Six candidates are running in the nonpartisan general election for three at-large seats on the five-member South-Western City Schools Board of Education on Nov. 4, 2025. The three candidates who receive the most votes will serve four-year terms on the board. Incumbents Camille Peterson and Chris Boso are running for re-election, while incumbent Kelli Martindale is not running for re-election.
The six candidates are running on two separate slates. Although the board is officially nonpartisan, the governing control of the board is at stake. The Franklin County Republican Party endorsed four of the five members of the board (Peterson is the exception) in previous elections. Both local Democrats and Republicans have endorsed opposing slates.
Boso, Steve Feucht, and Jason Gocha are running on one slate. Boso was elected to the board in 2021and serves as the board’s president. Feucht works as a consultant, and Gocha works in logistics management. The Franklin County Republican Party endorsed this slate.
Peterson, Chelsea Alkire, and Kelly Dillon are running on another slate. Peterson was appointed to the board in 2023 after the resignation of Cathy Johnson. Alkire and Dillon both work as educators. The Franklin County Democratic Party endorsed this slate.
This election is taking place against the backdrop of contract negotiations between the board and the district’s educators’ union, the South-Western Education Association (SWEA). According to The Columbus Dispatch’s Anna Lynn Winfrey, “[SWEA spokesperson Emmalee] Harding said that the negotiating teams needed to bring in a mediator for the first time since 2013, at the expense of the union and the district, because both sides were having a hard time finding common ground.”
On July 10, 2025, the board and SWEA approved a new contract during their respective meetings. According to NBC4’s Katie Millard, that day Harding released a statement on behalf of the union in which she “alleged the board ‘attacked’ important parts of the contract and thanked community members for helping SWEA ‘fight off’ the board’s changes. Within hours, Boso read Harding’s words aloud at a board meeting and voiced frustration with the union’s leadership.”
A second board member, Julie Liskany, also commented on the statement during the meeting. Millard wrote that in response, SWEA filed “an unfair labor practice charge with the state. The union alleges Boso and Liskany were trying to discourage SWEA members from similar contract negotiations in the future, which the union interpreted as an attempt to inhibit union activity.”
Ohio law prohibits employers from interfering with union business.
Chris Boso (Nonpartisan), Camille Peterson (Nonpartisan), Chelsea Alkire (Nonpartisan), Kelly Dillon (Nonpartisan), and Steve Feucht (Nonpartisan) completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey. To read those survey responses, click here.