FEW CANDIDATES ENTER RACES FOR SCHOOL BOARDS FIRST DAY OF FILING

Only three school board candidacies were filed Tuesday during the opening day of filings in some Bollinger, Cape Girardeau and Scott County schools districts.

Incumbent Dr. Robert Fox announced he would run for another term on the Cape Girardeau Board of Education, and Thomas A. Ludwig threw his hat in the ring for a Jackson Board of Education seat. Doug Lindley filed for another term on the Woodland Board of Education at Marble Hill.

School boards will accept applications from candidates between now and Jan. 17. School board elections will take place April 1.

Most boards will post business hours over the Christmas school break so that candidates may apply during the holidays. The Cape Girardeau Board of Education office will be closed between Dec. 24 and Jan. 6.

Candidates will run for two, three-year terms in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Nell Holcomb, Oak Ridge, Delta, Scott City, Chaffee, Meadow Heights, Woodland, Leopold and Zalma school districts.

In addition, Chaffee residents will elect a board member to fill the two-year unexpired term of Wayne Pressley, who resigned effective Dec. 1 because he moved out of the district. Pressley was elected in April.

Most board of education representatives said they usually do not receive many candidacy notices before late December or early January. That could change this year because Missouri lawmakers moved the opening and closing filing dates up by two weeks.

"The change caught us by surprise," said Jackson superintendent Dr. Howard Jones.

Potential candidates for school board seats are required to sign a declaration of candidacy when they notify the board of education of their candidacy. They must also sign a notice of filing a required financial disclosure statement, which states they may be required to release a financial statement.

Districts are required to send a notice of election and a sample ballot to the county clerk by Jan. 21.

Harry Rediger, whose term on the Cape Girardeau board ends in April, said he will not run for another term. Rediger said he will retire next year and does not want to commit to a multiyear term.

Leopold superintendent Robert Turner said board members are hoping to keep what has become a tradition in the Leopold School District. "Traditionally, board members serve two terms then step down," Turner said. He said the second terms of Roger Vandeven and Fern Schreckenberg expire in April, and they are hoping someone else will file for the two seats.