2 Ballwinites Bid for Rockwood Board Spots

The Rockwood Board of Education has a roughly one-in-three chance of landing a new member from Ballwin, at least according to candidate filings submitted Tuesday.

The district school board, which oversees and elementary, and Middle, and and high schools, will have three of its seven seats expire in April. That means voters will have the chance in April to vote in up to three new members, with only one incumbent board member, Eureka's Stephen Smith, fighting to hold on to a soon-to-be-expired seat.

Among the six candidates who declared to take part in the race by this week's deadline were Keith Kinder of Ballwin, and Kevin Paul Mabie, also of Ballwin.

Once elected, board members are expected to help facilitate new programs, officially approve the district's annual budget and evaluate various programs, spending, curriculums and policies throughout the school year.

Keith Kinder, 63, was principal of from 1996 to 2003, in addition to earlier posts as associate principal at Lafayette and Marquette high schools.

“So that’s a total of 17 years in the Rockwood School District,” Kinder said. “Rockwood had given so much to me and my family that I thought a couple of years ago, after being retired for 5 or 6 years from Rockwood, that it was time to start giving back to the community.”

Kinder, who has lived in Ballwin for roughly 25 years, now works as a full time associate professor at Maryville University in the School of Education.

He said his position on the school board would largely be as a facilitator, helping communicate policies and direction between board members, Superintendent Bruce Borchers, administration and the community.

Although he essentially hopes to maintain good performance at the district, he said, Kinder said the most poignant issue in the coming year will be finances.

“We’ve had situations where we’re not growing as fast as we used to [before],” Kinder said. “And so the fiscal challenge is an every-year challenge – not because Rockwood is doing a bad job, but because of the changing economics of the United States."

Calls made late Tuesday to the phone number provided with Kevin Paul Mabie's election filing were not immediately returned.

The three-year terms of board members Darla Baker, Kim McGuiness and Stephen Smith all are set to expire this spring, while the seats of board members Steve Banton, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Peggy Devoy and Janet Strate will remain.

The complete list of candidates competing for the three open spots, in the order they will appear on the April 5 election ballot, are:

Keith Kinder
523 Terrington Drive
Ballwin, MO  63021

Stephen D. Smith *
17030 Redwood Glen
Eureka, MO  63025

Roger A. Stock
1800 Wade Court
Wildwood, MO  63011

Kevin Paul Mabie
117 Caybeth Drive
Ballwin, MO  63011

Matt Doell
648 Southern Hills
Eureka, MO  63025

Michael "Mike" Geller
1409 Homestead Valley Drive
Wildwood, MO  63005

* incumbent board member