Voters will be heading to the polls Tuesday (tomorrow) to elect new, or re-elect incumbent, school board members. The Daily NonPariel says one of the most hotly-contested school board elections in the area lies in Treynor, where five candidates are on the ballot, with two others running write-in campaigns, vying for three seats. Incumbent Jerry Hempel, the School Board’s President, is joined by Glen Fleming, Shawn Gillespie, Amy Graber, Sally Myers and write-in candidates Kent Boese and Jared Morse. Myers is currently serving on the board after being asked to step in for Dave Paulsen, who moved out of the district boundary. The term of board member Randy Young expires this year.

The district boasts healthy financial numbers and growing enrollment. A new in-house alternative school will keep at-risk students in Treynor instead of being sent elsewhere. Treynor faced controversy this past year, too. The community awaits a decision on the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners’ suspension of Superintendent Kevin Elwood, who remains in his position pending an appeal in Polk County District Court.

The suspension came after the Board of Educational Examiners found Elwood was present when his son Kreighton Elwood was interviewed by law enforcement officials and was aware of “serious criminal offenses” when Kevin Elwood allowed Kreighton Elwood to continue working as a part-time school custodian with unsupervised access to other students.

An administrative law judge said Kevin Elwood committed an ethics violation by prioritizing his parental duties over his responsibilities as superintendent. His son, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to assault, assault causing bodily injury and false imprisonment, which among other consequences caused him to register as a sex offender.