By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Hays school board will see two new faces on its board in January.
Mike Walker, 56, the director of the Fort Hays State University Docking Institute for Public Affairs, and Sophia Rose Young, 25, the donor communications manager at Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas, were the unofficial winners of Tuesday’s school board election along with current board President Lance Bickle, 40, a consultant.
Bickle received 3,266 votes, Walker 2,726 votes and Young received 2,583 votes. Young and Walker will replace Josh Waddell and Danielle Lang, who opted not to run for re-election.
Kevin Daniels, pastor at Hays Christian Church, who ran as a write-in candidate, received a significant number of votes, although not enough to win a seat. The exact number of votes he received is still being calculated by the election office.
Walker said he looks forward to working on the district accreditation as well insurance issues as he takes his seat on the board. The board just shifted from the state insurance plan administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield to an Aetna plan.
“I want to be a good team player. If I need to stand up and fight for certain issues that need to be fought for, I will do that, of course, but I do think the board works well together when everyone comes at issues honestly and fairly, so I want to do that,” he said.
Walker said he thought the district will need to reassess the bond and facility needs. A proposed $78.5 million bond issue failed Tuesday by more than 1,000 votes. Walker was a member of the Community Vision Team, which helped the develop the bond issue that was defeated.
“I am frustrated that it went down,” he said. “I understand that any time you are asking people to raise their own taxes, it is going to be a long shot. I am not shocked. … It is a little ridiculous to think it is a surprise it went down. I am a bit surprised it went down. I thought we had a better chance of getting it passed”
Young, who has two young children, said via email she looks forward to serving on the board.
“I want to thank everyone who put their trust in me and voted. I look forward to serving four years as a school board member, listening to the community’s desires for the district and representing the community the best I can.”
She continued, “What got me through the craziness of this election was repetition of the phrase ‘This isn’t about me. It is about the kids,’ and I predict it will be a phrase I continue to repeat while sitting at the board table.”
Young said in a letter to the editor shortly before the election that she would not vote in favor of the district’s proposed $78.5 million bond issue, which was rejected by more than 60 percent of the voters on Tuesday.
“Board members must continue to listen to community members and evaluate what works best until a solution is reached,” she said.
Bickle will be serving in his second four-year term on the board.
“We still have a lot of work ahead of us,” he said. “I look forward to continuing what we have been doing the last four years. I think we have been heading in the right direction.”
Bickle said he would work with the board to develop and reach district goals. He talked about his priorities.
“As I have said, financial stability is a big one for me — going through and accountability and making sure the district is moving in the right direction,” he said.
The district will need to continue with its facility maintenance and upgrades regardless of the failure of the bond, he said. This includes an upgrade on the Hays High School HVAC system in the coming year.
Bickle also shared his thoughts on the bond’s failure.
“The people spoke and shared their thoughts that basically this was not the direction they wanted to go, and that’s OK. Like I said from the beginning, there were parts of it that I did not necessarily like. We as a board decided that we wanted the bond to go through to the public,” he said.
Bickle said quoted his grandfather Don Bickle when he made a recent $1 million to a capital campaign at HaysMed.
” ‘We will only remain excellent if we invest in the community now and in the future.’ I think that hits the nail right on the head with the school bond as well. We have to continue to invest,” Lance Bickle said. “Not that our school district is not a great district or that we don’t have excellent people in there, but we need to continue to invest and the community needs to be behind schools if we are going to continue to grow and be the best we can be.”
Daniels, who serves on site councils at his children’s schools, said he would not rule out the possibility of running again for school board in 2019.
“I am proud of the campaign that we ran,” he said. “We had a lot of support and am encouraged about the strong results we had for the campaign. A write-in campaign is a challenging uphill battle and while I’m disappointed in the results, I’m pleased with the strong showing we had.
“As for 2019, we will have to wait and see. I still have a passion to help the schools. I will continue to serve in the elementary and middle schools, and I am open to serving the district wherever I can. I want to thank everyone for their support and I look forward to working together in the future for the betterment of the students, teachers and community.”
Mail and provisional ballots have yet to be counted. The election results will not be final until Nov. 13, when the Ellis County Commission conducts the canvas.