Three candidates will compete for two positions on the Cole R-5 (Eugene) Board of Education in the April 3 election.
Incumbents Ryan Carrender and Byron Shaw have entered as candidates, along with challenger Jennifer Bradley.
All of the candidates agreed the educational system’s financial constraint is a major challenge impacting the district as the state tightens its budget.
Ryan Carrender
Carrender is a third-year board member and third-generation Eugene High School graduate with five children attending the district, ages 7-17.
The 10-year captain with the Jefferson City Fire Department gained experience as a social worker after graduating from Lincoln University with a degree in psychology.
He said the biggest challenges facing the district have been efforts to face financial challenges.
“Trying to come up with different ideas and working with the staff and administration to try and come up with different ways of doing things that we’ve done in the past has been a challenge. … But we came through it. We are within our budget and still operating fine,” he said.
Carrender said working with teachers to keep taking students on class field trips after budget cuts was one of his favorite accomplishments as a school board member.
Byron Shaw
Byron Shaw has been a board member for more than a decade and has a daughter attending Eugene High School.
The Moberly native graduated from the University of Missouri with an engineering degree and began working with the Department of Natural Resources. He retired in 2015 and currently works for Meco Engineering.
He said his background as an engineer helps him understand the infrastructure and accounting needs of the district.
Shaw said being a small district makes financial shortcomings even harder to overcome than for larger districts.
“Any change of funding has a big impact, and probably the most difficult part is making sure we can still keep all the programs going that we need to and improve our education for the students, but yet be able to meet those budget needs, too,” he said.
Among Shaw’s major focuses is maintaining students’ access to new technology while keeping a tight budget.
“With the way technology changes, it’s hard to keep up with everything you need,” he said. “We also have to make sure we provide the best courses and instruction for the students to prepare them for college and their career.”
Jennifer Bradley
Jennifer Bradley is a Marys Home resident with three sons attending Cole R-5.
She is the vice president and regional retail sales manager for Commerce Bank in Columbia, where she has worked for about 20 years.
Her position requires her to work with a lot of different people, which she said would be an asset to the board.
Bradley said she wants to add a fresh voice to the board. She has wanted get involved with public service after graduating from the Greater Missouri Leadership Challenge and thinks the time is right with all her sons attending school in the district.
She said she is interested in maintaining and developing the district’s enrichment programs like after-school math programs.
“I want to make sure my children have the same opportunities I had and offer a mother’s perspective on things we could potentially look at a little bit differently in the school board setting,” she said.