Josh Mann has two kids at Jeremy Ranch Elementary and might be best known in the Park City community from an unsuccessful write-in campaign for Summit County Council in 2018, or as the man behind the community website Park Rag. Now, he’s running for a seat on the Park City School Board.
Mann describes Park Rag as somewhere between a personal blog and a news website. He tells KPCW that if he is elected to the board, he would still write on the website as much as he’s able to.
“I would plan on continuing to do it," he says. "I think there would be certain things that you can’t cover, right? Because when you’re part of an organization like the school board, there are certain things that are off limits, but I would plan on continuing and trying to make the community better and give the community a voice.”
Mann is a strategist in the software industry and says his professional experience developing long-range plans for tech companies and his time publishing Park Rag give him a unique skillset he believes would be an asset to the school board.
“Where I differentiate myself is I’ve spent the last 10 years very involved with county issues, with school issues and one of the things that I’ve really tried to do was being communication forward, highlight issues through my Park Rag website where I address some of the hardest issues that are impacting Park City and Summit County and really try to bring those to light," Mann says. "I think I have a long history with open communication, with tackling hard issues, and trying to work to make things better.”
The seat Mann is running for in District 4 is being vacated by Kara Hendrickson, who is not seeking another term.
Mann says he wants to repair what he sees as a broken relationship between the school board, teachers, parents, and the media. He says that relationship is critical, especially after the community passed a $79 million school bond last year.
“We’re about to embark on spending $129 million to make our schools better and if the school board won’t speak with members of the media when they have hard questions, I think we’re all gonna be worse off," says Mann. "Now is a hugely important time that we get the school board right and I hope I get to be part of that.”
Mann will compete against Meredith Reed and Mandy Pomeroy in a primary on June 28th with the top two candidates advancing to November’s election. Ed Panos withdrew from the District 4 election March 9th.
The race for District 4 is one of two seats up for grabs on the board. School Board President Erin Grady is seeking reelection and running against Nick Hill in District 5.
