To the editor:

Well, it looks like the Mehlville naysayers have seen their shadow with six weeks left until the school board election as they hit the Call with their “issues” with the Mehlville School District.

It seems that a faction of our community continues to have an issue with how the Board of Education and the district administration operate within their budget. Superintendent Eric Knost and this school board seem to be doing their best with the dollars our community has allotted to them.

While the auditorium may be a topic of discussion in some circles, how about realizing we aren’t building the Taj Mahal, but a simple hall to further the performing arts department and give some much-needed practice and performance space to other groups in the district. Tennis courts — are they a necessity?

Probably not, but we are talking one set of tennis courts for an entire district, not per school, not per high school — which, by the way, both have boys’ and girls’ tennis teams with no home court.

Despite the open dialogue with the community as well as the open-door policy that has become the marquee of Dr. Knost, Mr. Jim Murphy’s recent letter to the Call prefers to put his spin on his perceptions of right and wrong in the Mehlville School District operations.

Hopefully, the hundreds of families with kids in the Mehlville School District continue to take an interest in their kids’ schools and the future of our community’s district. It is once again time for the families of Mehlville to educate themselves before going to the polls — vote appropriately for your school board members.

Larry Felton and Venki Palamand have been valuable members of this board and deserve another term.

If you need to educate yourself about the current board members, visit a board meeting, read the minutes and look at the progress made in the district during their tenure.

If you need to learn about the third candidate, Lori Trakas, read the Tesson Ferry Township Republican Club’s newsletter.

She is the secretary and Jim Murphy is the president. The club’s February newsletter — available online — includes a recommendation to: “Focus, concentrate and empower your vote by voting for only Lori Trakas. Voting for one and only one person has worked in the past. It can work if we all vote for only Lori.” Folks, the school board election is not about politics or political party. It is about our kids, their future and the future of the Mehlville School District and community.

Finally (Board of Education member) Mrs. (Kathleen) Eardley, as you have been blessed with another child to join your family, let me paraphrase the old Oldsmobile commercial: “This is not your father’s school district” — it is your children’s and its solid future is a part of your decision-making.

While this won’t be in italics below my name, I am a 15-plus-year active parent in the Mehlville School District who cares about its future.

Paul B. Anderson

Concord