TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
Lincoln County will take part in a nonpartisan primary election on Tuesday, Feb. 16. While there is a single office on the ballot, there are seven candidates vying for the position of State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Governor Tony Evers served as the State Superintendent of Public Instruction for 10 years, from 2009 to 2019. When he was elected Governor in 2018, he stepped down effective Jan. 2019 and appointed Carolyn Stanford Taylor to be Superintendent of Public Instruction to fill his vacancy. Taylor has declined to run in this year’s election.
As a result, this year’s race is wide open. Seven other candidates are on the ballot: Jill Underly, Deborah Kerr, Steve Krull, Shandowlyon Shawn Hendricks-Williams, Troy Gunderson, Joe Fenrick, and Sheila Briggs.
Jill Underly is currently the superintendent of rural Pecatonica School District in Blanchardville, Wisconsin, a village in Iowa and Lafayette Counties.
Deborah Kerr is the former superintendent of Brown Deer School District in Brown Deer, a suburb of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County. She resigned in June 2020 after 13 years in the position and lives in Caledonia in Racine County.
Steve Krull is the principal of Milwaukee’s Garland Elementary School and is a former Air Force instructor.
Shandowlyon (Shawn) Hendricks-Williams is the former director of Gov. Tony Evers’ Milwaukee office and is the DPI Education Administrative Director of Teacher Education, Professional Development, and Licensing at present.
Troy Gunderson is a Viterbo University professor and is the former superintendent of the School District of West Salem, a village in La Crosse County.
Joe Fenrick is currently a Fond du Lac High School science teacher and UW-Oshkosh geology lecturer. He is also in his third term as a Fond du Lac County Board Supervisor.
Sheila Briggs is an assistant state superintendent at the state Department of Public Instruction and has previously been a teacher, principal, and central office administrator.
The results of this primary election will narrow the field. The two candidates with the most votes in the primary will be on the April 6 Spring Election ballot.