Incumbent Brandi Lautigar and Pollyann Sorcan are running in the nonpartisan special election for an at-large seat on the Rock Ridge Public School Board on April 8, 2025. Sorcan is running for the seat that she previously held before the board voted to expel her and appoint Lautigar to her seat.
Sorcan was re-elected in 2022 to a term ending in 2026. On November 19, 2024, the Rock Ridge School Board voted 5-1 in favor of a resolution to expel Sorcan. Sorcan did not attend the meeting. Lautigar was one of the five members who voted to remove Sorcan. Board member Lisa Westby voted against the resolution.
In the resolution, the board alleged that Sorcan committed nonfeasance and malfeasance. The allegations against Sorcan included contacting an attorney who was representing a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the district and forwarding 383 emails from her school email to her private email account. Lautigar’s term ended in January 2025, but she was appointed to fill Sorcan’s seat until the special election.
The district is located in St. Louis County, Minnesota, and had 2,406 students attending five schools during the 2022-2023 school year. The district was created from the 2020 merger of the Virginia and Eleveth-Gilbert school districts.
Lautigar is a school social worker and therapist. She was elected to the Eveleth-Gilbert School Board in 2016. Lautigar told KAXE, “As a board member, I have proven myself to be a listener, a collaborator, and a strong supporter of both students and school staff. I lead with positivity and by example, always keeping students at the center of every decision. My focus is on continuing to move Rock Ridge forward with a student-centered approach and a vision for success.” Lautigar said her priorities include “discipline, class sizes, and postsecondary enrollment options” because “they directly impact student success, teacher effectiveness, and the overall quality of education. All of these concerns have the potential to impact enrollment which in turn impacts the district’s budget as well.”
Sorcan’s experience includes serving on the Eveleth-Gilbert, Rock Ridge, and Eveleth district school boards, on the state’s language arts academic standards development committee, and as the Minnesota local education agency representative to the National Forum on Education Statistics. She is running on her record as a school board member. Sorcan told KAXE-FM that she believes her seat was “unjustly taken from me and from the Eveleth-Gilbert voters” and that “[w]ith re-instatement I would continue to look out for the best interests of the students, communities, and taxpayers as I have done over the past 40-plus years for three different school districts, both in and outside of office.” Sorcan said her priorities are to “improve student achievement; promote better fiscal management; improve student behavior; and ensure more openness and accountability in district operations and decision-making.”