Megan Haas wins New Bloomfield School Board runoff election

Megan Haas of New Bloomfield has won the runoff election for the New Bloomfield School Board.
Megan Haas of New Bloomfield has won the runoff election for the New Bloomfield School Board.

With about 52 percent of the vote, Megan Haas will take her spot on the board for the first time after Tuesday's runoff election.

Haas totaled 411 votes and Gracia Backer, board president, came in with 378 votes.

The Callaway County Clerk's Office reported after the April election that Backer won by a single vote with 268. The results of Haas' recount request proved the two women were actually tied with 267 votes each.

Haas said the election helps prove the old saying that every vote counts. The runoff election surpassed the April election's the total number of votes by 255.

"I just want to thank those in the district who showed me support by coming out to vote today," Haas said Tuesday night.

Backer said she's disappointed to have lost the race, but expressed gratitude to those who have helped her throughout her time on the New Bloomfield School Board and in her campaign.

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"Once again I want to thank all the people who supported me," Backer said.

Despite losing her seat on the board, Backer said she will continue to support the school and the children of New Bloomfield.

Haas' objectives now as a board member, she told the Fulton Sun Tuesday night, are to strengthen the district's relationship with law enforcement to improve school safety and update the library catalog as well as technology. She also wants to oversee the hiring of "upper level" educators to better prepare high school seniors for college or the workforce and then retain those teachers.

In a previous interview with the Fulton Sun, Haas said her perspective as a New Bloomfield parent would serve the school district. She is the mother of a 2014 New Bloomfield High School graduate and her youngest daughter will enter the eighth grade in the fall.

Backer, a life long New Bloomfield resident, told the Fulton Sun previously that she wanted the board to maintain its path of improvement. Once in financial struggle, Backer was on the board as it bettered its fiscal standing. Backer also stated her commitment to upgrading technology, improving test scores, overseeing the textbook rotation and hiring highly qualified teachers.

The runoff election costed the district $3,000, according to Superintendent David Tramel.

The New Bloomfield School Board will meet 6 p.m. Thursday in the district's central office.