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Rockhold not going anywhere
Despite a rousing endorsement from the Uniontown Ruritan Club, Randy Rockhold has no intention of pursuing a seat on the Kansas State Board of Education, citing his love for his current positions as USD 235 Superintendent and Uniontown High and Junior High School principal.
Rockhold said someone at the Ruritan meeting two weeks ago - where he was not present - made a motion to endorse him as a board candidate. He said the motion passed and was recorded in the minutes.
Uniontown Ruritan member Jake Underwood made the motion for the endorsement during the club's Feb. 18 meeting. The motion was seconded by Matt Noll and the motion passed.
Despite the endorsement, Rockhold said in a telephone interview Tuesday he has no desire to leave the district he began working at 11 years ago.
"I have no interest in running," Rockhold said. "I'm perfectly happy where I am and love my job."
Rockhold also was principal at Baxter Springs and Girard and moved to Arizona for one year before accepting the position of Superintendent at USD 235.
Rockhold said he has called the president of the Ruritan Club and voiced his support for Shaver as well as letting the club know he wasn't interested in the position.
"I'm pretty happy where I am and am not really interested in another job," Rockhold said.
Rockhold also expressed his confidence in the current district 9 board representative and state board chair Jana Shaver, Independence, Kan. Shaver was elected to serve as chairman of the State Board of Education in January 2013 for a term to run through 2014.
According to the Kansas State Department of Education web site, Shaver also was State Board vice chair from 2009 through 2010. Representing District 9, Shaver has 27 years of experience as a public school teacher and curriculum director in Independence, Kan. She also taught second grade for eight years, worked for five years as a reading specialist and spent 14 years as a curriculum director working with teachers in grades K-12 planning curriculum to align with Kansas standards.
During her career, she worked as a North Central Association chairperson in more than 30 Kansas schools seeking accreditation through the Kansas NCA/QPA process.
"Our state board rep is the best," Rockhold said. "She's just an amazing, dedicated person. You couldn't ask for better representation."