There was a big contest in Sioux City on Tuesday, as five of the seven positions on the Sioux City School Board were decided by voters, and only one of the two incumbents won seats.
Eleven candidates sought the school board positions.
The one contest that involved a two-year seat pitted incumbent Dan Greenwell with Semehar Ghebrekida, and Greenwell nabbed the win.
Greenwell was elected in 2019 and is a business owner, and Ghebrekidan is the community inclusion liaison for the City of Sioux City. Greenwell took 57 percent of the vote, with 3,536 votes compared to 2,623 for his opponent.
Additionally, nine people were competing for four positions of four-year length, with the top vote getters from that pack of candidates becoming the winners. The victors were Treyla Lee, Earl Miller, Lance Ehmcke, and John Meyers.
Lee took the most votes, with 3,530. Miller received 3,074 votes, while Ehmcke got 2,887, and Meyers 2,791.
Lee’s victory was notable, as she is a daughter of a former Sioux City School Board member, Flora Lee, who was the first black woman elected to office in Woodbury County back in the 1990’s.
Meyers had served on the Sioux City School Board for eight years until a few years ago, so he is back on the board. Miller is a management consultant and Ehmcke is a retired attorney from the Heidman Law Firm.
Incumbent Phil Hamman, a retired East High School teacher who was appointed to a board vacancy earlier this year, did not win in his quest to gain a full term position. Others who did not win include Margo Cortez, Dustin Rhoades, Trisha Rivers, and Jebidiah Hibbs.
The holdover members on the Sioux City School Board are Bobby Michaelson and Jan George. The Sioux City School District has approximately 15,000 students in 20 schools.
