By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Eight of the nine St. Joseph School Board candidates still in
the race spoke at the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce forum Thursday morning, an
hour-long event broadcast live on KFEQ.
School Board President LaTonya Williams told the Chamber
audience it is made up of some of the most influential people in St. Joseph and
that she represents those not in the room.
“As a child, I was in LD (Learning Disabilities) classes over
my stutter and to go from LD classes to the president of our school board is an
amazing accomplishment that I never imagined that I would have,” Williams
stated.
The forum held as a Chamber Public Affairs Coffee in the
conference room at the Stoney Creek Inn drew a packed crowd.
School Board Vice President Kenneth Reeder told the group he
is who he has always been.
“I remain, number one, an advocate for the taxpayers,” Reeder
said. “You guys are paying the bills. That’s why I’m on the school board and
want to be on the school board. Taxpayer first and then everything that will happen,
happens okay, because you trust us with your money.”
Reeder said he remains committed to early childhood education
and raising teacher pay.
Former school board member Tami Pasley said she is running again,
because she has a passion for the students and public education. Pasley pointed
out she has spent 34 years in education.
“Also to serve as the president of the Missouri State Teachers
Association, which is an association, not a union; 44,000 members across this
state,” Pasley said. “I was able to be the voice of Missouri Teachers as I
worked with both DESE (Department of Secondary and Elementary Education) and
the state legislature.”
Altec Engineering Manager, Mike Moore, said he had a simple
reason to get in the race.
“My ‘why’ for running is really because a well-supported,
highly functioning school district is absolutely critical to our community and our
businesses, quite frankly, with work force challenges that we’ve all had,” Moore
stated.
Jacob McMillian is the pastor of Journey Baptist Church.
“I want to make St. Joe a destination district,” McMillian
said. “I want to make it to where we can recruit and retain not only teachers,
but students and families, also. And the way we need to do that is improve
academic success. We’ve got to secure accreditation.”
Warren Ingram works for United Airlines and said that
education had shifted away from good-paying, high-skilled manufacturing jobs.
“I wanted to try and get back to the basics of blue collar
work,” Ingram said. “It seems that we’ve gotten rid of a lot of the shop
classes, a lot of that area of schooling that we need to get back to.”
Ingram said many Chamber members have experienced a shortage
of high-skill workers.
Sean Connors told the crowd he learned about service as the
son of a police officer.
“Service was always modeled for me,” Connors said. “And that’s
what I wanted to give back to the city of St. Joseph through the school board.”
Connors has worked in the classroom and said discipline issues
have hurt academics.
Missouri Western State University education instructor, Ronda
Chesney, is a former St. Joseph School District teacher.
“I want to be a collaborative member of this school board
where we can work together and make good decisions for our children,
financially and academically, so that the people in our community will want to
send their children to our schools,” Chesney said, adding she wants to shine
the light on the good things happening in the district.
Candidate Kim Dragoo did not attend the forum. Candidate Steven
Carrillo has dropped out of the race.
St. Joseph School District voters will elect three members to the St. Joseph Board of Education April 2nd.
LISTEN TO FULL FORUM HERE:
WATCH FULL FORUM HERE:
LISTEN TO THE JOURNAL HERE:
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.