Three Cape Girardeau School Board seats open for election

Three spots will be up for election when candidates begin filing for the Cape Girardeau School Board on Dec. 17.

Filing runs through Jan. 21, and the election is scheduled for April 8. Spots to be decided are those of board president Tony Smee, Stacy Kinder and Don Call. Terms run for three years.

Stacy Kinder, who has been on the board for six years, said Wednesday she will not seek re-election.

"I've been on the board for two terms, and coming into it, I just always thought that would be the extent of what I was wanting to do," she said. Also, she and her husband have three teenagers, and they recently adopted a boy from Ethiopia, who just turned 8.

"It's something I've been thinking about for a while," Kinder said.

She said she's "thoroughly loved" her time on the board.

"I think all our children have been in the district since they started school. It's been a wonderful way for me to be involved in where they are. The administration has been great. [Jim] Welker started as superintendent the year I was elected to the board. It's been wonderful working with him and his administration."

The dress code was the largest issue she dealt with in terms of community interest.

"I wouldn't say it's the most important issue, but it was one that had the most passion involved for sure," Kinder said.

"Most issues boil down to good financial stewardship, whether it be the insurance issue or the bond issue and the construction that came from that, salary schedules that we've been wrestling with. That was by far ... my No. 1 concern."

On the board, there's always been a "real sense" sound fiscal policy was of huge importance.

"The administration has always ... had a good financial eye on every issue and how it all relates and just being very responsible with our tax dollars," Kinder said.

Call said he has not decided whether to run. He's been on the board four years, first filling the unexpired term of Steve Trautwein, who resigned in April 2010. Trautwein was appointed to the board in September 2001 and re-elected to three terms.

After he filled the unexpired term, Call ran -- and won -- his board spot.

"I was a school superintendent for many years, and I'm getting to see it from the other side now from the board members I dealt with all those years," Call said. He was a superintendent in Humansville, Sparta and Stratford, all in Missouri. He and his wife hail from Cape Girardeau.

Smee is completing his sixth year on the board and is considering filing for re-election. He said he will not make the decision alone; he'll discuss it with his wife and children.

"Improvements in student performance, graduation rate, technology, and long-term capital improvement and maintenance have been issues that the board has worked hard on during my two terms," Smee said in an email. "I compare school board work to piloting an ocean liner: You must plan far in advance, make very careful and thoughtful corrections when needed and try to get (and keep) everyone on board until you reach your destination. We have made steady progress in six years, and I'd like to see our planning through another term to lend some continuity and institutional knowledge to the board as a whole."

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

301 N. Clark Ave.

Cape Girardeau, MO