Chris teaches biology at St. Cloud Technical and Community College. He and his wife, Meriah, a former music teacher and now E-12 Educational Coordinator and Enrichment Lead for St. Cloud Area Schools, moved to Sartell in 2018. They have three daughters in ISD 748 schools.
Get InvolvedJoin Chris for donuts and conversation in an open house style event. Saturday, September 5th, 9:00–11:00 AM at Lions Park in Sartell.
Chris is also hosting a second Meet & Greet on Saturday, September 26th, 2:00–4:00 PM at Watab Park in Sartell.
I grew up in Clontarf, a small town in west central Minnesota, and went to school in Benson. The first time I set foot in Sartell, I was a middle-school kid here for an Odyssey of the Mind tournament along with a bunch of my kinda nerdy, but oh-so-excellent friends. I remember thinking something along the lines of: Look at what this place is willing to build for kids like us!
During high school and college, I volunteered at a Muscular Dystrophy Association Summer Camp, shortly after my two younger brothers were diagnosed with a rare muscular dystrophy. They were nervous about going to the camp, and I was lucky they asked me to come along. I got curious about why a body could work so differently than mine, but have a soul so similar to mine. This curiosity turned into a PhD in Molecular Biology and a decade of research on neuromuscular diseases at both the Universities of Minnesota and Florida. Somewhere along the way, I found that my passion was teaching biology, and that turned into a full-time position at St. Cloud Technical and Community College. My wife, Meriah, left an established music teaching career in the metro to come with me. She taught music in St. Cloud for several years and is now the E-12 Educational Coordinator and Enrichment Lead for St. Cloud Area Schools.
That's what brought us to the area. Landing in Sartell was less of a strategy than a house we fell in love with. That said, eight years later, it's the schools that made it stick. Our three daughters are Sabres now, in 9th, 6th, and 4th grade this year. Some of their classmates will eventually be my students. That Clontarf kid wasn't wrong. This community does incredible things for its students, and I want to help make sure we can keep it up.
Growing up in west-central Minnesota, I've known forever that Sartell has one of the best public schools around. Now, as a faculty member at St. Cloud Technical and Community College, I witness this excellence whenever Sartell graduates become my biology students. Most are prepared, engaged, curious, and willing to ask questions. The primary reason I am running for the school board is to help ensure that our teachers and students have what they need to keep delivering the education Sartell is known for.
In addition to teaching biology at SCTCC, I chaired the college's academic affairs governance council from 2022 to 2025, spanning our accreditation process, which we completed in spring 2025. Structurally, this council is similar to a school board: a public deliberative body with no direct authority over college administration, charged with producing academic decisions through process, expertise, and influence. As chair, I helped implement practices that increased the transparency and efficiency of our processes, which nearly doubled the curricular items we were able to successfully review. I stepped down for a teaching sabbatical and will return as a faculty representative this fall.
ISD 748 is entering a critical period of its own, closing structural gaps in enrollment and finances. The board will be instrumental in deciding how those gaps get closed, which is my second reason for running. I want the district's priorities to stay on students, learning, and the teachers who help students learn. So the first place we look is administrative redundancy, adult-oriented conveniences, and other unnecessary overhead. Is our administration sized to our enrollment? Or was it staffed for growth that didn't arrive? Only after exhausting those options do we consider asking taxpayers for more. But we do ask for more if necessary, and only after all else fails do we touch a kid's day.
Finally, I'm running because I'm curious about the intricacies of education policy and systems. I am no expert, but I regularly dig into the weeds of policy assessment alongside colleagues who study it professionally. For years, Sartell Schools have helped define high-quality education in central Minnesota. I'd like to keep it that way. So I hope you will vote on November 3rd. If you do, please vote for me, Chris Chamberlain, for ISD 748 School Board.
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Chris Chamberlain for School Board
512 3rd St. N
Sartell, MN 56377
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