ShawneeDispatch.com

Shawnee Mission USD 512 Board of Education elections are three months away, but the races already are heating up.

Four residents have filed with the Johnson County Election Office to run for Positions 2, 4 and 6, including the three incumbents.

Incumbents Donna Bysfield, Cindy Neighbor and Craig Denny and newcomer Cynthia Jarrold understand the challenges the board will be facing in the coming year, and they’re prepared to face those issues head-on. The issue at the forefront so far is a possible budget shortfall for schools.

Bysfield, current Position 2 member and board president, is seeking her fifth term on the board. As a senior member of the board, Bysfield cites her experience as a reason she decided to run for re-election.

“I think basically that I know that the school will need to be looking at how to make do with less money,” Bysfield said. “I have been on the board a long time, enough to know we can do that with preserving the excellent education that everyone wants us to.”

Bysfield recalled in 2003 when cuts had to be made to the district’s budget.

“It gets difficult for people to know what’s going to happen, and Shawnee Mission has always been careful about protecting what’s most important — and that’s the classroom.”

Cindy Neighbor, Position 6 member and state representative for the 18th District, is currently in her 12th year on the board. Neighbor said her work in the Legislature and school board contributed to her run for re-election.

“I think there are a lot of challenges out there right now concerning the financial side and funding of educators,” Neighbor said. “And being part of the Legislature, I think I can have an impact on that.”

Craig Denny, Position 4 member, decided to file for re-election after a lengthy thought process.

“I thought long and hard. I think public service is something you do for a while, then you let others do,” he said. “I’ve been on the board 12 years. As you come to the final year of your elected term, you start thinking that is there someone else out there that has a passion for the school district? And, frankly, no one has approached me about it.”

For Denny, two reasons were paramount in his decision.

“We have a new superintendent, he’s doing a fine job, and I think one thing that helps is a board he works well with,” Denny said. “Also, we are going to have some real challenges with the budget in the coming years.”

Denny said the board would deal with budget woes as best it could, maintaining cuts as far away from the education programs as possible.

While new to seeking election to the board, Jarrold, Overland Park, has been involved with the school district for many years.

Jarrold, who filed for the at-large Position 6 — currently held by Neighbor — served as president for the Shawnee Mission Area Council PTA for the past two years, a position that ended in May 2008.

Jarrold, 48, works as an adjunct instructor for Ottawa University and Central Baptist Theological Seminary, has been involved with PTA in the district since 1993. She first became involved when her two children were younger. Her oldest child graduated in 2005, her youngest is currently a sophomore. Jarrold served as president on the PTA at Briarwood Elementary, Mission Valley Middle School and Shawnee Mission East High School.

“I’m familiar with the workings of the board, and it has been the interest of mine for some time to run for the school board,” she said.

Jarrold said the timing was right to run for school board.

“Involvement is key,” she said. “I think we are looking forward to some challenges, which not of the least is the national economic impact. We may even see cuts in funds from the state in the next legislative session starting next Monday.”

Jarrold said creativity would help the board deal with cuts down the road.

“I have confidence that the board and administration will have to be creative with cuts that we’ll face,” she said. “I think there needs to be a creative approach to that. We do a great job in this district in forming excellent students and it costs money to do that and that will be a challenge in the future, finding ways to replace dollars, to adapt to the economic situation.”

Comments