School board candidate Katie Allen to step down as chair of Riley County Democrats

City and school board elections are by state law meant to be nonpartisan. This means that political party affiliations traditionally are not used during the election process.

That may be shifting, however, as political groups in recent years have sometimes backed a candidate or a slate of candidates based on their party alignment.

Allen said she doesn’t think education should be politicized.

“While you can think of this position in partisan ways, I think that it really is that everybody has to be school board members when they walk in that door,” Allen said. “They have to set those politics and those partisan things aside to work together for the betterment of our students.”

She said laws governing education often come from the state level, so it’s the school board’s job to use those policies in a beneficial way for students.

“We have legislation; how do we actualize that and implement it in our local areas in effective ways?” Allen said. “It’s really hard to disentangle those two things, but the bottom line is school board members should not be coming to that room with a partisan perspective to advance partisan agendas. It really needs to be about student success.”

If Allen does not get elected, she said she will continue her political endeavors in some capacity, but she said she probably wouldn’t return as chair of the Riley County Democrats because of the position’s heavy workload.

However, she is not concerned about the workload of the school board position because of her overall experience in education.

“I think one of the things that is a little frustrating is we still have that normal mindset that women with children don’t have time or their attention is too diverted,” Allen said. “But I know from experience that it can be done. I’ve done it.”

Allen is a co-director of McRel International, a technical assistance center, which provides services to education agencies.

Election Day is Nov. 7.

For USD 383 school board, there are four open at-large positions and 10 candidates.

Here are the other candidates:

Frank Beer, Mattress Hub manager

Kristin Brighton, 48, owner at New Boston Creative and current school board member

Robert Busby, 49, a veteran

Andrea Engelken-Cervenka, 44, is a massage therapist and nutrition supplement seller

Nolan Foth, 22, a shift lead at Chick-fil-A

Curt Herrman, IT director at Community First National Bank and current school board member

Courtney Jane Hochman, 41, a stay-at-home mom

Greg Hoyt, 58, retired MHS principal

Audrey E. Swartz, 39, librarian