Note to readers: John Wilson is one of five candidates for three USD 257 Board of Education seats. You can read our profiles on the other candidates, Lisa Wicoff, Nathan Cunningham, Robin Griffin-Lohman and John Masterson.
The classroom lights may have dimmed for John Wilson, but his passion for education never has.
After nearly four decades in the classroom, an illness forced him to leave the job he loved. Instead of stepping away from education, he found another way to make a difference by serving on the Iola USD 257 board of education.
Now completing his first term, Wilson is seeking re-election.
“I have an insight that a lot of people don’t have,” he said. “After so many years teaching, I’ve seen it all — even had students whose parents I’d taught years before.”
Wilson spent his career teaching nearly every grade level, from elementary through middle school, with science becoming his specialty in later years.
“Science was kind of my bag,” he said with a grin. “I taught seventh-grade science for about 15 years.”
He and his wife raised five children in Iola, and with 16 grandchildren — all of whom live nearby — he remains deeply connected to local families and students.
AS A BOARD member, Wilson has seen firsthand how much of the district’s energy goes toward facilities and planning.
“That’s probably the one thing I didn’t foresee before getting on the board,” he said. “The amount of time and energy devoted to facilities — there’s always something.”
Wilson said the district is in the beginning phases of collaborating with Allen Community College on a project that could benefit both the schools’ athletic offerings.
The talks pick up from where the school district and Iola Council members in 2023 discussed implementing flood control measures in Riverside Park as well as installing artificial turf at the stadium.
Those talks, however, were discontinued when a hoped-for federal grant did not come to pass.
“Our goal would be to put artificial turf on the football field at Riverside Park, and the college would install lights on their softball fields,” he said. “Then the high school could play baseball and softball out at the college, and the college could play soccer on the football field. It’d be a real partnership.”
He added the district is also finalizing plans with BMNI, a Kansas City architecture firm, to repurpose the former elementary school buildings into apartment housing.
“If that would’ve fallen through, tearing them down would’ve cost $60,000 or $70,000,” Wilson said. “This way, they’re being reused for something good.”
