HANCOCK COUNTY — The Eastern Hancock School Board only had one contested race. The District 2 (non-partisan) candidates where Johnna S. Bridges and Rosina (Rose) T. Metz, who were running against each other for the open seat vacated by Scott Johnson, who has been on the board since 2013.
Both women went into the race saying they had a great love for the school district, the teachers, staff and kids and want to serve their community.
Bridges ended up winning the race capturing 1,616 votes while Metz finished with 724 votes.
“I’m excited,” Bridges said.
Bridges wasn’t in Indiana for election day as she had to travel for personal reasons to Michigan, so she tracked the race online and through others.
“I had friends and colleagues watching texting and calling me keeping up to date with what was going on, so that was good,” Bridges said.
Bridges noted she’s happy to be able to keep working for the community and she feels the current school board and the administration are both doing a great job.
“Part of what makes this exciting is the foundation of the current board is there and we have great leadership with Dr. (George) Philhower (superintendent) and his vision for the district and the students,” Bridges said. “We already have a great strategy and a vision and I want to help continue that.”
Bridges entered the race already being a part of the Eastern Hancock schools community. She’s done numerous things to help out the school district which included creating and making concessions available on the weekend for athletic and other events at the school. Bridges worked with school administrators and coaches to set up a concession stand to benefit the patrons and the school district when she saw there was none.
Leadership by example is what Bridges said she was about. Bridges has worked two three-year terms with the Eastern Hancock Education Foundation (EHEF) and said she wanted to be part of the district’s school board since her term limits with the EHEF had run out.
Metz said she too had a desire to serve the community and was hoping the community would give her a chance to be on the board to bring a parent’s perspective.
“My husband and I have four boys, who were all school-aged at the time when we moved here in 2021 right in the middle of COVID, and the kids were getting involved in school and sports, so I started attending the school board meetings to learn all the polices and found out I actually kind of enjoyed it,” Metz said prior to the election.
Metz noted prior to the election she felt like the administration and the school board have done a great job in leading the district, and she liked the direction the corporation was heading, but she wanted to contribute and bring that parent view onboard.
As for the other two open seats on the Eastern Hancock school board, James R Jackson Jr., ran unopposed in District 3 (non-partisan) and Steve Brock also ran unopposed for the at-large (non-partisan) position.
