Royalton school board deadlocks on chair and vice-chair elections

Director nominations for board officers resulted in tied ballots at the Royalton Public School District organizational meeting on Jan. 13, 2025. Two candidates were nominated for chair — Director Ellie Holm and Director Rian Hofstad — and the board recorded a 3-3 split on each nomination, so no chair was elected in that round.

The board likewise split 3-3 on vice-chair nominations between Director Randy Hackett and Director Lucas Boyd. The transcript shows both nomination rounds returned identical 3-3 voting summaries, indicating an evenly divided board in this initial vote. The meeting proceeded to other organizational business after the tied votes; the transcript does not record a subsequent roll call or a tie-breaking procedure during the same session.

Board members and nominators were recorded in the official minutes: Director Holm was nominated by Director Maria Traut and Director Hofstad was nominated by Director Hackett for chair. For vice-chair, Director Hackett was nominated by Director Hofstad and Director Boyd was nominated by Director Holm. The board will need to resolve these officer positions in a later procedure or through further balloting, as no election outcome is recorded in the meeting minutes.