Incumbent Candidates Win Kent School Board Election

Alicia Crowe and Rebekah Wright Kulis won the two open seats on the Kent City School District’s Board of Education in Tuesday’s election.

Crowe and Wright Kulis were the incumbent candidates, and they defeated Kevin Elrod and Joy Pattison Vallen. Crowe received 4,237 votes and Wright Kulis received 3,417 votes in the unofficial vote count from the Portage County Board of Elections. 

Crowe and Wright Kulis will serve for four years as part of the five-member board. The other three positions for the Kent City Board of Education will be up for election in two years. 

Wright Kulis has served on the board for 16 years and was president of the board for four one-year terms. The board appointed Crowe to fill a spot when another board member quit this summer, so this will be her first full term. 

“Alicia is new to the board and she’s been a great addition. With her background and education, we really value her input on the board,” Wright Kulis said. 

Both women are looking forward to continuing to represent the district. 

“I’ll continue to be able to listen to the constituents, people within the district who have an interest in sharing what they’re thinking. Continue to help guide the district to make good policy decisions that support all learners,” Crowe said. 

“I think long-term vision is important. And the five of us work alongside the administrators to develop that with the input of the community. One of the exciting things – and this is just an example of some of the exciting things that are happening – we found out last week that we were awarded over $2 million,” Wright Kulis said. 

The money is part of a grant the district applied for to expand career technical programs, specifically related to manufacturing. The superintendent, Tom Larkin, was in Dayton on Friday for the announcement that Kent was one of the winning districts. 

Kent City School District named Larkin as the new superintendent this summer. He has been part of the district since 1996, and he previously served as assistant superintendent.

“Every superintendent has their strengths and Tom’s strength in particular is his absolute love of students,” Wright Kulis said. “He just glows when he talks about kids.”

Both candidates expressed their gratefulness to voters for showing up and supporting them at the polls, and are excited to keep the momentum of their collaboration going. 

“It’s a really good group who works together, who really stays focused on the students, and good learning and supporting the educators to do what they need to do every day with the students,” Crowe said.  “So I think it’s a good message to us both of what folks are interested in continuing.”