BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ The president of the Mandan school board
has been elected as North Dakota's school superintendent.
Kirsten Baesler (KEER'-stun BAYZ'-lur) defeated Tracy Potter on
Tuesday in the race for superintendent of public instruction.
Baesler will replace Wayne Sanstead, who is retiring after 28 years
in the job.
The 43-year-old Baesler is assistant director of the state
School Boards Association and a former assistant principal in
Bismarck's public schools. She also is president of Mandan's school
board.
The 62-year-old Potter is director of a foundation that
maintains the Fort Abraham Lincoln state historic site near Mandan.
He served one term in the North Dakota Senate and left in 2010 to
make an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate.
The superintendent's office is officially nonpartisan. Baesler
is Republican, and Potter is a Democrat.
