STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION MEMBER WON'T SEEK REELECTION

LINCOLN- Maureen Nickels said Tuesday she won’t seek reelection to the Nebraska State Board of Education.

Nickels, a Chapman, Nebraska, resident who was first elected in 2014 in District 6, said she always planned to leave the board after two terms. She said the controversy over the proposed health education standards for Nebraska schools didn’t influence her decision. She said it’s time for “fresh blood” on the board.

“If you had talked to anybody four years ago, after I went my second round, I always said, ‘Two terms and I’m done.’ I always wanted two terms, and I’ve stuck with it.”

Nickels, as board president last year, presided over the meetings that drew large and passionate crowds for hours of testimony about draft standards proposed by the Nebraska Department of Education. Facing overwhelming public opposition to the drafts, the board voted last September to postpone their development indefinitely.

“I hope that the health standards will come back,” she said. “I hope that they do. I don’t want to see them thrown out.”

For the full article click HERE