Southeast Kansas education board candidates share perspectives on curriculum, digital technology

The candidates to running to represent the state education board's southeast district are, from left, Republican Destry Brown, Democrat Heather Guernsey and Republican Renee Slinkard. Brown and Slinkard will oppose in the Aug. 4 primary election. (Composite by Kansas Reflector from photos submitted by the candidates)

TOPEKA — Candidates running for a southeast Kansas State Board of Education seat differ on whether social issues belong in classroom conversations.

While Democrat Heather Guernsey and Republican Destry Brown agree social issues should be discussed in school, Republican candidate Renee Slinkard disagreed.

The four are vying to represent the southeast corner of Kansas on the state board that oversees public schools. Two Republican candidates have competing views on curriculum, the cell phone ban and the roles of the board, the Legislature and local districts.

Kristian Gerken, of Paola, did not reply to emails and a Facebook message from Kansas Reflector requesting an interview.

Brown, of Fort Scott, said students should have school-appropriate discussions on topics like race, gender and discrimination.

“Being able to allow kids to discuss those topics is important,” Brown said. “But I don’t think that our schools should be dictating what kids should think.”

Guernsey, of Chanute, said topics such as race and gender need to be addressed in an age appropriate way, though all students should understand diversity and inclusion.

“If we can just kind of help kids understand that not everyone is exactly like them,” she said, “that’s not a bad thing.”

Slinkard, of Linn County, said social topics should stay out of the curriculum.

“It is not academics. I’m talking about getting back to academics of the basics — of reading, writing, arithmetic, civics and American history,” she said.

 

The candidates

Guernsey, like all Democrats running for the education board, is the only Democrat in her district’s race. A former teacher and a board member of the Chanute school district, she said she prioritizes listening to teachers.

“Having been a teacher, I know how important it is to have that support from your administrators, from your school board and from your state,” she said. “I want to just make sure to, as much as we can, keep politics out of education.”

Heather Guernsey, a Democratic candidate for the Kansas State Board of Education in the 9th District, poses with her family. Her four children have attended Chanute public schools. (Photo submitted by Heather Guernsey)

Brown recently retired after 42 years as the superintendent of the Fort Scott school district and currently serves on the Fort Scott Community College Board of Trustees. He has the experience the state board demands, he said.

“I’ve worked in five different school districts in southeast Kansas,” he said. “I know communities. I know people in southeast Kansas.”

Fort Scott students pose for a picture with their superintendent, Destry Brown, who is running for the Kansas State Board of Education seat in the 9th District. (Photo submitted by Destry Brown)

Slinkard, a retired teacher and project manager at AT&T, currently teaches the U.S. Constitution at schools across Kansas as a member of a service organization called the Daughters of the American Revolution. She said she wants to encourage more parental involvement.

“I think it’s very important to have a parent-teacher relationship to where the teacher can invite the parent into a classroom,” she said. “Schools are now saying ‘we know better how to teach your child,’ when that’s not necessarily true.”

Renee Slinkard, Republican candidate for the Kansas State Board of Education, teaches Kansas students U.S. history as a volunteer with the Daughters of the American Revolution, a service organization. (Photo submitted by Renee Slinkard)

Brown, Slinkard and Gerken will oppose each other in the Aug. 4 primary election.

The southeast district seat is one of five seats up for reelection. Every two years, half of the 10 board seats appear on Kansas ballots. Because all of the five incumbents declined to seek reelection, half of the board could be made up of new members for at least the next two years.

 

Curriculum

The Legislature considered two laws in the 2026 session that would have mandated an annual fitness test, daily recess, a citizenship test and instruction on “the negative impacts of communist, fascist and socialist regimes and ideologies.” Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed both bills.

Brown said local school boards should determine the curriculum, the state board should set guidelines and the Legislature shouldn’t get involved.

“I believe that the people who make the best decisions for the kids in their communities are people who know them and live there,” he said.

Guernsey said trust and communication between lawmakers and state board members should improve.

“It is a tricky balance because the state board of education should be the one setting the policy, setting standards,” she said. “The state Legislature would hopefully be supporting that endeavor. And then also, they do have the purse strings.”

Slinkard supports anti-communism instruction and said the curriculum should celebrate American history more.

“The United States has done some wonderful things and helping other countries,” she said. “So I would like to see them dwell on more love of our country and patriotism in our country, instead of the negativity.”

 

Digital technology

Kelly vetoed bills to mandate citizenship and fitness tests, but she signed a ban on cellphones in Kansas public school classrooms. By the start of the 2026 school year, districts must enforce the storage of students’ personal devices. The law requires secure storage for cellphones but did not fund a storage method.

Brown said digital technology in classrooms is a problem the cellphone ban won’t fix.

“I’ve seen so much change since COVID happened,” he said. “We’ve gone from having not very much technology in the classroom to now having every kid with computers and devices, and I think we’ve gone too far that way. I think we’re losing the effect that the relationship between the teacher and the kids has.”

While she said the Legislature should have allowed local school districts to control how they restrict cellphones, Slinkard approved of the ban.

“I think it was a good idea,” she said. “The student will focus on their academics instead of their cell phone.”

Guernsey said school districts should be able to control their cellphone policies.

“In Chanute, our board developed a cellphone ban about four years ago,” she said. “Over half of all the districts in Kansas already had some kind of cell phone policy before the Legislature made that law, and it worked for their district.”