It’s that time again! Time for some new faces for our district board of education. Every 2 (odd) years, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November and this year we had many candidates!
Most people don’t fully understand what exactly the board does for our schools. They mostly maintain the rules, ethics, and education of the schools.
“The school board’s sole employee is the superintendent. So the school board isn’t in charge of creating the policies and following the board ends, kind of the goals so to speak. Our main goal is to look for character and proper education for the students,” previous board member Heather Cloninger states.
Since 2019, we’ve had Heather Cloninger and Will Temby behind the reigns for our school board. They’ve been a part of numerous meetings and district activities to show their support for the schools and community.
“I got on the school board in 2019. It was around November 5th which was the election. I only know that because it was my sons birthday. It’s a four year term and you can do it back to back. And that’s what I and Mr. Temby was trying to do this year. What I do for a regular bases is go to the schools to watch their plays and support them,” Cloninger exclaimed.
This year, we had 4 new contenders! Heather Cloninger, Amy Shandy, Will Temby, and Derrick Wilburn. There were 2 open spots for the new members. On the night of November 7th, the people voted and the decisions were made.
According to the KRCC, Cloninger walked away with 23% of the vote along with Temby, 2nd place was Wilburn with 27% of the votes, and in first place with an exciting 28% of the votes was Shandy!
People are wondering how the two newest chair members are going to affect the rules put in place and the district as a whole.
“I would hope that they would try to find ways to increase inclusivity and ways to help our teachers and students feel supported. I would hope that they would try to find neutrality in the way that they govern and I would hope that they would try to keep their politics out of our schools and classrooms. I would also hope they give the students of our schools more of a voice and say when it comes to how our schools run,” Cloninger added.
All of the candidates have their own websites to promote their ideals and aspirations for the board. Derrick Wilburn shares some of his beliefs for the district and his home life on his website “Derrick Wilburn: D20 School Board”.
“Teaching him [Derrick’s son] DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and CRT (critical race theory) had nothing to do with his achievements,” Wilburn said. “Teaching him DEI would have told my son he could not achieve all of this because of the white oppressor and the racist society holding him back. I taught my children they are overcomers, and that’s what the schools should teach,” nominee Wilburn said.
One of the main priorities and goals for the new chair member Amy Shandy is to improve and advance our helping staff and teachers however they can. For more information on Amy Shandy, visit “Amy Shandy: D20 School Board”.
“One area Amy is interested in exploring is the teacher and support staff compensation model. She recognizes the importance and correlation of D20 attracting and retaining the best teachers to support elevated academic achievement,” stated from Shandy’s website.
With the new school board members, we’re all excited to see how they benefit our schools and district as a whole!
