Teacher, coach Steve Wallace files for Lawrence school board election

Steve Wallace

When Steve Wallace applied for a vacant seat on the Lawrence school board a few months ago, the Lawrence resident and father of two told the Journal-World he wanted to create a brighter educational future for his kids.

Now, after filing for election to the school board Friday, Wallace said he’s running for the same reason.

“I’ve got two little ones that are going to be coming up in the district in a few years, and I just want to make sure the district is in the best place it could possibly be,” said Wallace, 33, who has an infant son and a 2-year-old daughter.

With school out for the summer, Wallace may finally have some extra time on his hands to launch his campaign. The Olathe native spends most of the year working as a social studies teacher at Tecumseh’s Shawnee Heights High School, where he also coaches the boys basketball team. (Jayhawk fans may also remember him from his stint as an assistant coach under Bonnie Hendrickson for the Kansas women’s basketball team.)

Steve Wallace

Wallace, who also works as a real estate agent at Lawrence’s Stephens Real Estate, said he attended public schools throughout his childhood. After graduating from Olathe East High School in 2002, Wallace attended the University of Kansas, earning a bachelor’s degree in secondary social studies education in 2007 and a master’s degree in physical education in 2009.

In his time as a teacher and coach, Wallace has learned to communicate effectively with students and parents, he said earlier this spring. It’s a skill he feels could — and should, he said — be applied to the school board’s dealings with district constituents.

Wallace points to Superintendent Kyle Hayden’s recent transfer to a new role within the district as chief operations officer, a move that spurred outcry earlier this month over a perceived lack of transparency, as an incident where the district didn’t communicate properly with the public.

“Not that he isn’t the right person for that position,” Wallace said of Hayden, “But I feel (in regards to) the school district and the school board, that transparency and communicating with the community is a vital part of what they should be doing.”

He’s also concerned about equity, but feels the ongoing talks in the district have focused too much on race as a barrier to academic achievement. Wallace said equity conversations should be expanded to include “not only people of color, but sexual orientation, political ideology” and economic factors.

The educator also hopes to support and enhance the district’s efforts to recruit and retain a high-quality teaching corps. Part of this, he said, may involve stronger partnerships with KU’s School of Education, for example.

“At the end of the day, it’s the teacher and not all the extras,” he said, referring to classroom technology, “that make a child’s education the best that it can possibly be.”

As of press time Friday, Wallace was one of four candidates to have filed for the school board. The others are James Alan Hollinger, Ronald “G.R.” Gordon-Ross and Melissa Johnson, who is currently serving on the board through January 2018.

Johnson was appointed to the school board after the resignation of Kris Adair in February. Hers is one of three seats up for election this year, along with those of school board president Marcel Harmon and longtime board member Vanessa Sanburn.

The deadline to file for the school board is June 1. A primary election will be held Aug. 1 if the number of candidates who file is greater than 3 times the number of open seats, and the general election is slated for Nov. 7.