Cape Girardeau school board candidates participate in forum ahead of April 2 election

Cape Girardeau Public Schools Board of Education candidates took the stage to discuss their platforms Monday, March 18, at Cape Central High School's Richard D. Kinder Performance Hall.

Incumbent board members Paul Cairns and Kyle McDonald made their cases for reelection while Kristal Flentge eyes a first term on the board, which has two seats to fill for three-year terms at the upcoming Tuesday, April 2, general municipal election.

The candidates were given two minutes to introduce themselves, 90 seconds to answer each question posed by the school district's Community Teachers Association officials and one minute for a closing statement.

Paul Cairns

Cairns, who is seeking a second term, cited a desire to make a difference as his reason for initially becoming involved with the school board, stemming from an incident involving a friend's child he felt was handled inappropriately. Cairns has two children currently enrolled at Cape Central High School and one who recently graduated.

"I realized the stakes are really high," Cairns said. "The people we have representing us on our school boards have important roles in oversight in terms of the administration and how things operate as a school district that has 4,500 kids and lots more families that are counting on us to help their kids achieve their best pathway toward success and being the best version of themselves."

Cairns -- a Cape Girardeau native and 1992 Cape Central High School graduate -- announced Monday that, if elected, he will be stepping down from the position at the end of his next term.

"Ultimately, I think people who have kids in this district, I'd like to free up these spots for them," Cairns said.

According to Cairns, his top priority in the district is figuring out how to get parents to want to send their children to Cape's public schools.

"Every parent in this room, likely the most valuable asset in your life is your kids," Cairns said. "That's the thing you wake up every day and are most passionate about, ensuring they have the best opportunity to be successful at whatever they choose to do. I think there are so many incredible things happening in his district, but in the world we live in it's really, really easy to get hyper-focused on the things that maybe aren't exactly as we want them to be. It kind of takes a tone from national politics and all the things that are going on in the world and I think we're better than that."

Cairns also leaned heavily into the school district's diversity, citing it as a positive, while also recognizing it could be a reason people are trying to get away from the district.

"My kids play sports, and I've been around kids from all walks of life in this district. One of the things I love about Cape Public Schools is the diversity," Cairns said. "I think one of the challenges, and the reason why so many people are fleeing our public schools, is because of the diversity and because there are kids that don't look like their kids. The income levels are different, all kinds of things are different and I think that unites us. Unlike national politics and things like that, I think we should use that as a source of strength. We're better because we have lots of families with lots of different backgrounds and, ultimately, I think we should lean into it."

Ultimately, Cairns expressed hope for the district, regardless of whether he is reelected or not, because he feels each candidate is well qualified for the job.

"You've heard me mention national politics a couple of times and I kind of feel like the world has just lost its mind. If you watch the news, you kind of feel like,`What the heck are we doing?'" Cairns said. "I think you've got three awesome choices, and I feel super proud to be one of them for this school board role here in Cape because I think, honestly, you've got three people who care about this district, who want to make a difference and make it better. It's a pretty good problem to have."

Kristal Flentge

Flentge, the only candidate of the three who isn't currently on the school board, expressed her love for the city along with her belief that the school board needs members who are "directly impacted by the decisions that are being made." Flentge has four children who attend Cape Girardeau Public Schools, her oldest being a high school freshman and her youngest a kindergartener.

"I volunteer in our schools every week, and spending several hours a month in our schools has given me an opportunity to take a little peek into how our schools are functioning," Flentge said. "I think that our teachers deserve school board members who see their daily investment in our students and deserve school board members who see their daily efforts. Lastly, I love this community. I really love Cape Girardeau. I have lived in many places. I've lived in other countries. Cape is a very unique town and I think it's a fantastic town. It's a wonderful place to raise a family and I think we all deserve school board members who want a thriving school district that matches our thriving community."

Flentge cited reading proficiency and open communication between the school board and parents as her top priorities as a candidate.

"In the time that I've announced that I am running for school board, I've had several parents reach out to me to express their concern over the reading level that their child is at and the support that they have access to in school," Flentge said. "I know we have excellent classroom teachers and we have excellent reading support, but I also think that, at some buildings, they're stretched thin so kids don't get the access that they need. In addition to that, I do understand that our kids are more than just a standardized test score, but even taking that into consideration, we have 47% of kids testing at proficient reading levels according to DESE (Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education). I know we can do better than that, and I would like to see the board prioritize that in the form of a budget that allows more reading support specialists.

"In addition to that, I would really like to see the board take a more active role in educating our parents simply on what they do and what the policies are. I think a lot of frustration exists on the parents' side because people just don't understand what the policies are, who they voice concerns to and what the chain of command is. That information is available on the website, but it's very difficult to find and I think simply making that more transparent would be a goal of mine, hopefully to help support parents in that way."

When candidates were asked how often they attend events or visit classrooms in the district, Flentge touted her heavy involvement with the schools.

"I am inside the schools at least twice a week, but sometimes more," Flentge said. "In doing that, I've really had the opportunity to build some relationships with teachers and admin. Ultimately, it is a big part of why I decided to run for school board. Having the opportunity to regularly witness our incredible teachers and our students just, every day, investing the way that they do really lit a fire under me to want to serve our district in this way and hopefully offer support to the teachers in the form of policies that serve them."

Kyle McDonald

McDonald -- the most experienced of the three having served 18 years on the board, including seven years as president and three years as vice president -- feels his work in the school district isn't quite finished.

"There's a lot of amazing things going on," McDonald said. "(There are) a lot of projects and initiatives that I want to continue to be a part of, not just within our district, but being on the school board allows me to serve on other regional and statewide boards. For instance, I serve as the vice chair of Missouri's Securities Investment Program, which gives good investment opportunities for schools and other municipalities. I believe that public schools are the backbone of every community and without strong schools, our communities fail or suffer drastically. That's why I want to continue to serve on this board, to ensure that we have good strong schools."

While McDonald isn't a Cape Girardeau native, his two daughters are both graduates of Cape Central. Despite not having children currently attending a school in the district, McDonald cited his "heart for service" -- which he said he earned through growing up in a military household and his involvement in Boy Scouts of America during his childhood -- as reasons he is running for election again.

"In the scouts, they always taught us to leave a place better than when you found it, and I've strived in every aspect of my life to do just that," McDonald said. "When Amy and I were married in 1983, we decided Cape was going to be our home where we wanted to raise our kids. While I didn't have the opportunity to see firsthand the impact that our amazing schools had in our students' lives, I've invested the last 18 years of my life serving this community and I believe I have a lot more to offer."

McDonald bolstered his reelection campaign by detailing some of the improvements the school district has made since he was first elected in 2006.

"When I first got on the board, we had three superintendents in five years, our graduation rate was 72% and we weren't serving all students equally," McDonald said. "Since I've been on the board, we've had three outstanding superintendents and our graduation rate has broken through the 90% level. I believe we've made great success, but I think we have a long way to go."

McDonald listed multiple priorities as he seeks another term.

"Something that the board has done recently was develop the newly constructed CSIP (Comprehensive School Improvement Plan) plan, our continuing improvement plan, and I think that's going to be a really important piece to making sure that this district takes the next level of success," McDonald said. "Whoever gets on the board, I would encourage them to absorb as much information out of that CSIP because that's going to be our road map to the next level of success. Also, (my priority is) to continue to support our administration in educating all students. That's our job. If we're an industry, our students will be our product. If we can't do our jobs correctly, to make our product the best person they can be, then we've failed at that and I think that's going to be one of the top priorities that we need as well.

"We need to help our superintendent establish forward-thinking goals, and probably one of the most important things that we've made huge strides on is continuing to compensate our staff and our teachers at the levels they should be. While we have gotten our teacher salaries for starting teachers to the highest level within our area, I think there are still huge strides to make to compensate them as they should be."