Candidates for both the Mehlville and Lindbergh boards of education participated in candidate forums earlier this month. 

Mehlville’s forum, sponsored by Call Newspapers and the League of Women Voters, was held March 4, while Lindbergh’s, also sponsored by the League, was held March 10.

The Mehlville Board of Education candidates for the April 8 school board election are Mick Johnson Jr., Megan Paule, Serene Wilkinson and Ann Zimpfer. The seats are currently held by Scott Huegerich and Grace Wright, who did not seek reelection. Both positions are three-year terms.

The Lindbergh Board of Education candidates for the April 8 election are incumbent Julia Voss, incumbent and current board Vice President Jennifer Miller, Russell Dahmer, David Randelman and Martin VerPlank.

At the start of both forums, candidates were given two minutes to make opening statements.

Paule started for Mehlville, emphasizing that she knows what it is like to be a student in the district as she grew up attending Beasley Elementary School, Bernard Middle School and OHS. She also mentioned that her mom is a teacher in the district. 

Zimpfer followed, speaking on her teaching career in the district and continued advocacy for and partnership with the Special School District. Next was Wilkinson, who discussed a variety of topics, from IEP advocacy to how her career as a social worker has prepared her for this role to being the only candidate living in the underrepresented 63125 area of the district. Johnson closed out the section going over his decision to move into the district for the schools, his experience on the Prop S Finance Committee and, like Wilkinson, IEP advocacy.

On the Lindbergh side, Voss talked about moving to the district for the schools and how Lindbergh unites a variety of municipalities and unincorporated areas of the county, truly making the district “the heart of the community.” 

Miller went over her priorities – rigorous instruction, safe and secure school buildings, workforce development programs and fiscal responsibility, to name a few – and the numerous Lindbergh organizations she serves on. 

Dahmer discussed how education has recently changed, ending his statement with, “We can reject the utter waste that is wokeness in favor of serious academic excellence. Far more is at stake than trendy theories. The safety, the health, the very lives of your grandchildren, their friends and classmates are at stake. We can rescue your grandchildren from a crisis of incompetence if we change the status quo.”

Randelman started his statement by saying, “In the spirit of bringing us back together as a single, united community, I call on our district to throw out partisan politics and treat everyone with respect. What we do as adults is being observed by our children. The divisive attitudes must stop.”

He then gave a shout out to former board members Mike Tsichlis and Kara Horton, who were in attendance at the forum, and went over some of his campaign values: “restoring academic excellence, fiscal responsibility towards the taxpayer, a common-sense approach to education and bringing transparency back.”

VerPlank was not in attendance at Lindbergh’s forum, though he had a representative read his opening statement. The statement discussed how taxes have “almost tripled,” how “the middle class is being squeezed out of the area” and the lack of diversity in philosophies of board members. 

Following opening statements, candidates at both forums answered questions submitted by the community. Topics ranged from district finances to school choice/open enrollment. Mehlville candidates had fairly similar responses to most questions – though in some cases, certain candidates were more prepared than others – while Lindbergh candidates had a variety of stances, particularly on topics such as DEI, Proposition R, test scores and the gifted program.

Click here to watch the Mehlville School District Board of Education candidate forum.

Click here to watch the Lindbergh Schools Board of Education candidate forum.