Shapiro, Wheeler win seats on Carmel Clay School Board

Jon Shapiro and Kris Wheeler won two at large seats on the Carmel Clay School Board, according to unofficial election results from Hamilton County.

Shapiro and Wheeler ran as a slate, and they each secured about 30 percent and 28 percent of the vote, respectively. They beat out their opponents in the race, Dina Ferchmin and Robin Clark, by a healthy margin; Clark garnered about 22 percent and Ferchmin received about 20 percent of the votes cast. 

Their win means there won’t be a conservative majority on the five-member board. 

When reached late Tuesday night, Shapiro said he was incredibly happy and humbled by his win, and that he looked forward to serving on the board to “continue our tradition of excellence in Carmel.”

“I think Carmel has sent a pretty clear message: they value high quality public education over making school board races heavily partisan or political, and they’re able to discern the difference between those things,” Shapiro said. 

More: Here's who won in other Hamilton County school board elections 

School board races in Indiana are nonpartisan, meaning a party affiliation label does not appear by candidates’ names. Regardless, partisanship played a large role in the Carmel Clay School Board race this cycle. 

Wheeler and Shapiro did not run on their party affiliation; rather, they emphasized their belief campaigns for and school board operations should remain nonpartisan. They were vetted and backed by Support CCS, a nonpartisan political action committee that formed in 2021 in response to attempts by Moms for Liberty and other conservative groups to influence district policies.

Shapiro and Wheeler campaigned on a platform that Carmel schools need careful stewardship of their resources, and they welcome increased parental involvement. They also believe that the district is fundamentally on the right track. They support the district’s diversity equity and inclusion efforts, and they don’t think teachers are imposing their personal beliefs on students. 

Shapiro and Wheeler also received an endorsement from the Carmel Teachers Association — marking the first time the union has ever weighed in on a school board race — and former seven-term Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard, who is a Republican. 

Ferchmin and Clark campaigned on their conservative values, and on the idea that classrooms have become bastions of leftist and identity politics, and that schools should be politically “neutral.” They said academic rigor had declined in Carmel Clay Schools and that greater emphasis should be placed on core academic subjects to boost performance on standardized tests. 

They were endorsed by the Hamilton County Republican Party, which also contributed nearly $10,000 to Clark’s campaign in the final days leading up to the election. 

Ferchmin and Clark also received support from Carmel Excellence, a political action committee with a mission to elect “common-sense conservatives” to the school board. 

Greg Brown, a conservative and current Carmel Clay School Board member, has donated and loaned thousands of dollars to Carmel Excellence. He was the only candidate endorsed by Hamilton County Moms for Liberty, a local chapter of a right-wing organization, to win a seat on the board during the 2022 election. Both Ferchmin and Clark have denied involvement with Moms for Liberty. 

School board members do not oversee the day-to-day operations of a school corporation, but rather provide oversight. They are also responsible for hiring the superintendent, approving the budget, and creating policies for staff and students.

Wheeler and Shapiro will replace Louise Jackson and Katie Browning — who chose not to run for reelection. And they will join Brown along with Kristin Kouka and Jennifer Nelson-Williams on the board. 

Contact WFYI education reporter Lee V. Gaines at lgaines@wfyi.org.