Cape interviews candidates for vacated school board position

The Cape Girardeau School Board will select a member to fill a special seven-month seat from five candidates who attended the board meeting Monday.

The district advertised the opening after board member Robert Brown resigned to relocate to St. Louis in August. Interested residents sent letters of inquiry and the school board narrowed candidates based on those letters.

The five finalists -- Dr. Martha Zlokovich, Skip Smallwood, Creighton Gould, Dale Beaird and Carroll Williams -- were interviewed in open session this week by board members. From those five finalists, the board will choose a replacement during its meeting Monday night.

Zlokovich, who served on the board from 2001 to 2004, is a psychology professor at Southeast Missouri State University. Smallwood is a business development executive for Ameren Services. Gould, who ran in the April 2004 election for the school board, works at the university police department.

Williams is a golf coach at the university. Information on Beaird was not available.

The replacement will serve on the board until next April's election, when voters will have an opportunity to elect someone to serve for the one year remaining on Brown's term.