Ballots for the May 3 school board election are in the mail in Cascade County.

There are four seats are up for election:

• Three seats that represent both elementary and secondary districts on the board for three years through  May 2025. Anyone interested in these positions must live within the Great Falls Public School District boundary. The positions are currently held by Mark Finnicum, Jeff Gray, and Gordon Johnson.
• One seat, a one-year position to fill out the remainder of Jan Cahill’s term. Nathan Reiff was appointed by the board to fill the vacancy until the next regular election.

More candidates file for May school board election

Jeff Gray, the current board chair, is not seeking re-election.

Four school board seats on May ballot, filing opens Dec. 9.

The following have filed for the one-year term:

• Bradley Anderson
• Russell Herring
• Scott Jablonski
• Caitlyn Nash (dropped out)
• Amie Thompson

The following have filed for the three-year term:

• Brian Cayko
• Mark Finnicum (incumbent)
• Gordon Johnson (incumbent)
• Rodney Meyers
• Michael Nagel
• Nathan Reiff (appointed in 2021 to fill vacancy)
• Paige Turoski

Caitlyn Nash emailed The Electric on April 6 to say that after the Great Falls Education Association released its candidate endorsements that afternoon that she had decided to suspend her campaign and support Russell Herring.

The deadline for candidates to withdraw to be removed from the ballot was March 31, so Nash’s name will remain on the ballot, according to the county elections office.

The Electric hosted a candidate forum, which is available to view here, as well as responses from the candidate who wasn’t able to attend: School board candidates take questions; ballots mailed April 18