Brent Windsor was chosen Wednesday evening to fill the vacant seat on the Emporia board of education.
After interviewing eight candidates over the space of two evenings, current school board members used two paper-ballot votes and one voice vote to select Windsor by a majority of 4-1. A minimum of four votes was required to choose the replacement for Homer Garza, according to Community Relations Director Nancy Horst.
Garza resigned in July because of time constraints caused by a new job and the commuting it required from Emporia to Osage City.
The board on Wednesday evening interviewed three candidates who had submitted applications for the position: Ann Coulson, Danny Giefer, and Mickey Edwards.
Board member Mary Helmer, who was out of town, participated in the interviews by telephone; however, she was unavailable for the vote.
Candidates Carol Krueger, Windsor, Angela Miller, Amy Scheller and Jerry Fair completed their interviews with the board Monday evening.
Windsor, who ran for the school board in April, said that he was “very honored and humbled” by his selection.
“It’s been an anxious last couple of weeks,” he said, mentioning the pool of well-qualified candidates who had applied and had been under consideration. “Hopefully, I will have some training opportunities.”
Until those formal trainings are available, Windsor said, he will look to his fellow board members for guidance.
He said that tallying the final student head count for submission to the state would begin next week. The results could affect the budget that has been adopted, and modifications may need to be made.
Windsor’s candidacy in the spring election had helped him define aspects of education that he emphasized during the interview process.
“I think going through the election process last time kind of prepared me for what the public (wanted),” Windsor said.
Windsor quickly appeared to be what the school board wanted.
The vote after the interviews ended involved each board member writing the top three choices on a piece of paper that also held his or her name.
Those were handed to board clerk Norma Stinnett, who read the results aloud for Superintendent John Heim to tally on a white board.
Windsor’s name appeared on each board member’s ballot as either first or second choice.
The slate was narrowed to the top five vote-getters — Windsor, Angela Miller, Amy Scheller, Mickey Edwards and Ann Coulson — and board members again on voted paper ballots, this time naming only two top choices.
Windsor was first choice of four board members, with the exception of Glen Strickland, who placed Angela Miller first.
Miller received three votes on the second ballot, with Coulson and Scheller each receiving one vote.
“I’m just going to make a motion that we select Brent Windsor,” board member Mike Helbert said after the second vote. “Brent Windsor appeared on everybody’s ballot.”
The motion passed 4-1, with Strickland voting no.
During interviews on Wednesday, applicant Ann Coulson said that while she saw value in much that had resulted from the No Child Left Behind act, she believed the focus in recent years had been more on students on the lower end of achievement.
“We still need to address the needs of the average and above-average students,” Coulson said. She was concerned that those groups of students were “underachieving because we’re not pushing them hard enough. I think we need to give them opportunities to achieve as much as they can.”
In response to a question about her vision of the district in five years, she mentioned creativity in the classroom as a goal.
The district “should be crowing the fact” that Turning Point Learning Center focuses on creativity, she said, and mentioned that she was disappointed that the rest of the district was not using Turning Point lessons as a resource.
Coulson wanted to see “more project-based learning and less lecturing” in the future.
Giefer told board members that he believed he had something to offer the district as a businessman, taxpayer, and homeowner.
He believed that in addition to gathering qualified staff and making policy, the board needed to monitor progress in all of the schools.
“Make sure kids are learning and getting as much out of education as they can,” Giefer said.
He praised district employees and board for being willing to listen to input from the community and said it would be important to “continue to always not be satisfied with where we are right now — always striving to be better.”
Edwards said she thought improvement in the district could come through expanded Early Childhood education and making more available to brighter children in the district.
“Enrichment services, I think, could be strengthened a little bit,” Edwards said.
Her view of the district in five years included serving 75 to 80 percent of the toddlers here, through home-based programs in addition to Early Childhood Education.
Edwards said that teachers and administrators could make a difference in improving the graduation rates at Emporia High School.
“Sometimes it just takes one person in that child’s life to make a difference whether that child stays in school,” Edwards said.
Being a good teacher does not mean winning monetary awards or recognition from the state, she said. Recognition needs to start at the district level, with administrators recognizing teachers “going above and beyond.”
“Teachers are going to be more likely to encourage students if they are happy and encouraged themselves,” Edwards said.