By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph voters chose Jennifer Kerns to fill one of two seats on the St. Joseph school board during Tuesday's election.
Kerns led all candidates, receiving 4,836 votes, or 23% of the vote. Incumbent Kim Miller finished second, retaining her seat, with 4,391 voters, or 21% of the vote
Kerns says it was truly humbling to earn the position, and be the leading vote getter
"The community, I feel like they've seen what I've done, I've worked hard over the years supporting our district and supporting our kids, teachers, staff, and the community, I just feel like I was finally seen and heard, and it just feels great," Kerns tells KFEQ News.
Kerns says during her three-year term on the board, she hopes to be a voice for those outside the board
"Being that voice for the students, the parents, the community, the staff, and the teachers," Kerns explains. "We have a great community and I'm ready to bring a voice to the table and hopefully work on our academics and look at our policies and see what we need to do."
Kerns will be jumping into some difficult problems right away to start her term.
The St. Joseph school board will look at the long-range plan and evaluate next steps after the defeat of Proposition 2 in Tuesday's election
Kerns says the bond issue to build a new high school being defeated, just means the school board needs to go back to the drawing board
"We do need to change, our buildings don't have all the resources that we need, especially with technology," Kerns says. "And for the staff, the teachers, and the students our facilities need updated, so I'm hoping that we can get in there and update and give the resources we need to the students, the staff, and the teachers."
Kerns says even with the defeat she supports the move to two high schools, like the board has voted on, and says if that's the decision they just must work with it and see what needs to be tweaked to give the resources needed to the district.
A reorganization of the board will be held alongside a work session this evening at 5:30.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.