It has been an interesting process for John Stetzel in getting to his current position as the new school board official for Panorama’s District 4.

According to the original voting tally from the September 10 school board elections, Stetzel lost the District 4 election to Shari Clark by a single vote, 58 to 57.  But after a recount was conducted by the Guthrie County Board of Supervisors, the election result was reversed–Stetzel actually ended up the winner by a 58-57 vote.

Stetzel says he’s thankful the whole recount process is finally complete.

“I had a lot of great support in the community.  It really was interesting going through the process, but hearing (from) everybody that did vote for me and other people in the community that were positive…it was nice.  Either way it would have turned out it was fine, but I’m obviously glad that it ended up this way.”

Stetzel and his family returned to the Panora area in 2010 after moving away to Arizona for a few years.  He has three kids in the Panorama School District, and his decision to get involved with the school board is all based on his hope to provide all Panorama students with the best opportunities possible.

“It’s always to me, the kids are number one–what do we need to do support the kids so that they’re successful.  Graduating everyone that comes into the school and that we make them successful whether they’re going into the job market afterwards, if they’re going to community school or their going to college, whatever it is.  We want to make them successful, and to do that, we have to support the teachers and make sure they have what they need and that we have good teachers.”

Stetzel says there aren’t any specific initiatives or agendas he’d like to push once he officially begins his time with the school board.  He will take the oath of office for his new position at the next school board meeting, currently scheduled for October 14th at 6:30pm in the Superintendent’s Office.