After weeks of a two-candidate, two-seat race for the Durango School District 9-R Board of Education, another candidate has thrown his hat in the ring.
Matthew Sheldon will face incumbent Brieanne Stahnke for the seat representing District D. Stephanie Moran is running unopposed for the District B seat.
Sheldon, the campus-visit coordinator for Fort Lewis College, previously served as campaign manager for Michael McLachlan in both his campaigns for a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives in 2012 and 2014.
Stahnke was appointed to the seat for District D in December 2013. A project/facilities engineer at BP America, she earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from Montana State University.
Moran was appointed to the board to represent District B in February 2012. She is the GED-program coordinator at the Durango Education Center and also an adjunct instructor at Southwest Colorado Community College. Moran holds undergraduate degrees in English and elementary education from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and a master’s degree in English from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
The election will be held Nov. 4. It’s particularly important because the board is shrinking from seven seats to five after voters approved the new setup in November 2013. District 9-R will join the more than 75 percent of boards in the state with five members. The change was made, in part, because it was so difficult keeping all seven seats filled.
abutler@durangoherald.com
