<div>After 12 years of serving on the Johnson County School District No.1 board of trustees, Dave Belus has been recognized for his efforts and will be awarded the Champion of Education Award from the Wyoming School Boards Association. He will receive the award during the upcoming WSBA fall conference later this month.“I don’t do it for the recognition, I do it for the kids,” Belus said at the Sept. 14 school board meeting.The award comes after Belus said he would not seek another term on the school board.“Dave was at every meeting,” said Travis Pearson, chairman of the board. “He’s a fountain of knowledge and has been a crucial resource for me as a chairman.”Pearson said that as a volunteer board member, Belus has committed at least 30 hours a month throughout his tenure, including attending board meetings, work sessions, committee meetings and school and community events.The award honors people who have made sustained and significant contributions to education in their local district and with a nomination that was endorsed by the district board. Superintendent Charles Auzqui said that the board’s decision to nominate Belus was an easy one.“The resiliency he has for this role, and serving as long as he did is an incredible achievement that needs to be recognized,” Auzqui said. “It’s an opportunity to recognize a commitment to a community and to a district.”Belus, born and raised in Johnson County, first ran for the board in 2014 as a way to give back to his hometown.“The community’s been really good to me. I went to school here for 12 years, and I got a great education,” Belus said. “I always look for ways to serve my community, and I thought that this might be a good way to do that.”He was reelected twice to four-year terms and served under three superintendents and three business managers. That history, he said, is valuable to a board.“It’s good to have people on the board with some prior knowledge rather than people who are new all the time, because it takes one to two years to get in tune with things,” Belus said.Belus served as chairman during the COVID-19 pandemic, which came with many challenges for the board, including navigating school closures and instituting health safety protocols. Belus also led the process of hiring Auzqui as the superintendent.Belus said that the pandemic was arguably one of the most difficult periods of his tenure. The district had to follow state mandates or risk losing funding, and not all parents agreed with the mandates.“It was very controversial,” Belus said. “We certainly took some heat over it, but we did it in unity.”One of the policies that Belus helped push forward was a new cellphone policy in JCSD1 schools that bans the use of cellphones for elementary students and strictly limits when high school students may use their cellphones. He, along with fellow trustee Marcia Goddard, championed the policy because he believed it was better in the long run.“He asks the right questions, and sometimes those questions are hard questions,” Pearson said. “Sometimes, we’re going to have to take some heat. But in the long run, Dave pointed out, this was the best thing we could do for the kids.”Pearson added that Belus has been a vital resource in helping new members learn about serving on the board.“He has been an extraordinary mentor to myself, to a lot of the board members that have been on in the last dozen years,” Pearson said.One of the lessons Pearson learned from Belus was that board members can be passionate about opposing sides of a question but must stand together on an issue once a vote is taken.“As board members, we come out united and say, we’re doing this and here’s why,” Pearson said.Belus said that he is stepping away from the board because it was time to allow for a new perspective on the board.“It’s time for somebody else to get in there that has kids in the school district,” Belus said. “When you have kids in there and you see the homework they’re bringing home and what they’re learning, you just are more in tune with what’s going on.”He also expressed confidence in the board’s direction.“It’s been a great 12 years,” Belus said. “I think the board’s in a great spot going forward.”</div>

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After 12 years of serving on the Johnson County School District No.1 board of trustees, Dave Belus has been recognized for his efforts and will be awarded the Champion of Education Award from the Wyoming School Boards Association. He will receive the award during the upcoming WSBA fall conference later this month.

Belus recognized for service to schools

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After 12 years of serving on the Johnson County School District No.1 board of trustees, Dave Belus has been recognized for his efforts and will be awarded 

Belus recognized for service to schools

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