Superintendent Discusses Positive Changes at Town Hall Meeting

Superintendent Eric Knost said support is what the Mehlville School District needs most.            

At the district's second town hall meeting, Sonny Ketchum asked the superintendent what he thought the district needed above all else.  

“We need forward motion in this district and we need unity in this district,” Knost said. “To continue to support the efforts that we’ve had… to support our teachers and to give them the resources and the curriculum they need and the technology to stay with the times.”

Much like the , the community brought a variety of topics to the superintendent. The meeting, Knost said, is meant to be a conversation where residents can express concerns or ask questions, whether they have kids attending district schools or not.

was fresh in the minds of some residents, as Jeff Heveroh commended the superintendent on his .

Leanna Buckel, who has a son attending Oakville Middle School, asked about the at Oakville and Mehlville High Schools. If the program is successful, Knost said all Communications Arts freshmen would receive laptops in the fall.

Heveroh said his son is currently in the pilot program at Oakville High School.

“He takes better care of that (the laptop) than he probably does of anything else,” Heveroh said. “He’s excited as all get-out about it. He loves taking notes on it in the other classes; so far, I can tell you that at least one of the freshmen at Oakville is extremely enthusiastic about it.”

Buckel asked if students could bring their own laptops or tablets to school for educational purposes, and Knost advised the mother and son to talk to the school’s principal to work something out.

“I had somebody criticize the concept who said, ‘All I hear educators say is that they can’t get kids to put the technology down, now look what you’ve done, you’ve gone and put technology in their hands.’ I said, ‘exactly,’” Knost said. “That’s the concept."

Nearly 50 people attended the meeting. Every school board member with the exception of Tom Diehl attended;  Fred Padberg, Mike Wainz and Kathleen Eardley were also in the audience.

Knost said he would plan the next town hall meeting around spring break, with the possibility of another before the school year ended.