Early Voting Results - GIPS School Board
GRAND ISLAND – In the Grand Island Public Schools Board of Education race with the most candidates, it appears that incumbents Dr. Kent Mann and Amanda Wilson have been elected to represent Ward A.
Results were posted on the Hall County Election Commissioner’s website at 1:49 a.m. Nov. 4. There were 24 of 24 precincts reporting, with provisional votes outstanding.
These were the results in the Ward A race:
*Dr. Kent Mann (age 73), 3,598 votes, 36.53 percent
*Amanda Wilson (age 44), 2,636 votes, 26.76 percent
*Amanda Goodwin (age 43), 2,028 votes, 20.59 percent
*Christine Kier (age 60), 1,555 votes, 15.79 percent
There were 32 write-in votes, with 9,849 total votes cast.
In Ward B, there was only one candidate, current Board President Hank McFarland. McFarland, 58, received 3,386 votes (97.78 percent), with 77 write-in votes and 3,463 total votes cast.
In Ward C, there was only one candidate on the ballot, but there were two positions available. Current Board member Carlos Barcenas did not file for re-election.
Current Board member Eric Garcia-Mendez, 30, received 2,062 votes (91.48 percent). There were 192 write-in votes (8.52 percent). John McHargue, 72, announced that he was a write-in candidate for the school board position. With this race, there were 192 write-in votes, but it is unknown which people received those write-in votes.
Wilson has served on the Board of Education for four years. She did not respond to an email requesting information about her work experience.
Mann brings 44 years of experience in education to the position, including serving 19 years as principal of Grand Island Senior High School. He has served as a teacher, elementary school principal, middle school principal, high school principal and superintendent in roles in public schools in Nebraska and Kansas. He has also served on the staff at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Nebraska-Kearney after retiring from Grand Island Public Schools in 2011. Mann was appointed in February 2026 to fill the remaining term of Board Member Josh Sikes, who moved from Grand Island.
McFarland was elected to the Board of Education and started January 3, 2023. He was selected as president the next week and has been the president since. The Board votes on the president and vice president each January. McFarland is the Vice President of Private Banking for the Grand Island branch of Pinnacle Bank and has been with Pinnacle Bank in that position since 2018. Prior to that, he was the Head PGA Golf Professional at Lochland Country Club in Hastings.
Garcia-Mendez was elected to the Board of Education in 2022. He did not respond to an email requesting information about his work experience.
McHargue was a write-in candidate for Ward C, seeking office because only Eric Garcia-Mendez had filed, and two people would be elected to the position. Hall County Election Commissioner Tracy Overstreet said Nov. 3 that McHargue would be elected if he received the most votes as a write-in candidate. McHargue was a candidate for Hall County Board of Commissioners District 5 in May and finished third out of three candidates. The top vote-getter, Jason Luebbe, advanced to the November election unopposed. McHargue was a candidate for the Grand Island Public Schools Board of Education in November 2024, facing incumbent Josh Hawley, who won. Chaperone, a political action committee, endorsed McHargue.