7 candidates file paperwork for Wisconsin superintendent
Seven candidates have submitted the paperwork and signatures to run for state Superintendent of Public Instruction.
State Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor announced a year ago she would not seek another term. Gov. Tony Evers named Taylor as his replacement in the post in 2018, when he was elected governor. This is the first open race for the position in 20 years. The candidates are:
h Deborah Kerr, the former superintendent of Brown Deer School District.
h Sheila Briggs, an assistant state superintendent at the state Department of Public Instruction.
h Jill Underly, superintendent of Pecatonica School District.
h Joe Fenrick, a Fond du Lac high school science teacher.
h Steve Krull, principal of Milwaukee’s Garland Elementary School and former Air Force instructor.
h Shandowlyon (Shawn) Hendricks-Williams, former director of Evers’ Milwaukee office and DPI Education Administrative Director of Teacher Education, Professional Development and Licensing.
h Troy Gunderson, Viterbo University professor and former superintendent of the School District of West Salem.
If the filing paperwork of three or more of the seven candidates is officially approved, a primary election will be held Feb. 16.
Stanford Taylor made history as Wisconsin’s first Black state superintendent, and led the department through the COVID-19 pandemic. She has spent nearly 20 years working at the Department of Public Instruction and 21 years before that working as an educator and administrator in Madison schools.