News · Bedford Township
Four candidates are running for three Bedford school board seats, and at least one newcomer will win
TEMPERANCE, Mich. — Voters in Bedford Public Schools will choose three of four candidates for the district’s Board of Education on Nov. 3, according to the official Monroe County list of school board candidates. All three seats carry four-year terms.
The candidates are Amy Bissell and Griffin Kirsch, both incumbents from Temperance, and Douglas Steinman of Lambertville and Cynthia Vincent of Temperance. With two incumbents running for three seats, at least one new member will join the seven-member board in January. The board’s four other members, President Amy Driehorst, Vice President Megan Kaun and trustees Todd Hotchkiss and Cole Ellsworth, hold terms through 2028.
The open seats are the three whose terms end Dec. 31, 2026, according to the district’s website: Bissell, now board treasurer; Kirsch, the board secretary; and trustee Lisa McCaig. McCaig’s name is not on the county’s candidate list. The filing deadline was July 21, The Monroe News reported.
Bedford’s contest is one of 10 school board races on Monroe County ballots this fall, according to the candidate list the county clerk’s office gave The Monroe News. Several, including Monroe Public Schools and Monroe County Community College, drew far more candidates than open seats.
Board members are paid a small annual stipend: $400 for most members and $500 for the secretary and treasurer, according to the district. The board sets policy and approves the budget for a district that runs Bedford High School, Bedford Junior High and three elementary schools, along with a virtual academy.
Residents can address the board twice at each regular meeting, according to the district’s public comment rules. The first comment period is for items on that night’s agenda, and the second is open to other topics.
Township residents can vote early at the Bedford Township Government Center, 8100 Jackman Road, from Saturday, Oct. 24, through Sunday, Nov. 1, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The township asks voters to bring photo identification. Absentee ballots can be returned to the township’s drop boxes or the clerk’s counter.
Sources:
Monroe County Clerk, “Official Monroe County School District Candidates November 3rd, 2026,” 2026, https://www.co.monroe.mi.us/DocumentCenter/View/6218/Official-2026-School-List---November?bidId=
Bedford Public Schools, “Board of Education,” accessed Oct. 12, 2026, https://www.bedford.k12.mi.us/about/board-of-education
The Monroe News via AOL, “Who’s running for school boards in November? We have the Monroe Co. list,” July 22, 2026, https://www.aol.com/articles/whos-running-school-boards-november-170744000.html
Bedford Township, “November 3, 2026 Early Voting,” accessed Oct. 12, 2026, https://www.bedfordmi.org/_T4_R167.php
Photo: Dwight Burdette, “Bedford High School Temperance Michigan.JPG,” Dec. 29, 2011, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), cropped, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bedford_High_School_Temperance_Michigan.JPG
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