Another alumnus of the Blair Oaks R-2 School District has filed to be a candidate for the district's Board of Education in the April election.
Dale Verslues, a 1975 Blair Oaks graduate, said he was born and raised within the district in the Taos area, and has lived there all his life; he filed Monday to be a school board candidate.
Verslues said his five children also all graduated from Blair Oaks, and of he and his wife's 12 grandchildren, three currently attend the district, with "at least two on the way pretty shortly."
He said he used to be involved more with the district, but "my job kind of took it away, because I was pretty busy." He said he was president of the Blair Oaks Athletic Booster Club in the 1990s and early 2000s.
He's been retired for two years from a 40-year career as a union carpenter, and said he worked on Mid-Missouri projects including the Harry S Truman State Office Building. He also was a business representative for the union.
Verslues added that he's been asked to consider running for school board a couple times - he has not run for another public office - but the business rep job kept him occupied.
"I've been through a lot of the growing pains, or a lot of things that went on with Blair Oaks, I see it growing and I'd like to be a part of it again," he said of his reason for running for school board this year.
He said he's used to working with people from his career and from volunteer work, such as at the Samaritan Center.
"More than anything, I would just like to see it progress and grow like it has. It's a community-type school, and I'd like to see if we could keep that atmosphere," he said of what he'd like to accomplish on the board for the district.
"I know that when I went to school, there were 56 of us (graduates), and now they graduate 130-some. We're definitely growing," he said of the need for the high school to grow with the community.
Blair Oaks' board will decide tonight whether to place on the April ballot resolutions for a no-tax increase bond issue and an operating tax levy increase to pay for a new high school, which would be located across Falcon Lane from the district's current middle school and would be planned to open in August 2021.
The board has been discussing for months how to fit the two-phase project's estimated budget within the district's bonding capacity - the second phase would be planned to be complete in August 2025.
Today is the last day for candidates to file for the school board race in April. Verslues filed as a candidate for one of two two-year positions available on the board.
Those seats are currently held by incumbent candidates Mark Brandt and Jason Paulsmeyer, who were selected by the board to fill vacancies and were sworn in last July.
Calvin Wilbers also filed as a candidate last week, making it a four-way race for the two available two-year positions.
Incumbent board members Greg Russell and John Weber are also running for two three-year term positions.