It was Superintendent Yaw Obeng's idea to create the first co-presidency on the Hickman Mills Board of Education. The idea came to him when the vote was evenly split between two candidates and no one was willing to budge.

"It was a bit of a calculated risk for me," said Obeng. "It wasn't the traditional, but I thought, well, you know, we're not doing anything right now, it can't get worse than this."

KCUR's Jodi Fortino spoke with Obeng about his efforts to reform the combative culture of the school board, and focus on putting students first.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Anna Schmidt and KCUR Studios, and edited by Madeline Fox and Gabe Rosenberg.

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