The 2023 school board election for the Blue Valley school board took place Tuesday, Nov. 7. Among the elections, two key groups formed, the A+ team and Blue Valley Excellence, both of which have very different views on the direction the Blue Valley school district should be taking.
The A+ team features candidates Jan Kessinger, Jodie Dietz, Patrick Hurley, who are all incumbent members of the school board, and newcomer Clay Norkey.
This group has slated themselves as “kids first” with four key pillars on what they plan to do with the district. These pillars, or four A’s are academics, arts, athletics, activities, all in a safe and secure environment.
To expand on what this means is Kessinger, candidate and former State representative.
“People will take a look at Blue Valley, and when it comes to the academics, we excel at it. We’ve got 56 National Merit semifinalists — that’s amazing. That’s more than equal to the whole rest of the state,” Kessinger said. “But a plus is not just academics, but we have so many people who are so talented in artistic skills, we’ve got amazing athletics, we’re looking at trying to build ‘how do you get along with a team?’ which is a life skill [in and out of] the activities.”
On the other side is Blue Valley Excellence, featuring all newcomers, Christine Vasquez, Mike Huebner, Rachel Faagutu and Trisha Hamilton.
This group’s motto is to “go back to basics.” This includes stances against critical race theory and gender ideology. They also wish to place an armed guard at every elementary school and to fund special education programs solely through the state rather than using money from the school board. Faagutu provided more information on their policies.
“Let’s simplify and let the school be the place where each and every child can get an amazing education — what I mean by that is super gifted kids to normal kids to special ed kids. The idea is to put academics back at the top priority,” Faagutu said. “Now, I’m not saying that’s the only thing because we’re really drawn to the district because of all the sports [and] extracurricular activities, but ‘back to the basics’ means prioritizing academics first and foremost.”
Both candidates feel very connected to the district and their causes.
“My grandmother was a teacher, three of my sisters were teachers [and] I have a daughter who’s a teacher, so education has always been critical,” Kessinger said. “Education was always emphasized as I grew up, but what I realized very recently was my commitment to the youth of Blue Valley is that so many people were so kind to me — I want to repay that.”
“The main thing that inspired me was my children and modeling for them what it looks like to be a service leader, to be involved in this community, to be active and to step up,” Faagutu said.
For Kessinger, his appreciation goes all the way back to an accident during his childhood.
“I ended up in speech therapy and [had] lots of problems for the first seven or eight years of my life,” Kessinger said. “So many people were so kind to me, and I’m filled with gratitude for those who helped me for debts I cannot repay, but I’m trying to repay the kindness people gave to me. I want to give that same kindness to the youth of today.’”
In the end the A+ team won, leaving the future of the district up to the incumbents, who are excited to move Blue Valley Schools into the future.
