SHAWANO, WI- Shawano’s Crystal Phalen says it won’t be an easy road, but she is embracing the challenge. She has decided to run for the Shawano School Board as a registered write in candidate.
“I feel like our kids need an advocate.”
Phalen, a Shawano resident since 2005, said she started getting concerned about the state of the district after the pandemic
“Our kids education needs to be put first and we are losing a lot of good teachers.”
Phalen said she found out about a lot of the concerning issues in the district after the deadline passed to take out and turn in papers for the school board election, leaving her with the only option of being a write-in candidate.
While she has been doing most of her campaigning on social media, she has also been talking to people out in public. The most concerning issue to Phalen is the loss of good educators in the district.
“We need to focus on keeping the teachers we have,” she said. “As long as parents keep communicating and working together, things will start to get back on track.”
Phalen says she sees hope for the district’s declining enrollment in the future based on the increased amount of housing that is being made available.
She added that she wants communication to be a focus. “With today’s technology, there is no reason that people should not know what is going on.”
As a parent of two young children at Hillcrest Primary School, Phalen says the district has great teachers and they need the communities support.
Phalen is a registered write-in, meaning votes that are cast for her on Tuesday will be able to be counted. She is facing incumbents Mart Grams, Diane Hoffman and Chris Gull, as well as challenger Jeana Hoffman Winslow. The top three vote getters will win seats on the school board.
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