Nine candidates are running for three seats on the Crookston School Board. The candidates are incumbent Marcia Meine, Amanda Arndt, Nikk Caputo, Brandan Hasby, Alex Koepsell, Jim McBride, Andrew Mendez, Elizabeth Murphy, and Jacob Snyder.
KROX asked each candidate a series of questions, and their responses are included below.
Tell us a little about yourself and your family.
Meine: “Okay, my name is Marcia Meine.. I am married to David Meine, who was a lifelong resident. We have two children, Crystal and Brandon, who both work and live in Crookston. We have nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. For the last several years, I have been a caregiver for my husband and now my son.”
Arndt: “My name is Amanda Arndt. My husband’s name is Tyler Arndt, and I have three children in the Crookston School District.”
Caputo: “Yeah, my name is Nikk Caputo, and I am married to Alicia Caputo, and my son Jackson is a junior in high school, and my daughter Penelope is in fourth grade.”
Hasby: “My name is Brandan Hasby. I’m married to Melissa Hasby. We’ve got two children together, and I’ve got one stepdaughter, Grace, who’s just about 21. I got Jude, who’s a first grader at Highland, and Jocelyn, who’s a kindergartener at Highland.”
Koepsell: “My name is Alex Koepsell. I’m married to my wife, Margaret Koepsell. I have a daughter, Jade Koepsell, who’s nine, and a son, Odin Koepsell, who is five.”
McBride: “My name’s Jim McBride. My wife is Sandy, and a couple of kids that are over in Grand Forks, Michael and Matthew.”
Mendez: “My name is Andrew Mendez. I do not have a spouse or kids.”
Murphy: “Hi, I’m Elizabeth Murphy. My husband is Sean Murphy, and we have two children, Lincoln in second grade, and a two-and-a-half-year-old, almost three-year-old daughter named Anna in town.”
Snyder: “My name is Jacob Snyder. My wife is Kayla Snyder, and my kids are Olivia Snyder, Sophia Fee, and Zachariah Plant, who graduated last year.”
Why did you file to run for the Crookston School Board?
Meine: “I want to follow through on when they moved preschool and ECFE over to Highland. I want to continue seeing that through and making sure that things go the way, and it isn’t about the building; it’s about the staff we have, and they’re going to make the big difference. So that’s one of the reasons, and because of all my grandkids and great-grandkids coming up.”
Arndt: “With the spread of my kids, I do have a preschooler. I wanted to make sure that the district decisions and the community decisions were a little bit more aligned and transparent to the community. Try and kind of bridge that community district gap that we’ve been kind of seeing.”
Caputo: “I filed because for the past 10 years, plus 10 years, I have been working in our community at the schools through The Cove, through my profession to be there, to advocate for kids and families, and I’ve been working my hardest to try and make an impact to better advocate for our families and for our kids. When this spot opened up, I really was guided towards it, and hoping that I can make a bigger impact for families and for the kids in our school district.”
Hasby: “Well, I feel like the school board needed a little more transparency on a bunch of things, and there needs to be some more open communication, and I felt like I would be a good candidate for that.”
Koepsell: “My decision started originally. I had asked questions at the school board meetings and information behind decisions and kind of their plan. There really wasn’t any of that given to me. So then I started doing data requests and getting information myself, and that was a struggle. And still to this day, there really wasn’t a plan provided. And I think after that, I decided instead of just complaining about it and asking questions, that it was my duty and a goal of mine to be more transparent, so the community could see those plans and decisions and wouldn’t have to go through all the struggles that I went through to get the answers.”
McBride: “You know, you live in the community, and you want to see things go well, and you want to have a part in getting there and helping guide things to get there. So I was, I’ve been wanting to do it for a while. I’ve tried a couple times, and I just think there’s some unique perspectives that I can bring to the table.”
Mendez: “I want to bring a lot of attention to the mental health crisis. I think it’s a big crisis that’s happening within the school district and needs more addressing.”
Murphy: “I work with children a lot in my professional career. I’m a psychiatric nurse practitioner, so I work very closely with a lot of families and children in town, and just hope to be a positive voice for all the kids in our community, as well as the teachers and community as a whole.”
Snyder: “Well, I’m well rooted in the Crookston community. I have kids in the district. You know, I think it’s really important for our kids to stay in our school. Some of the challenges our district is facing are financial stability and also keeping the kids in the building. Attendance is number one. We’ve got to have them in the building doing things. And I just feel passionate about our school. I’m a Crookston graduate. I have a lot of experience in holding public meetings and conducting business, financial business, all kinds of different county business in my job. So I think I can bring some good leadership skills to the board.”
What previous experiences do you have that will help you if you are elected to the Crookston School Board?
Meine: “I’ve always been an advocate for children for the last almost 45 years back to when I had my own, too. They knew that my house was a safe haven for them, and I’ve always been an advocate for children, no matter if they’re really smart or if they need more services or if they’re lost in that gray area, I’m there for them. I’m willing to listen, and I care, and I love every student that goes to the Crookston School District.”
Arndt: “I was a music education major for about three years, and then after that, I’ve been working in higher education, the dining services setting, for the last 11 years. So I have some experience working on various committees and engaging, listening, and finding compromise among different groups.”
Caputo: “Like I said, I work with kids and families every day at Polk County. I used to work in the schools and work with kids and families. I’ve helped create The Cove, and I work with kids every day. I’m in meetings with the school all the time to help better kids, and it’s a perfect fit.”
Hasby: “I’ve got a lot of business management background, and that allows me to be more open and see things from different avenues.”
Koepsell: “I think specifically when it comes to the school board, we have a real problem with transparency, and so with that, my experience in leadership, just in the military, and some other roles I’ve had, transparency-it’s always been a big thing when it comes to leadership and just sharing knowledge. The other part of it, too, is that I do have a degree in business, so I’m very business-minded. Numbers are important, but so is how to explain those numbers and to show your work. And then I also have a master’s degree in, more specifically, criminal justice leadership. So just bigger picture running administrative type things that I think would help a lot with some of these decisions and plans.”
McBride: “I’ve been on different boards before, whether it was city council, planning commission, and things like that. And you know, the one thing is like, what is our goal, and are we making decisions to get to our goal and trying to stay on track with that.”
Mendez: “Back in my hometown of Brainerd, I actually worked on mental health initiatives with the school board there and changed some of the policies that they had. And then while I was in college at Gustavus, I also worked in the student government there, working on mental health initiatives and passing changing policies as well.”
Murphy: “So I’ve never been on a school board before, but I do think my professional experience working with children and families in the community is really helpful. And I also have experience teaching at undergrad and graduate level for nursing.”
Snyder: “Well, I do have a lot of volunteer experience with concessions and other things with the wrestling tournament every year. We do volunteer work there as well. My wife Kayla also works at the school. That’s not why I’m running. It just is another voice to kind of have in the back of your decisions, and why you’re doing it is really for the kids in our community, and we’re both Crookston graduates and feel passionate about our school district.”
Is there anything else that you want voters to know about you?
Meine: “I will listen to you. I will bring your concerns to the school board. Every time I’ve had a concern brought to me, I do bring it to the school board. Sometimes it’s receptive, and other times it’s not. But I bring their concerns, so don’t feel like I don’t address them because I do.”
Arndt: “I look forward to hearing from all of the candidates tonight. I think a lot of our school board candidates have very similar platforms, and I just want us to find the best people to fill those slots.”
Caputo: “I just want them to know that I’m in the community, and I’m trying my hardest to advocate for them and for their kids, and I’m hoping to earn their vote.”
Hasby: “I think we got a great group of candidates all around, and I, no matter what, I think anybody’s a great candidate right now.”
Koepsell: “I appreciate Crookston as a community. I didn’t grow up here. I grew up on the exact other end of the state in southeast Minnesota. We’ve been very lucky. I’ve been here since 2019, and really, what did it for our family? You know, I had a young child and my wife. We moved here to a new community, and that early childhood education and kind of school system in place. I mean, the people we met in ECFE and the families really convinced us to stay, and we’re still friends with a lot of those people and connected. And you know, it’s touched our lives in a lot of ways. And I think there’s a really good opportunity to expand on some of that stuff.”
McBride: “People who know me know I’m going to tell you straight. I’m not going to beat around the bush, and so I think the people that kind of had any interaction with me understand that, and that’s just the way I am, and I would conduct myself the same way if I were on the board.”
Mendez: “Vote for me.”
Murphy: “I’m just really hopeful for your vote and being able to be a positive voice for you, your children, families, and the community.”
Snyder: “Just look up my name come November and find me on the ballot, and I’d love to be your leader at the school board.”
