This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

A "Common Sense" Voting Guide for the RSD School Board

This Tuesday, April 8, voters will choose 3 out of 5 candidates for the Rockwood School Board.

What factors should voters consider when deciding how to vote? While everyone should develop their own list of considerations, readers may find this short guide helpful.

The information used to assess the candidates is from my attendance at the “meet the candidates” meeting, personal interactions with the candidates and the profiles available at this link:
http://www.rockwood.k12.mo.us/boardofeducation/Pages/Board-of-Education-Candidate-Profiles-.aspx

Common Sense Voter’s Guide:

1. What is the education level of the candidate?

Find out what's happening in Eureka-Wildwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The majority of our students will move on to some type of higher education upon graduation from RSD.  This may be a trade school, a 2 year community college or a 4-6 year university. Regardless of the specific type of post HS education, board members who have not experienced the rigorous demands of higher education would have a difficult time understanding the role high school plays in preparing our students and may make poor decisions related to college preparation.

Assessment:  Education Level
Bachelor’s Degree or Higher:  Kinder, Doell, Arakelian, and Paul
No higher education:  Tyrrell

Find out what's happening in Eureka-Wildwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

2. Does the candidate have any relevant employment experience that would equip them to make complex and important decisions concerning RSD?

Rockwood School District has over 21,500 students, 3,300 employees, 29 school buildings, and an annual operating budget of over $250 million. In addition to the sheer size of the district, the school administration is faced with thousands of complex operational, safety, legal, financial, and human resources decisions on a daily basis.

Effectively directing a school district requires board members with extensive experience and demonstrated capabilities in analysis and decision making on what are often highly complex and critically important issues. 

Assessment:  Relevant Employment Experience
Extensive Experience:  Kinder, Doell, Arakelian 
Limited Experience:  Paul
No Experience:  Tyrrell

3. Does the candidate have any obvious red flags?

Assessment:  Red Flags
No apparent Red Flags:  Kinder, Doell, Arakelian, Paul
Red Flag:  Tyrrell

Eileen Tyrrell is the originator and “voice” of RS for RS (Rockwood Stakeholders for Real Solutions). 

Rockwood parents may have received email blasts from this group, including the recent ones that attacked 2 of the current board members that are seeking re-election.

Readers will know that “RS for RS” has a history of making false or misleading claims about Rockwood and using various media outlets and Rockwood email lists to propagate those claims.

Besides possible ethical violations, the blatant misinformation from RS for RS has created negative firestorms that have wrongly damaged Rockwood’s reputation and may have damaged our property values.   This activity generated by Tyrrell’s group does not demonstrate common decency, nor does it demonstrate the "common sense" that Ms. Tyrrell purports to have.

Tyrrell’s direct involvement in RS for RS is, in my opinion, a red flag that, along with the other two factors, lack of higher education and relevant employment history, disqualify her from getting my vote for the board. 

Readers would be well advised to vote using their own "Common Sense" and throw their support to any of the 4 qualified candidates.

Vote on Tuesday, April 8. 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Eureka-Wildwood