By Roger McKinney from the Columbia Daily Tribune 

Posted Jan 4, 2019 at 5:19 PMUpdated Jan 4, 2019 at 5:19 PM

Mr. Jay Atkins

Jay Atkins said he thinks his background in government and law will be a benefit if he’s elected to the Columbia Board of Education.

On Thursday Atkins, 45, became the fourth candidate to file for two open seats on the school board in the April 2 election. Longtime school board members Jim Whitt and Jan Mees have said they won’t run for re-election. Other candidates are Blake A. Willoughby, Della Streaty-Wilhoit and Brian Jones.

Atkins said he currently works as vice president of government affairs for AutoReturn, a San Franciso technology and management company. He works from his home in Columbia. He moved to Columbia in 2005 to attend the University of Missouri Law School and in 2008. His bachelor’s degree is from Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, now Missouri State University.

He and his wife have four children. Three of them are in Columbia Public Schools and a fourth will start kindergarten next year.

Atkins worked in the Missouri Attorney General’s office from 2008 to 2011 handling the cases of sexually violent criminals.

He was a legislative liaison in Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration, working for the Missouri Department of Revenue and the Department of Natural Resources. After leaving state employment in 2014, Atkins worked as general counsel and lobbyist for the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In that job, he worked to override Nixon’s veto of a so-called Right-to-Work bill in 2015. He also pushed for reinstatement of caps on punitive damage awards in medical malpractice lawsuits.

He worked a lobbyist for the Husch Blacwell law firm before his current job. It has offices in Kansas City and St. Louis.

“My wife and I are invested in the process,” Atkins said, referring to their children. “We spend a lot of time in and around Columbia Public Schools. We just want to be a part of the process in a more meaningful way and to have some input in decisions.”

He said he decided to run for school board after working through an issue with Superintendent Peter Stiepleman related to the appropriateness of material related to gender identity at a middle school.

“It was a really enjoyable experience” working with Stiepleman, Atkins said. “It was a very good result that could have been a difficult situation.”

He said he thinks his work history can aid him if elected.

“I think my background and experience is a pretty good fit to help what the school board is doing,” Atkins said.