Two sitting members of the Whitefish School District Board of Trustees cruised to re-election Tuesday night as voters delivered a decisive endorsement to a board that has endured sharp criticism from anti-mask advocates, including two of the unsuccessful challengers.
Trustees Darcy Schellinger (2,277 votes) and Elizabeth Pitman (2,539 votes) won new three-year terms on the seven-member board, with Pitman having been selected earlier this year to fill a vacancy created when Nick Polumbus resigned his trustee position. A local veterinarian, Pitman will begin serving her first full term when she is seated next week.
Both winning candidates identified the accelerated pace of population growth and the strain it places on Whitefish’s schools as a critical issue that deserves immediate attention, with Schellinger touting her understanding of school board governance as an asset and Pitman, who was born and raised here, tipping her community roots.
Challengers Bobee Hyland (606 votes), Leanette Kearns (525 votes) and Jenny Paatalo (465 votes) rounded out the preliminary tabulations, which are based on results provided by Whitefish School District administrators Tuesday night.
Administrators mailed 7,200 ballots to absentee-registered voters in Whitefish last month and conducted a polling place election at the Whitefish Middle School on Tuesday, reporting a voter turnout of about 29%. For context, less than 18 percent of registered voters turned in ballots for the Whitefish School Board election in 2017. In 2019, that number grew to 23% before dipping slightly in 2021, when fewer than 22% of registered voters cast ballots.
The uptick in voter turnout this election cycle corresponds with the rising profile of local volunteer board elections statewide and across the country, with some candidates distinguishing themselves on either side of a political gulf that has widened as a result of public health measures adopted by school boards navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.
For example, Paatalo and Hyland mounted similar campaigns that both aligned with the “parental rights” movement gaining momentum nationwide, though Hyland recently disavowed her one-time ally after a profanity-laced email sent by Paatalo to sitting board members surfaced on social media.
Last year, Paatalo also organized a petition to recall the school board following its decision to require masks for students, staff and visitors in grades kindergarten through sixth, joining a growing national movement to resist government responses to the pandemic. Although the petition did not produce any actionable results, it pitted a segment of Whitefish’s parent population against the school board, sparking anti-mask protests outside City Hall. Law enforcement eventually became involved after organizers published the names and addresses of school board trustees and encouraged critics of the district’s masking policy to protest in front of their homes.
Kearns, who is not affiliated with the other unsuccessful candidates, said she was compelled to run for the school board due to her “strong resume and leadership skills,” and based on her belief that the most important decisions in government are made on the local level. A Stanford University graduate with experience in education and experiential learning, Kearns ran unsuccessfully as a school board trustee in 2021 and submitted her name to fill the vacancy in January.