School Board Candidate Franchesca Gindler Aims for Mother's Perspective

When Franchesca Gindler was growing up in the Houston area, she attended eight schools by the time she was in ninth grade. When she had her own children, she and her husband wanted to find a permenant community and school district to raise their two children. Having being born in St. Louis, Gindler and her husband decided on Mehlville.

Gindler is certified to teach grades nine through 12 and previously taught in a private school. She was on her way to getting her master's degree in school counseling when she had her first daughter.

Now a stay-at-home mom, Gindler has run a small, in-home daycare for the last nine years. After moving to Mehlville, Gindler wanted to give her kids the roots she didn’t have as a child, and she decided that the only way accomplish that was to get involved in the community.

“I did Mothers Club, secretary of PTO — I spend three to five days a week in my children’s school — Oakville Elementary. And this year, I was very involved in (campaigning for) Prop C,” she said. “I was canvassing every weekend and worked the phone bank. I helped run the polls the day of the election.”

While canvassing for Prop C, she discovered an underrepresented group that would have been in favor of the measure if it had been a lower amount of money than the 88-cent increase requested. One of the reasons Gindler is running for the school board is because of this group.

“It was the wrong amount at the wrong time. I think most people fall in the middle. We need to find some common ground and make some decision,” Gindler said. “You end up depending on community support more than financial, and volunteer support is desperately needed at the schools.”

Gindler would like to accomplish better communications within the community and a better meeting-in-the-middle of the different groups. She wants everyone to feel that they have the right to speak about how they feel about education in Mehlville. The biggest problem she sees within the district currently is a breakdown in communication within the residents themselves.

“There are always going to be people who are going to speak different languages, but if you aren’t going to communicate, you won’t catch even the littlest bit of understanding,” she said. 

Gindler said that she agrees with the budget cuts proposed at the February board meeting which include a salary freeze, a transition from a  and the delay of some upkeep expenses.

“The reduction in staff through the voluntary  is great planning," she said. "I know it’s controversial. They have cut have some administrative positions in the district. Nobody wants to make these cuts. The board doesn’t want to vote on cuts.”

Initially, when the district took on literacy coaches, Gindler said they knew “we would fall in love with them and not have the long-term ability to pay.” 

“Schools out there desperately need these coaches," she said, adding that she would vote in favor of piecing them into the budget.  

Gindler feels that her comfort level is interacting with teachers in the school. She said that she has been professional and respectful, and the teachers have been helpful to her.

“In true teacher form, if you have a question, they want to answer it for you,” she said. “Students are the reason you are here. I believe these kids need to be heard, and until the littler kids are able to speak up for themselves, they need to be represented. Some parents don’t know there is an opportunity to do it. I believe in that capacity the teachers have a really good idea of what the kids need. The teachers that are in Mehlville are here because they want to be.”

Gindler’s husband, Mike, thinks his wife's strengths are that she is caring and compassionate, and that she really does care about kids.

“I think she really saw the need to have that mother’s perspective on the board, and she really wants to make the school a better place for our girls,” he said. “Education is extremely important to her. I think she just sees the value in taking the school district that we’ve chosen to live in and making it as good as it can be. We are very happy with our choice, we are very happy with the community and the school district. Everyone has been very welcoming.”

“I have been meeting with as many PTOs as I can, touring with schools, dived in as much as I could to our own school community and have been out there canvassing,” she said. “The ones willing to talk to you—you can gain a lot of information and understanding.”