There are still a few weeks for candidates to emerge in the race for two seats on the Springfield Public Schools Board of Education. But the top three candidates who will appear on April ballots have been finalized, pending certification.
On Dec. 6, Landon McCarter, Shurita Thomas-Tate and Judy Brunner each delivered petitions with the required 500-plus supporting voter signatures on the first day to turn them in at the district office at 1359 East St. Louis. By doing so, the candidates were entered into a lottery to determine where their names will appear on ballots on April 4. The lottery determined the order to be:
- Landon McCarter
- Shurita Thomas-Tate
- Judy Brunner
J. Michael Hasty and Chad Rollins have also picked up petition forms to run for the board, the first official step in the process. If they return the required number of signatures, their names will appear on the ballot in the chronological order that they provide paperwork to the district. They and any other candidates who pick up petition forms and get at least 500 signatures have until Dec. 27 to file. Certification day is Jan. 24. The full set of rules is available here.
More about the candidates who submitted signatures
The three who submitted signatures include a current board member, a retired SPS administrator and a CEO with longstanding ties to one of the two board members elected earlier this year.
Shurita Thomas-Tate
Thomas-Tate, an associate professor in Missouri State University’s communications sciences department, has said she is seeking re-election in part to bring an educator’s voice to high-level SPS decisions that impact the district’s citizens, students, teachers and parents.
“I’m an educator,” she said. “I work in higher ed, but I have worked and served in K-12. And I also currently as a professor work to help develop speech-language pathologists/therapists who will be working in a K-12 setting.
“I volunteer in the community with kids. Literacy is my heart and my passion. I believe in public education, and I feel like the health of our city is very much tied to the health of our school district. And I felt like I had something to contribute to that end.”
Landon McCarter
McCarter, an entrepreneur and co-founder of Secure Agent Marketing, is a Kickapoo High School graduate, parent of three SPS students and son of two former SPS employees. His mother, Connie, spent 14 years as an instructional assistant, and his late father, Larry, taught math in the district for 30 years. McCarter said he was profoundly impacted by visits his dad’s former students made to the house when Larry was ill.
Bringing an entrepreneurial view to the school board is a way McCarter said he can serve a district that has provided for his family.
McCarter donated $2,400 to Kelly Byrne’s successful campaign for school board last April, which was among the largest totals Byrne received. The two played basketball together on the state title-winning 2002-2003 Kickapoo High School team.
Judy Brunner
Brunner spent 18 years as an SPS administrator.
She retired from the district in 2006 after serving as Parkview High School’s principal, and then returned in 2019-2020 to become a temporary co-principal of Central High School while the district sought a more permanent candidate for the leadership position.
Brunner now teaches courses in MSU’s Department of Reading, Foundations and Technology and has also owned an education business since 1999. She said her background in both educational and business settings will help her if she is elected to the board.
