Missouri education board has two new members, leaving just one vacancy
After a politically motivated shake up last year that left the Missouri State Board of Education without a quorum for several months, Governor Michael L. Parsons has named two new members to the governing body.
Kim Bailey, former president of the Raymore-Peculiar School District, and Don Claycomb, retired president of State Technical College of Missouri, were appointed Thursday to the state board by the governor. Both begin service immediately as the sixth and seventh members of the eight-person board.
“We appreciate Governor Parson’s continued focus on filling the open seats on the State Board of Education,” interim education Commissioner Roger Dorson, said in a statement. He said Bailey and Claycomb “bring experiences to the State Board that will serve the students of Missouri well.”
The board had been reduced to three members late last year after the ousting of former state education commissioner Margie Vandeven. She was voted out in December by five members appointed by Gov. Eric Greitens, who allegedly selected them on the condition that they would remove Vandeven from the post.
The Senate refused to move to confirm any of Greiten’s five picks, leaving the board unable to meet or to move forward with a search for a new commissioner. In June, one of Parson’s first acts as governor was to restore a quorum to the board — he appointed two members: Carol Hallquist and Peter Herschend.
Thursday’s appointments leave only one vacancy on the board.
Bailey, a licensed mental health professional and trauma specialist, is also an approved supervisor through the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. She served as the Dean of Women for Calvary Bible College and Theological Seminary in Kansas City from 2008-15, and currently is in private practice as a therapist in Raymore. Bailey is a graduate of University of Missouri-Columbia and has a master’s from Friends University in Wichita, Kan.
Claycomb, who lives in Linn, formerly worked with the State Council on Vocational Education and the educator preparation program at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He was the founding teacher of the agriculture program at Trenton Junior College and taught high school agriculture. He, too, is a graduate of MU, where he got his doctorate. He has a master’s from Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville.
Parson’s appointments to the state education board are subject to confirmation by the Missouri Senate. The next scheduled meeting of the board is Sept. 18 in Jefferson City.