School board candidates present at forum

Urban Neighborhoods Alliance, Community Partnership of the Ozarks and St. Joseph Neighborhood Betterment Group will hold a school board candidate forum at 7 tonight in the auditorium of St. Joseph Elementary School, 515 W. Scott.

All five candidates are scheduled to attend:

• Kris Callen is the incumbent school board vice president and has served on the board since 2003. She is an active community volunteer and previously was employed in health care administration.

• Roy Holand served as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives from 1996 to 2004 and is a retired physician.

• Andy Hosmer, former Missouri assistant attorney general, practices law with McDonald, Hosmer, King and Royce.

• Gerry Lee, a retired manager with City Utilities, is a utilities management consultant with Gerald Lee & Associates Management Association.

• Bruce Renner, a current board member, is former school board president and was elected to the board in 1994. He is president of the Missouri School Board Association and is a special education consultant with the Southwest Regional Professional Development Center.

Of the topics he expects to come up tonight, UNA Executive Director Bob Horton said he bets there will be a focus on the school district’s considerations of school consolidation.

“I think there will be a lot discussion about neighborhood schools – the candidates’ views on neighborhood schools in relationship to their views on consolidation and closing schools,” he said.

Polls will be open 6 a.m.–7 p.m. April 4. Also on the ballot are bond measures for the Springfield, Ozark and Nixa school districts.