Three file for school board seat

Columbia school board member Elton Fay filed for re-election Tuesday for one of the two positions to be vacant come April 2006.

Also vying for a position on the Board of Education are Michelle Gadbois, who works in human resources for Cherry Hill Dental, and Michael Tan, an associate professor of education at William Woods University.

The filing of candidacy for the three-year position, which began Tuesday, will continue until Jan. 17, 2006.

Kerry Crist, whose term ends in 2006, said she does not plan on running for re-election.

“I really enjoyed it, but I want to give someone else a turn,” she said.

Fellow board member Fay however, is willing to give it another turn after already serving almost 12 years on the board.

Fay, 57, earned his law degree from MU and practices law for Grimes & Fay LLC law firm in Columbia.

His first two children, Garett and Erin, both graduated from Hickman High School and his youngest daughter, Whitney, is a junior at Hickman. Fay’s first job in Columbia was as a school bus driver, according to the Columbia Public Schools Web site.

Tan, who also has three children, said he feels obliged to serve on the board because of the high-quality education his children received in the district.

“I wanted to give back to the schools what they gave to me and my children,” he said.

Tan, 54, who has been an educator for about 34 years, received his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

His daughter is a sophomore at Hickman High School, and his two sons, both Hickman High School graduates, are pursuing medical degrees at the Cleveland Clinic and UMKC.

Fellow candidate Gadbois said she misses working for Columbia Public Schools, after leaving her job teaching history at Hickman this year to work for her family’s company.

“I want to stay connected to education and Columbia Public Schools even though I’m not in the classroom anymore,” she said. “I am still very concerned with the field of education and education in Columbia.”

Gadbois, who moved to Columbia from Iowa when she was 11, said she considers herself a Columbia native after attending Parkade Elementary School, Jefferson Middle School and Hickman. She earned two undergraduate degrees and a master’s degree in education from MU. Gadbois, 40, said she is interested in helping to close the district’s achievement gap and improve spending and allocation of the district’s money.

With two mandatory scheduled meetings every month, along with other committee obligations, the voluntary job can be demanding, J.C. Headley, current president of the Board of Education, said.

“The person must show a definite interest in kids and is willing to be involved with them,” Headley said.

Fay, Tan, and Gadbois drew random numbers on Tuesday to determine their placement on the ballot for this spring, Headley said. Anyone who files after Tuesday will be placed on the ballot in the order in which they filed for candidacy. Headley’s term as president will expire in April and he will then serve one more year as a member. School board candidates must be at least 24 years old, a U.S. citizen and a registered voter as well as a resident of Missouri for at least one year. Previous experience in education is not required to be considered, he said.