Reitz earns seat on school board

In the lone contested race for Jay School Board, voters had a pair of former Jay Schools employees to choose from.

They went with the one who had more experience.

Vickie Reitz earned 58 percent of the vote in knocking off fellow rural Bryant resident Ryan Wellman for the District 6 seat on Jay School Board.

“It feels good,” said Reitz, who was tracking the election results from home after testing positive for COVID-19. “I’m happy that I’ll be able to continue on being a part of Jay School Corporation. I’m looking forward to starting in a few months. I’m ready to get back in the feeling of being a part of the school system.”

Reitz, who had a career of more than 40 years in education and retired as director of guidance for Jay Schools, won 15 of the county’s 18 precincts. The only wins for Wellman, a former computer technology support staffer for Jay School Corporation, came in the Madison (120-103), Wabash (125-111) and Noble (128-122) precincts.

The victory means Reitz will take over the seat currently held by Krista Muhlenkamp, who chose not to seek a second term.

In uncontested races, Phil Ford earned his second term in office after also being uncontested in 2016, and Jason Phillips, who was named last year to fill out the remainder of Kristi Betts’ term after she moved to Georgia, was elected to his own first term.