2022 Indiana General Election: Meet the candidates for the Clark-Pleasant School Board

The Clark-Pleasant School board has five members. Two of the seats represent Clark Township, two are for Pleasant Township and one is an At Large seat. Three of these seats are up for election.

Clark Township

Two positions are available.  

Linda Polesel

Linda Polesel is a retired music teacher from Clark Elementary school and has lived in Whiteland her entire life. She graduated from Whiteland Community High School and said in a Facebook post that she decided to run for school board after retiring in 2020 after she saw some concerning issues arise about schools in the district and the country. In a post on Facebook Polesel said she is concerned that a “woke culture” is coming into the school district and that she wants to fight against “indoctrination by those who wish to reshape our society.” She also mentions that she has completed courses on the U.S. Constitution by Hillsdale College, a private Christian college in Michigan that has strong ties to top Republican politicians. Polesel has also been endorsed by Purple for Parents of Indiana, an activist group that believes social-emotional learning and comprehensive sex education should not be taught in schools.

Learn more about Polesel at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082023879612.

Craig Koch

Craig Koch was appointed to the Clark-Pleasant school board in 2019 after previous board members resigned. He previously tried to run for the board in 2014 but was unsuccessful. He is currently a project manager for Browning Construction. Koch told IndyStar that he has lived in the district for 40 years and has four children currently attending district schools. He said he wants to run again for the position because he received quality education from the school district and wants to ensure his children and others receive the same. Some priorities for him are reinforcing a sense of stability and direction for the district and he believes he will provide valuable insight for the district’s upcoming $230 million construction project at Whiteland Community High School.

Kent Beeson

Kent Beeson currently serves as the Clark-Pleasant school board secretary and was appointed in 2019 after previous school board members resigned. He is the owner and operator of Beeson Mechanical Services and was born and raised in Whiteland. He previously served on the Whiteland town council from 2016-2019 and then served on the town manager’s advisory board. Some main areas where Beeson would like to make a change are increasing parent involvement, advocating for all populations, ensuring fiscal responsibility and ensuring safety.

Learn more about Beeson at kentbeeson.com.

Pleasant Township

One position is available.

Kimberly Crawford

Kimberly Crawford was first appointed to the Clark-Pleasant School board in 2021 and this will be the first time she is running for the position. She currently works as a contracts manager at Rolls-Royce and before that she also served as the deputy attorney general for Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter from 2006-2008. She has lived in Greenwood for 17 years and currently has two children attending district schools. Crawford told IndyStar that she believes her experience already serving on the board has led her to have a better understanding of what the district needs and what it is doing to meet those needs. Some priorities for her are to continue supporting fiscally smart decisions such as the renovation project currently underway for Whiteland Community High School and wants to continue strategically planning for future growth in the district. She also wants to provide a challenging educational experience for all students that will stress rigor and individual responsibility.

Beatrice Dunn

Beatrice Dunn is a retired educator from the Clark-Pleasant Community School Corporation and also served on the school board from 2011-2018. Dunn testified at an Indiana Senate education committee in January and spoke in support of Senate bill 167, more commonly known as the “anti-CRT” bill, and said that schools were teaching lessons with “transformative SEL” instead of calling it CRT, according to the State House File. Dunn told IndyStar that she believes schools are going in the wrong direction and that "too much focus on nonacademic things is partly to blame." Some priorities for Dunn are working on clear and open communication with the community, helping make the district a place where parents are engaged and respected and finding ways to deal with the growth within the budget. Dunn has also been endorsed by Purple for Parents of Indiana.

Bryan Neer

Bryan Neer is currently the president of Neer Insurance Services Inc. and is also a United States Air Force veteran. Neer told IndyStar that he has been living in the district for 18 years and currently has a child attending a district school. He said he is running for school board because he feels like the school board has "forgotten that they are accountable to their constituency." He also said that the education provided to children should not mitigate the "role of the parent." Another priority for Neer is teacher and bus driver retention, which he says his background as a business owner will help in creating recruitment methods.

Amber Treasure

Amber Treasure is a licensed realtor at Carpenter Realtors, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also works as the transportation coordinator for Greenwood Christian Academy. IndyStar reached out for additional comment.

What to know about voting

Early in-person voting has already begun in Indiana and will end on Nov. 7 at noon. Johnson County is a vote center county. View a list of early voting and election day vote centers here: bit.ly/3C3PwaT.

Voters can also vote absentee but need to request a ballot no later than Oct. 27, or 12 days before the general election on Nov. 8.

To request an absentee ballot, you must meet the requirements, which can be found online at in.gov/sos/elections/voter-information/ways-to-vote. You can request online or by mailing or hand-delivering the application to your county election board or the Indiana Election Division. You also can email the application to elections@iec.in.gov.

Once received, you should mail the ballot back to your local county election office. Ballots must be received by election officials by 6 p.m. on Election Day, or it will not be processed.

Contact IndyStar reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @CarolineB_Indy.

Caroline is also a Report for America corps member with the GroundTruth Project, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of journalists in the U.S. and around the world.

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana election 2022: Meet the Clark-Pleasant School Board candidates