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Ryan Ausmus

Ryan Ausmus

Region 10 Vice-President

Ryan Ausmus has served on the Dodge City USD 443 Board of Education for 12 years. He also currently serves as the Region 10 Vice-President on the KASB Board of Directors.

Ryan believes that education is transformational. He ran for his local board of education because he had a desire to help the community and have an influential and positive impact on the lives of young people.

Ryan loves to spend time with his family. Some of his favorite ways to spend his time are reading, bowling, hunting, and playing cornhole.

In his career, Ryan has managed people, worked with budgets, wrote grants, and recruited employees which has given him a lot of technical skills that he uses as a board member. He believes one of his biggest skills is to respectfully interact and engage with people with differing backgrounds and worldviews from his own.

Ryan aims to improve the academic outcomes of his district. In his opinion, recruiting teachers is one of the main issues facing USD 443. Finding teachers seems to be a struggle for many if not most, school districts across the state. One of his focus areas is finding ways to bring qualified teachers to Southwest Kansas.

Looking back at his time in school, Ryan remembers his favorite teacher, Ray Small. Mr. Small also served as the basketball and football coach. He communicated to Ryan in a way that went beyond the classroom and playing field. Mr. Small was a teacher of life.

Ryan’s favorite book is “Empire of the Summer Moon” by S. C. Gwynne, which follows the story of a war leader from the Comanche Nation named Quanah Parker. Ryan loves to read about history because it allows us to learn about ourselves and how we came to be and develop the skills to avoid past mistakes and create a better future.