Six candidates are on the ballot for Wasatch County’s school board.
Seat E represents Midway, Interlaken and the western region of the county. Tom Stone and Brad Ehlert are the candidates.
Stone, a longtime Wasatch County resident, said his experience as the chair of the board for the district’s Wasatch CAPS program has prepared him to serve the school board.
CAPS, the Center for Advanced Professional Studies, pairs high school students with local business and industry mentors to gain hands-on experience.
“I’m a firm believer in nontraditional learning,” Stone said. “The amount of feedback we’ve gotten… with how far ahead they are in university studies, how their business is flourishing, is pretty fun to hear.”
Stone works as a mortgage loan officer and said he also cares about using tax dollars responsibly and avoiding property tax increases if possible.
Ehlert, the other candidate for the Midway seat, declined to speak with KPCW, saying he is not providing public statements and his primary focus is speaking with residents.
Seat F represents Hideout and the eastern part of the county. Kim Dickerson is running for reelection to the seat against Randall Lund.
Dickerson said her time on the board so far has made her want to continue in the role. She said her priorities include teacher retention efforts and creating positive learning environments where students can thrive.
“I wholeheartedly believe in education,” she said. “I love our district. I support our educators and students, and I just want to do all I can to be a part of that and to keep helping.”
She cited the district’s recent achievements in reading and said she wants to help that trajectory continue.
Randall Lund, the other candidate for the eastern district seat, said his years of teaching experience will make him a good fit for the school board. He’s a retired BYU professor of German and education and taught in middle and high schools before that.
“The schools are important to us all,” he said. “Schools are an important way of passing on our culture and enculturating the youth into being the kind of adults that will make for a good community.”
Lund said he is attuned to education developments from the national and local levels, and he wants to bring his background in the classroom to the board.
Seat G includes Daniel, Charleston, Wallsburg and the southern portion of the county. Breanne Dedrickson is running for the seat against incumbent Marianne Allen.
Dedrickson said she’ll bring experience as a parent, a teacher and an administrator to the school board. She is a former high school English teacher and assistant principal.
“My first, main focus is high-quality academic achievement,” she said. “I want to make sure, as a board member, that teachers continue to have up-to-date, research-based professional development so they can help kids and do what’s best for kids.”
Dedrickson said she’s running on a platform of doing what’s best for students in the district.
Allen, who is a candidate for reelection to the southern district seat, said she’s seeking a second term because she wants to continue the district’s path of high academic achievement, focusing on staff retention.
“When we retain and train high-quality teachers, which we have in Wasatch, we can reach those kids,” she said. “We can meet them where they are and make those gains.”
She said she has teaching, coaching and parenting experience in addition to her first term on the board. Allen serves on the board of directors of the Utah School Boards Association, a statewide organization.
The general election is Nov. 5.
