Ten people apply for Maize school board vacancy

Ten people have applied for a vacant seat on the Maize school board, including a man who ran a write-in campaign against a board incumbent last year.

Applications were due Friday for a vacancy on the board created when Kent Voth resigned last month. Voth represented District 1, the southwest portion of the Maize district.

According to district officials, applicants for the vacant seat are: Kate Doerksen, Matt Jansby, Jeff Jarman, Greg Krissek, David Marshall, Bill Perkins, Matthew Pike, Jeffrey Preisner, Scott Taylor and Brian Youngers.

Jarman, associate director of the Elliott School of Communication at Wichita State University, ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign last year against incumbent Wendi White, who now serves as board president. Jarman garnered 40 percent of the vote and later launched a website, transparentmaize.com, on which he posts videos of Maize school board meetings.

Jarman, whose two daughters attend Maize South High School and Maize South Middle School, said either he or his wife attend board meetings to record the proceedings.

“We teach people that the lowest units of government are where the most important decisions – the ones that affect our lives – typically get made,” Jarman said Monday. “But we’re all so busy, so until you’re kind of thrust into the position, you kind of forget that.

“Once we started going, we kind of realized the value of participating, and so that’s why we said we would and we’ve done that.”

A three-member board subcommittee is expected to meet Monday to screen applications. Select candidates will be invited to interview with the Maize board during its public meeting Sept. 29. Board members plan to select the interim board member that night, said Lori O’Toole Buselt, spokeswoman for the district.

Voth’s term ends June 30. The seat is up for election April 7.

This story was originally published September 22, 2014 at 8:30 AM with the headline "Ten people apply for Maize school board vacancy."