By Crystal Hayduk
There will be two places to vote for members of the Chelsea School District (CSD) Board of Education on the Nov. 3 ballot. Voters will need to select non-partisan candidates to fill two full-term seats and one partial-term seat.
This Q&A focuses on candidates for the partial-term seat, which expires Dec. 31, 2028.
Also see: Three Candidates on November Ballot for Full-Term Seats on the Chelsea Board of Education
The incumbent, Nicolia Heineman, was appointed on June 9, 2025 to fill a position that opened due to the resignation of a school board member. According to CSD Board Policy 2404, Heineman retains her seat until the Nov. 3 election.
Heineman is challenged by newcomer Jake Steinhauer.
The Chelsea Post asked the candidates to introduce themselves and answer questions about key issues and goals. In alphabetical order, candidate responses are below. Their answers are published as submitted, without content editing.
Nicolia Heineman
CURRENT OCCUPATION & PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT:
I am the Director of Creative Operations at Ralph Lauren, where I lead teams and oversee a multi-million-dollar portfolio across project management, construction management, procurement, and operational initiatives. I also establish processes and policies that improve efficiency, accountability, and consistency across the organization.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND: How has your educational background influenced your views on public education?
My background in Secondary Education with a focus in English, combined with my own experiences as a student, has shaped my views on public education. As a child, I was exposed to a variety of educational styles, which gave me a firsthand understanding of the value of a strong public education and the importance of meeting students where they are. It taught me the importance of clear communication, different perspectives, and creating an environment where every student feels seen and supported. As a parent and current Trustee, I continue to bring that perspective to decisions affecting our schools and community.
CONNECTION: What is your connection to the Chelsea community and school district and why are you running for a seat on the school board?
I am tremendously proud to call Chelsea home, and my connection to the community is both personal and professional. As a current Chelsea School Board Trustee and parent of a second-grade student at North Creek Elementary School, I have a firsthand investment in the success of our schools and the experiences of our students, staff, and families. I’m running for the school board because I believe in thoughtful, transparent governance and want to continue contributing my leadership, professional experience, and community perspective to ensure every student has the opportunity to thrive.
RELEVANT PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY SERVICE: List current or past experience, including service on boards or committees, and describe how that experience will help you if you are elected as a school board trustee.
I currently serve as a Chelsea School Board Trustee and on the Policy Committee, District Curriculum Council, and Board Onboarding & Continued Education Committee, giving me direct experience with school governance, policy, curriculum, budgeting, and community engagement. I also serve as a board liaison to Chelsea High School (CHS) and North Creek Elementary (NCE). Professionally, I have participated as a mentor in my organization’s workplace mentorship program. Together, these experiences have strengthened my ability to collaborate, evaluate complex issues, manage resources responsibly, and make informed, student-centered decisions.
PREVIOUS ELECTED OFFICE: Have you been elected to an office previously? If so, which ones and what years did you serve in that elected capacity?
I was appointed to the Chelsea School Board in June 2025 and currently serve as a Trustee.
KEY ISSUES AND ACTIONS: Please identify the top two issues you believe the district is facing right now, and ways you plan to address those issues.
Issue 1 — Maintaining trust through transparency, communication, and accountability.
As a current Trustee, I believe continued trust between the district, families, staff, and community is essential. I would support consistent communication around major board decisions, clearly explaining the rationale and expected outcomes. I would also advocate for meaningful family and community input through listening sessions, surveys, and committee engagement. Equally important, I believe the board and administration must consistently adhere to board policy, state requirements, and established governance practices.
Issue 2 — Ensuring resources are aligned with student needs.
With my experience managing multi-million-dollar budgets and improving processes, I would bring a focus on responsible and measurable resource allocation. I would advocate for regular reviews of programs and spending, clear measures of success, and reporting on outcomes. This would help identify what is working, where resources can be better utilized, and where additional investment is needed to support student achievement.
GOALS: If you are elected, what do you most hope to accomplish by the end of your term?
By the end of my term, I hope to make meaningful progress in three areas: strengthening transparent and accountable governance, ensuring resources are aligned with student needs, and expanding meaningful family and community engagement. I will draw on my experience managing budgets, improving processes, leading teams, and serving as a Trustee to help establish clear practices, measure outcomes, and ensure decisions are communicated openly. My goal is tangible progress that families, staff, and students can see and feel.
SUMMARY: What does effective school board leadership look like? How would you build trust and work together with others even when there are disagreements?
Effective school board leadership starts with listening, being approachable, and valuing differing perspectives. As a current Trustee, I’ve learned that the strongest decisions come from hearing a range of experiences and being willing to have honest conversations, even when we disagree. Different perspectives challenge us to think more deeply and ensure we are considering the needs of our entire community. I don’t expect everyone to see an issue the same way, but I believe we can disagree respectfully, find common ground, and move forward together. I build trust by being transparent, following through, and keeping students, families, and staff at the heart of every decision.
WEBSITE: Do you have a campaign website and/or Facebook page or other social media? List the URLs.
- Website: nicoliaforcsd.org
Jake Steinhauer
CURRENT OCCUPATION & PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT:
Consultant, Tria Federal
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND: How has your educational background influenced your views on public education?
I attended Chelsea schools from kindergarten through graduation from Chelsea High School in 2012. I went on to earn a degree in finance from The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, where I graduated cum laude.
Chelsea prepared me extremely well for college, and I understood even then how fortunate I was to receive that education. Through college and my professional career, I met people from communities across the country whose school experiences were very different from mine. I came to appreciate that excellent teachers and coaches, strong administrators, quality facilities, and educators who knew their students personally were not universal. Some people were surprised that I still keep in touch with several of my former teachers and coaches, but those relationships reflect the lasting impact Chelsea had on me.
The Citadel built on that foundation by emphasizing discipline, resilience, responsibility, teamwork, and working with people from different backgrounds. Together, these experiences shaped my belief that public education should prepare students to think critically, take personal responsibility, work with people they disagree with, and develop the practical and financial knowledge needed to succeed as adults.
CONNECTION: What is your connection to the Chelsea community and school district and why are you running for a seat on the school board?
My connection to Chelsea goes back generations. I’m the third generation of my family to call Chelsea home, and my daughter is now the fourth. Both of my parents graduated from Chelsea, and I was born and raised here, graduating from Chelsea High School in 2012 along with my two younger brothers in the years that followed. My family remains connected to the area through local businesses, including Springer Insurance in Chelsea and the Dexter Cider Mill.
After living in Charleston and Washington, DC, my wife and I chose to return to Chelsea because we believed it was the kind of community where we wanted to raise our family. Moving home, becoming a father, and paying closer attention to decisions affecting the district ultimately motivated me to run. I want my daughter and future Chelsea students to have the same opportunities and support I had, or better.
Chelsea has a lot worth protecting: strong academics, excellent educators, athletics and extracurricular opportunities, community involvement, and the relationships that come from growing up in a close-knit community. I’m not running because I believe Chelsea needs to be reinvented. I’m running because I recognize what this community and school district did for me, and I want to help make sure the next generation has an even better experience.
I would bring a long-term personal investment in Chelsea’s future, along with a finance background and professional experience managing complex projects, budgets, resources, and competing priorities.
RELEVANT PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY SERVICE: List current or past experience, including service on boards or committees, and describe how that experience will help you if you are elected as a school board trustee.
I previously served for a year on The Citadel’s Young Alumni Association. While I have not previously served on a local public board, much of my professional experience has required skills that I believe translate directly to serving as a trustee.
As a consultant supporting the Department of Veterans Affairs, I regularly lead projects involving multiple teams and stakeholders, often with responsibility for achieving an outcome without having direct authority over the people involved. That requires listening, building consensus, resolving disagreements, and keeping people focused on a common goal. My work has also involved identifying inefficient processes and working across teams to improve them in ways that save significant time and resources.
My professional experience has also involved budgets, financial analysis, resource allocation, and balancing competing priorities. I would bring that same results-oriented approach to the school board: understand the problem, listen to different perspectives, consider the financial implications, make informed decisions, and follow through to determine whether those decisions actually produced the intended result.
PREVIOUS ELECTED OFFICE: Have you been elected to an office previously? If so, which ones and what years did you serve in that elected capacity?
I have not previously held elected office.
KEY ISSUES AND ACTIONS: Please identify the top two issues you believe the district is facing right now, and ways you plan to address those issues.
Issue 1 — Educational Focus, Transparency and Trust
One of my top priorities is keeping education focused on students and maintaining the trust of families with a wide range of perspectives. Students should be able to explore challenging issues, evaluate evidence, respectfully disagree, and form their own conclusions without feeling pressured toward a particular political viewpoint. That principle should apply consistently, regardless of the viewpoint involved.
Parents have the primary responsibility for raising their children, and schools should treat them as partners. Curriculum materials should be accessible, families should have meaningful opportunities for input, and communication should be transparent. When concerns arise, the board should listen to parents and educators, consider different perspectives, and ask: What is the educational purpose and how does it benefit students? Keeping student outcomes, objectivity, critical thinking, and transparency at the center of decisions will help strengthen trust, keep the focus on education, and avoid unnecessary division.
Issue 2 — Preparing Students for Life After Graduation
Chelsea does an excellent job preparing students for college, and I want that same level of support for every path after graduation. College is a great option, but so are skilled trades, military service, entrepreneurship, and the workforce. A skilled trade should never be treated as a lesser path than a four-year degree.
Chelsea already provides opportunities for students interested in the trades, and I would like to build on them through career exploration, job shadowing, internships, and partnerships with local businesses, tradespeople, and training programs. Every student should have meaningful exposure to different career paths before graduating.
I would also like to strengthen practical financial literacy, including budgeting, credit, taxes, loans, investing, insurance, and understanding a paycheck. Success after high school does not have one definition, and every Chelsea graduate should leave school prepared and confident about what comes next.
GOALS: If you are elected, what do you most hope to accomplish by the end of your term?
I had an incredible experience growing up in the Chelsea School District, and at the end of my term, I would want an even better experience for the next generation of Chelsea students. I would like to see measurable improvement in academic performance, more students taking advantage of skilled-trade and career opportunities, stronger support for students with special needs as they progress through middle and high school, and graduates who are better prepared for life after high school through practical skills like financial literacy.
I also want Chelsea to continue attracting and retaining excellent educators. That means listening to teachers, reducing unnecessary administrative burdens where possible, and supporting competitive compensation and raises when they are financially responsible and sustainable.
At the same time, I want greater transparency and trust between the district and families and responsible stewardship of taxpayer resources.
I’m not running because I think Chelsea needs to be reinvented. I’m running because I know firsthand how good our schools can be. I want to preserve what makes Chelsea exceptional while making it even stronger academically, financially, and in the opportunities we provide students.
SUMMARY: What does effective school board leadership look like? How would you build trust and work together with others even when there are disagreements?
Effective school board leadership starts with being prepared, asking good questions, listening to different perspectives, and keeping student success and safety at the center of decisions. Board members won’t always agree, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Respectful disagreement can lead to better decisions when the focus remains on the issue rather than the individual.
Professionally, I regularly work with teams and leaders who have different perspectives and competing priorities. I approach those situations by asking questions, staying focused on the objective, and using facts, data, and measurable results to guide decisions. I would bring that same independent approach to the board. I won’t measure whether I made the right decision by whether it was the popular decision. I’m comfortable voting differently from the majority when the facts lead me there, just as I’m willing to change my position when better information supports a different conclusion.
Trust also requires transparency and accountability. Parents, educators, taxpayers, and community members should know they were genuinely heard and treated with respect, even when we disagree. I would be willing to explain the reasoning behind my decisions, including difficult or unpopular ones.
The board’s role is to establish policy and priorities, provide oversight, and hold the superintendent accountable for results, not manage the district’s day-to-day operations. That accountability should apply to the board as well. Major decisions should have clear goals, and we should follow up to determine whether they produced the intended results. If something I supported isn’t working, I need to be willing to acknowledge that and change course. I don’t want to be a trustee who is more interested in being right than getting the right result.
Effective leadership isn’t about avoiding disagreement or automatically going along with the group. It’s about being prepared, listening respectfully, making decisions for the right reasons, and being accountable for the results.
WEBSITE: Do you have a campaign website and/or Facebook page or other social media? List the URLs.
- Campaign Website: jakeforcsd.netlify.app
- Campaign Facebook Page: facebook.com/SteinforCSD/
