Applicants Interview for Rockwood Board of Education Spot

Rigabar replaces Matthew Fitzpatrick, who resigned from the board Oct. 20. Rigabar will be sworn into office Thursday night at a regularly scheduled board of education meeting, serving until the next available election on April 3.

Rigabar is a resident who has children at , and .

He was selected from among six applicants by fellow board of education directors. (See previous article regarding the vote:  )

Each applicant was asked a series of standard questions. Following is a Patch summary of their responses from interviews conducted at Crestview Middle School in Ellisville Monday. They appear in the order of their interviews.

   QUESTIONS Daniel Hohn Geoff Rigabar Judy Dungan Nancy Waller William Brown Victor Hiek

What do you perceive

as the district's strengths?

Teachers, principals, facilities, culture starts with school you're in. (His wife is teacher at Green Pines Elementary.) Good work goes on every day between parent, teachers and students. Rockwood has great teachers and a good curriculum. Supportive parents, bond huge asset, district reputation, worldclass students. Curriculum that's ahead of most districts in Missouri. Keep moving forward so as to keep up with rest of country. Diverse district and economic groups.  Represents a lot of different viewpoints. Board needs to meet a lot of different expectations. Educators. Recommendation is to listen to community and parents. Look at the facts.

What are your strengths to contribute/recommendations?

Importance of education excellence, as set by his single mother. Rockwood used to be place to be. We've all seen the (negative) stories in past two years; not great public relations. Bruce Borchers has opportunity to communicate to teachers, students and community directly. More Facebook and Twitter.  Collaborator, teamwork for job, trains and manages.
Hope to step in and spend time to effect good outcomes. Bring leadership and reasoning. Engage all constituencies so loud minority doesn't affect or skew. Had to resign from prior service on this board, once on staff with U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, so glad to have chance to offer experience again in spirit of public service. Think Rockwood done great job; love reading about students' achievements. Special School District and Title 1 experience. Musical program knowledge. Haven't touched the gifted or talented program much. Was Rockwood proponent before Rockwood was even nationally recognized district. Family lived here a long time. I owe Rockwood more than I can ever repay. (He is a Lafayette gradudate and former Rockwood teacher.) Others contacted me to encourage me to volunteer for this. Coached Eureka High School baseball. With CPA background, my financial side is a plus; would offer skills built from helping small companies with processes and going through operations. What are your perceptions of the district's challenges? Public education in general has taken a hit. From an outsiders' perspective, I would have a fresh look at things. Perception about board of directors not positioned favorably; not sure both sides of debate heard clearly. Every district faces financial issues since economic downturn of 2008. Challenge to any public body. Wondering how to maintain teachers' pay and attracting talented administrators under financial constaints. How to provide more services to enable all students to be educated. Trying to get the biggest bang for the buck. Take cooperation of citizens, teachers, board and administrators and get through trying times. Unique niches of district needing to be funded from such budget constraints. Communicating with community why district can and cannot afford to do things. Regarding having to cut $5 million from a budget, what would be your approach? Don't know specifics. Could some programs be centralized? Be strategic; to extent planning allows for tradeoffs — understand how tradeoffs being weighed. Process of engaging faculty, teachers, adm staff, secretaries, public and students. Not comfortable to make a cut so large. Office staff can give pretty good ideas. See where programs were cut last time. Trim and go from there. Look beyond personnel cuts. Classrooms aren't made by textbooks. Don't want to start slashing budgets; know gifted program was under review. Ask if programs can be restructured before being eliminated. Rockwood board of education directors deal with employee and salary matters -- do you have any conflicts of interest regarding those type of issues? Wife's employment within district. She's the reason I appreciate what you do. Edward Jones, his employer, conducts services for right to offer bond issues. None currently. None known. As a former Rockwood teacher, his health benefits are provided by district and would be a conflict for that category of board business. His daughter teaches at Rockwood Valley Middle school, and wife teaches Spanish 2 hours a day within Rockwood. Did not see any. What are some examples of your prior leadership experience? Coaches Rockwood soccer. Trains 50 to 100 people at national meetings. International military background about doing "right things for due process under pressure to do expedient things." Led 1,200 people in inter-nationally based business startup. Rockwood board of education president one term; vice president two terms. Interacting with people in 18 Missouri counties on behalf of Sen. Bond. Marching Band guard rep for two years; handle Scrip fundraising. Popcorn fundraising to provide schools with items district could not at the time. Vice president of Rockwood NEA. Rockwood ROSE recipient and spokesperson. In charge of national audit training. Is certified fraud examiner, and involved in evaluating white collar crime. Coached Junior Mustang program for 11 years; likely last person from initial coaching staff still with program. Applicants' introduction and/or concluding remarks First applicant for vacancy. Works in medical sales. Niece and nephew at Kehrs Mill. Lived in taxpayer area 15 years. Wanted to be a teacher when he was younger. Do what I can to be part of decisions about important teacher-student relationships.
Wants to be part of great debate around public education; comes a time where want to give back and lead by example. Balanced, pragmatic. Debate is exactly conversation we should be in. Applauded directors for serving in very visible positions. Hopes to complement what board already has. Quoted Rockwood mission.
One thing I learned is that things look a lot different from two sides of a table. Serving on Rockwood board of education is frustrating, thankless and time-consuming but also some of the most rewarding work someone can do. Parent who wants to make a difference. Lived in Fenton for 21 years; parent volunteer in various capacities over past 20 years. Think I know what parents want from the district. Would support district's music program. Rockwood's educational foundation enable me and my children to lead happy, productive lives; would like to ensure my grandchildren receive same foundation we received. I am proud to have become a teacher. Take my actions over my words. What people do is far more important than what people say. Lived in district for 10 years. Has six kids -- some Marquette High graduates. Have vested interest in Rockwood's future. Had parents who stressed importance of education. Missouri native who was raised in the state's public school system. Excited about opportunity to participate; know it's a short window and felt I should be prepared to jump in. Would give honest feedback.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Eileen Tyrrell, board member for a residents-initiated coalition Rockwood Stakeholders for Real Solutions, said she found it refreshing some of the board of directors had self-imposed evaluation methods for selecting the appointed director. She also said she was glad the interviews were conducted in an open, public meeting.