Incumbents re-elected to Franklin school board; 1 has possible recount

Two of the three incumbents for Franklin school board lead the four-candidate field on election night, but one seat may face a possible recount due to a close margin.

Incumbent board members Rachel Ruppert-Wolfinbarger and Chris Sizemore were re-elected with comfortable margins. According to final, unofficial results from the Warren County Board of Elections, Ruppert-Wolfinbarer was the leading vote-getter receiving 30.1 percent of the vote, with Sizemore receiving 27.3 percent of the vote.

Fellow incumbent Bob Knipper received 21.19 percent of the vote and challenger Dennis Dwyer received 21.17 percent of the vote. Because the margin between Knipper and Dwyer is less that one-half of 1 percent, it is subject to an automatic recount. There was a brief moment during the evening that Dwyer pushed ahead of Knipper before the final, unofficial results were released.

Ruppert-Wolfinbarger, who was re-elected to her second term, said she was “thrilled that we have the same team.”

She said the board works very well together and while they may disagree during their discussions, they come to the best result for the district.

Ruppert-Wolfinbarger said the next steps are to continue working the goals the board has previously set as well as work on the district’s continuous improvement plan. In addition, she said the board will continue its technology improvements and increase community involvement.

“The biggest thing is that we’re taking steps to see about new buildings,” she said.

Ruppert-Wolfinbarger said there were 84 people who attended a community to gauge interest about new facilities.

Sizemore, who was re-elected to his fourth four-year term, said he was pleased that all of the incumbents will be back “to finish what we started.”

Among those efforts were to stretch 2014 levy dollars until 2022, improve technology and start looking at the district’s buildings. One possible option would be to participate in the state program for new buildings and go through an assessment to repurpose the current high school into a junior high and build a new high school facility.

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