ran for four open seats on the Northfield School Board. Hardy received 3,806 votes, or 10.89 percent of the vote, falling short of fourth-place Maple, who received 5,257 votes, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State.

The filing period for school board opened July 31 and runs through 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 14.

Four terms are up for grabs in the 2012 school board election. Board members whose terms end this year include Iverson, Maple, Stratmoen and Jeff Quinnell, who has entered the race for District 2 County Commissioner  incumbent Galen Malecha.

All seats are four-year terms.

Affidavits of Candidacy are available in the  office, at 1400 Division St. S. in Northfield. The filing fee is $2. A candidate must be an eligible voter, must be 21 years of age or more on assuming office, must have been a resident of the district for 30 days before the general election, must not be registered as a convicted sex offender and must have no other affidavit on file for any other office.

The filing date for these seats is later in the summer because the district does not hold a primary for its election.

Most other offices—, Rice County Board of Commissioners and state offices—held their filing period this spring. For races that need to narrow the field, a Primary Election will be Aug. 14. To see who's running in those races, head to our .

Contact Donita Delzer in the district office at 663-0629 with any questions about running for school board.

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