Editor’s note: This is the last in a series of profiles of the 10 contested school board races in the Pikes Peak region.

Hanover School District 28 is huge and tiny.

Sprawling across 273 square miles of prairie across the sparsely populated southern edge of El Paso County, its transportation costs are high, but with an enrollment of only 261 its resources are slim — and getting slimmer as the recession forces residents to move closer to jobs in Colorado Springs or Pueblo.

“They’ve overbuilt themselves and didn’t make any provisions for long-term,” said Rik Noring, who’s seeking a seat on the Hanover school board. “Something’s got to change.” He didn’t offer any specific proposals, but said his business background would help stabilize the district’s finances.

Noring is challenging the incumbent, Jim Tyler, for a two-year seat on the board.

Tyler said the district laid off three teachers last year and hoped to avoid further cuts. His top priority is marketing the district in hopes of boosting enrollment. “We still have a very good teacher-to-student ratio out there, and we offer good facilities and good athletic programs,” Tyler said.

Running for two at-large, four-year seats on the five-member board are an incumbent, Tom Humiston, Mark McPherson and write-in candidate David Sloan.

Sloan’s main concern is preventing the closure of Prairie Heights Elementary School, which was built a few years ago in the Midway area, west of Exit 119 on Interstate 25. The original elementary and junior/senior high schools are in the Hanover community, 12 miles to the east, and grades 4 and 5 were recently reconsolidated on the eastern campus.

“They put in a new football field but yet they cut two grades from Prairie Heights,” Sloan said.

Humiston said he hoped the district could get over an us-vs.-them attitude between Midway and Hanover, but was cheered by how community volunteers had stepped in to fill some of the gaps created by recent budget cuts, which had meant layoffs and program reductions.

He favors more cooperation with other rural school districts in the area. A German teacher, or a bus mechanic, for example, could be hired for several districts, he said.

McPherson said it was time for a sweeping budget review, including school programs and staffing levels, but said he would “go in there with an open mind.”

The three winners will join board members Mindy Brandenburg and Liz Taylor, who are midterm.

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THE HANOVER CANDIDATES

Vying for a two-year seat:• Rik Noring, 38: Manages a company that buys, sells and restores Corvettes.• Jim Tyler, 45 (incumbent): Manages a home restoration franchise

Running for two at-large, four-year seats• Tom Humiston, 47 (incumbent): Colorado Springs Utilities drilling crew foreman• Mark McPherson, 52: director of human resources for Falcon School District 49• David Sloan, 49 (write-in candidate): owner of a computer services company

Contact the writer at 476-1654

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