The Special School District of St. Louis County’s Governing Council held a special election on June 1 to decide who would fill the Subdistrict 2 seat on the Board of Education. Subdistrict 2 represents the Affton, Bayless, Hancock Place and Mehlville school districts.
After three rounds of voting, in which the Governing Council — a 22-member oversight board made up of one Board of Education member from each of the county’s public school districts — reached an impasse every time, incumbent Dan Cuneo was selected to remain in his seat until another election can be held. His opponent was Bob McKitrick.
On the final vote of three, South County school districts Affton, Bayless, Lindbergh and Mehlville voted for McKitrick, while Hancock Place voted for Cuneo. This means three out of the four districts that will be represented by Cuneo voted for McKitrick. Lindbergh is represented by Joseph Sartorius of Subdistrict 5, which also includes the school districts of Brentwood, Kirkwood, Valley Park and Webster Groves.
“We’ve had three votes and we remain at an impasse,” Chairperson Kisha Lee said. “The incumbent’s term will extend until our next meeting in September. We will repost for candidates for Subdistrict 2, and we will revote in September.”
The repeated impasses were due to the necessity for a majority to come from both the schools and the weighted population of the schools.
Cuneo has served on the SSD Board of Education since 2001, and has previously served as president, vice president and director of the board. His professional career includes work as a court psychologist, a psychological consultant and a senior public service administrator with the Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities. He has served on numerous boards and advisory bodies.
“SSD is unbelievable,” Cuneo said. “We are remarkable at SSD. This is completely different here. The fact that we’re pooling resources, having it as it is here — this is unbelievable. People come to St. Louis County many times just because of the services for their disabled child. This is a remarkable place, and to be part of this is a true honor for me.”
When asked how SSD can improve transparency with partner districts regarding staffing, budgeting and policy changes, Cuneo said, “Do you remember when we had breakout time (at the end of meetings) where people could actually talk with the individuals there? Everybody here is busy. Everybody here has tons of things they have to do. … It would be nice to do this at the same time.” Cuneo also suggested food at meetings to encourage conversation.
Regarding how he would improve SSD’s partnership agreements with school districts, Cuneo said, “I’d like to see it tied in with the assurance statement that everybody signs. My push is that the partnership plan should not only be signed by the superintendent — it should also be signed by members of the board. It should be signed at the same time the assurance plan is signed. Because you’re responsible, we’re responsible.”
McKitrick is a social studies teacher at Parkway North High School, serving as both a Social Studies Department Chair and a Student Council sponsor for over 20 years. He has held leadership and advisory roles with the Missouri Advisory Council for Certification of Educators, Parkway’s National Education Association (NEA) Executive Board and the Missouri NEA Board of Directors. He has also served on the Mehlville School District Communication Action Committee and is a recipient of the Pillar of Parkway Award.
“Like many people in our room, I care very deeply for the future of SSD. It is not just a professional interest for me. This is a very personal interest for me,” McKitrick said during his opening statement. “My daughter is an SSD student, and she benefits directly from the services that our district provides. As a father, I have a vested interest in ensuring that SSD remains strong, remains financially stable and capable of providing exceptional services, not only for my daughter, but for every family in every ZIP code that relies upon it.”
When asked how SSD can improve transparency with partner districts regarding staffing, budgeting and policy changes, McKitrick said, “I think it starts with the board. If I’m elected as part of Subdistrict 2, I plan on communicating with the Governing Council members that are in my district. I want to have regular communication with them. There’s no reason why anyone cannot meet with them once a month or once every few weeks. I also think I need to communicate with the superintendents of that district.”
As for how he would improve SSD’s partnership agreements with school districts, McKitrick said, “We need to work more collaboratively. We need to communicate more. We need to be more transparent. We really need to take care of ourselves, because there’s not going to be a whole lot of help from Jefferson City to take care of things for us. I think that, really, when we look at the partnership agreement with these districts, we need to ask, ‘What do you need? How can we better serve you?’”
