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My name is Randy Dobberpuhl and I am running for School Board in Sioux Falls, SD. I would appreciate your vote on April 12th.

My family and I have lived in Sioux Falls since 2007. My wife, Kersten, works for the school district and has been in the education field since 2003. I have two wonderful boys, Coulter and Ryder. They both attend Harvey Dunn Elementary and are involved in various sports and activities throughout Sioux Falls. I work for Minnehaha County Human Services as a case manager for the Safe Home program. Safe Home provides permanent housing to individuals who are experiencing long term homelessness in our community. I am also a committed volunteer for LSS as a mentor, a big brother for The Big Brother Big Sister program, and co-chair the Government Division for United Way.

I am running for School Board because I have an invested interest not only with my two boys and my wife but also as a committed volunteer and community member. I want to ensure all students have equity and access to a high quality education in the Sioux Falls School District. I feel we can accomplish this by piecing together and forming stronger ties between Family, Schools, and Community.

I would appreciate your support and vote on April 12th.

I encourage any School Board Candidate to send me their BIO to post.

randy
Hello South Dacola,
My name is Randy Dobberpuhl and I am running for School Board in Sioux Falls, SD.My family and I have been living in Sioux Falls since 2007. I have two wonderful boys, Coulter and Ryder.
They both attend Harvey Dunn Elementary-Coulter is in 2nd grade and Ryder is in Kindergarten.
My very patient wife, Kersten Dobberpuhl, works for the School District as an Elementary Instructional Coach and has been in the education field since 2003.I work at Minnehaha County Human Services as a case manager with the Safe Home program. We help assist Minnehaha County residents who are experiencing long term homelessness. I have been with this program since we moved to Sioux Falls in 2007. I was able to be a part of this program from the very beginning and helped develop the policies and procedures that have made it a successful program for Minnehaha County.I grew up in Doland, SD and graduated high school from Doland High School in 1996 and went on to attend Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD. I graduated from NSU with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology with an emphasis on Criminal Justice along with a minor in Psychology.

All through college and my professional career and have played the role of an advocate. I have worked at the Boys and Girls Club in Aberdeen and Sisseton. I have worked with children through the Turtle Creek Youth Program in Redfield, SD. When we moved to Arizona I had the wonderful opportunity to work as a Social Worker with the Hospice program in Parker, AZ. I also assisted with bereavement for children who had lost a love one in our community, helped coordinate volunteers and put together some fundraising events for Hospice.

I currently volunteer with LSS as a mentor to a kindergartner at Mark Twain, Big Brother Big Sister as a big brother to a second grader at Longfellow, and I help with United Way as the co-chair for the government division.

I am running for school board because I have an invested interest with my two boys who currently attend school in the district. I feel I would be a great addition to the current board to help fill a role as a positive advocate and to help open up lines of communication between the employee groups.  According to the Gallup Poll that was taken last year recognition is lacking as well. Our teachers are having to work harder and harder each year and it seems with less and less support. With communication and recognition lacking that will suck the morale out of any business or organization. I want to start discussions on how to improve this and to keep it moving forward.

I think Sioux Falls is heading in the right direction with the multiple pathways to education for graduation. I would love to serve this community as their next School Board member so I would appreciate your vote on April 14th. Please visit my facebook page: Randy Dobberpuhl for School Board.
Thank you,
Randy Dobberpuhl
P.S. No, I do not have a stance on the start date other than I am concerned it had to come to this point! I have some suggestions for the calendar but it is a moot point right now until the election is over.

I got an up close experience a few months ago with how big money corrupts local elections. Randy Dobberpuhl who placed 2nd in the school board election was out spent over 6-1 by Cynthia Mickelson who won the seat. The other two candidate who spent nothing or very little were creamed.

The rumored proposed amendment by Sioux Falls city councilors Rolfing and Erpenbach to garner 51% of the vote in a general election for city council or go to a runoff is a ruse to eliminate the grassroots candidates that don’t have deep pockets.

What is astonishing is that just less than two years ago, Mayor Huether, in a press conference with former city councilor Kenny Anderson Jr., he was begging for people to run for city council;

“I would like to encourage our citizens to get involved in public service. It will make a wonderful difference for our town,” says Mayor Mike Huether.

At the time it seemed MMM was concerned there would not be any candidates for council. We should be doing everything possible to make it easier for regular people to run for office instead of making it more expensive not only for the candidates but for the taxpayers. If we want to make real change, the city needs to do a better job of educating people about upcoming elections instead of playing this game with money.

I’m hoping Kenny Anderson and Randy Dobberpuhl will attend this Tuesday’s council meeting to speak out against the money grab, and all other candidates considering a run this Spring.

The final 2017 Sioux Falls School Board Race Final Finance Reports came in on July 18. With those reports in we can present the ‘REAL’ numbers of what was spent in the race. I am comparing the top two vote getters, Dobberpuhl and Mickelson.

 

Mickelson, 2,278 Votes. She spent $6.12 per vote

(Spent $13,944. She raised $21,504)

 

Dobberpuhl, 1,811 Votes. He spent $1.39 per vote

(Spent $2,524. He raised a little under $2,000)

 

I originally posted that Mickelson spent 7-10x more than Dobberpuhl, which was NOT TRUE and wanted to correct this with the final numbers.

Mickelson’s Final Report (PDF DOC: Mickelson-YearEnd Report) and First Report (PDF DOC: cyn-a11)

Dobberpuhl’s Final Report (PDF DOC: Dobberpuhl-Final)

I spoke to the School Board about the last school board election and not only raised concerns about how the election was handled (Lack of precincts, etc.) I suggested that there should be a spending cap of $5,000 for candidates. I think it is very hard for regular candidates to compete when their opponents outspend them in such a drastic way.

I will make this very clear from the beginning. I am not sure if the TAX-OPT out petitioners got enough signatures to turn in tomorrow. I can also tell you, I am NOT a fan of Lora Hubbel and her teabagger ways, but to call someone ‘sinister’ for doing simple math is ridiculous;

Beddow’s concerns are shared by Board President Todd Thoelke and Vice President Kate Parker, who called the robocalls “sinister” and “misinformation.”

The conflict stems from a school board meeting last month, in which the five-member board unanimously approved an additional opt out from the property tax limits to the tune of $5 million annually for 10 years.

Yeah, let’s talk ‘sinister’. Up until last week, I thought the OPT-OUT was $5 million OVER 10 years. In fact, that was the statement the school board made during the meeting they approved the tax. Even at the time, I said to someone “While I don’t agree with the opt-out, kinda seems like peanuts to me.” It was never really explained in the meeting that this was $5 MILLION, PER YEAR, for 10 YEARS! Which equals $50 million.

Uh, ok. Not peanuts.

So who really is being ‘sinister’ here? The petitioners that did simple math, or the School Board for misleading taxpayers? I’ll support a tax increase, but when you have to go on the sly to get it done, forget about it.

And can we trust them when they say things like this?

Board members have said repeatedly that they don’t intend to take the full opt out amount, only what they need to keep the bills paid.

So I ask this question in defense? If you are not sure if you need the money, than why take the opt-out? BECAUSE! THEY INTEND TO TAKE THE FULL AMOUNT! You don’t take a loan from the bank and say, “I only need four grand, but what the heck, why don’t I take out six.” Well maybe you do, and you are no smarter than our school board.

I think that is one of the things that angers me besides the misleading about the entire amount, they seem to think tax payers need to believe the hook line and sinker notion that once a tax is implemented that government won’t take all of it.

LMFAO!

From the dawn of taxes, they will be taken and they will spend it all, and it will NEVER sunset, or be refunded.

But what makes this even more hilariously tragic is one of the school board members admits the petitioners math is correct, but they wouldn’t dare go after all of it.

On Thursday, Thoelke said definitively that the board will not take the full $50 million over the next 10 years.

His concern is that the robocall makes the board’s decision sound “complicated and sinister.”

“It’s just a shame that they have to go to those tactics to scare people,” Thoelke said.

Then why ask for it? I don’t order a 12 oz ribeye if I am only hungry for a 4 oz sirloin. People should be scared, of your lying.

Mary Buysse, SD Learn leader, stood by the group’s robocall, which went out to 18,000 households in Sioux Falls on Thursday. Buysse’s group paid for the calls.

 “There’s no scare tactic,” she said. “A $5 million opt out for 10 years is $50 million. They can say they may not use it, but we don’t know that.”
And Buysse seems to be the only voice of reason on this one, using simple math. Once again the School District and it’s board members are left with their pants down, so they pull a Huether and try to kill the messenger.
Dobberpuhl should thank his lucky stars he didn’t get elected to this clown show.