The Blair Oaks R-2 School District is not actually having an election for its Board of Education this April.
Two incumbents ran unopposed, so the district isn't statutorily required to have a vote. The two candidates virtually assured of election are:
Name: Kevin Ward
Age: 44
Occupation: Civil engineer with the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Hometown: Piedmont (has been in this area for eight years)
Why run? "I've always been drawn to serve in a leadership capacity."
"We wanted that hometown, small-town feel," Kevin Ward said of what sold his family and him on Blair Oaks, especially after he's moved for work 11 times through seven states in the past 25 years.
Ward manages 21 employees in Jefferson City, and described "our job is to assist the (Missouri Department of Transportation) in building our infrastructure - bridge and road projects that involve federal dollars, or interstate highway projects by default."
He said he's served on some internal committees through his job, too, in addition to serving on the school board for what will be his second term.
He has two boys who've graduated from Blair Oaks, and a 14-year-old daughter who might attend a new high school in the district for a year before her graduation.
While the high school project didn't come to be put on this April's ballot because of district bonding capacity constraints, the district expects to be able to put it to a public vote next year, and Ward said he's looking forward to being able to contribute his engineering skills.
In his spare time, he coached his boys in basketball, and still coaches his daughter in softball for MO Stealth out of Columbia.
Ward also has a couple of classic cars in his garage he would like to work more on - a 1968 Chevrolet Camaro and a 1978 Dodge Charger.
Name: Bill Duke
Age: 43
Occupation: Podiatrist at JCMG
Hometown: St. Louis (has been in this area for 12 years)
Why run? Being on the board is a "great way to give back to the school community."
Like Ward, Bill Duke and his wife - a Helias graduate - looked for a smaller town in this area when he took his job at JCMG after studying medicine in Chicago.
His eldest son, David, is a 2007 Blair Oaks graduate, and Duke said he had a good experience transitioning from a larger city high school to Blair Oaks. Duke said David is now a police officer in Columbia.
He has three other younger sons - one in each building in the district.
Duke has served two terms on the school board, and he's currently the vice president.
He also cited the development of new school facilities and extra-curriculars as focal points for the district in the coming years.
He's also on the parish council at St. Stanislaus Church, and has served on the finance committee at JCMG.
In his spare time, he coaches his sons in youth baseball. He also has coached football at Blair Oaks.