Steamboat Springs — With less than a week left to pull packets to enter the race for the Steamboat School Board, the three candidates currently planning to run are unopposed.

The three candidates, each from one of the three open districts, are Tami Havener, Paula Stephenson and Gary Buchan. School Board President Dan Birch decided not to run again this year for the District IV seat.

Havener and Stephenson are each attempting to retain their seats for another four years, while Buchan is hoping to be elected to a first term in District IV.

Havener and Stephenson, each of whom were appointed to replace a departing member in the past year, could represent Districts I and III, respectively.

Buchan is a technical services manager at Twentymile Coal Co. and is currently on the district’s tech commission, which has a hand in deciding how the city’s half-cent sales tax is used. Buchan, who has three children in the Steamboat school system, said he thinks the transition to the school board makes sense for him as he enjoys his work with the district and his interest in the district has grown.

“It just seemed like a natural progression,” he said.

Buchan said if he were elected, his four top priorities would be: teacher compensation, continual use of the half-cent tax to achieve its greatest potential, increased communication within the district and student achievement.

Potential school board applicants have until Friday to pull papers and get at least 50 signatures from anywhere within the Steamboat School District.

Buchan has already turned his signatures in and they have been deemed sufficient, said Anne Muhme, the assistant to the district superintendent. The petition process opened Aug. 8.