Just One Shows up in the AM to Run For Two School Board Positions

As of 10:30 a.m. the first morning that candidates for the Mehlville School Board can file to run for the two open positions, Ron Fedorchak was the only one. The election is in April.

They file at the superintendent's office with the superintendent’s executive assistant, Sharon Peiffer. She’s had the title for eight years and said this is the first time she’s seen just one candidate waiting when the door opened.

“Mr. Fedorchak, he’s the first in the door, the first on the ballot,” she said. “From here on out it will be just whenever they arrive from now until the 17th of Jan.”

Fedorchak was voted in by the board when Michael Ocello vacated his seat by moving out of the district. He said when he started in July, the board was being pulled in a lot of directions, but the last couple of meetings have been really smooth.

“That’s why I’m running, because I think we’re on the right path,” he said. “Things could get undone if somebody new came on board, and brings in another set of ideas and tries to push an agenda.”

Applicants can file between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. from Dec. 13 through Jan. 17 and from Dec. 14 through Jan. 13, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. (Monday through Friday). The office will be closed at 1 p.m. Dec. 21 through Jan. 1, 2012 for winter break, and on Jan. 16, in observation of Martin Luther King Day.

Eligible candidates must be: 

• A U.S. Citizen
• A taxpayer of the Mehlville School District
• A resident of Missouri for one year preceding his or her election
• 24 years old

Mehlville School District Superintent Eric Knost said who shows up is unpredictable.

“I don’t think everybody feels there’s a need to come in and get on the ballot right at the opening. We’ll more names,” Knost said.

“That’s the beauty of all this,” he said. “You really don’t know until the process is complete.”