The filing period for this year’s Duneland School Board elections is underway.

Candidates have until August 20 to file.

The nonpartisan school board election will be included in the general election ballot Nov. 2.

Three of the five Duneland School Board seats will be on the ballot this year. They are: the at-large seat currently held by Mike Trout, the Westchester/Pine seat held by John Marshall, and the Liberty Township seat held by Ron Stone.

All school board candidates are voted on by all the voters in the school district; however, the candidates for the Westchester/Pine and Liberty seats must live in those respective townships.

In addition to Duneland, the Portage and East Porter County School corporations will also have school board races in November. Michigan City schools also has an election, which includes a portion of Pine Township.

Candidates who want to run for school board must pick up a petition form from the Voter Registration Office, located in the Porter County Administration Center, Valparaiso. Kathy Kozuszek, the Voter Registration Democrat director, said candidates must pick up the petition form at the Voter Registration office and not use forms from previous years, since the state has updated the form.

School board candidates are required to obtain peititon signatures from 10 registered voters in their school corporation. However, Kozuszek urged candidates to obtain more than 10 signatures in case there is a problem verifying the names. She also urged candidates not to wait until the last minute to file, since they must turn in the petition signatures in order to be eligible to be on the ballot.

School board members serve four-year terms.

Posted 8/10/2010