Updated: What Do YOU Think About Election Results in Fridley-area School Districts?

What is your reaction to the in three local school districts—Fridley, Spring Lake Park and Anoka-Hennepin?

Did you support the levies that passed? How do you feel about the school boards in Spring Lake Park, Fridley and Anoka-Hennepin? What did you think about the turnout at the polls? Leave a comment below.

Here are a few responses to start off the discussion.

Union Leader
Julie Blaha, president of Education Minnesota's local for teachers in the , said in an interview late Tuesday night:

I'm relieved and grateful to the community for renewing our levy. I'm really grateful we can keep our head above water. ... Question 3 [which didn't pass] was harder to understand for people. The more information they got, the more likely they were to support it. But you can't have a personal chat with 30,000 people. ... The way the question was constructed made sense, but it wasn't as easy a question as renewal or technology—a stopgap against future state shortfalls. But 45 percent is a lot of people ... willing to raise taxes. ... State funding is inadequate for our schools. I feel for a few places where they didn't pass.

Update (Wednesday, 8 a.m.):

Number Cruncher
Brandon Taitt wrote a four-tweet message on Twitter:

Some interesting stats: There were 2 election sites, Woodcrest Elementary (for SLP and Fridley voters) and Westwood Elementary (for Blaine). Woodcrest reported in first and Question 1 was Yes by 60/40 and Question 2 was No by 45/55. Westwood reported in, made a huge difference ... Q1 at 68/32 and Q2 at 55/44. This was a difference of a few hundred votes each. Those few hundred votes made a difference to 5,100 students. So when I hear people talk about how voting doesn't matter I'm reminded of times like these and how incredibly wrong they are.

School Board Candidate
Bryan Reynolds, who came in fifth among six candidates vying for three Spring Lake Park school board seats, tweeted:

Just over 3400 people voted in the school board votes. Out of more than 17K registered voters. Must have had dinner plans, eh?

Educator
Teacher Jenna Weissner used Twitter to celebrate:

My school district's levy passed! Thank you fine surbanites of Spring Lake Park, Fridley and Blaine!

Update (Wednesday, 2 p.m.):

School Board Member
Gordon Backlund, who serves on the Fridley School Board, had this to say Wednesday:

I am extremely satisfied that our residents so enthusiastically support the Fridley school system. Our staff is excellent and they continue to amaze me with their top-knotch performance. This vote was a reflection of their good work. Because the two ballot questions were approved we can continue to maintain stability in the operation and maintenance of our facilities. I also want to congratulate the three incumbents on their re-election.

Update (Thursday, 4 p.m.):

Superintendent
Jeff Ronneberg leads the Spring Lake Park school district and is the who is also active on Twitter. To Fridley Patch's tweet asking "What do you say about SLP voters giving the district two thumbs up?" Ronneberg replied: 

Thankful and fortunate. The support of our community will allow us to maintain and enhance programming for our students.

That was Ronneberg expressing his feelings in 140-character limit. There was more room at the district's website, where he had further comments.

Resident
Fridley resident sent Fridley Patch this response to Tuesday's election results:

No one enjoys paying for levies and taxes, but considering the cuts in the state budget for education we have to put the education and welfare of the children of our community before our own interests.