The Kansas City Star endorses in the Independence school board race | Opinion

There’s no question that the Independence School District Board of Education will have two new members after the general election April 7. Incumbents Denise Fears and Blake Roberson did not seek reelection, which on the surface wasn’t necessarily a bad idea.

In Independence, school board terms on the seven-member body are for six years. A proposal to reduce the terms to three years passed out of the Missouri Senate and was recently debated in the state House’s special committee on intergovernmental affairs.

Fears, first appointed to the board more than a decade-and-half ago, was reelected in 2014 and 2020 while Roberson, the district’s longest tenured director, was term-limited in 2012 after 12 years on the board. He was also reelected in 2014 and 2020.

We see no reason not to commend both for their public service — their combined tenure exceeded 40 years — but it’s way past time for new leadership on the ISD board.

The four candidates running to replace these long-serving board members are: Justin Durham, Jeff Jewell, Zac Harmon-McLaughlin and Sarah Wimberley. We found each of this candidate’s passion for school children and the community they serve admirable.

Because of their respective professional backgrounds in education spaces, we recommend Harmon-McLaughlin and Durham for the Independence school board.

Zac Harmon-McLaughlin

Harmon-McLaughlin is assistant vice president of academic affairs at Iowa-based Graceland University and dean of the Community of Christ Seminary, Graceland’s graduate school of theology. Although Harmon-McLaughlin’s 2024 bid for school board was unsuccessful, he said his background rooted in education and public service should serve him well on the board, if elected.

In addition to his role at Graceland, which has a campus in Independence near ISD headquarters, Harmon-McLaughlin is a board of director of the Community Services League, a nonprofit social services organization serving low-income residents in eastern Jackson County and elsewhere.

“I think my background speaks for itself,” Harmon-McLaughlin said. “I’m a community connector. I’ve spent my career in the nonprofit world connecting organizations and communities to each other for resources for possibilities.”

Harmon-McLaughlin said he is a proponent of using data to guide ISD decisions and wants the district to improve how it shares information with the public.

According to Harmon-McLaughlin, Graceland and ISD have partnered in the past and he would disclose any potential conflicts of interest before taking a board seat.

Justin Durham

Durham, an architect, is a partner at Kansas City-based design firm Hollis + Miller. Durham said he has worked with several metro area school districts in the past. The firm specializes in designing learning spaces for school children. The experience working within the education system lends itself to being a solid school board candidate, according to Durham.

“I think I can bring a bit of a different perspective than what we already have on the board,” he said.

Durham has campaigned on fiscal responsibility, expanding career academies in the district and hiring more paraprofessionals, special education specialists and counselors. Like Harmon-McLaughlin, Durham said he recognizes a potential conflict exists with being on the school board and his day job but committed to recusing himself in matters involving Hollis + Miller, if elected.

“I understand that’s going to happen,” Durham said. “I’ve actually worked with school districts that had people that had to do this. I will answer all of the questions I possibly can to the board, to the community, but when it comes time to vote I know that I’m going to have to recuse myself on certain things that may overlap with Hollis and Miller and our relationship with the Independence School District.”

Sarah Wimberley

Both Wimberley and Jewell have a history working with school children and serving others that should not be discounted.

Wimberley is a pastor at Saint Mark’s United Methodist Church in Independence and runs a youth group there. Working with students in fifth through 12th grades has shaped some of Wimberley’s campaign strategies, including addressing bullying in school and protecting the right to an education for every child including immigrant and unhoused students.

Wimberley has been endorsed by the Independence teachers union and would make a fine candidate for school board.

“I care about the families, I care about the kids and I care about the outcome of this,” she said. “This is just not a political game, this is about the future and the future is our kids.”

Jeff Jewell

For more than 30 years, Jewell has worked in public safety. He is a former police chief in Lone Jack and managed public safety officers in the Blue Springs School District for 16 years, according to The Star. He is the current fire and EMS chief of the Inter City Fire Protection District in the unincorporated Jackson County township of Blue Summit.

Jewell worked as the Lone Jack police chief from 1992 to 2002, The Star reported. He quit after he was named in multiple lawsuits alleging sexual harassment and mishandled investigations. During an endorsement interview, Jewell said two lawsuits he was named in were dismissed in federal court and upheld on appeal. He denied leaving Lone Jack as police chief because of the accusations.

“I certainly didn’t get fired and I certainly didn’t resign because I was forced out,” Jewell said.

In July, Independence will welcome its third superintendent since last year. In this race, we see Harmon-McLaughlin and Durham as the best candidates to join the board as it transitions to new leadership.