2024 Election Update: Meet the new face on the Perry school board

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A new member will join the Perry Township Metropolitan School District school board, despite two incumbent candidates running for four open seats.

Astin Vick won the election as a write-in candidate and will join the board in January. She will replace incumbent Steven Johnson, who did not run for re-election but would have been eligible to keep his seat if there were no challengers. He has been a member of the board since 2017.

Vick has worked in various roles in the district, including as a substitute teacher, teacher’s assistant and assistant athletic coach. She ran to the plate 2022 but didn’t win.

This year, Perry’s board had just two candidates — incumbent board members Emily Hartman and Jim Hernandez — running for four open seats on the seven-member board. That meant Johnson and Ken Mertz, the other two incumbents who did not file for re-election, would be eligible for hold their seatsunder state law.

But when Vick entered the race as a write-in candidate, she was guaranteed a seat on the board if she received at least one vote. (Unofficial results show 568 write-in votes, but it is unclear how many were for Vick.)

It was up to the board to decide which general member would remain in place. Mertz, who has been on the board since 2008, will remain in his position.

In a statement Monday, Vick said that in addition to her own experience, her husband is an alum of Perry Meridian High School, and her mother-in-law is a retired Perry teacher. She has also served on the Perry Township Schools Leadership Academy, where community members can learn how the district functions.

“Over the past eight years, I have grown to love the Perry community and am excited to serve our community as a member of the board,” Vick said in the statement.

During Monday’s school board meeting, Johnson thanked district staff and fellow board members. He reflected on his background as a teacher and coach at Perry schools, as well as his most recent experience as a librarian and school board member, and advised caution.

“When the school board bans books, they are not just restricting content for individual families – they are restricting access to every student, including those parents who want them to engage with a wide range of ideas,” he said. “Education is designed to prepare students for the real world, introducing them to different perspectives and challenging ideas.”

In addition to Vick, Hartman, Hernandez and Mertz, the Perry plate includes Lee Shively, Hre Mang and Chris Lewis.

The seats of Shively, Mang and Lewis will be up for re-election in 2026.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at [email protected].