Two new members have been sworn onto the Ozark School Board of Education. James Griffin and Dustin Kirkman were elected on April 2. They defeated Patty Quessenberry, a member of the board for 27 years and who recently served on the board of directors of the Missouri School Boards’ Association; and Jason Shaffer. Quessenberry lost to Kirkman by 53 votes and to Griffin by 120 votes, according to results out of Christian County. Shaffer came in fourth place.
Duringan interview with the Informed Voter Coalition on KSMU, Griffin, a 21-year Navy commander who's now retired, said, "I believe financial management is one of the key attributes to success as a school board member, especially when you're looking at the fact that we have about $100 million budget in the school system. That's where I can really make a difference."
Griffin also promised to put Ozark first.
"We don't want policies outside the area at the federal and state level to come in and tell us what we should be teaching or what we should be doing as Ozark," he said.
Dustin Kirkman declined to participate in the interviews.
At a meeting last week, the board voted to elect Mark Jenkins to serve as president and Amber Bryant as vice-president for the 2024-25 school year.
