Cook and Myers left in race for Nevada State Board of Education seat

Incumbent Dave Cook, 50, and challenger Barbara Myers, 51, will hit the campaign trail full force in preparation for the Nov. 7 general election for the Nevada State Board of Education seat.

"I'm going to work at getting the word out so people know who I am and what I want to do," Cook said. "I'm going to be speaking wherever I can."

Myers said she also plans to attend all speaking engagements.

"I've gone to everything I've been invited to," she said. "I plan to continue that."

However, as a speech therapy teacher at Lahontan Elementary School, Myers said she will mostly be limited to evening and weekend events.

Cook and Myers will compete for the open seat which encompasses Carson City, Douglas, Storey, southern Lyon and Washoe counties.

Myers said she was not surprised by the results of Tuesday's primary election. Cook received 2,082 votes, Myers received 1,815 and Michelle Trusty-Murphy was knocked out with 1,273 votes.

"I was kind of expecting Dave and I to be in it," Myers said.

She said she set herself apart from the other two candidates by not focusing on one issue.

"I'm not focusing on just testing or just standards," she said. "There's a whole lot more to the state board of education than just testing and standards."

Cook said it was his experience and commitment that attracted his votes.

"I've served on the state school board for four years and the local board for eight years before that," he said. "They see how strongly I support the the standards and remediation."

Implementing the standards was just the first step for Cook.

"It's not just an issue of having standards but helping all students achieve them," he said. "We're in the process of improving public education but we've not finished yet."

Although Trusty-Murphy will not be running in the general election, she said she still plans to be active in the school political system.

"I'm very concerned about what's happening with testing," she said. "If the public is not there watching, we're going to have things happen that we don't want. The future of our children depends on us."