School Board Candidates File for 2012 Election

Candidates began to trickle in for school board seats up for election on April 3, 2012 in area public school districts.

Candidate filing opened Dec. 13 and will close on Jan. 17. Voters will elect school board members to serve three-year terms – with the exception of perhaps one school district.

Four candidates filed Tuesday in the Francis Howell School District for two open seats on the board.

The incumbents filing were board vice president Stephen Johnson and member Marty Hodits.  Two other candidates filing on Monday are Eric Seider, who ran as an unsuccessful board candidate earlier this year, and Marie Haupt, a retired district teacher.

In the St. Charles School District, long-time incumbent Wayne Oetting and candidate Marita Malone were the first two candidates to file for two open seats on the board.  Oetting and and Tim Bekebrede are the incumbents.

Oetting has served thirteen terms on the school board and was first elected in 1971. He is a former administrator in the Francis Howell School District.  Bekebrede was elected to the school board in 2009 and is in the construction business.

Malone, 61, is an assistant professor of criminal justice and security at St. Louis University. This is her first time running for a school board seat. She said Tuesday that she always felt a person can make a difference by working with children.

Long-time Orchard Farm board members and incumbents Fred Semke and Nancy Goeke have filed their candidacies for two open seats on the board. Semke has served five terms or 15 years on the board, and Goeke has served six terms or 18 years.

The basic qualifications for becoming a school board member include being a U.S. citizen, a Missouri resident for at least a year before the election, a resident taxpayer of the district, and at least 24 years of age.