School board candidate filing begins

By Ralph Pokorny

Nevada Daily Mail

If you live in the Nevada R-5 School District and want an opportunity to influence the direction the Nevada school district is heading, now is your chance to run for one of the two open seats on the Nevada R-5 Board of Education. The election is scheduled for April 2, 2013 and terms are for three years.

The filing period opened Tuesday at 8 a.m. and runs through 5 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2013.

Melissa Hendrix, R-5 Board of Education secretary, said late Tuesday afternoon that incumbent board members Joy Hawks and Amanda Fisher had filed for re-election Tuesday morning.

Hendrix said that the R-5's Central Office, 118 W. Hickory, Nevada, will be open from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., weekdays, Dec. 11-20 and from 8 to 11 a.m., Dec. 21 when the office will close for Christmas break. It will reopen Jan. 7, 2013.

January 7-14, weekdays, the office will be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and on Jan 15, Hendrix said, the office will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In addition to Christmas vacation, Dec. 22, 2012 - Jan. 6, 2013, they will not be accepting filings on weekends or any days the district is closed due to inclement weather.

Candidates for the board of education are required to be a United States citizen, a resident taxpayer of the R-5 District, a resident of Missouri for one year and at least 24 years old.

Anyone elected to a school board is required by Missouri state law to complete 16 hours of orientation and training within one year of their election.

More information is available from R-5 district secretary Melissa Hendrix at the R-5 Central Office, (417) 448-2000.

The Nevada R-5 Board of Education meets the second Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. in the Central Office, 118 W. Hickory, unless otherwise posted.

The Missouri School Boards Association has a lot of information on running for a school board and serving on a school board on their Web site, www.msbanet.org.