Frankly, the choices for Harrisburg school board on June 17 could not be clearer.
Do we want a continuation of the recent past, where the will of the citizens wasn’t respected and the two incumbents expressed disdain for the views of the patrons over the firing of HHS principal Keith Huber?
Or do we want two new faces with deep ties to the community who stand for openness and listening to the patrons?
Harrisburg Superintendent Jim Holbeck told me the district has to “get past” the Keith Huber incident for the district to grow and succeed.
I agree. But “getting past it” isn’t the same thing as condoning the cavalier method in which current board members Dan Hensch and Jon Loos treated the public — with arrogance and a “we know better than you do attitude” last year.
There should be a price to pay for such disrespect of the public’s feelings and of an educator of the former principal’s stature and success.
Challengers Josh Sisson and Penny Rydberg understand that being a school board member is more than just getting more AP classes and building more schools.
It is also about how results are arrived at and understanding that the district is more than lines on a map — it is a community.
Before Hensch, Loos and fellow traveler Ron Albers were on the school board, I was always impressed that our school board could navigate through tricky issues like explosive student and faculty growth with a minimum of bickering and rancor.
I may not have always agreed with every decision, but I knew the decisions were made in good faith and with respect for the public and the process.
That is no longer the case.
This board does not have my trust and, as I talk to fellow residents, the trust of many others to do the right thing — even if they are doing the right thing.
I don’t mean to sound like some old-time Harrisburg resident who thinks things were better in the good old days before all the growth here. Harrisburg is on the whole a better community now than it was 13 years ago when I moved here. New residents from around South Dakota and the nation have enriched our community greatly. Nonetheless, I do think when the board had members with deep ties to the area, they were more respectful of people’s opinions and ideas. There was more of a sense of “we’re in this together for the long haul.”
If this makes me “old school,” and the challengers Rydberg and Sisson “old school,” so be it.
These are purely my endorsements and not those of The Champion. I hope when you go to the polls June 17 or vote early, you will vote for Penny and Josh to return our district to the values this school district used to practice — respect, openness and community.

Editor’s note: Todd Epp, 49, is an attorney for Galland Law Firm, PC in Sioux Falls, a blogger at South Dakota Watch, and a Harrisburg resident.