One more candidate is needed if the Emporia school district is to fill the three openings on the board of education.
As of this morning, only two people had filed for the seats.
Current board member Mike Crouch announced Wednesday afternoon that he planned to run again for the board. Board member Brent Windsor filed documents for his candidacy on Jan. 12.
The third seat that will come open this year is held by Mary Helmer, who decided this week not to run for re-election because of professional and personal reasons. In her announcement, she mentioned interest in returning to the board later.
Crouch said last week that time constraints and obligations that came with a new job would need to be factored in before he could decide whether to run for another term.
“I went and filed during lunch today,” Crouch said Wednesday afternoon. “I’m excited about the direction of the school district and I’m excited about the opportunity going forward. I’m very proud about the strides that we’ve made in the past four years ... and I’m looking forward to continuing that work.”
Windsor is completing the unexpired term of Homer Garza, who resigned after accepting an out-of-town job that often prevented him from attending board meetings.
Windsor was one of eight applicants interviewed in September by the board to replace Garza.
The other finalists were: Amy Scheller, Angie Miller, Danny Giefer, Carol Krueger, Mickey Edwards, Jerry Fair and Ann Coulson.
Fair, a former board member, said she was interested only in completing Garza’s term. Other applicants said that, if chosen, they would file for the seat when it became open this spring.
So far, none of those applicants hassaid he or she intended to file, although one is giving thought to the matter.
“I am considering it,” Edwards said. “I have not made a decision yet.”
Three of the applicants — Krueger, Miller and Colson — said they do not plan to file.
Krueger said that she did not believe she would run for the board.
Colson, who serves on committees within the district, said that the interviews with the board members in the fall was a learning experience.
“I realized that my skill sets are better for working behind the scenes,” Coulson said, adding that she will continue to do that.
Miller said she remains interested in becoming part of the school board, but decided against running this year because of her job responsibilities. Miller manages the Emporia State Federal Credit Union, which is building a second location at Industrial Road and West 24th Avenue.
“Things are a lot different on my work front,” Miller said, “so I don’t know that this is the right time for me. But I’m very interested, so that is the hard part.”
The economic downturn has created a silver lining in mortgages at some banking institutions and, in turn, has left Miller with less time available for a school board seat.
“The mortgage rates, actually, being under 5 percent for us ... have taken off,” Miller said, explaining that four loan officers and the loan clerk are struggling to keep up with mortgage applications.
“It’s a great problem to have, but boy, we’re all exhausted.”
Other applicants for Garza’s seat had not returned telephone calls by press time.