Residents in the Maplewood Richmond Heights school district will vote to fill three seats on the board of education in the April election.
40 South News recently sat down with candidate Katie Kaufmann, who is running for the board for the first time. Incumbents, Francis Chmelir and Maria Langston are also running, as well as Dan O’Sullivan. Three of the four will be elected.
Chmelir and Langston met with 40 South News Tuesday at Stone Spiral Coffee. This will focus on what Chmelir had to say.
Chmelir works with startup tech companies at Innovate St. Louis. He’s lived in Maplewood 12 years with his wife, daughter, and two sons who are MRH students.
He said with superintendent, Karen Hall, having two years experience (she was previously assistant superintendent) continuity on the board is important, especially with issues like transfer students coming to MRH from unaccredited districts and a growing student population that is forcing the district to consider where and how they will all be taught.
“It felt like something I just couldn’t leave behind, it’s almost overwhelming if you’re not paying attention to everything that’s going on,” he said.
He said the Common Core State Standards Initiative, adopted in Missouri in 2010, with full implementation due next school year, has been a challenge for MRH.
“Is it measuring everything that we’ve been doing?” he said. “It’s very hard to course-correct, being held accountable for one set of standards, and new standards kick in.”
He said the district has done a very good job putting into place a process to make sure the right variables are being measured, and getting the right data to make right decisions.
“We don’t want to create a process that devalues the kids that we’re serving,” he said. “We’re very big on celebrating the diversity of each child, and sometimes that’s hard when the state is shining a microscope on you.”
He also mentioned retaining and attracting a talented educational staff, while always looking at what the district can afford. “The budget is an ongoing thing; we’ve prided ourselves on attracting some of the best teacher talent in the region, and we want to keep them,” he said.
Chmelir said he’s protective of how far the district has come and sees great possibilities for the future.
“I think there’s many parents in the district who don’t even know that history,” Chmelir said. “We’ve had many people move in, really coming for the school; that’s why I did it in the first place and why I’d like to do it again.”