Four people were elected to the Albert Lea school board Tuesday.

Three members, Jill Marin, Sally Ehrhardt and Mark Ciota were elected to full-term seats, and Jeshua Erickson was elected by special election for the seat previously vacated by Bill Villarreal.

Ehrhardt, an incumbent, had 6,199 votes, Marin, also an incumbent, had 5,948 votes, and Ciota had 7,332 votes. Erickson received 7,716 votes.

Board chairman Bill Leland said it was nice to see community members step up and want to work on the school board.

“It will be nice to have a full board on Jan. 1,” Leland said.

At a special board meeting on Nov. 9 the board plans to canvass elections. They will also vote on whether to appoint Erickson immediately to his seat or wait until Jan. 1 to have him join the board.

“I don’t see an issue on seating him early,” Leland said.

Erickson said he was excited to see the results on Tuesday night and is looking forward to working with the board.

“I think one of the things we’re starting to do well is to engage the public more effectively,” Erickson said.

He said he hopes to continue engaging the public of the district, not just the parents of students in the district. He said he’s looking forward to helping the board make decisions and wants the public to know he’s available for feedback.

“I want people to feel free to contact me even if they disagree,” Erickson said.

Leland said the board has been waiting until there are more members on some decisions. They will be looking at policies and establishing officers in January. Leland also said the board would be looking at applying the district aims to the board. The aims are to provide safe, healthy, welcoming schools, increase opportunity and achievement and have effective and efficient operations.

Ciota will be new to the board when his term starts Jan. 1. He said he’s looking forward to working with the school board.

“I am excited to join the board and to learn from current members,” Ciota said. “I am always open to feedback, questions and suggestions from the residents of the district.”

Ciota also said he hopes to help teachers and administration strive to provide the best education to the students.

School realignment discussion

At the special board meeting on Nov. 9 the board will hear from board members, parents and the public about visits to schools in southern Minnesota that have facilites similar to the ones the board is looking at implementing.

On Oct. 28 there was a visit to an eighth-grade through senior high school in Red Wing, and on Nov. 1 there was a visit to a kindergarten center in Austin. Other visits were scheduled for sites in Mankato East and Owatonna.

The purpose of the site visits was to look at strategies in other buildings in the area. Each school visited had a similar setup to one of the realignment possiblities the board is looking at for Albert Lea’s school district.

The board meeting on Nov. 9 is at 5 p.m. at the board room in Brookside Education Center.