Nonpartisan · USD 489 Board Member
Sources for Ken Brooks
32 public sources used in researching this candidate. Every claim in the profile traces back to one or more of these URLs.
9
primary
20
secondary
3
social
Primary Records
9 sources- Open
Unified School District 489 (Hays, KS) · 2026-05-20
USD 489 BoardDocs — Public Meeting Portalgo.boarddocs.com
- USD 489 board meeting minutes, agenda packets, and roll-call votes are publicly recorded in BoardDocs
- 2023-04-24 personnel transactions motion (passed 4-2; Vajnar and Park no; Hertel absent)
- 2024-01-22 administrator contract one-year extensions motion (passed 5-1-1; Park no; Yarmer abstain)
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Unified School District 489 (Hays, KS) · 2026-05-20
USD 489 Board of Education — Official Members Pageusd489.com
- Ken Brooks is a current USD 489 board member
- USD 489 Board of Education page
- USD 489 official board page: public district board entry point and official district contact context; text capture did not expose member bios. (source)
- Brooks stated he does not think the board should micromanage the school district
- Brooks stated only one district employee answers to the board — the superintendent
- Brooks stated he believes the administration manages the district budget adequately
- Brooks self-attested no outside money or in-kind PAC support for his 2021 campaign
- Brooks self-identified as 14-year leader of Celebration Community Church Hays children's ministry as of 2021
- Brooks coordinated the Thanksgiving Community Food Drive since 2008 with Ellis County Ministerial Alliance and First Call For Help
- Kansas Public Disclosure Commission (https://kpdc.kansas.gov/campaign-finance/) — confirmed by KPDC's own scope language that it does NOT index USD 489 races. KPDC scope: "elected state offices... county, first class c...
- Kansas Public Disclosure Commission (KPDC): USD 489 Hays is outside KPDC jurisdiction. KPDC's published scope covers only Wichita school board among local school boards. No state-level Brooks filings exist or can exist....
- Ellis County Clerk candidate filings (https://www.ellisco.net/626/Candidate-Filings) — page exists but exposes only a generic 2026 candidate-filings document; does not expose 2021 or 2025 USD 489 candidate filing forms...
- Ellis County Clerk Filings page (https://www.ellisco.net/626/Candidate-Filings): exposes only a 2026 general candidate-filings document. Historic affidavits and any itemized 2021/2025 reports are not posted on the publi...
- USD 489 Diligent board portal member page: Brooks listed as Ken Brooks, board member, vice president, with meeting categories. (source)
- usd489.community.highbond.com
- "campaignWebsite": "https://usd489.community.highbond.com/portal/members.aspx?id=18"
- Ellis County 2025 official election results: Brooks listed with 1,962 votes for USD 489 board. (source)
- The highest visible public attention metric was electoral rather than social: official Ellis County results list Brooks with 1,962 votes for USD 489 Board of Education in the November 4, 2025 general election. ([source]...
- Ellis County 2025 USD 489 notice of election: Brooks listed as a candidate for regular-term USD 489 board member. (source)
Reporting and Public Context
20 sources- April 24, 2023 personnel transactions vote passed 4-2
- Vajnar and Park voted no; Hertel absent
- Brooks said on the record: 'This is the same discussion we had last month that got out of hand. You should have asked for something to be put on the agenda.'
- Open
Tiger Media Network · 2026-05-20
USD 489 Board continues discussion on nepotism policytigermedianet.com
- April 24, 2023 board meeting continued nepotism-policy debate
- Brooks took the administration's position that the question was about policy text, not personnel
- Tiger Media Network — *USD 489 Board continues discussion on nepotism policy* — https://tigermedianet.com/?p=72830
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Hays Post · 2026-05-20
Hays USD 489 district administrators' contracts extended another yearhayspost.com
- January 22, 2024 administrator contract extensions vote passed 5-1-1
- Park voted no; Yarmer abstained
- Brooks said on the record: 'What we're doing here today is letting them know that we will be looking at their contracts in the future, and we're recommending that their contract be extended because we do want to keep th...
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Tiger Media Network · 2026-05-20
USD 489 Board approves administrator and director contracts (March 2026)tigermedianet.com
- March 10, 2026 administrator contract extension through 2027-2028 passed 5-2; Brooks was mover
- March 10, 2026 director contract extension through 2027-2028 passed 7-0; Brooks was mover
- March 10, 2026 intent to non-renew teacher Silas Hibbs passed 5-2
- March 2026 board meeting administrator/director contract motions were contested by Park and Yarmer
- Brooks moved to approve administrator and director contracts as presented
- Cross-reference: Citizen Journal also covered this meeting — https://www.citizenjournal.us/takeaways-from-hays-usd-489-education-board-meeting/
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Hays Post · 2026-05-20
Board member calls out fellow member after repeated no votes, including 1 on asbestos removalhayspost.com
- September 22, 2025 HMS asbestos removal contract passed 6-1; Park voted no
- Brooks asked Park what he would have changed if he had received the change-order documentation in advance
- Board member calls out fellow member after repeated no votes
- February 24, 2026 Felten Elementary bond Guaranteed Maximum Price motion passed 4-2
- Brooks called for the vote
- Park and Yarmer voted no
- March 24, 2025 motion to look into hiring an outside bond project manager failed 3-4
- Yarmer, Park, and Vajnar voted yes; the four-member majority included Brooks
- Hays Post — *Hays USD 489 board votes not to add another manager for bond work* — https://hayspost.com/posts/e4ec7011-734d-4c18-ab28-c5b38d236126
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Hays Post · 2026-05-20
Hays USD 489 pauses Hays High football field naming rights donation discussionhayspost.com
- Golden Belt Bank offered $200,000 for 10-year naming rights to the new Hays High football field
- August 4, 2025 motion by Brooks to add the naming-rights discussion to a regular meeting agenda failed 3-3
- Brooks, Ruder, and Zampieri-Lillpopp voted yes; Yarmer was absent
- September 9, 2024 FY25 budget approval and revenue-neutral-rate hearing
- Taxpayers John Pyle and Kent Kennedy raised budget concerns at the hearing
- Brooks replied: 'The board works and votes on items in the budget throughout the year.'
- July 14, 2025 Hays High handbook vote (4-3 failed)
- Brooks said on the record: 'We're not micromanaging that whole team there. They've done a terrific job and there's no reason why we should put this on hold.'
- 2025-07-16 (high-school handbook discussion) — Tiger Media Network — Brooks said, against tabling the Hays High handbook for further board review: *"We're not micromanaging that whole team there."* (Tiger Media Network)
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Hays Post · 2026-05-20
USD 489 board members express concerns about bathrooms, vandalism (April 2026)hayspost.com
- April 21, 2026 board discussion of Hays High bathroom design and vandalism (no formal vote)
- Brooks said on the record: 'We've had this discussion many times in the past, and you keep saying the same things, over and over and over, and they have been answered for you.'
- Brooks said on the record: 'The administrators just felt all of them attacked. We don't micromanage. That's not our job here on the board, so they shouldn't feel like it's us versus them.'
- April 21, 2026 board discussion of Hays High bathroom design and vandalism
- Brooks said on the record: 'You make up data. Go ahead and give it to us if you have data.'
- Brooks said on the record: 'That's not our job.'
- Hays Post: 3 veterans elected to USD 489 school board
- 3 veterans elected to Hays USD 489 school board
- There hasn't been anything where our school district has proven they're not responsible with their budget. - Hays Post candidate Q&A, 2025; https://hayspost.com/posts/ff929dc5-f4f5-433c-876e-59fc19df6a2d
- USD 489 Candidate Profile: Ken Brooks
- HaysPost: USD 489 candidate profile: Ken Brooks (2021 alt)
- Brooks publicly identified Celebration Community Church in Hays as his worship community. The church's Hays campus is at https://www.celebratejesus.org/hays-campus, and his 2021 candidate profile said he had helped
- His worship connection is the clearest faith link in this cohort: Celebration Community Church, including the Hays campus at https://www.celebratejesus.org/hays-campus. The public record supports active children's-minis...
- Brooks publicly identifies Celebration Community Church in Hays as his church. The Hays campus website is https://www.celebratejesus.org/hays-campus, and Brooks said he had helped lead the children's ministry there for...
- Contact page confirms: Insurance Planning - A. Ken Brooks
- Insurance Planning, Inc.
- GoodParty.org has a public candidate shell for Ken Brooks, Hays USD 489 School Board, but the page says the candidate had not filled out occupation, top issues, or running-against sections. It was used only as a presenc...
- GoodParty.org public candidate shell: nonpartisan school-board candidate listing with no filled-out top issues or platform. (source)
- Hays Chamber USD 489 member page: lists Brooks as Board Member, Ruder as Board Vice President, and Vajnar as Board President. (source)
- Hays Post Feb. 2026 HVAC/contracts story: Brooks vote alignment on HVAC and administrator/director contracts; story identifies Vajnar as board president. (source)
Public Online Activity
3 sources- Open
Facebook (page metadata) · 2026-05-20
Ken Brooks for Hays USD 489 School Board — campaign Facebook page (numeric ID)facebook.com
- A campaign Facebook page bearing the title 'Ken Brooks for Hays USD 489 School Board' exists at this URL as of 2026-05-20
- Page content is gated to logged-out users; no post content is observable from this fetch
- https://www.facebook.com/Ken-Brooks-for-Hays-USD-489-School-Board-106283281672831/ (numeric-ID page, likely the original 2021-cycle campaign page)
- Open
Facebook (page metadata) · 2026-05-20
Ken Brooks for Hays USD 489 School Board — campaign Facebook page (vanity URL)facebook.com
- A campaign Facebook page bearing the title 'Ken Brooks for Hays USD 489 School Board' exists at this vanity URL as of 2026-05-20
- Page content is gated to logged-out users; no post content is observable from this fetch
- https://www.facebook.com/kenbrooksforusd489 (vanity URL)
- The accessible social footprint is thin. A LinkedIn public preview identifies Allen Ken Brooks in Hays with Insurance Planning, Inc., University of Central Oklahoma, CSP and CFPS credentials, 234 followers, and 238 conn...
- LinkedIn public preview confirms professional identity but exposes only limited non-campaign activity. It lists Allen Ken Brooks in Hays, Kansas, with Insurance Planning, Inc.; University of Central Oklahoma; CSP and CF...
- LinkedIn public preview: professional identity, credentials, follower/connection counts, limited activity snippets. (source)
