The ponies and farm machinery are long gone, but Austin Turney's affection for life at his family's homestead in East Lawrence remains powerful.
"My earliest memories are here," said Turney, who decided after retiring to buy the distinctive residence at 1501 Pa. that his parents moved into in 1931. Turney was 2 years old then.
Austin Turney is running for re-election to the Lawrence school board. He believes the community should give him another four-year term because the board needs continuity.
Turney, who is running for re-election to the Lawrence school board, can still visit the elementary school he attended Cordley. He left Lawrence after graduating from Kansas University for a business career in New York and Connecticut. But he returned in 1994 and won a seat on the school board three years later.
"It's been a wonderful experience working with people in the school district," Turney said.
He said the community should give him another four-year term because the board needs continuity.
"We now have a stable district administration that is moving to work more closely with principals and teachers."
He said hiring Randy Weseman as superintendent was the board's most important decision in the past year. Weseman believes in a collaborative approach to managing the 10,300-student school district, Turney said.
"I believe, and I know Randy believes, that the effective ideas bubble up from the people who are actually doing the work, rather than coming from the top down," Turney said. "In the past, it was very much a matter of the district administration deciding what initiatives and programs there should be and just trying to put them in place."
He said the new working arrangement deserves time to develop.
Three seats are up for grabs in the April 3 school board election, but Turney said there were persuasive reasons to stay with the status quo. Only two of three incumbents are seeking re-election, meaning there will be at least one newcomer on the board.
Turney said the board's goal of developing a comprehensive facilities plan, which would set the foundation of a new bond issue, is too important to the district's future to be sidetracked by a group of novice board members. There is a big learning curve to the board's work, he said.
"We now have seven board members ... willing to work together and closely with the administration," Turney said.
If re-elected, Turney said he also would continue to push for a complete review of curriculum. The objective is to find gaps and overlaps in what is taught from grade-to-grade. He said he'd like to see the district improve its vocational programs for students who don't anticipate attending a four-year college.
The district also must target help to students who lag academically, he said.
Turney said the district must continue to refine its budget. It must be made clear how much is spent in each school, at each grade and in each subject area, he said.
"This is very important," Turney said. "We must be good stewards of the public's resources."
Turney, 72, earned an accounting degree from KU's business school. He's married to Ruth, and has a son who lives in California and restores classic automobiles.
Turney worked six years at Price Waterhouse in Missouri and New York; 15 years at Kanthal, a Bethel, Conn., manufacturing company; and six years as a planned-giving officer at Norman Vincent Peale Center for Positive Thinking in Pawling, N.Y.
Turney also worked 10 years as financial officer of three public school districts in Fairfield County, Conn.
"That was kind of interesting," he said. "Three boards of education and one administration. That's when I discovered how much I enjoy working with teachers and professionals in the education field."
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.