Walz defeats Hendrickson, wins Detroit Lakes school board seat

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – Ethan Walz won a seat on the Detroit Lakes school board on May 9 following a special election for the seat vacated by Courtney Henderson.

Walz defeated challenger Nerissa Hendrickson by 29 votes, 321 to 292, to win the seat and he will finish the remaining 15 months of Henderson’s term.

The 23-year-old Walz is a 2018 Detroit Lakes graduate and said in a recent interview, after attending college out-of-state, he returned to his hometown to take a very important job: driving a school bus.

“After high school I spent a year at South Dakota State University where I was studying agricultural education,” said Walz, in a recent interview. “But I soon found out that I had a career back at home that I really loved in school transportation and hauling our local students and that is where I am today.”

Currently, Walz is the director of training and outreach for Olander Bus Service in Detroit Lakes.

“I just want to see that those students are given that same great opportunity through a good education that I was given through school,” he said.

One school district official said the special election vote totals are unofficial until ballot canvasing concludes on May 15.

Walz is expected to be sworn-in during a special meeting of the school board also on May 15.