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Michelle Brown-Stohler has filed her candidacy for a fourth term as a member of the Northern Wells Community Schools Board of Trustees.
Brown-Stohler, 40, who is currently serving as vice president of the board, submitted her candidacy for the Lancaster Township seat on the board at the Wells County Clerk’s Office on Wednesday, the first day for school board candidates to file.
Brown-Stohler is completing her third term on the board, having first been elected as the Lancaster representative in 1996.
“I have enjoyed serving on the board and would like to continue,” Brown-Stohler said.
“The next four years will be challenging due to budget restraints, the need to have necessary resources for the staff and students as well as the responsibility to provide the students with a safe environment within the buildings,” Brown-Stohler said.
“In August, our current board will meet with superintendent, Dr. Scott Mills, in order to discuss the future of the Corporation. As a current board member, I will be part of the planning process. In the planning process, we will have to balance all of the current challenges with being fiscally responsible,” she said.
“For the next four years, I want to be a part of the implementation of the plan,” she added.
Among her current involvements with the board, Brown-Stohler is serving on the administrative team for negotiations and is a committee member for the PL 221 School Improvement Plan at Lancaster Elementary School.
She is also on the broad-based planning committee for high ability students in kindergarten through 12th grade, volunteers at the Lancaster Central science lab, and serves as a judge for the Ossian Elementary School science fair.
Her activities in the community include the Wells County Teen Court Advisory Board where she also serves as a judge, the Wells Foundation Grants Committee; elementary Junior Achievement volunteer and a member of the United Way Vision Council.
She also serves on the Wells County Child Protection Team and the Indiana Family and Juvenile Law Council as well as serving as a Sunday school teacher at First Presbyterian Church in Bluffton. she is also a member of the Kiwanis Club.
Brown-Stohler is a 1986 graduate of Norwell High School and a 1990 graduate of Indiana State University. She graduated from the Valparaiso University School of Law in 1993 and joined her father in the practice of law in Bluffton.
She is a partner in Edris, Brown, Johnson, Antrim & Brown-Stohler LLP.
On a historical note, she was the first Wells County-located woman to actively practice law in the county and her partnering with her father, Jon Brown is the first father-daughter law firm in Wells County history.
She is married to Lt. Col. Michael D. Stohler of the Indiana Air National Guard and they are the parents of one child, Carson Stohler, who attends Lancaster Elementary School.
Brown-Stohler sees it as vital that Northern Wells continues to provide a professional learning community where the administration and staff work collaboratively to ensure academic success with each student and provide staff and board members with professional development to enhance their knowledge in meeting the individual needs of the students.
“To be an active board member, I believe you have to attend the board meetings, volunteer with the schools, attend school events, talk with students, staff, teachers and community members and be involved. I have been an active board member for the past 12 years and I am committed to devote the time for this position for the next four years,” she said.
“Being a graduate of Norwell High school, a longtime community member as well as a parent, I have a vested interest in the education and welfare of the children at Northern Wells Community Schools The future of our community is our children,” she said.
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