Celebrating Phil Hemingway's, Tom Yates', and Chris Liebig's Elections to the ICCSD School Board!

Captions: From left to right, Anita and Phil Hemingway; Tom Yates and Hani Elkadi; and Chris Liebig. New school board directors are emboldened. (I took photos of Chris and his wife Carolyn at the celebration, but they came out blurry. So did my photos of Jeff Charis-Carlson.)

Knowing how close Phil Hemingway came to winning the Iowa City Community District School board election in 2013, only to lose by about 100 votes, I waited until the North Liberty precinct reported in to the Johnson County Auditor’s office before calling Phil to congratulate him on his win.

“How’d we do?” he asked. I told him he had 48% of the vote or 3,648 votes. I think he knew that. He and Anita, his wife, were watching the crawlers on KCRG TV. I didn’t think KCRG was going to report anything until 10:00 p.m. So I was watching the Johnson County Auditor’s reports on Mediacom’s Channel 5 and listening to the good music that accompanied the reports.

Tom Yates, of course, followed closely behind Phil with 47% of the vote.

Chris Liebig, another candidate opposing the proposed closing of Hoover Elementary School, started with 40% of the vote after early voting returns were reported and never lost his lead. He ended up with 39% of the final vote, followed by 31% of the total vote for Megan Schwalm, who also ran for the two-year board position vacated by Tuyet Boruah, who resigned to work elsewhere, and 29% for Paul Roesler, the other two-year candidate, who graciously came to the Two Dog Pub to congratulate Phil, Tom, and Chris.

It was an impromptu party. I was going to call Tom Yates after congratulating Phil, but Phil said to join him and Anita at the Two Dog Pub on First Avenue in Iowa City for Tom’s party and I could congratulate Tom there.

So I called Chris Liebig to congratulate him and invited him and his wife to join us. He and his wife, Carolyn, came down. Hani Elkadi of PATV was already there or came shortly thereafter. Jeff Charis-Carlson of the Iowa City Press-Citizen called and joined us later on. Jeff wanted to know why Phil thought he won.

Phil answered that he thought that the people who supported him in 2011 and 2013 continued to support him and more joined up along the way. We had a rollicking good time celebrating three solid wins and discussing priorities for the school board as it is newly constituted.

Chris Liebig lamented that Brian Richman didn’t win. My husband and I voted for him. I think he got 35% of the vote. Maybe next time?

I could say more but discretion is the better part of valor. I was celebrating with people I wanted to be able to speak freely without worrying about what might be said later. I must say I’m very, very happy that Phil, Tom, and Chris won.

Congratulations also to Latash DeLoach, who was the number one vote-getter, and to Lori Roetlin, who came in fourth. Both are social workers, as I used to be, and both, I hope will bring compassion and empathy for students to the discussion of all issues that come before the board. Many board members have said, “it’s all about the kids,” when clearly their actions have demonstrated that that has not been the case.

I have every reason to believe that all of the new board members will mean it when they say, “it’s all about the kids,” because it should be all about the kids and the teachers who educate them, not about the overpaid, top-heavy administrative staff.