By Nick Hanson
WASECA — Three newcomers, SkiAnn Christiansen, Jorge Diaz and Mike Gehloff, were elected to seats on the Waseca School Board and incumbent Joe Hoehn was the victor of a close battle for the fourth open seat.
Spurred by the recent firing of well-known coach Tink Larson by the School Board, a group of Waseca-area residents called Time for a Change in Waseca rigorously campaigned to fill four open School Board seats with new faces this fall, drawing statewide attention.
Three incumbents ran against four challengers. Time for a Change endorsed three of the challengers and one write-in.
Christiansen received 17.54 percent of the votes; Diaz 15.79 percent; and Gehloff 15.66 percent.
Hoehn got 1,961 votes, or 11 percent of the vote, barely winning the seat from their write-in endorsement Todd Zimmerman and incumbent Craig Watje. Watje got 1,821 and Zimmerman grabbed 1,771. “We didn’t go four for four. We came up short,” said Scott Beckmann, a member of Time for a Change. “We didn’t accomplish our goal. It’s disappointing.”
Beckmann said he’s especially upset about the return of Hoehn.
The Waseca School Board spends a small amount of time dealing with athletic issues, so Hoehn and the other incumbents found it frustrating Time for a Change was so concerned about the issue.
