The five candidates for the USD 257 Board of Education are unopposed.
In one case, though, candidate John Masterson is running to fill an unexpired two-year term. He was appointed in June after Mandey Coltrane resigned; under Kansas law, the seat must go up for election for the rest of her term.
The rest of the candidates are running to keep their seats for the next four years.
They include board president Jennifer Taylor, Dan Willis, Doug Dunlap and Tony Leavitt.
Below you’ll find a brief summary of the candidate and their reasons for serving on the school board, written in their own words.
Doug Dunlap
Doug was first elected to the USD 257 Board of Education in 2008.
He is the director of information technology at Allen Community College.
Doug says: I ran initially because there was an opening and I had children in elementary, middle and high school. I now have grandchildren in the district. I feel it is important to contribute to the education of the future leaders of our community. I’m very proud to be representing the school district in a time when we built a new elementary building thanks to the voters of our community.
In addition to representing the people of Iola, I am a member of the ANW Interlocal (Coop) representing USD 257.
Being on the board is a great way to keep in touch with what’s going on in the district and helping to guide the decisions that impact the district.
Tony Leavitt
Tony Leavitt was first elected to the USD 257 board in 2009. After stepping away briefly in 2018, he returned in 2020.
He worked at Herff Jones for 45 years, the last 12 as plant manager.
Tony says: If you are going to volunteer for something, I can’t think of anything better than trying to help kids. My goal is to contribute to making our District the best that it can be.
After I started serving on the Board and saw how hard our teachers and administrators work to educate our kids, I wanted to continue to be a part of it.
We have amazing programs, from preschool programs to the vo-tech center, we are giving our students opportunities to succeed that generations before never had. But we have to continue to evolve and get better.
Finally, there have been a lot of misguided attacks on public education. I want to be around to prove them wrong.
