Seven people are seeking a seat on the Mandan School Board.

The filing deadline for the election was Friday. The election is Sept. 8. Four seats are up for election.

Competing for one of two three-year terms are incumbents Tim Tausend and Jill Goetz and challengers Susan Beehler and Dustin Gawrylow. All four had filed for the canceled June election.

Beehler filed for a three-year term compared to a one-year term when she filed in June. The other three candidates had filed for a three-year term for the June election.

Tausend, 48, is a human resource officer. He is completing his first term on the Mandan School Board.

Gawrylow, 26, is a political consultant and executive director of the North Dakota Taxpayers Association.

Goetz, 38, is the marketing and public relations director for the Bismarck Cancer Center. She was appointed to the school board when Denis Montplaisir resigned.

Appointed candidates serve until the next election, then the remainder of the term is up for election. This is why there is a one-year term up for election.

Karen Johner and Karmen Siirtola filed for a one-year term. Siirtola did not file in the last election.

"It just didn't seem like the right time," Siirtola said. "Then the election was delayed, so I thought, 'Why not?'"

Siirtola, 55, owns her own business. She had a son who attends Christ the King School and will later attend Mandan Public Schools, she said.

Johner, 57, is president of North Dakota Guaranty and Title Co.

The candidate for rural representative is Beth Allen, who had also filed for the June election. Allen, 38, is an administrative assistant and volunteer coordinator.

The filing deadline was 4 p.m. and messages were left with all the candidates.

The election was canceled in June because of an error with the filing deadline. The candidates needed to file 60 days prior to the election, but were given until 30 days before the election to turn in paperwork.

Now that the candidates are set for the election, the school district will create ballot language for its question about transferring 2005 bond issue money to renovation of the Mandan Community Center and set polling locations for the election. The district hopes it can use its schools as polling locations, but business manager Joe Lukach said he's checking to see if a polling place can be in a school while it is in session.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@bismarcktribune.com.)