Wichita school election to feature one primary for seat held by board president

The only Wichita school board race on the August primary ballot will be for the at-large seat held by board president Sheril Logan, who will face three challengers.

The only other contested race, in District 4, won’t be on the ballot until November, because there aren’t enough candidates to justify a primary. The filing deadline was Monday.

Logan, 74, has served on the board since 2011, including three stints as president and one as vice president. Earlier, she worked as an assistant superintendent for middle schools and in other roles for the school district.

Increasing the graduation rate and improving reading skills in young children have been two main focuses for Logan as a board member, and she said she feels her work isn’t done yet.

Logan’s challengers are Trish Hileman, Joseph Shepard and Brent Davis.

Hileman, who lost the 2017 District 2 race to Julie Hendrick, has volunteered gathering community feedback for the board for several years.

She is also executive director of local nonprofit Thrive Community, which helps people escape from poverty, and president of the College Hill Neighborhood Association.

Hileman, 44, has five children, all of whom will attending Wichita schools this fall.

She said that gives her a perspective that the board lacks, because only one of the current members will have a child in the district next fall. She also said she hopes to improve the board’s community engagement.

Shepard, 26, is director of multicultural engagement and campus life at Newman University. As Wichita State University’s student body president, Shepard established the WSU Inspire program, which served more than 1,000 Wichita schools students.

If elected, Shepard said transparent communication would be a priority, and he hopes to create an advisory board of students and community members to hold him accountable.

Davis, 56, is director of Complete Education Inc, an educational services company that specializes in preparing high school students for high-stakes standardized tests.

Davis said he hopes to bring board members together to tackle such issues as improving parental involvement in the district and diversifying curriculum to prepare students for the workforce.

The Aug. 6 primary election will narrow the at-large field to two candidates for the Nov. 5 general election. Candidates for two other board seats will advance directly to the November ballot.

District 4 incumbent Stan Reeser faces one challenger, James Kilpatrick.

District 3 incumbent Ernestine Krehbiel is running unopposed.

This story was originally published June 3, 2019 at 6:44 PM.