Darrell Eason retires from School Board

On Friday, June 5, the El Dorado Springs Sun spoke with Darrell Eason, long time member and president of the El Dorado Springs R-II School Board, who chose not to run for re-election. The election, which was postponed because of concerns over the Covid 19 virus, was held last Tuesday, June 2, and for the first time in nearly 20 years. Darrell’s name was not on the ballot.

Originally the interview was scheduled for Thursday, June 4, but Darrell had to leave his office at Meek Lumber early to tend to replacing half the roof on a shop building on his farm south of Pace Town where a severe windstorm blew through Wednesday evening.

Q. How long have you been on the school board?

Twenty-one years and two months. Because of the virus, I got a couple of extra months in.

Q. Why did you get on the school board?

That’s when we were trying to build a new high school across the street. They kept running the bond issue and of course it kept failing. At that time, my wife and I owned the restaurant  (which later became Scooters when I sold it to Jack Ellis.  I had it five years.) and I started getting involved because of the increase in taxes. I said there’s got to be something else we need to do. So I started getting involved. I didn’t intend to get on the school board. I was just trying to get some answers.  I got asked to get on the school board. Of course, we got our classrooms and got some other projects going. The balloon just kept going.

I’ll be 62 in March. My goal for the last several years has been to retire. I’ve always had a farm. I’ve got 12 year old grandsons and they like to hunt and fish. I want to spend some time with them before they don’t like to be with grandpa any more.

Q. I’ve got a grandson that was born Sept. 9  and I haven’t seen him yet. They live at St. Francisville just north of New Orleans.

Yeah, I got on the board and you know all the issues they had. We kinda got everybody together and came up with a plan and got the classrooms. We probably would have been better off to have built the high school back at that time. We spent a lot more money getting where we’re at but we’ve got everything they were proposing at that time  – air conditioning and we got another gymnasium now finally. It was time for me to leave. I’d done everything that I set out to do and more. I didn’t intend to make it a career and stay 21 yeas.  But it turned out that way.

Q. And you had a good superintendent.

I’ve been pretty lucky. I’ve worked for three. Some of them had some good qualities and I’ve been really lucky.  I’ve really enjoyed the last few years. The board has been pretty good.  I’ve had good people on the board. Good support from the community for the most part. 

Then I got to help hire the 4th superintendent. Right now it looks like he is going to be a perfect fit for us.

Q. Yes, I have a good relationship with him and I did with Mark. I expect it to continue with Heath.

The  other night when I was watching election results. I was a little bit apprehensive because for the first time in a long time, my name wasn’t there.

I hate it because of all this stupid Covid virus stuff. They are going to have some challenges.  They have got some good people on there. They’ll figure it out. I’m not too worried about it.

We’ve got a lot of new people, some new faces. Everybody we’ve hire for new positions has experience. I really don’t see a lot of changes.

Q. So you accomplished everything you wanted to accomplish?

Well, yeah. I was going to run one and done. The classrooms passed. Air conditioning was coming up. There’s always something that needs to be done.

I would have rather had a bigger gymnasium. I think what we got is really nice.

They’ve done a lot of upgrades to I guess what would not be the old gym. It looks pretty modern. I don’t see anything wrong with that.

Of course, the longer  you stay, other things come up. I hope at some point we can do something with the Ag Building, of course. It needs some definite upgrades.  I wish there was some way we could get it on the same side of the street. I hope that will be addressed at some point.

Q. I had fifth grade in the Ag Building shop with Mrs. Baumgarner. There were four classrooms there while they were building the new Elementary wing.

I had sixth grade in the old building south of the Middle School gym. At some point that is going to have to be addressed.

Q. I had seventh grade there with Mrs. Phipps teaching.  In the eighth grade I was in the northwest corner of the new building.  It was the first time I had to change rooms for classes. Mrs. Moss was my homeroom teacher in northwest room. Mrs. Barritt taught Science in the next one. Mrs. Vickers taught English in the next one.

I wish we had a better sports facility in the field house where the restrooms are. It’s pretty dilapidated.

Q. You’re making provisions for that with the new sewer.

It all goes in pieces. There’s lot of planning and goals.  I don’t know how it’s going to go budget-wise. They spent all this money at the state so I’m sure that will filter down to budget cuts for us.

Mark is good with construction. He watches things. We have a good maintenance crew.  I’m satisfied. I can honestly say it’s better than it was when I got there.

And I didn’t  do it. I just gave everybody confidence that it was gong to get done.  With enough money, you can end that. I don’t want to pay taxes either.  If you’re going to do something, do it. And you build people’s confidence.

If there are differences of opinion, you get together and work out of compromise.

On the hospital, that’s what they are going to have to do with these people who are opposed. They are going to  have to work out some kind  of compromise r we’re going to lose our hospital.

Q. Why don’t you run for hospital board?

Nawh. Brent Bland was in this morning and we talked about the hospital.  There’s other bigger things that need to happen. I won’t even go there.

Q. So, it sounds like you are going to go back to the farm and keep working at Meeks.

Yes, I am. I’m going back to the farm. I don’t own a cow any more. Both my kids have cows. I’ll bale hay and help them take care of their cows. I’ll hunt and fish with my grandkids and  have a good time, hopefully.

I’ve been in retail all my life since I was 18 years old.  I’ve worked in a lumberyard at some point – Kansas City, Nevada and here all my life and dealt with the public. It’s a different world than what it was when I started out 43 years ago.

I worked in Olathe, KS. I ran away from home and married the love of my life.

I’ve got a granddaughter who will graduate next year. That’s the only bad thing. She wanted grandpa to stay one more term so I could hand her the diploma. But if I did that, I’ve got grandsons who will graduate soon and they’d say, “You did it for her, why not for me?”

I’m really pleased with my time on the board. I couldn’t have done it without the support of the people in the community.