A significant individual has left our C-1 Lafayette County School District – that being (ex) School Board President Benton Williams. Benton departs following his 15 years with the school board!

We visited with Benton to share a bit about his tenure with the board, and to share about Benton Williams, in general. Below is what he shared about his life, history with Higginsville and his reflections… “I started halfway through my kindergarten year as a young student at Lafayette Co. C-1 School District after the move to my mother Helen Benton’s hometown. She was recently divorced and I was her only child. I graduated from here in 1998 and immediately entered the US Army where I served for 4 years and returned home with my wife Claudia and my daughter Kiana. We later had my youngest daughter Elena. We moved back home because I was able to convince Claudia because I knew a lot of the staff, teachers, and the leadership in the district and that it was the best school for our kids.

I finished college and got involved with some local politics around the same time. I had been involved with a few steering committees at the school and the co-chair of the steering committee for adding the classrooms for the preschool. I eventually ran for the school board when some community leaders at the time reminded me of the opportunity. I signed up in 2010, and the election was in 2011. I had served before but I thought this would be a good way to give back to my community.

I ordered a book about school boards and spent a little more than a year learning about how everything works. You think you know because you graduated from the school, but you don’t know what the staff and Administrators do to run the school. I listened and learned. I wanted to make sure that the decisions I made would contribute to good outcomes to right now and for years to come. I also wanted to avoid creating a negative pattern that future boards would have to deal with. The book also says you should serve 2 or more terms as a board member to continue stability for your school and community.

There were a few things I wanted to see changed for our school and our students. We have to focus on the budget year to year due to constant changes to how we receive school funding but I’ve pushed our superintendents to include forward thinking in our budget projections and management in order to reduce the risks. I didn’t care for the change from traditional to block scheduling in the MS and HS back when I was a HS student so I pushed to get us back to traditional scheduling to get students up, active and more involved in their education. We were able to accomplish numerous academic achievement goals and increased participation and success in student activities.

New athletic and non- athletic activities and clubs were implemented that fit our school makeup. A number of safety and security structural changes were approved with the support of the public such as the storm shelter and building entryways. We were able to approve annual increases to teacher pay in an attempt to stay competitive with other school districts. At times the pay increases required a vote from the public and the community always stood with our school.

Some reflections from being on the board or as the President of the board. When developing and leading the agenda my focus was to ensure that we all were able to weigh in on issues. There were other areas in the school where I may have wanted to voice my opinion, and I would try to be thoughtful when doing so especially involving my own kids. Really, no matter where you go and what you do, you are an office holder in the eyes of the school and the public.

I’ve worked with the board members and the Superintendent to ensure that the school district was well managed and continued to succeed academically. I also made some tough decisions over the years but I always served and voted with integrity.

A number of changes have occurred in the school’s leadership recently, but I believe the District will adjust and continue to prosper as we always do. I will miss working with everyone, but it was time. It truly is Onward Huskers. Thank you, Benton Williams”