Meet a Waukee Candidate: Todd Dohrmann

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 second of six candidates running for the Waukee school board.

Name: Todd Dohrmann

Age: 38

Occupation: Application systems engineer at Wells Fargo

Address: 1475 S.E. Florence Drive, Waukee

E-mail: todd.dohrmann@gmail.com

With two of his children in school and a third soon to be, you could say Todd Dohrmann is perfectly poised to take a seat on the Waukee school board.

Dohrmann, an applications systems engineer, says it’s not his position at Wells Fargo that best qualifies him for the job. It’s his position as dad to Zach, 9, Brook, 5, and Alex, 3.

“I want to be able to contribute to the Waukee school district,” he said. “I want to make sure my own children and others get a great education.”

Dohrmann served on the district's facilities committee last year. Still, he said it’s the tough issues like standards-based reporting and rapid growth in the district that he’s looking most forward to tackling as a school board member.

“I think parts of it (standards-based reporting) are good,” he said.  “I would definitely try to revamp it. I never want to see it in high school. We need to leave it in elementary and junior high.”

Dohrmann, who did not participate in the Waukee School Board Election Forum Tuesday night, said if elected he would also like to ask the board to take a second look at early dismissal days.

“I’d like to do something about early out,” he said. “I don’t know if that means having them on different days, or every week. Surely there are other solutions. That’s something I’d like to explore.”