A health care professional and a retired teacher will square off against incumbents in the November general election for seats on the Wichita school board.
Board president Diane Albert and Mackenzi Truelove were the top vote-getters in Tuesday’s primary for the District 1 school board seat, which represents parts of east and northeast Wichita.
Albert received about 34% of the vote. Truelove, who is a regulatory coordinator at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Wichita, came in second with 30%, according to unofficial results.
In District 5, which covers west Wichita, incumbent Kathy Bond and Amy Jensen were the top vote-getters in a five-candidate primary.
Bond, a retired business owner and substitute teacher, garnered about 37% of the vote, according to unofficial results. Jensen, a retired teacher, finished a close second, just four votes shy of Bond.
The general election is Nov. 4th.
Two more board seats — Districts 2 and 6 — are up for election in November. They did not have enough candidates to require a primary.
Truelove, 33, described herself in a KMUW questionnaire as “the most left-leaning” school board candidate.
She said she was motivated to run in part because of a $450 million school bond that voters narrowly rejected in February. Truelove supports putting another bond issue on the ballot to rebuild and repair Wichita schools.
She will face Albert, who was part of a conservative slate of candidates elected to the board in 2021.
Albert supported putting the bond issue to voters in February. She said her priority as a board member is improving student achievement and “keeping academics at the center of every decision.”
The District 5 race will pit Bond, a conservative, against Jensen, a registered Democrat who is active with the American Federation of Teachers.
Bond said she will not support putting another bond issue to voters until there is “substantial academic improvement” and increased trust from the community.
Jensen said she would support another bond issue if district leaders engage with the community and more clearly outline the specific needs of the schools.
Wichita school board members serve four-year terms and receive no pay for monthly meetings and other work. They oversee a budget of about $1 billion and set policy for the state’s largest school district, with about 46,500 students.
Major issues in the Wichita school board race include a $450 million bond issue that voters narrowly rejected earlier this year, as well as the potential closure of four elementary schools. Current board members have given an initial go-ahead to put another bond issue to voters next year.
