Candidates Divided on Auditorium, Agree on Full-Day Kindergarten

Residents got their first taste of all Monday night when the district hosted a forum at . On April 3, voters will choose two candidates for a three-year term on the Mehlville School District Board of Education. 

Around 30 people attended the forum and wrote questions on cards for the candidates to answer.

The candidates started with a two-minute opening statement. Fedorchak, Wainz and Eardley said they had children in district schools, while Padberg said his four children attended parochial schools.

Padberg said he was running because he was concerned about the rising property taxes in the district, but truly admired the men and women who taught in the schools and served on the school board.

Eardley, who has one child at , has a masters in business administration as well as a masters in education, is a certified teacher and a stay-at-home parent.

Wainz is also a stay-at-home-parent and has three children in the district, two of which attend schools through the Special School District’s autism program.

in June and has three children in the district. 

When asked, all of the candidates said they valued early childhood education and .

The candidates were divided on the . A question stated: “A new auditorium was turned down by the voters last year. Do you think it’s appropriate to build it without going back to the voters? And if so, why?”

Both Wainz and Fedorchak said it was still appropriate to build the auditorium because the , rather than from the taxpayers.

“If the taxpayers—the gentleman who’s on the hook to pay for things, and they are not in agreement—it should not be passed, it should not be built. I’m sorry, but these folks are paying heavy tolls in their property taxes year after year and I am absolutely dead set against imposing additional burdens on these people, many of whom are on fixed incomes and retired folks,” Padberg said.

Eardley added, “The auditorium, while it’s a good thing for the district and the money is there, it was turned down by the taxpayers… it needed to have gone back to the voters. They’re going to foot the bill one way or another.”

The forum tested the candidates’ existing knowledge of the district. One question asked the candidates to name one educational program or lesson at a school and also something about a parent support group.

Eardley said she participates in (PAT), but hasn’t had the opportunity to join a parent support group since her child started at John Cary in February.

“I cannot point out a specific program, but I know without the support of the parents, it makes the job of these teachers so much more difficult,” Padberg said. “I would greatly encourage parental involvement.”

Wainz named tutoring and buddy programs as well as PAT and said he participated in parent groups through the Special School District.

The strings program was Fedorchak’s first involvement experience with the district, he said.

“…I’m looking forward to the auditorium to actually hear the strings perform in a real auditorium and not a gym or a basement. It’s a great program."

Former board member and forum moderator Kathy Weber asked the candidates if they had reviewed the curriculum of the school district.

Fedorchak, Eardley and Padberg all answered in the negative, saying the process was extremely tedious and separated by grade level. The board has heard reports on the curriculum and should continue learning through reports, Fedorchak said.

Wainz said he reviewed the curriculum for fifth grade and did not have any concerns with it.

When asked, Padberg said he needed more information to form an opinion about the Missouri school foundation formula, which is how districts receive funding from the state.

Eardley explained how the formula works as well as her opinion on state funding.

“The funding formula is designed to level the playing field for districts—in theory,” she said. “The way the funding formula works is they take a pool of resources from the state level and distribute it back to districts to try and make it so that all districts are even… Mehlville kind of gets the short end of the stick because most of our tax base is (from the) community so our tax dollars go to the state and then get redistributed and not necessarily to our district.”

The candidates thanked the public and each other and the forum concluded at 8:40 p.m.

See a running chat of the event.