On Nov. 5, students who registered to vote in Northfield will be able to vote for the Northfield School Board. Results will determine four of the seven school board members of the Northfield School District for the next four years. This district oversees 11 schools with a total of 3,857 enrolled students as of 2023, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The Northfield Public Schools website states that the school board is “responsible for developing policy to ensure the proper care, management and control of district affairs.” The candidates for the 2024 School Board Elections are incumbents Amy Goerwitz, Claudia Gonzalez-George and Corey Butler, as well as newcomers Tristan Cox, Maggie Epstein, Iris Erlingsdóttir/Lee and Andreas (Andy) Thurnheer. All voters vote for four candidates.
The most pressing issue for this election is the referendum on the Northfield High School Construction Project, also known as the Reimagine Northfield High School Project. This referendum asks voters if the Northfield School District should be authorized to issue bonds to improve the Northfield High School’s sites and facilities. These changes would include renovations and upgrades to the high school building, the construction of an expanded gymnasium and the installation of a geothermal heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system. Carleton College has pledged 2 million dollars towards the improvement projects included in the referendum. Carleton voters could greatly impact Northfield residents due to the resulting increase in property taxes.
School board candidates have differing perspectives on the referendum. Goerwitz was traveling and unable to sit down for an interview, but said in an email to the Carletonian that “to attract new residents and to provide a top-quality education, we need to update our high school.” She said that “our 62% – 38% solution — renovate 62% and rebuild 38% — will provide us with a modern high school that Northfielders can be proud of and that should last at least 50 years.”
Erlingsdóttir/Lee, however, said that as “many properties in town are tax-exempt,” the project’s “remaining debt is a huge amount for Northfield taxpayers to take on” because of the “little support from businesses.” Erlingsdóttir/Lee asked, “30 years from now, when the current crop of Northfield students finish paying for this referendum, will the future school board consider tearing down the high school?”
Butler, Gonzalez-George and Epstein are running together as the United for Northfield coalition, which, according to the group’s website, is “committed to ensuring responsible, forward-thinking oversight of the district.”
Butler is running for the school board because of his “care [for] the power of public schools.” For Butler, the recruitment and retention of quality staff is one of the most pressing issues for the Northfield School District. He highlights the school district’s commitment to good salaries and support networks for teachers and the funding issues facing the district. In his current position as a school board member, he reports that “twice in the last four years, we have had to make budget adjustments.” 70% of funding for the school district comes from the state and is dependent on student enrollment rates, which have been declining due to declining birth rates since 2008. As a school board member, Butler has advocated for state legislators to bring attention to underfunding, as well as planning and discussing the Northfield High School Construction project referendum to generate funds for school infrastructure.
Epstein highlights the importance of public education for “a thriving democracy” in her questionnaire response for KYMN. Epstein also notes that “one issue – that has been an issue for a few years and will continue to be – is constrained funding.” Epstein states that the school board members, rather than bringing in policy or ideas, are responsible for “assessing the policy that governs the school district,” mainly by hiring and supervising the superintendent. As school board members are “not doing the work of educating the students every day,” Epstein does not believe that they should decide on the curriculum for Northfield schools, according to her questionnaire for the NEA.
Gonzalez-George emphasizes that the “school board is a non-partisan and one of the most local pieces of government,” meaning that school board members should not have a platform or specific issues to address; as an incumbent member of the school board, Gonzalez-George states that candidates should instead have certain traits and qualities. Echoing the candidate guide from the Minnesota School Boards Association linked in the United for Northfield webpage, Gonzalez-George describes a good school board member as “someone who is able to work collaboratively, who is open-minded and a good listener, take in a variety of perspectives, especially those that are not the same as their own.”
Cox, a former Northfield High School teacher, is running in the election to “ensure we continue to have strong and vibrant public schools,” according to a questionnaire held by KYMN radio station. Cox declined an interview with the Carletonian, but lists the relevant issues for Northfield Public Schools as “determining an appropriate cell phone use policy at Northfield High School, adapting to declining enrollment and hence declining revenue…and addressing facilities needs.” Elaborating on his first point, Cox wishes “to help craft an updated cell phone/smartphone use policy at Northfield High School” in accordance with the state legislature mandate for school districts to adopt a cell phone policy by 2025.
Goerwitz has served on the school board since 2018. She is currently running to “continue making a positive difference for our district students, staff, families and community,” according to the KYMN questionnaire. Goerwitz considers the proposed Reimagine Northfield High School project the most relevant issue in this election, mentioning that the current school board “put a lot of work” into the proposal. Additionally, she proposes shifting the high school and middle school start time from 7:50 to around 8:30-8:50 to improve students’ health, grades and attendance Goerwitz said that changing the start time for the schools “is the best thing for students. For their sake, we need to make this happen.”
Thurnheer declined an interview with The Carletonian due to unavailability, but in the KYMN questionnaire, Thurnheer stated that his “business and engineering experience will bring a fresh perspective to the district’s infrastructure conundrum.” On the Northfield High School construction referendum, he added, “when you make infrastructure investments, it is best to look forward and make a complete plan first before you ask for public funding.” Thurnheer notes that the Reimagine Northfield High School plan “needs refinement and competitive input,” adding that the board should “consider the future cost of inefficient infrastructure.”
Erlingsdóttir/Lee cited her experience being her daughter’s assistant teacher during COVID as the inspiration for her campaign for school board. She considers making sure that the “curriculum is not political or ideological” an important issue, as she was “really uncomfortable with how much ideology there was in the curriculum.” Additionally, Erlingsdóttir/Lee also mentioned the importance of addressing cell phone use in schools to comply with the state legislature. Regarding the referendum, she added that the Northfield Education Association stated that the top reasons for the rebuilding of the high school are that “sometimes in winter students have to wear coats inside the classrooms, and the WiFi is iffy in some parts of the building,” which she considers not good enough reasons to “tear down the high school.”
Corey Butler, Amy Goerwitz, Claudia Gonzalez-George and Maggie Epstein are endorsed by the Northfield Education Association (NEA), the teachers’ union. All candidates, except for Andreas Thurnheer, were interviewed by the union. Additionally, they submitted a questionnaire answering questions on the most important issue facing the school district, the role of a school board member, their strengths and qualifications, past experiences and views on different points such as the curriculum and funding. After the interview and questionnaire, the NEA endorsed the aforementioned candidates.
The candidates recommended ways in which Carleton students voting for the school board can inform themselves about the election and the candidates. Butler highlights that “as individuals who are just starting to take advantage of the right to vote,” students should “be informed on the role of who [they] are electing — know what they are running for and why they are running.” Carleton students are part of the Northfield community, which, according to Cox, “[has] the very real opportunity to help guide local policies in Northfield regarding the direction of the city and school district.”