These candidates want to lead Hickman Mills through crisis, into next chapter
Residents of the Hickman Mills school district in south Kansas City will see half of the district’s school board seats on their April 7 ballots.
Three current school board members are running again for three-year terms, along with two new challengers.
Early voting, also called “no excuse” absentee voting, began Tuesday, March 24 and will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on weekends.
Additional information is available at jcebmo.org and kceb.org.
Voters will choose three of the following five candidates.
April Cushing
Incumbent? Yes
Campaign website: https://sites.google.com/view/voteaprilcushing/home
April Cushing was on the Hickman Mills School Board from 2010 to 2014, serving as board president. During her first term, she was on the board’s finance committee.
Cushing rejoined the board in 2025, taking over Brandon Wright’s seat after his resignation.
Cushing is retired but currently serves as the president of the Ruskin Hills Homeowners’ Association. She has also been involved with the Kansas City Housing Asset Recovery Program, the Hickman Mills Prevention Coalition, the Longview Tract and Steering Committee, the Hickman Mills Area Plan Steering Committee, the Ruskin Vacant Task Force and the South Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.
Cushing holds a masters’ degree in business management.
Cushing is running on a five-part platform dedicated to increasing student performance standards throughout the district. If re-elected, she plans to work to raise student test scores and increase graduation rates. She is also advocating for stronger enforcement of the district’s discipline policies and to pass other policies that create a “safe environment at all levels of our school district.”
“I am a person with fresh ideas and I am willing to listen to all in order to make a sound decision,” Cushing’s campaign website reads.
Cushing was one of five board members to vote for a series of sweeping budget cuts in January, intended to pull the district out of a $14 million deficit. The cuts involved closing a historic elementary school, changing the district’s middle school structure and eliminating more than 70 jobs, along with dozens of district programs and contracts. However, without the cuts, the district was projected to close entirely within two years.
Evelyn Hildebrand
Incumbent? No
Campaign website: N/A
Evelyn Hildebrand is seeking another term on the Hickman Mills School Board following a tumultuous series of controversies and re-assignments during the 2016 board election.
Hildebrand previously worked at Sprint and is currently a substitute teacher, The Beacon reported. The mother and grandmother holds a bachelor’s degree in business education.
Hildebrand won a seat on the Hickman Mills School Board in 2016 by eight votes, but was denied her seat over a controversy regarding her personal property tax debt status.
When a community member filed a complaint showing that Hildebrand owed more than $5,000 back taxes over eight years on a 2001 Toyota Camry, the district swore in another candidate instead. Hildebrand successfully petitioned the court for a ruling on her candidacy, as the Department of Revenue failed to notify the school district of her tax status before she was put on the ballot.
The other candidate resigned in October 2016, and Hildebrand replaced him.
Irene Kendrick
Incumbent? Yes
Campaign website: https://www.facebook.com/p/Elect-Irene-CKendrick-for-Hickman-Mills-School-Board-100063716686867/
Irene Kendrick, the current president of the Hickman Mills School Board, is running for her third term. She was first elected in 2020, then re-elected in 2023.
Kendrick, a Hickman Mills district parent and grandparent, is endorsed by local Civil Rights leader and former Kansas City Councilmember Alvin Brooks.
“Irene continues to champion initiatives that ensure students are college-ready, career-ready and workforce-ready, while maintaining high standards and a student-centered approach,” Brooks wrote. “Her steady leadership, courage and dedication make her uniquely qualified to continue serving this district.”
Kendrick is semi-retired but works as a substitute teacher in the Grandview School District. She previously worked in the human resources department at Sprint.
Kendrick has also served on the Grandview Arts Council, Grandview Parks and Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissions, Grandview Historical Society and Grandview Community Assistance Council.
Kendrick is currently a Grandview alderman and is simultaneously running for re-election to the seat. Kendrick is also running for re-election to her seat as one of four Washington district representatives for the Jackson County Democratic Party Committee.
For the Hickman Mills School Board seat, Kendrick is running on a three-part platform of fiscal responsibility, student achievement and teacher retention. She’s calling for more public-focused oversight of the district’s bond funds, which she wants to use for building maintenance.
She has also said that the district needs to “continue our momentum” toward staff recruitment.
“I am committed to fostering high achievement, ensuring student safety, and bringing transparent oversight,” Kendrick wrote on social media.
Kendrick was the only current school board member to vote against a recent series of budget cuts intended to address a $14 million deficit. The cuts saved the district from a projected 2028 closure but involved eliminating more than 70 jobs, a historic elementary school and dozens of contracts and programs.
Byron Townsend
Incumbent? Yes
Campaign website: N/A
Byron Townsend, the current Hickman Mills School Board Vice President, is seeking re-election to his fourth term. Townsend was first elected in 2016, but resigned in 2017.
He was re-elected in 2020, then again in 2023, and previously served as board president.
Townsend, a longtime Hickman Mills parent, graduated from Kansas City Public Schools before attending Northwest Missouri State University. He is now retired but previously worked as a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier for 30 years.
Townsend has been “actively involved in community organizations” within and around the district for more than 25 years, according to his board bio page.
Townsend is also running for a seat on the Jackson County Legislature, though voting for those seats will not take place for several months. He announced his candidacy for Legislature on March 2 via social media. He is also running for the 26th Ward seat on the Jackson County Democratic Party Committee.
Townsend was one of five board members to vote for a series of sweeping budget cuts in January, intended to pull the district out of a $14 million deficit. The cuts involved closing a historic elementary school, changing the district’s middle school structure and eliminating more than 70 jobs, along with dozens of district programs and contracts. However, without the cuts, the district was projected to close entirely within two years.
In 2022, the Missouri attorney general’s office looked into a complaint alleging improper spending by the Hickman Mills school board, particularly by Townsend and then-board member DaRon McGee, who is now on the Jackson County Legislature. The complaint alleged that Townsend and McGee spent more than $16,000 on an out-of-town retreat “without the approval or acknowledgement of the board,” The Star reported.
The complaint also accused Townsend and others of approving a contract for legal services without the votes or oversight of the full board. Townsend told KCUR at the time that the spending fell within his discretionary authority as board president.
Matthew E. Williams
Incumbent? No
Campaign website: https://mattwilliams4hmc1.com/
An attorney who currently works at Stacee Cohn Law, Williams is a lifelong Grandview resident and a graduate of the Hickman Mills School District. He chose to enter the political sphere after surviving a 2021 renal failure diagnosis, undergoing a life-saving kidney transplant in 2024.
Williams is endorsed by Freedom Inc. and by Southland Progress, a South Kansas City political action committee.
Williams said he hopes to bring a corporate style of leadership to the Hickman Mills School Board. He’s running on a five-pillar platform focused around stronger legal oversight, stricter fiscal policy and increased community partnerships.
“The School Board must transition away from crisis management and operate with the same high standards of professionalism and accountability as a successful corporate board,” Williams’ campaign website reads.
Williams plans to propose a feasibility study on implementing a specialized K-12 education model within the district to increase the level of course rigor, and to add more specific “industry-standard vocational pathways,” including courses in robotics and health care. He hopes that a tougher series of course offerings will attract more high-performing students to the district, reducing “brain drain” as graduates move away.
As the district seeks formal accreditation, Williams is proposing a quarterly status review led by the superintendent. He’s also proposing formal partnerships with the South KC Alliance and other local organizations to align course offerings with the current needs of the job market in south Kansas City, as well as a highly specific series of policies around maintaining a minimum unreserved fund balance.