Incumbent Russellville School Board candidate Adam Weber said his top priorities would be carrying out the addition of new classrooms, supporting new administrators, and being ready for growth in the district.
Weber is vice president of operations at Central Electric Power Cooperative and has served one term on the Cole R-1 School Board.
Voters approved a no tax increase bond issue in November that authorized the construction of new classrooms in the district, and Weber said he's looking forward to helping carry out that plan if re-elected.
"I feel that I have a lot to offer the school with this project because of my engineering background, and I've been involved since we first chose PWA as the architect a couple years ago, and it's been good to arrive at a final design using input from the teachers and the staff and the new administrators," he said.
Weber is also prioritizing supporting and acclimating new administrators, including a new superintendent, high school principal and assistant principal.
"We're glad to have them in our district, and we just want to help them succeed and help the school to succeed within that," he said.
His third priority is being prepared for growth within the district without losing the "small, local community atmosphere that we all enjoy and appreciate."
Weber, who has served one term on the board, said he's learned a lot about the district and school finances, and said he has a lot to offer the board because of his technical background and experience as a supervisor at his job.
He said he's also familiar with the community and has three kids in the district, with a fourth entering within the term.
Weber listed a few recent accomplishments of the district and the board.
He said he was proud of the board raising teacher pay for the last three years.
"We have met a lot of surprises and challenges that we didn't expect -- I think everybody has in the last three years -- but I'm proud of how we handled them. We never had a mask or a vaccine mandate for the students, and that first 2020-21 school year, we didn't miss any days in-seat. And we tapered off the quarantine regulations the following year as soon as we were allowed to by the county," he said.
"We all agreed that being in seat was the best thing for the students, and that was what everyone was working toward, and it went really well," he said.