Then there were three.
A third person has filed as a candidate in the Manhattan-Ogden school board election.
Manhattan resident Frank Beer announced his candidacy Friday. Beer and his wife, Jan, owned and operated the Radio Shack store in town for about 15 years, later calling it Gizmoe’s until the store ultimately closed following Radio Shack’s corporate bankruptcy in 2015.
Beer is part of the management team at Mattress Hub in Manhattan. His wife is a nanny and homemaker. All four of their children are Manhattan High School graduates. Beer was the recipient of the 2006 Community Volunteer of the Year award from the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce.
“I’ve always been an active participant in community debates or discussions,” Beer said. “I like to be involved, and I’ve been known to show up at a school board meeting or two.”
Beer, 62, wrote in a statement that he will focus his campaign on three points: emphasizing the role of parents in their children’s education, making the best use of funding from local and state sources, and making sure schools “understand their mission.”
“The issues facing schools in many respects mirror issues the whole country faces,” Beer said. “We just can’t leave everything to somebody else.”
Beer wrote that USD 383 schools “should not be used for experiments with societal issues and scientific or historical revisionism.”
His statement refers in part to the discussion locally and statewide about changing Native American mascots at Kansas high schools. In November, Beer spoke to the USD 383 board about the issue of the Manhattan High School “Indian” branding and imagery. Conversations about this topic have taken place off and on in the Manhattan community for at least 30 years.
At the Nov. 16 board meeting, Beer said he believed that the people who insisted on removing the Indian image “are the ones showing the most disrespect” toward Native American groups. He further called the Native American mascot discussion a “made-up issue,” though it likely will become an topic of debate for other school board candidates.
Beer joins a small field of candidates in this year’s race. The seats of board members Kristin Brighton, Darell Edie, Curt Herrman and Brandy Santos are up for election in November. Herrman told The Mercury after the board meeting Wednesday that he’s “still thinking about” running for re-election; he’s served on the board for the past 16 years.
Board member Brandy Santos said Wednesday she has not officially decided whether she will run for re-election and offered no other comment. She was elected to the board in 2019.
Brighton announced her run for re-election Tuesday. This is her first time running for re-election to the board after being elected to serve in 2019. Brighton, 48, was the second person to file for the USD 383 race. Voters first elected her to the board in 2019.
In January, retired military officer Robert Busby filed as a candidate in the race. Busby, 49, is a retired military officer with more than 28 years of service, starting his career in the Air Force and ending it with the Army in 2019. A 1991 graduate of Manhattan High School, Busby works in information technology leadership for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
At the Jan. 4 board meeting, Edie said he wouldn’t seek re-election, meaning at least one new person will join the board following the Nov. 7 election.
The deadline for people to file with the Riley County Clerk’s Office for the USD 383 race or other local elections is noon June 1.
