Triton school board has four openings and seven candidates
Wally Bluhm
I have lived in the Triton community since 2015. I also have deep roots in Dodge County, having grown up in Kasson from the age of nine through college. This area has been home for most of my life, and my family and I are proud to call the Triton community home today.
I am married to my wife, Sarah, and we have a son, Elliot, who attends Triton High School. Our family’s experience at Triton has been extremely positive. We have seen firsthand how much the teachers, staff and administration care about their students, and that experience is a major reason I want to give back to the district.
I currently work as a Strategic Account Representative for McNeilus Steel, where I work directly with one of our largest customers. Prior to that, I spent 15 years in management with Hy-Vee.
My career has given me extensive experience in leadership, customer service, problem-solving, budgeting and working with people with different viewpoints. I believe those experiences would translate well to serving on the School Board.
I have not previously held public office. This is my first run for elected office.
I believe that can also bring a valuable perspective to the board. I am willing to ask questions, listen to different viewpoints and approach decisions with an open mind rather than assuming that something should continue to be done a certain way simply because that is how it has always been done.
My biggest priority is addressing Triton’s declining enrollment. Enrollment affects nearly everything else the district does, from funding and staffing to the opportunities we can provide students.
I also want to help ensure Triton remains financially responsible while protecting the programs and opportunities that make families want to choose our district. That means looking carefully at spending, asking difficult questions when necessary and looking for creative solutions, including partnerships and co-ops when they make sense.
Most importantly, I want every decision I make to start with one question: What is best for our students?
My goal is to help keep Triton a school district our communities are proud of and one that families want to be part of.
Strong schools and strong communities go hand in hand. I want Triton to provide students with the best educational and extracurricular opportunities we reasonably can while being responsible with taxpayer dollars. I also want the School Board to have an open relationship with parents, staff, students and community members.
I won’t always have every answer, but I will listen, ask questions and be honest with people about the challenges we face and the decisions we make.
Bruce Huber
My wife and I and our family of four children moved to Dodge Center in 1998 to teach at Triton High School. Sandy and I both retired in 1998 after teaching Family and Consumer Science and Industrial Technology for forty years.
Our oldest son Matt, graduated in 2001 from Triton and attended the US Air Force Academy. He previously flew C130’s for the Air Force but is no longer active-duty military. He just returned from a six-month deployment with the Michigan Air National Guard and is currently a Lieutenant Colonel. Matt works for a military contractor on the east coast while living in Michigan. He is married with two young children. Our middle son Mike, graduated in 2003 from Triton and attended North Dakota University before enlisting in the Air Force where he served several tours loading B1 bombers before coming a flight engineer on the Osprey where he served several more tours. He is also married and was honorably discharged as a Tech. Sargeant from the Air Force and is currently employed by Allegiant Airlines as a Safety Engineer and lives with his wife in Las Vegas. Our youngest son Mark, graduated from Triton in 2007 and graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Business and Marketing. He’s taken a slightly different career path and is a Screen Actors Guild member working mainly in the Los Angeles area but has worked both coasts. He also does stunt work and has experience in the production side of the television and movie industry. Our daughter Damiana is a weekend shift manager at Daikin in Owatonna and has two daughters, Kerisma who graduated from Triton last spring and Nelly who is a junior at Kasson-Mantorville HS. All of our children benefitted greatly from the education they got at Triton.
I began my teaching career after graduating from the University of Northern Iowa at Britt High School in north-central Iowa before getting married in 1980 and teaching in Grundy Center High School in north-east Iowa. I taught at Grundy Center for 18 years before moving with our family to Dodge Center. Both of our parents were aging and we felt the need to centrally locate ourselves to better help both sets of parents. We taught at Triton for 20 years before retiring.
This is my first attempt at holding public office. I was a union president of the Grundy Center Education Association as well as the Triton Education Minnesota union. I hold leadership roles in our local church men’s organization (Knights of Columbus) as well as our county political party affiliation. I was asked to get more involved in our community and I chose to seek this position.
My role as a member of the Triton School Board is to approve policies that provide our students at Triton with the best possible means to be successful. We are also tasked with being stewards of the funds that keep our school district solvent and thriving. In these times of declining enrollments and limited federal and state funding, keeping programs that benefit all students becomes even more challenging. We must hire and retain the best possible teaching staff that prepare our children for life after high school, whether that be post-secondary education, technical training or direct entry into the workforce.
My primary goal for our Triton communities is to keep our school moving in a positive direction. We must find a way to provide our students with the skills needed to be successful, contributing members to both our local and regional economy. We must also recognize the changing needs of the businesses and industries around us so flexibility is a crucial part of any plan.
Christi Runnells
I moved to the area in the summer of 2013 upon being hired as the Triton High School Counselor. I grew up in Wisconsin but attended college at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and wanted to return to Minnesota after completion of graduate school at the University of Iowa. I was excited to be back in Minnesota, planned to get a little experience and then move back to the Twin Cities. Instead, I have stayed here ever since because Triton became home, and I was committed to improving opportunities for Triton High School students and supporting the staff in any way I could. I poured my heart and soul into Triton and still feel a very strong connection to this special place.
My husband, Jeff, and I live near the school with our three young children.
I have worked in education and child care since my first jobs as a teenager. For the last 16 years, I have been in public education at three different school districts. The majority of this time, I was employed as the Triton High School Counselor from Fall 2013-Summer 2025. I have also been employed as a special education paraeducator and substitute teacher and in summer roles in Cobra Care, special education, and high school credit recovery. I am now in my second year working as a high school counselor for Pine Island.
While this would be my first position in public office, I believe my recent firsthand knowledge of the student and staff needs at Triton will complement the viewpoints of the current seasoned board members.
The two big issues on everyone’s mind are enrollment and budget. Significant work will need to be done in order to stabilize and hopefully increase enrollment as well as end continual deficit spending. Maintaining student enrollment will be essential as it is the core foundation of a district. Additionally, a school is only as good as its teachers. The district must take good care of its people to continue to see student success. I hope to find ways the district can best support all staff at Triton so that they can provide the best for all students.
Triton has made great strides in communicating the awesome things happening within its doors, yet community members still don't fully understand the many amazing opportunities available to Triton students. I would like to see the entire community, even those who don't currently have children in the district, be well-informed. I will encourage collaborative problem-solving and bringing all community voices to the table. My heart is in Cobra Country, and I look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve.
Wendy Kenworthy
I grew up just outside of Dodge Center. My husband and I have lived on our farm just south of Wasioja, since 2001.
My family consists of my husband of almost 29 years, David, three step-kids ages 43, 41, and 39, and our two kids ages 23 and 20. Plus two very spoiled puppies.
I currently work in inside sales at McNeilus Steel. Prior to that I worked at the Dodge Center Public Library and spent 12+ years as an administrative assistant with Triton Public Schools.
This is my eighth year as a member of the Triton School Board. Prior to working for the library, I previously served on the Dodge Center Library Board and volunteered with the Friends of the DC library.
I would like to be part of a team that brings our district out of SOD. We've put a lot of work in so far and I want to see us through the entire process.
Every year we see more growth and unity as a Triton community, not just three communities combined. I want to see us attract more families and keep those folks in our communities attending our school rather than open-enrolling elsewhere.
Brian Ginder Lloyd Henslin Jr. and Dale Jensen did not respond to the interview.
