Candidate Lindsey Patterson is running for schoolboard — but in July, she was serving as a judge the the Vanderburgh County Fair Little Miss &Mister Competition.
Along with other judges, she’s asking young competitors questions behind the curtain. This particular child likes to bake.
“Does anybody at home help you bake,” Patterson asks her. “Do you have help with people eating your cookies? No, you get them all to yourself?”
Patterson and other challenger Ken Colbert are running for two available District 2 seats the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation (EVSC). The incumbents are Mike Duckworth with 26 years of non-consecutive experience, and David Hollingsworth with two terms (eight years) of time on the board. Voters across Vanderburgh County will choose two of these four candidates.
Patterson was born and raised in Evansville and is married with two children. One child is about to go to college.
She said she’s a good candidate because she has an understanding of what it’s like to be in the EVSC.
“I was a student of the EVSC. I met my husband in the EVSC. I have children in the EVSC, and I know how hard everyone works in the EVSC from the families, the students, the teachers, and the administrators.”
Patterson said her first priority would be getting familiar with the EVSC from the board-of-trustees level.
“I need to get in there and see how the EVSC works more so than what I've seen on a parent level and like a PTA level.”
She hopes to sit with various stakeholders in the EVSC and work collaboratively to make their lives easier.
Full interview transcript below.
Local business owner Ken Colbert is the other challenger for the District 2 seats. He’s a consignment shop owner and co-founder of the Indiana Freedom Caucus. Colbert also co-hosts a podcast, “Republicans in Bad Standing.”
It is so named because he and co-host (and Freedom Caucus co-founder) Cheryl Batteiger-Smith, are kicked out of the state and county Republican Party. Colbert has a recent bench warrant for trying to file as a Republican for a different race.
Recently, Colbert told “It Happened in Evansville” host Tommy Mason, about problems he has with the EVSC board as it stands. He suggested a lack of transparency.
“… asking the school corporation for access to public records (I) still don't have them — years later; how the process typically works: you send in the written request, the school board administration, Duckworth, Pat Shoulders, (who's the attorney) they send you that response. ‘We acknowledge what you've sent it,’ but you never see the documents, okay?”
Colbert can be seen at government meetings, clashing with elected officials , following up on FOIA requests.
In the same interview with Mason, he said he stands for traditional conservative values, and educating the public about the inner workings of the government.
He also discussed running as a non-partisan candidate for School Board.
“As a candidate, I made that conscious decision not to align myself with any political parties. Anybody could do their own due diligence and know exactly where I stand on these issues about the sanctity of life. All of these issues that align with the conservative position.”
County Republican Chair Kyhle Moers said a Republican filing by Colbert would have been challenged by the party anyway.
While Duckworth has decades of time on the board — Colbert doesn't necessarily see that as a good thing.
"It's a lot of times when they vote for people, it's name recognition," Colbert told Mason. "They get into the polls and they say, 'Oh, I know that name. Let's vote for that person.'"
Colbert did not return requests for an interview. WNIN will update this story if he does.
Lindsey Patterson interview transcript
AI generated, with light editing
Timothy Jagielo: so, tell me a little bit about yourself, first.
Lindsey Patterson: So, I was born and raised in Evansville, Indiana, in a little neighborhood of Jimtown, and I went to Delaware, Evans, and North, and I loved those schools, and it was really nice to grow up in that area and be in those schools, and that was my first hand knowledge of seeing how hard families work and the teachers work there, and then I met my husband in high school, and I'm married for about 20 years, and I have two daughters: one getting ready to go to college, and then the next one who is going to be a senior in high school at North as well.
Jagielo: So why are you running?
Patterson: So actually, I didn't plan to run. Somebody mentioned it. A new friend mentioned it to me, and it kind of just blew my mind a little bit. And I was like, ‘Oh, wow, maybe that is a good time for me to do this.’ The timing was correct because, like I said, my oldest daughter is going to college, and my youngest daughter will be a senior. And I just kind of took it as like the universe saying, ‘Like, hey, maybe I needed to do this,’ and so I decided to run because I think that I this is a very good opportunity for me to see what the EVSC has to offer the community more in ways that I can help it as well.
Jagielo: If you are elected, what would your main policy priorities be starting out?
Patterson: As far as policies go, before I can really have an opinion on that, I need to get in there and see how the EVSC works more so than what I've seen on a parent level and like a PTA level, so actually my my top priority is just to kind of be in the community of the EVSC more so in a way of like on the board and getting to know all the ins and outs and getting to know our superintendent and working well with. And just getting to know the community better of the EVSC.
Jagielo: Some recent bigger topics — and they're getting less recent now — but some recent larger topics were the the new device policy that kind of was handed down from the state that they sort of adopted, and the other one was the the security and safety audit, the comprehensive audit for like $250,000. Where do you stand on those issues on those items? I guess we'll start with the device policy.
Patterson: So when I say I don't know about something, it's really not a cop out. I can't answer those questions fully because I am not currently on the board and know what's going on in the EVSC as far as how they're trying to figure out how they're going to implement that. I do understand it's a state law, and so our hands are probably tied a little bit with how we what we have to do with that. And so I can't necessarily answer how I feel about it because I don't have all the information in front of me based on everything that is needed for me to make an opinion on that.
Jagielo: And what about the the security study?
Patterson: So the security study, I think that's a great idea. I mean, I feel like you can't really do wrong with any type of security study or any type of study when it comes to figuring out things and how things could work better.
Jagielo: What would you do differently than the incumbents?
Patterson: Once again I will mention the word ‘community.’ I think that in any situation where you're in where you can work with a large number of people and a diverse number of people. It's a good thing to have community in your mind, and so I think what I would bring to the table that's a little bit different … is I would work together as a team to figure out what what things would be better for the community and for our families in the community, and administrators in the community, and teachers in the community.
Jagielo: This year, there was the option for the first time, maybe ever, to run as as a partisan ticket, and so there's only one Republican who actually elected to be Republican. There's only one person that decided to run as a partisan. You decided to run nonpartisan. Can you tell me why you decided to run nonpartisan?
Patterson: Because I really do feel that politics needs to stay out of public education. I affiliate with public education, and so that's why I chose to run unaffiliated.
Jagielo: There's several options; several people to be able to vote for. Why should people vote for you?
Patterson: I think that I have an understanding of what it's like to be in the EVSC. As far as like, I was a student of the EVSC. I met my husband in the EVSC. I have children in the EVSC, and I know how hard everyone works in the EVSC from the families, the students, the teachers, and the administrators. And honestly, I just want to be a part of that and be a part of that community to where I'm listening to all people and trying to put things together in a way that helps the EVSC.
Jagielo: Forgive me if I'm kind of asking asking this repeatedly, but have there been any issues that have come recently that makes you kind of interested in doing this work? Anything in the news? Anything you've heard from parents? Any reading scores? College readiness? Anything like that that you're really interested in?
Patterson: I think what I'm hearing consistently is how hard it is nowadays for public education, and as far as it's across the board, it's hard for every single avenue of public education. It's hard for students. It's hard for teachers. It's hard for administrators. It's just hard, and I don't know why that is, but I just think it would be so much better for people to come together and like brainstorm ideas on how to bring all those things together. Because I have a friend of mine who says that when someone's sitting on the bench with you, things are less hard. So I just want to sit on the bench with people and see if we can come together and make things that are hard a little bit less hard or a little bit easier.
Support independent journalism today. You rely on WNIN to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. Give to grow our local reporting today. Donate