Minneapolis Public Schools school board vice chair Kim Ellison and Shayla Owodunni will advance to the general election on Nov. 5 as candidates for an at-large seat on the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education. Ellison was first appointed in 2012 and then elected to the board to represent District 2. Ellison then ran and was elected for the at-large seat in 2016 and 2020. She is currently serving as the board’s vice chair.

This is the first time Owodunni has run for school board. She served as a volunteer reading tutor at Pillsbury Elementary School last school year.

Ellison and Owodunni beat out Elena Cardosa in the three-way primary on Aug. 13. Cardosa is the parent of Minneapolis Public Schools students and had previously run for the District 5 seat currently held by Lori Norvell.

In November, voters will also elect representatives in District 2, 4 and 6. In Districts 2 and 4, incumbents Sharon El-Amin and Adriana Cerrillo are running unopposed. Ira Jourdain, the current representative for District 6 is stepping down.

There are two candidates for the open seat in District 6. Lara Bergman, a Minneapolis Public Schools parent and alumnae, as well as early childhood educator, is one of the candidates. The other candidate is Greta Callahan, who is the former president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, the parent of a Minneapolis Public Schools graduate, a former kindergarten teacher in the district and a former student in the district.

Although the school board is non-partisan, the Minneapolis DFL does endorse candidates. Ellison, El-Amin, Cerrillo and Callahan were all endorsed by the Minneapolis DFL.

Minneapolis Schools Voices recently published a Q&A with Bergman and Callahan, organized by District 6 neighborhood organizations. A public forum will be held with Bergman and Callahan on Sept. 23 at Meraki, 100 West 46th Street, from 6-8 p.m.