Johnson County school board election could be district’s ‘most crucial’ ever. Here’s why

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The Blue Valley school board is at a turning point, with two rival slates of candidates running with vastly different views on diversity initiatives, curriculum and how to lead the district.

Unlike previous years, the eight candidates running for the four nonpartisan school board seats on Nov. 7 have divided themselves up into two clear factions. Voters across Blue Valley will elect a new at-large member, while incumbents are facing challengers for three district seats.

On one side, there’s the “A+ Team,” a slate made up of more moderate candidates, including three incumbents — Patrick Hurley, Jodie Dietz and Jan Kessinger — and a newcomer, Clay Norkey, who say the district is headed in the right direction but must do more to tackle staffing and funding challenges.

On the other side is the “Blue Valley Excellence” slate, with four conservative newcomers who argue the district should get back to the academic basics and are critical of curriculum on gender and race. The candidates are Christine Vasquez, Trisha Hamilton, Rachel Faagutu and Michael Huebner.

Voters recently received a mailer advocating for the conservative candidates, paid for by the 1776 Project PAC, a New York-based political action committee targeting local school board races, that is aimed at abolishing critical race theory, a college-level framework for evaluating the impacts of racism on institutions. There is no evidence that it is being taught in Kansas K-12 schools.

The moderate slate, made up of two Republicans and two Democrats, has outspent the conservative group overall. Incumbent Kessinger, a former Republican state representative running for the northeast area seat, reported more than $10,000 in contributions in August, compared to the more than $1,200 raised by opponent Vasquez, for example. Spending was more closely matched in the northwest district, with incumbent Hurley raising $3,400, compared to Hamilton’s $3,200.

“This is probably the most crucial school board election ever in Blue Valley,” Kessinger told The Star. He has been critical of the opposing slate, arguing that they are “coming in with a political and ideological agenda” to serve on the nonpartisan board.

“The outside money and outside interests coming in, to me, it’s a shame,” Kessinger said. “The candidates on the opposing slate are buying into the extremist views by the 1776 Project, and it’s not good for Blue Valley.”

The conservative candidates in the race did not return The Star’s requests for interview. But they have shared their views at a forum earlier this month hosted by the Shawnee Mission Post, as well as on a Christian podcast called, “Unlikely Housewives.”

Faagutu said on the podcast this month that her primary focus is opposing critical race theory. She said her children, who are mixed race, used to go to Christian private school, but after attending Blue Valley they started “talking about how they are brown and they’re victims, and ‘poor us.’ ... And I said, ‘No, that’s not true. You’re not a victim. You’re not a victim, and white people are not oppressors.’”

Candidates running on a similar platform as the “Blue Valley Excellence” slate have recently seen success in the district. In a tight race in 2021, conservative Jim McMullen won by only 51 votes, and Kaety Bowers won by a larger margin, with 52.5% of the vote. They ran on frustrations over COVID-19 policies and the district mask mandate. Bowers has since resigned from her seat.

If the conservative group managed to sweep next month’s election, it would gain a strong majority on the seven-member school board, which could drastically change the district’s direction. Incumbents, who say the district should stay the course in order to improve, hope to ward off the competition by campaigning as a slate, as conservative candidates have for the past few elections.

Polls are open in Johnson County from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 7.

Northeast seat

Jan Kessinger, who was appointed last year to fill a vacancy on the school board, is seeking a full term, and faces a challenge from newcomer Christine Vasquez. They are running for the seat that covers the northeast area of the district.

Kessinger served as a state representative from 2017 to 2021, and later worked as a special projects manager for the Kansas Department of Commerce. He said he has three daughters who graduated from Blue Valley, including one who is now a teacher there.

Vasquez has said she is a small business owner and mother of five children, including her oldest who graduated from Blue Valley last year and four still enrolled in the district.

Kessinger said the district is on the right path, with strong student achievement and quality teachers, and he has been critical of “fringe elements trying to take over local school boards.”

“The sky is not falling in Blue Valley,” he said. “There shouldn’t be any panic, no wringing of hands over what’s being learned. Critical race theory has never been taught in Blue Valley. There’s no plans for it. We don’t teach gender ideology. What we do is accept every student as a human being to grow and learn as a contributing member of society.”

Vasquez is running on ensuring parents have a stronger voice and returning to the “core disciplines” of learning. And she has criticized the district’s diversity work. She said during the recent candidate forum that she wants the district to appreciate different cultures, but “if something becomes divisive or divides, I have a problem with that.”

She gave this example of what would concern her: “I have four sons and I have a daughter. Anything that would make my sons always the oppressor and my daughter always the victim.”

Northwest seat

Incumbent Patrick Hurley, who has served on the school board since 2015, is running for another term against newcomer Trisha Hamilton.

Hurley, a Republican seeking a third term on the board, works as an attorney and has two children attending Blue Valley. Hamilton is a mother of three and works as director of business administration for Lenexa Baptist Church.

Hamilton was criticized after the Shawnee Mission Post’s candidate forum when she incorrectly stated that special education was fully funded in Kansas.

“According to Gov. Kelly, she has specifically stated that special education has been fully funded for the last several years,” Hamilton said. “I’m just saying what I’ve read. ... We all have to live on a budget. We are not Congress.”

Gov. Laura Kelly has repeatedly said that special education is underfunded in Kansas and has been for the past decade. Changing that has been one of her top priorities since taking office in 2019. To make up for the lack of state funding, Blue Valley district pulls nearly $10 million out of its general budget to cover special education expenses each year, which officials say takes away money that otherwise would go toward salaries and programs.

Hurley countered that special education funding “needs are not being met. ... At the end of the day, we are not receiving the appropriate level of funding for special education.”

When asked about mental health support for students, Hamilton said parents should be a stronger partner, adding that, “some of the things that we’re teaching our children, as far as books are concerned, we’re giving them adult information that their brains cannot handle, and we’re seeing an epic proportion of mental health issues.”

Hurley countered that the district’s mental health program “has done a lot of amazing things, helped a lot of kids and created an environment where kids can come in, feel confident that it’s a safe space. This is something over time may need to evolve, but it’s producing positive results.”

Southern seat

In the southern portion of the district, Jodie Dietz, current school board president, is seeking a second term, running against Rachel Faagutu.

Dietz is a former probation officer who now works for Johnson County Community College. Faagutu is a mother of five children and a musician.

Dietz said she is part of a slate that “has the experience necessary to lead one of the most successful districts in the county.”

“The attempt from externally motivated groups to dismantle public education is evident. We know that banding together those of us who believe in supporting our award-winning school district will help keep the vision of our community,” Dietz told The Star in an email.

Faagutu has largely focused on opposing critical race theory, saying that her children have been taught a “commentary on history that made the white man the oppressor and the brown, Black man, the perpetual victim.

“I think we need to look at the (diversity, equity and inclusion), the CRT, in the curriculum. Maybe choose some other curriculum that has maybe different kinds of ideas.”

At-Large seat

Voters across the district will elect a new at-large board member, to replace outgoing member Tom Mitchell.

Clay Norkey, a Democrat who previously ran for Overland Park mayor, is running for the seat against Michael Huebner, part of the conservative slate. Norkey, an attorney, said he’s had nine children attend Blue Valley, and he also chairs the Blue Valley Recreation Commission. Huebner, who works as an accountant, says he has three daughters, including two attending Blue Valley.

At the candidate forum, Huebner argued that the district’s diversity work has “become more divisive than it’s brought us together, and that’s been disappointing.

“The other thing that it’s really done, in my opinion, is that it’s really hurt our academic progress.”

Norkey countered that the diversity work is about “acknowledging all the cultural differences we have here. So it is important that we train our teachers to understand that and recognize it. Diversity, equity and inclusion is also about anti-bullying because we need to make sure we educate our kids to understand that some kids do things differently, because that’s the background they come from.”