Joe Ryan is in his fourth year as a Smokey Valley USD 400 Board of Education member and previously served three full terms on another school board. He also currently serves as the Region 5 Vice-President on the KASB Board of Directors.

Joe has been involved in education for many years and has several family members who are educators. He served as Career and Tech Education Coordinator for the Smoky Hill Education Service Center for 18 years. Joe now works as a rancher and is involved in community development projects, but his favorite occupation is grandparent. His grandkids are students in the Smokey Valley district, which is one of the reasons he decided to run for the board of education. Through his work on his local board and the KASB board, Joe hopes to build a better future and leave the world a better place than he found it.

His passion for public education dates to Joe’s school days. He remembers two specific teachers, his PE and Ag teachers, that pushed him out of his comfort zone and helped him realize that he could accomplish more.

Joe’s top goals are to bring more career-focused programs/pathways to his local district and increase partnerships with postsecondary institutions and private companies. He also wants to foster better communication between state legislators and school boards to find common ground.

Joe has two favorite books that help shape the way he views the world. The first “Blood Meridien” by Cormac McCarthy, and the second “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert Persig.