See election results for Center School Board race in south KC

Voters ousted an incumbent as they elected three new faces to the Center School District school board, based in south Kansas City.

Four candidates ran for three seats with a three-year term on the board, including incumbent Ira Boydston IV and newcomers Melissa Bellante, Marsha Brown and Kristin Stokely.

Incumbent board members Marcie Calvin and Ronald Fritz did not run for another term.

Voters also overwhelmingly approved a $29 million bond to improve school facilities and a tax levy transfer to provide for day-to-day operations; neither would increase the tax rate due to how they are structured, according to the district.

Who won seats on the Center school board?

Stokely, Bellante and Brown won seats on the board with 36%, 26% and 26% of the vote, respectively, according to unofficial results from the Kansas City Election Board. Boydston received 11% of the vote.

Boydston is a partner in a trucking company and previously worked for Oracle Health. He was a track coach at a local charter school and previously volunteered with 100 Black Men of Greater Kansas City.

Boydston told The Star he is running because he has two children who don’t currently attend Center schools due to difficulties with getting access to more rigorous classes, and he sees parents dealing with the same thing as his family. He wants to erase those problems for families.

Bellante is a Medicaid specialist with the Blue Valley School District. She has worked in public education for around 15 years, including roles as a teaching assistant and other administrative positions, and worked for Center School District from 2015 through 2023.

She told The Star she ran because she believes that Center is starting to go into a better direction, but she feels that there’s still room for improvement and that she can bring a fresh perspective to the board. She feels that her connections within the district and community show that she’s someone people can come to with questions and concerns.

Brown is a retired educator and taught for 50 years, including time at Diocese of Kansas City–Saint Joseph, Hickman Mills, Cristo Rey and other schools alongside time being a teaching assistant in the Center district.

Asked why she was running, Brown said, “When I had retired, some of the teachers there thought that it’d be nice if I ran for school board. It’s really important to me. I love the Center School District. I’ve lived in it for 37 years.

“I don’t have a hidden agenda; I just want what’s best for the district. The middle school was really an incredible place to be. They’re really making strides; they have a really good core of leadership.”

Stokely is a stay-at-home mother and previously worked for the state of Missouri as an attorney, including as legal counsel for four different state boards and commissions, and as the general counsel for the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development.

Asked why she was running, Stokely said, “I care about all the kids, and I want to make sure that everyone’s children, not just my own, graduate with the same educational opportunities as peers from around the metro.

“Right now, the school district has been through some turmoil lately. And given my specific and unique set of skills and qualifications, I will bring a level of a unique set of skills to help bring stability to the board and to the district.”

Star reporter Rashad Alexander contributed to this article.

This story was originally published April 7, 2026 at 10:37 PM.