Meet a Waukee Candidate: Rob Thelen

On Sept. 13, Waukee area voters will decide who should serve on the Waukee school board.

There are three seats up for grabs in the election. Susan Bunz, Larry Lyon and Jerry Ripperger are all in the race to keep their seats on the board, while newcomers Todd Dohrmann, Kurt Hiatt and Rob Thelen hope to replace them.

Today on Waukee Patch we profile the third of six candidates running for the Waukee school board.

Name: Rob Thelen

Age: 39

Occupation: Management analyst

Address: 7767 Cody Drive, West Des Moines

E-mail: rthelen@dhs.state.ia.us

Rob Thelen's reasons for running for school board are pretty simple.

"I want to make it better," he said of the Waukee school district. "I want to keep the district moving in the right direction and just keep making it a better place to go to school."

Thelen said he decided to run for a seat on the Waukee School Board after discussions about standards-based reporting became heated last year. He has two children currently in the district — Miranda, 12 and Bryant, 9, who would be affected by the change.

"It was the standards-based reporting at the middle school level that really pushed me over the edge," he said. "That's when I started attending school board meetings. I thought, 'How can I can stop this so it doesn't get any further than it already has?'"

Thelen's concerns run deeper than just standards-based reporting. He said the school calendar — mainly start and end dates — needs to be reassessed. He's also worried about the district's spending. He thinks he would be a great asset to the Waukee School Board.

"I have a lot of history that will help me do the job a lot better," said Thelen. "I was a supply officer in the Navy. I understand a lot about the education system and I think I could do a better job at explaining these things to the community."