The race to fill three seats on the Carroll Community School District (CCSD) Board of Education is crowded, with seven candidates having filed to appear on the Nov. 7 ballot. One of those candidates is Jill Johnston of Carroll. Johnston started her career working in human resources for Sitel in Carroll until that company closed over a decade ago. She says that’s when she decided to switch careers and began exploring education.
She worked as a long-term substitute for two years before earning her teaching license. Johnston started teaching at Exira-EHK before accepting a position with IKM-Manning, where she currently teaches high school English language arts. Johnston says she is familiar with the day-to-day happenings in the classroom, but she wants to be more involved in district management.
According to Johnston, two factors instigated her run. The first was the passage of Senate File 496, which prohibited gender identity and sexual orientation instruction between kindergarten and sixth grade and restricted what types of books could be kept in school libraries.
Johnston adds she is concerned about the rising frequency of behavioral issues in schools locally and across the country. However, she says the pressures placed on kids today just are not the same as they were 10, 20, or even 50 years ago.
Johnston is a Kuemper Catholic High School graduate, and her three sons all graduated from CHS. Also appearing in the Nov. 7 City/School elections for CCSD voters is the proposed ISL renewal. Johnston supports the question’s passage, calling it a necessary boost to school funding. Johnston is scheduled to appear alongside the six other candidates at the Carroll County Growth Partnership candidate forum on Wednesday, Oct. 18, at 6:30 p.m. at CHS. Those candidates include Jason Schagt, Stacey McCaulley, Casie Forke-Burke, Jim Friel, Cindy Scaturico, and Sara Woerdehoff.
