By KARI BLURTON
Hays Post

Gerald “Jerry” Braun, one of seven candidates running for four open positions on the Hays USD 489 Board of Education, says he is a “pay-it-forward” kind of person.

Until two years ago, Braun was a math teacher for 15 years at Hays Middle School. He said he wants to be on the school board to “give back” to the community and students the support he received as a teacher.

Braun admitted because of state funding issues “it is not a good time” necessarily to be running for school board, but he believes strongly “kids are not a commodity” and there needs to be a balance between efficiency and “alienating” the workforce.

“A business is only as good as the employees they employ and, if we can’t keep teachers and keep people working in our district, then our business is going to fail,” Braun said. “And I really see that teacher morale and all those types of things are really a huge, huge issue and so I think some educational background needs to be on the board.

“By no means should everybody on the board be a teacher or a former teacher — that would not be good either — but to have (no teacher) there I think is a detriment to a balance. I think there needs to be a balance on the board,” he added.

Braun said he knows hard decisions are going to have to made and decisions will sometimes come down to “choosing the lesser of two evils,” but he said wants more “transparency and communication” so the public is aware of all the the alternatives and the basis of decisions made.

Braun has worked as and education consultant throughout western Kansas and is currently a supervisor at Sunflower Child Support Services in Hays.

The 2015 city-school election is April 7.

Check Hays Post for more candidate profiles as the election nears.