Bob DeHoff’s looking forward to seeing completion of upcoming school construction projects.

In November, voters approved a $25.3 million bond issue for school construction. The work entails construction of a new 5-8 middle school, renovation of the existing elementary school to transform it into a K-4 building, and work at the high school and junior high school to remodel the buildings into a 9-12 high school campus.

“Right now it’s up to the board and administration to make sure everything works out like they said it was going to,” DeHoff said.

DeHoff, a 1979 graduate of Tonganoxie High School, has filed to run for a third term on the Tonganoxie school board as the South District No. 6 representative.

“For the most part, I enjoy working for the community,” DeHoff said. “I’ve always maintained and initially ran so I could hopefully be a benefit to all the students in our community.”

DeHoff and his wife, Lana, who teaches at Starside Elementary in De Soto, have two children who attend school in Tonganoxie. Kassie is a senior and Mitchell is a seventh-grader. The family lives in Reno Township.

DeHoff, who in his spare time likes to golf with his son, is a manufacturing engineer at American Dish Service, in Edwardsville, where commercial dishwashers are manufactured.

Like others involved in Kansas schools, DeHoff is watching to see what state legislators do about school funding.

“I feel that there does need to be some changes made and some increases where necessary,” DeHoff said. “But at the same time, I still expect as school districts we need to maintain our efficiency and keep improving. I don’t believe in just throwing money at it.”

And, as schools work to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind mandate, DeHoff said the program is not perfect.

“I hope over time people see the deficiencies in it and make some corrections,” DeHoff said.

While on the school board, DeHoff has been active in the Kansas Association of School Boards. He’s served as a trustee for the workers’ compensation pool and was a trustee for the planned property pool. Currently, he is the government relations contact for the Tonganoxie school district.