School Board Candidate John Roland Wants to Bring Fresh Ideas to the Table

John E. Roland, Jr., born in Columbia, MO, has lived in the Oakville area for nearly 22 years. After thinking about it for several years, Roland has decided to run for a position on the Mehlville School Board. He said that his 11-year involvement with the Mehlville Optimist Club and experiences working with many of the principals and administrators within the district prompted him to consider running.

“I never did it before because my kids were so young,” he said. “An opportunity came up this time around, and I had people in the community telling me I’d be great for the school board because I do so much with the kids already.”

Roland said that when he mentioned the idea of running for the school board at a family dinner, his wife told him it was a good idea.

“I have backing at home, and I have backing in the community,” he said. “The time was right.”

Roland's Columbia roots stem from his father, who played football and baseball for his high school and was drafted to play football at the University of Missouri.

“That’s where he was kind of an all-star,” Roland said proudly. “He was All-American for three years and still holds some records. His jersey was retired in 1999.”

Roland’s parents met and married in college and after they graduated, his mother worked for McDonnell Douglas. They moved to St. Louis when he was about a year old. He has two younger brothers, Jamie and Paul, and a younger sister from his father’s second marriage.

Roland attended both Old Bonhomme and Ladue high schools, and later received his bachelor’s degree in Agriculture (with an emphasis in food service and lodging management) from Mizzou.

“That basically means restaurant and hotel management,” he said.

Roland has been married to his wife, Holly, for nearly 23 years. They have two children in the Mehlville School District—a daughter, Courtney, 18 and a son Adam, 14. Both are students at Mehlville High School and have been in the district since kindergarten. Roland said he and his wife got involved in the district after participating in the Parents As Teachers program.

In addition to his job as a financial advisor with Edward Jones, Roland said that he spends a lot of his time running around after his kids. He’s also a youth leader at his church, Concord Trinity United Methodist on Lindbergh.

“We’ve got a thriving youth group,” he said. “Myself, my wife and several others are youth leaders, leading kids in prayer and fun activities.”

Roland said that he and his wife regularly join the group on retreats and mission trips, in addition to their regular activities.

“I have a passion for working with kids and teens,” he said.

His long-time involvement with the Mehlville Optimist Club is another way he reaches out to kids in the community.

“We work with the different school districts to help kids to understand that optimism can be a way of life and to always see the glass as half full,” he said.

Roland runs a program called Youth of the Month, along with two other Optimist Club members, and orchestrates the annual Youth Appreciation Week Program.

Roland was motivated to run for the board because he feels there is a disconnect between the school board and community.

“If I can maybe help frame the issues so that people can understand them, maybe there would be a little bit more of a connection between the school district and the community,” he said.

As a financial advisor, Roland said he helps people to achieve their long-term saving goals. He helps with different types of investments ranging from stocks and bonds to mutual funds and retirement, making sure his clients can retire in the manner they’ve dreamed about and helping them send their kids to college.

But, he said, he does not necessarily want to be on the district’s finance committee.

“I want to have a separate work life, and I want to be able to do something more with the community aspect of it,” he said. “The school district needs to have more of a community outreach to it, and I can help with that.”

Roland said that he’s never held a political office before, and he has no interest in holding any other political seat.

“I’m doing this because I want to make things better for the kids and for the district,” he said. “If not now, when?”

Among his strengths is the fact that he’s personable and can deal with situations as they arise, Roland said.

“I can be sympathetic but I gather all the information, and I don’t just shoot from the hip,” he said. “In the position I have at Edward Jones, I have to ask a lot of questions to get to the root of what the issue is and be able to go from there.”

He believes that the board could benefit from having someone who is open and willing to listen and weigh the options, and that his problem-solving abilities will be a benefit as the board seeks solutions to existing issues.

“I think that every time you hear a no, it’s really a qualified yes,” he said. “It’s just a matter of, if you can’t do it this way, what way can you go to get the same result without going overboard?”

Roland said he feels confident that he can work amicably with the other members of the school board.

“We’re all people,” he said. “Yes, there are different standpoints and people have different hot-button items, but you all have to work together for the greater good.”

Roland said he isn’t afraid of the personal criticism that is likely to hit him as a school board member. Plus, as a financial advisor who needs to sell his services to make a living, he said he can be quite tenacious if the situation calls for it.

“You don’t get into the sales business with a thin skin,” he said. “I make a living out of hearing 'no' on a daily basis.”

Roland said his main weakness in relation to running for the school board is his lack of experience, having not serving on the school board previously.

“Never having been in the political arena, I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes yet,” he said.

Roland said that if a student, teacher or other member of the community came to him as a member of the school board and asked for his help with a problem, he would listen first and get all the details of the issue.

“I would let them know that I understand the problem, and I would explain that I’m just one person,” he said. “I would bring the issue to the board and also invite that person to come explain the problem personally to the other board members.”

He said that this would help in two ways. First, the board would be able to hear firsthand what the problem was, and second, the student or teacher would either get a solution or be able to understand why a solution wasn’t possible at that time.

“If we can fix it or make it better for them right then, great,” he said. “But if we can’t, at least they can understand the reason why we can’t.”

While feels he is qualified to serve on the board, Roland said he doesn’t have a particular platform or a specific agenda in his quest for election.

“That’s kind of an enigma for me, because I don’t know what I’m looking to get out of it,” he said. “What I am looking to provide for this school district is hopefully an extra set of ears and to provide a prudent man’s opinion on decision that are being made, and maybe if I need to be the devil’s advocate to say, ‘Hey, did you think about this?’”

Roland said that there is no one hot-button item for him, and that he doesn’t feel the need to stand up and “beat the gavel” about specific issues that need to be fixed.

“Just like any other group, there are positive things that are going on and there are things that need to be addressed,” he said. “I’m hoping that I can help with the things that can be better, but also to showcase the things that are going well.”

He believes that if the positive things that are happening in the district aren’t highlighted, it will be difficult to fix the problem areas.

“It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you just look at the bad things, you’re going to continue down that spiral,” he said. “If we can help promote the really good and positive things and the good outcomes we have, we can work on the problems that come up at the same time.”

As far as district's budget issues are concerned, Roland said that since he hasn’t yet examined all of the district’s books, he isn’t sure what can be cut.

“I see some of the areas in the school that have been cut and I think ‘Wow, how can we take that away?’” he said. “But at the same time, are they privileges or are they necessities?”

He believes that the necessities can’t be cut and to keep Mehlville a district of distinction, cuts have to made wisely. But, he believes there are ways to pare some things back.

“There are alternatives that you can use,” he said. “It’s just like going green. Are there ways we can reuse the resources we currently have before we start cutting out particular programs?”

He noted that while he doesn’t have any particular budget cuts in mind, he doesn’t know that there’s anything specific he would keep either.

“I know that basically puts me on the fence both ways,” he said. “But I can’t make a determination without having all the information.”

Roland believes that too many kids in a classroom can cause a serious problem because students are likely to receive a lower quality education.  

“It’s one thing if you are in a university setting, and you’re in a lecture room with 300 people,” he said. “But when you’re in a high school or even a grade school setting in a classroom with 35, 45 or even 50 people, it reduces the effectiveness that teacher has on the shy kid who sits in the back who’s afraid to raise his hand and ask a question.”

He said that unless the district employs a team-teaching concept in oversized classrooms, many students would find themselves falling through the cracks instead of receiving the individual attention they might need to flourish academically.

Roland said that while he voted for Prop C, it had a lot of issues, and he doesn’t feel that it was completely thought out. He understood , and said that there were things about it that should have been re-examined before it was added to the ballot.

“I think the idea was good, but I think there were a lot of add-ons where the next step thought wasn’t there,” he said. “It was a case of ‘let’s try to get as much money as we can’ without actually letting everyone know what the necessities were.”

If elected, Roland will allot much of his time to the board, but will still be very dedicated to his family and his church. While he said that is definitely not a weakness, there are things he won’t sacrifice, even for a spot on the school board. For example, he wants to continue to attend his kids’ sports events and continue in his role as a youth leader.

“When the youth group goes on retreats, I go as the chef, and I don’t want to sacrifice that time that I am able to provide that particular blessing to the kids,” he said.

Roland said he would have to balance that against his duties on the board.

“But if it came down to it, my family and my faith are the things I’m going to stand up for first,” he said.