Four vie for 2 spots on Troy School Board

Four people are vying for two full-term positions on the Troy School Board.

Thursday was the last day to file to run in the May 4 election. Joe Arts, Doug Chapel, Joe Pepiot and J.P. Downey will compete to fill positions vacated by Sylvia Maffit and Darren Coldwell.

Arts, who is retired from a 33-year teaching career in Troy, wants to be a part of positive change.

“I’m running because I don’t like some of the direction the school board has taken,” he said. “I think the public should have a bigger say of what’s going on and I think they’ve lost that over the years.”

Doug Chapel, owner of Chapel Cedar, said he would like to take part in his children’s education.

“I don’t think anything is real broken with the system or anything,” he said. “I have two children in school and I’d like to participate.”

Pepiot currently works at Troy Mine and was operations manager for a lumber company for 13 years. He also has kids in school.

“I’m a product of the Troy school system,” he said.  “I grew up here, played sports here and I just want to make sure my kids experience the same things I did as a kid.”

Downey has been attending monthly school board meetings to learn some of the big issues that the board will be facing soon and in the coming years, like the challenges of a tight budget and the possibility of discontinuing block scheduling. He has contemplated running for the position before.

“I’m running because I do have two kids right now in the Troy school system. I have a third that will be in (school) in a few years,” he said. “I’ve wanted to run for the past few years.”

Libby election cancelled with only 2 candidates

Because only two people filed to run for the two full-term positions on the Libby School Board, the district will save approximately $5,000 by skipping the election, Superintendent Kirby Maki said.  

“It’s too bad we didn’t have more, but the deadline passed and we have two good candidates so we can save some money,” he said.

The last day to file to run for Libby School Board was last week.

The re-election of Tracy Comeau, who has served a three-year term and is the board chairperson, and the election of newcomer Les Nelson will be declared by acclamation at a regular school board meeting, Maki said.

Leigh Riggleman, Lincoln County assistant elections administrator, said it’s rare to have so few candidates.

“It’s not very often with the Libby schools. We tend to at least generate one more person” than there are open seats, she said.