Six Gering school board candidates advance to general election

The primary election on Tuesday, May 10, cut the number of candidates for the three open spots on the Gering School Board in half as six advanced to the general election.

The race was led by Greg Trautman with 840 votes out of a total of 6,042 votes cast. Trautman is a Gering alumnus who currently has three children attending Geil Elementary.

Following Trautman in the race for school board was incumbent Brian Copsey with 615 votes. Copsey is the lone current school board member who went up for reelection, and he’s been on the school board for 11 years.

John Maser got the third highest number of votes with 602. Despite being a graduate of Scottsbluff High School, he raised his family in the Gering Public Schools system, and his wife is a teacher at Geil Elementary.

Former Gering High School teacher Justin Reinmuth scored 591 votes to secure his spot on the general election ballot. Reinmuth is a Gering alumnus and former Gering teacher.

Kolene Woodward, a substitute teacher for the district, reeled in 519 votes. She said her primary goal, if elected in November, will be to bring back Gering’s academic excellence.

“I feel challenged,” Woodward, a Gering Public School substitute teacher, said of the primary victory. “I feel like there’s a lot of work to be done as far as just getting the message out there about how to bring Gering back to being academically excellent.”

Woodward said that moving forward, her plan is to continue to talk to more voters about her primary objectives, which includes pushing Gering academics more heavily.

“I just want to put Gering back on top academically,” she said.

Krista Baird, a member of the Gering community for 16 years, will round out the six to advance to the general election with 495 votes. Baird has put her children through Gering Public Schools, and she said that her top priority, if elected, is the students.

“It’s really important to me that our first priority is the kids,” she said. “There’s no other agenda besides putting the kids first and their education, their well-being.”

Baird said that as a non-native to the community, she will be preparing for the general election by getting her face and name out to voters more, and she is thankful for those who have already advocated on her behalf.

“I’m so grateful for the letter to the editor that was written on my behalf; I’m grateful for people that were willing to put signs in their yard; people that I didn’t even know that have advocated on my behalf,” she said. “So, I’m really grateful for that, and I hope that I can continue to have that support going forward and that I will earn that support.”

Trautman, Copsey, Maser and Reinmuth were not available for comment as of publication.

*This article originally appeared in the Scottsbluff Star-Herald on May 11, 2022. Main photo by Jeff Van-Patten for the Star-Herald.