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To Whom The Votes Fall

By Jaime Kokaisel

On Tuesday, November 4th, residents of District 833 will vote into office their choice of four local governing school board authorities. You will notice that my voting criteria for school board does not begin with the candidate’s political affiliations or endorsements. This is because I believe the political process is merely a shallow veil of the deep deep depths of what fills a person’s soul. Gone are the school boards of yesteryear whose priorities were reading and writing. Now are the days of governing school boards puffed up on pride and progress, catering to the Maslowian needs of the populace. Today’s public school is about candy and gender, understanding and nonbinary etiquette. For the incumbent candidates, school is about nutrition services, transportation, sexual health, and professional development much more than it is about student proficiency. For incoming candidates new to this race, such as Juan Huerta, education is about making sure our children learn the fundamentals of academics and using critical thinking skills so that when they graduate they have the knowledge and skills necessary to contribute to society in a positive way and become successful in whatever path they choose.

Seven Journal Entries

from the Journal of Jaime this election cycle

(with updates to the final entry post-election 11/08/25)

The following is a study I began early last month. As I worked through the process, I published each section to my social media page. Here I am simply transferring that study to my Illustrated Journal. This will post on Election Day and will update as results come rolling in. This is not so much about changing public opinion as it is studying the character and effort of what drives local parents to run for school board and, on the flip side, what motivates local voters in selecting their candidate. 
 
Parents face what appears to be insurmountable odds, and yet some are able to crack through the tough outer layer of teachers’ union influence, and win. Most parents who have been successful in achieving this level of victory, have done so with a parent group or two by their side. Does it all come down to the dollar amount spent, or is there something deeper to this formula of success? What about the candidate who wants to run an independent race, free from political strings or special interests that divide? Can it be done … and if so, what does it take?

10/28/25
Jaime's Journal Entry Number One:

Running for school board is like interviewing for a job, only this one involves tens of thousands of bosses to answer. Listed in alphabetical order, this is the education and work experience each candidate shared in interviews, websites and forums. Of course, being a parent or grandparent or having had a child in the district are also significant qualifiers, and I encourage you to visit the media links listed below for more on that, but my focus for this post is simply on vocation.

The Job Interview

If you have ever been through the interview process (either interviewee or interviewer) you know the very first question to be answered is, “How are you more qualified to hold this position than all the other applicants?”
In my opinion, the person with the highest levels of education (ie Bockman Eckberg) is not necessarily the most qualified person for this position. Neither is a career school board member (ie Schwartz). Selecting candidates from a variety of vocations has a greater chance of creating harmony on the board than one made up wholly of educators.
On November 4th, four candidates will be “hired” to sit at the table with the three board members listed below. Which ones of the nine do you think will harmonize well in matters of physical safety (ie Huerta), financial stewardship (ie Dahle), psychological well-being (ie Pecchia Michalski), building construction (ie Forstner), and special education (ie Borseth)?
The following are the SoWashCo School Board Members with two years left in their term.
  • CLARKE – Leads a research and development laboratory team, degree in chemistry.
  • DOLS – Adjunct professor at Concordia University, master’s degree in counseling and psychological services
  • PATNAIK – Consultant, Leads Woodbury Thrives, master’s degree in marketing and finance

10/25/25
Jaime's Journal Entry Number Two:

Consider all nine candidates running for District 833 School Board by the following criteria. 
First identify the Sacred CORE by separating each candidate into one of two categories. Then rate the INTEGRITY of their character by asking if they have proven to be worthy of your trust. Finally consider the WORK ETHIC of each in his or her effort to run independently on personal merit.

10/30/25
Jaime's Journal Entry Number Three:

This chart is the second concept sketch of two I created to represent how each person tells us exactly what is in their core through the words they use and the actions they take in deed and definition. I am including this second chart because it best illustrates the regression of those words (left to right) as we move from a candidate who speaks life-giving words to a candidate who speaks life-taking words.

CORE

The CORE of a candidate is first on my list of three “Voting Criteria For School Board.” When I say “core,” I mean the spiritual center of a person which all their actions orbit. No school board candidate (so far as I have noticed) in this election cycle has been bold enough to profess their faith – one way or another – but the power of the tongue is incredible. Words can build, and they can destroy. Words carry meaning and momentum within a person and relationships.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:29, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
I use the illustration of fruit as I consider Mark 11:12-25 and the fig tree that does not bear fruit, however I am fully aware that government is made up of all kinds of religions. I am not adverse to voting for a non-Christian so long as that person is not hostile toward Christian District 833 families. I am not voting for the pastor who will shepherd my church’s congregation. I am voting on the leaders who will justly govern my worldly school district under compulsory education laws.
Political dividing lines cannot explain the phenomenon we hear from the TREE OF LIFE and the TREE OF DEATH pictured above. On a superficial level maybe we can try, but this war of words goes far beyond what human “evidence” can explain. On a spiritual level, it all makes perfect sense.

The mother and father give life, and so for the one who wages war on life, the word “parent” is oppressive. The word “all” for instance is often used by teachers’ union endorsed candidates (Hinz, Van Leer, BockmanEckberg and Schwartz). To the woke-illiterate, “all” is a seemingly neutral word. Most of the time though, when the incumbents use this word, it means “all genders.“

LORI PECCHIA MICHALSKI speaks of the child/parent/teacher triad in education (True Lens candidate profile). This is a life-giving triad. On the opposite extreme, Elizabeth Bockman Eckberg speaks of the student/educator/community triad in education. This is a life-taking triad, one we conveniently accept as normal. It evolved by force just 100 years ago with the introduction of compulsory education laws requiring the physical removal of children from their parents.

As I alluded to previously, the sacred CORE of a person is between each person and his Maker. I don’t presume to know what is in each candidates heart, nor do I judge the soul by making such a chart as I have. You will see a regression on this chart, like a sliding scale, that is meant to represent the gamut of extremes in a spiritual, rather than political, sense. The spirit of death attempts to take up residence in every human heart, mine included, but with Jesus Christ we can kick those evil spirits out. Jesus came to save the dead brittle tree, and I have hope that those who speak with the life-taking words of death will turn to Jesus and be saved.

Please Note: This exercise is not possible without observing the candidate speak, therefore you will notice Travis Dahle missing from this chart. Due to the fact he did not participate in the LWV Forum or the True Lens Media profile video, I am unable to include Travis Dahle from this chart moving forward.

Quick Disclaimer

The thoughts, opinions and motives for this study – and the conclusions drawn here in – are the sole responsibility and ownership of the author, Jaime Kokaisel. All content is drawn from the candidate’s public statements and is entirely publicly available. No criteria has been judged based on the author’s private knowledge or conversations shared in confidence. The opinions expressed here in are the author’s alone, and may or may not be shared by each candidate under review. No candidate or special interest group has been involved in shaping this story. 

10/31/25
Jaime's Journal Entry Number Four:

This chart on INTEGRITY builds off of the first chart on CORE. When we think of integrity as the dictionary defines it, there is not one person alive today who is capable of living a 100% pure life. Most of us hopefully are on a journey upward, to build up rather than to tear down, and we are all at different developmental stages where this is concerned.

INTEGRITY

When I am voting for an elected official who will lead a school district of children, I am very careful to not vote for the candidate whose words and actions point downward. (see the CORE chart). I am very careful to vote for those who demonstrate integrity.
CHAD BORSETH – This candidate has grown substantially, and it has been quite fun to witness. Chad Borseth ran for school board in 2023, at the same time as I ran, and so I went back to re-watch the words he used back then compared to the words he uses now, two years later (True Lens Media Candidate Profile). What I have seen, figuratively speaking, is a tree that has grown into a state of full green leaf out of leaflessness. He is bright, dedicated, and might just be the hardest working candidate in this entire election cycle.
 
LOUISE HINZ – This candidates has remained stagnant in growth for the last five years. Louise is running the exact same campaign with the exact same words as she ran in 2019. Exact same slogan, same experience, same priorities. I can respect a consistent priority, but the world of education has changed since 2019 … A L O T !!! Through the pandemic, students have suffered, teachers have suffered, parents have suffered. These are the people Louise claims to understand, and yet she shows no growth in the slightest. Not one word of her campaign message has changed.
 
KATIE SCHWARTZ – This candidate has regressed over her 12 years on the school board, in word, action and deed. The more years you have been in the public eye, the easier this category of INTEGRITY is to test, and Katie is in a downward spiral in my opinion. Her answer to question 8 at LWV forum was very telling: “What is your number one priority as a school board member?” (minute 0:54:26) Katie’s answer describes perfectly how someone with bitterness over their situation in life can lead to more harm than good. “Equity” in the hands of a bitter elected official can be devastating to a community, and I think that is what we are seeing.

11/02/25
Jaime's Journal Entry Number five:

WORK ETHIC

WORK ETHIC is the third and final category in my Voting Criteria for School Board. This three-tier evaluation has been based on the personal merit each District 833 candidate has demonstrated in an outward facing manner this election season. This evaluation has been independent of any endorsing special interest group’s influence.

If the ways of the world were fair, the top two candidates shown here would surely win. To win an election without the support of the teachers’ union means you MUST have the moral conviction, integrity and work ethic to bear that burden every day – thus my three criteria.

CORE - INTEGRITY - WORK ETHIC

The money and the power and the influence of Education Minnesota does not end after they have poured over $30,000 into beating out the lone little parent. Once the campaign is over – if you manage to beat Goliath – you’ve still got to face him every single month at every single meeting for the next four years. That takes a solid core, integrity and work ethic.

Unfortunately, the ways of the world are not fair. Money and influence have the power to paint that dead tree green with leaves, ripe with fruit, seamless with order and sparkling with glitter. This is how the teachers’ union wins over the majority every. single. year.

I have made a sincere effort to be accurate in all areas of my research. If you notice something is slightly off, please let me know. Thank you.

11/04/25
Jaime's Journal Entry Number Six:

Polls are open!

Vote today for the candidates who speak life-giving words, who have shown integrity, and who have proven they will work hard. Visit “What’s On My Ballot” and make a plan before heading to the polls today.

In the final analysis, I have tallied up all the scores and lined up the candidates in order, from one to eight, starting with the most humble of servant leadership characteristics on the left, to the most power hungry of leadership characteristics on the right. 
 
Now we will wait and see which kind of leader SoWashCo selects. 
What's On My Ballot

11/08/25
Jaime's Journal Entry Number Seven:

Thank you to the five non-teachers’ union candidates who ran for school board this election cycle (Lori, Juan, Bryn, Chad and Travis). I am sincerely sorry for your loss. It takes a lot of time, talent and treasure to run a race that unfortunately was never designed FOR us parents. To watch the League of Women Voters Forum is like watching a thief – the officiating and mediating of corrupt referees.

Four Dead Brittle Trees

South Washington County residents who showed up to vote on Tuesday made their selection. Elizabeth, Katie, Sharon and Louise (who scored lowest on my Voting Criteria Score Card) won by a large margin. This is the kind of fruitless tree SoWashCo chooses to fall captive – the spirit of dead brittle trees, thornbushes, briars and thistles. 
Compulsory education was not designed FOR parents BY parents … nor was it set up FOR God BY God. Quite the contrary. Compulsory education was set up to steal away time from parents to teach, and starve parish churches their influence. By forcing the child out of it’s home and into a government surrogate, the line between state and church is no longer. Child products of the state have grown up into parents, and they no longer call compulsory education an injustice. No, now parents call forced education their right! 
I think God calls some of us forward to run the impossible school board race, not so that we can defeat the enemy, but so as to “heap burning coals on his head” (Romans 12:20). When good people run for office against millionaire institutions like Education Minnesota (with a net worth of approximately $65.6 million in 2024), I believe it is God’s way of forcing the spirit inside each person’s soul to come out, speak up, and act upon his own desire for heaven or for hell in the end. 
After all, no one will be forced to go to heaven …

"His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 

Luke 3:17
Sometimes I wonder if American elections are a form of spiritual winnowing, like sifting the wheat from the chaff if you will. With every passing year, people vote for hell here on earth. In the process of reaping and sowing death, SoWashCo is falling into it’s very own pit of spiritual demise. The cities of our school district are becoming cities of briars and thorns and thistles that easily burn, just like biblical prophesy and fact. Even the churches of these cities are filled with thornbushes and thistles because many refuse to shepherd against humanities problem of sin.

"They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns; they have tired themselves out but profit nothing. They shall be ashamed of their harvests because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”

Jeremiah 12:13

To vote for hell, or to not vote at all, I suspect that’s divine retribution.

If we the church cannot be courageous to talk about sin, then we miss the opportunity to speak truth into government. If neither church nor state is educating children against sin, then to the church I say this : “We have no one to blame but ourselves for the sexual immorality that is showing up to school campuses throughout the nation with a gun and a demonic spirit hell bent on executing the Christian message of hope and salvation. 
Letter To The Churches Of South Washington County Minnesota, 
Let us be the true Church of Christ! Let us speak the WHOLE word of God, not just the parts that sound kind. FEAR THE LORD!
Let our church leaders encourage their parishioners to vote! Seize the opportunity to speak Jesus into all matters of government. FEAR THE LORD not the mob of people groups descending upon us for speaking the truth! Let us not be the church who neglects to mention the election, especially the Sunday before Election Day!
Let the false prophet, so numb to the Holy Spirit, turn in his ways and embrace the martyrs blood, proclaiming from the pulpit, “… on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” !!!

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Matthew 16:18-19
Let us pray for revival in our churches, but let us not be naive to the bloodshed which accompanies it. Let our feet be ready to speak the gospel of Peace to those thornbushes piling up outside the church door because they don’t understand the pain in their heart over the murdered of a Saint in cold blood!
Let us be those whom the Holy Spirit can use – may the true Church of Christ come alive and revive! Let us not be false profiteers counting square feet and programs!
Let us be those who preach love by confronting sin straight on! Let us preach the FEAR OF THE LORD! Lead us out from the SoWashCo briar of thornbushes without grapes and thistles without figs!
I pray this in the name of my beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ! 
Amen!
Article Citations
 
 

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This Little SCHOOL+HOUSE

In 2020, the Governor’s Education Roundtable put together A Roadmap for Transformational Change in Minnesota Education that says, “We need to mobilize all of us – not just teachers and students – to nurture assets and DISMANTLE BARRIERS so every student and their family has all Minnesotans supporting their academic and personal growth.” 

On the other hand, Kelly Smith, Founder of Prenda, says his micro-schools are “BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS that will make it easier for people to start their own schools.” Meanwhile, One Stone, a school with no teachers, no tests and no grades, says they are “BREAKING DOWN the one-size-fits-all nature of a conventional classroom.” 

As you can see, there are a lot of proverbial BARRIERS BEING BROKEN DOWN these days, and they appear to be at war with one another. G.K. Chesterton said, “Whenever you remove any fence, always pause long enough to ask why it was put there in the first place.” Wise advice from a wise man. 

My question is, which SCHOOL+HOUSE is able to BUILD UP? Anyone can break down in a world ruled by the laws of gravity. Whether good or evil , real or fake – anyone can destroy – but only REAL things grow while under this sun … only REAL is granted authority to build upward … only REAL has the soft heart needed for love … only REAL is able to truly hear His story (history) spoken  … and only REAL is able to truly see the Word written into the fabric of creation. 

This Little School+House will pair with the “Borders and Boundaries” series of 2025 in exploring the question, “What is education, actually?”

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