001for April 7th, 2026. Join. Thank you, President Blair. On election day, voters in the Francis Howell School District decided upon candidates for three open seats on the Board of Education. The unofficial election results show that Sarah Dillard, Kevin McGuire, and Jason Adams received the most votes. We currently have listed unofficial election results from the April 7th, 2026 election. This agenda item is also an action item regarding acceptance of the official election results. At this time, the district has not yet received the certified official results from the county. In light of that, I recommend that the board defer action on this item until the official results are available. Uh is there a motion to table this item to a future meeting? So. Uh Carolee Owens motion. Do you have a second? Second. Second is Amy Grider.
002Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed say nay. The motion passes and this item will be brought back at a future meeting once the official results are received for board acceptance and vote. I do want to thank um different members of our administration team for seeking out the official results up to this point and uh appreciate the effort. They just weren't ready for us to approve at this time. So, at this point, uh we're going to have a recognition of board members. Uh Ron Harmon, Mark Ponder, and Jane Puschkar. Want to invite uh Superintendent Mark Delaney to the podium. Thank you, President Blair. >> [clears throat] >> It is my pleasure this evening to recognize our three outgoing board members, Director Harmon, Director Puschkar, and Director Mark Ponder. I want to
003first thank all three of you for your dedication to the Francis Howell School District. In addition to business meetings, closed session meetings, work sessions, special meetings, and retreats, there are countless hours spent preparing for those meetings, reading and understanding recommendations, budgets and financial documents, and of course, board policy. There is school board member training, patron emails, calls, committee meetings, and talking individually with students, staff, parents, and community members at large. During your time on the board, you attended countless district and community events, graduation ceremonies, promotion ceremonies, sporting events, musicals, plays, art shows, PTO meetings, and provided special attention to the events at your buddy schools, communicated with legislators, and spent many evening hours on the phone with myself or other members of our executive team. You helped launch and implement an ambitious five-year strategic plan
004to keep Francis Howell as one of the top-performing districts in the state. You have helped to navigate bond monies that have impacted schools throughout our district, a bond issue that has made our schools safer, healthier, and more conducive to student learning. Your efforts have created spaces that are better for our students, our staff, and our community. You have committed to initiatives that have increased school safety by hiring a dedicated director of safety and security, and renewed the focus of school resource officers in our schools. Your work and support has increased staff pay and corrected some of the challenges of a past staff uh pay structures. You have all navigated as an entire board challenging situations. You have held strong in your collective and personal beliefs of doing what each of you believed was right in
005the support of students. Your work pays off in the celebration of graduation that will be coming shortly to all of our high school students. >> [clears throat] >> All of that service, while benefiting our community, takes time away from your families. You miss family events and other important moments with your loved ones to be here with us. When that happens, you all apologize for not being able to attend meetings when you have other work and personal commitments. I'd like to take a moment to thank your spouses, your families, for the sacrifice that you all make by allowing you by by what they make to allow you to serve our district. You all have been available at any time to support the district, its people, and myself as well. Board service is unpaid, completely voluntary, and
006often thankless work. Public service in the role you play is not easy. You all can attest to that. You do it out of love and out of commitment to the uh families and and students in Francis Howell. You do it because you believe that all of our students deserve a high-quality education, one that Francis Howell is uniquely qualified to deliver. Although he couldn't be here tonight, I do want to say a few words about Ron Harmon. Ron, I want to thank you for your continued push and focus to center the Board of Education on the strategic plan. You have consistently encouraged us all to focus on the big picture. You challenged administration when appropriate to think through initiatives while being good steward of taxpayer dollars. Your experience and background have been important as the district
007navigated the completion of many bond projects. And I have also appreciated your support and transparency. To Director Puschkar, who also could not be here tonight, thank you for giving of your time. You frequently participated committees tied to the hiring of several of our administrators. These are typically long days and are important in finding the right future leaders for our district. Thank you also for your work on the policy committee. You brought a lens in knowing that the creation of policy is what sets the course for much of what goes on behind the scenes. Reviewing policy can be tedious, but it's important work to the overall governance of the district. Thank you for your support and the support you provided me. To Director Ponder, thank you for the balance and support you have brought to the
008board. Prior to your seat flip, your physical seat flip with Director Oakley, you were the one that welcomed our student board reps. You always made our students feel welcomed and supported. You frequently to this day ask our student board reps for their perspective. You value students, you value their lenses, and you value their experiences that they have as kids. You have always approached your board work with being a good steward of Francis Howell taxpayers, while also thinking about initiatives that help support students. You have brought the lens of a dad to your seat, to the students in the district in your decision-making to help support kids across the district. I also want to thank you for the support you have provided to executive cabinet and myself personally. Thank you. For all of you, as your
009[clears throat] service in this in this role comes to an end, I know you will continue to support the district in a variety of ways. There are some small tokens of appreciation at your seat, and I would now like to ask if any of the other board members would like to share some comments about Mr. uh Director Harmon, Director Puschkar, and Director Ponder. Court. I'll go first. Go ahead. Um I would just like to say farewell to our outgoing board members who have generously given of their time for the past 3 years, and for helping me make brownies last year and take them to all the schools. I think they had fun. And we're good. I hope you will enjoy having more time with your families and friends, and playing baseball. Best wishes to you.
010Thank you. I'll just uh plus one to what Mr. Delaney said and then what Carolee said as well. Um this is not an easy position. It does take a lot of commitment and there is a lot of noise sometimes, but behind the scenes, I feel I've seen this board as it this existing board before we transition really come together on a lot of really, really critical issues for the district and I don't want to overlook that. Um especially to Mark since he's here, Director Ponder. Um really especially appreciate the balance that you brought to the board. I think uh there's a lot of passion, you You like uh Mr. Delaney said, and I feel like you were always able to offer a really grounded perspective. And for that, I really want to say thank you,
011and we're going to miss you. I want to add for all three. First for Director Pushkar, a couple of things that are behind the scenes that I've been able to get to see. Whenever there was a administrator appreciation month or a birthday or some of their gift that needed to be organized, she was always the first to say, "Let's make sure we thank this person. Let's make sure we get the memo together." I want to make sure I say thank you to Director Pushkar for initiating those conversations. Also, I'm appreciative of the 20 to 50 conversations I've had with Director Pushkar over the phone. And being willing to give me the time to talk through topics in private settings that allowed us to explore deeper into different angles and directions. And so, I say thank
012you, Director Pushkar, for giving me as much time as you did for those conversations. For Director Harmon, I want to thank him for repeatedly being able to just ask any pragmatic question like, "What's the point of this? What's this?" And >> [laughter] >> It's kind of a funny way of just doing it is every once in a while there's a bunch of ideas around. He's like, "What's what's the point? What's this?" And There's a multi There's a thread and impulse within Director Harmon to pull back and allow work to happen and to kind of get out of in the finger in the pudding or whatever you want to call that reference, right? I also appreciate Director Harmon and his humor. A couple days ago, he pulled up next to me in traffic, started honking his
013horn, and I was like, "What what's going on? This guy bald head and sunglasses." >> [laughter] >> It could have been anybody. It could have been any board member, really. And but But even though even though there was differences, like Ron never hesitated to pursue cordiality across the way. And for Director Ponder, I want to call out again a number of times just when ideology could have taken us one direction to be able to say, "No, this is just just the facts here." And appreciate the times when we were able to shake hands on just what the facts were were guiding us towards. I appreciate you a number of occasions when things were a little heated up here to be able to call out that debate is good. Debate is good. There's always an advantage
014of you know, aiming for as respectful debate as possible, but for you to call out debate is good is again a good value to call out. I appreciate all the conversations with you about baseball, and I appreciate whenever we had a construction project update for Francis Howell Central's baseball field that you took 20 questions and just just the longest meeting ever. And we have a lot of meetings, but anytime there's a baseball question, Director Ponder would just take wear it out. Wear it out. So, but I do appreciate all the time you also took from your family. Thank you for your involvement over the last few years. And at this point, if you have a moment, love to give the microphone to you. I said those things because I was that kid that played on
015that terrible field. And I had to get it right. We had to make sure that they that it was safe, that the kids There's nothing worse than showing up to a field you don't want to play on. You just look at it and you're like, "Oh man, I don't even want to be here now. I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to take one off my head." It's not So, I I I said that out of love for the game, but out of also love for the students that are going to be playing on it, the players. Because like I said, I've been that kid. First, [clears throat] I wanted to I've never been one to write speeches because I I feel like I if I write it down, it's not going to be
016from the heart. First, I wanted to want to just address the incoming board members. Be careful what you wish for. I started this 3 years ago with a full head of hair like Steven. >> [laughter] >> And this has gotten me to a point where the Bosley folks are getting phone calls. Um It it is it is going to be the hardest thing that you've ever done in your life because you've got an administration that is it is full of some of the brightest stars that I've ever met in my life. They are the most intensely working people that I've ever come across, and I've worked in a lot of venues. They don't stop, which means you can't stop. You're going to get phone calls. You're going to get, you know, get contacted at times
017when you don't think that it's ever going to happen. You're going to hear things about this district that you never thought you would hear. And and and and the surprise of it when I first got on the board was was what was what took me off guard. I I I didn't think that it would be that. And for you all, all I can say is just, you know, take it in stride. There is I've said as Steven alluded to, I've said from the beginning there's there is strength in dissent. Make sure that at least, you know, one of you up here is is thinking about what what maybe if if you're all agreeing on something, maybe what the other side might be might be looking at. Because if you miss that part of it, you
018might be missing something vital. Um This has been, like I said, one of the most challenging things of my life, but it it wouldn't have been it would have been way harder had it not been for my my wife and kids. They get They allowed me to have the time and and gave me the grace to be able to focus in on that instead of them at times. Especially with a lot of the things that that as Mr. Superintendent Delaney alluded to with all of the meetings and all of the phone calls and all of the retreats and things, it it does become a lot for for the family. And so, what I can There's any advice I can give to the incoming board members and these board directors is take time to to spend
019with your families when you can do it because this job is while it is extremely demanding, it's going to pull you away at times that you never thought you would be pulled away. You could be at a dinner, and then there's a phone call. You could be waking up for breakfast, and then there's a some sort of an issue. So, again, take it in stride. Do everything that you can in order to to reward those that are allowing you to be able to do this when you can because it it is going to be few and far between. The next 3 years are going to going to be difficult for both the incoming folks and the spouses and kids. And you can all probably attest to that. Um But to my wife, Lisa, and my
020my girls, I I can't thank them enough. We're going to have a lot of time to spend now with each other. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing for them. But it's a great thing for me. So, I want to thank them especially, but also Jane. I mean, you've been fantastic. The entire staff has been great. I learned a lot from Carol Embry and her subsequent replacement. Everybody that we've had here, whether it be Dr. Rompus, Mark, everybody has taught me so many different things about so many different things that I really never thought it would would get to a point where I'm I'm here. But I like to think that I also provided exactly what Mark said as as a dad, a different perspective. As a baseball player, a
021different perspective. You know, batter's eyes at at Francis Howell Central. Those are the types of things that, you know, somebody didn't think about that I just happen to be here for. So, I'm happy for that. But I I welcome the rest of the board, the incoming board. I hope I wish you all luck. I wish you all, you know, if if anybody in the general public is listening to this, this is a hard hard hard job. Give these folks some grace. Don't jump to a conclusion that that you may not know all the facts of. And and really try to to understand that every single thing that we did on this board in the last 3 years was done out of love for the children of this district, the students, the teachers, ourselves and and
022each other, and and this administration. Every single thing, every single decision. So, I want to say thank you to everybody once again, and I really appreciate your friendship and your time. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> WE WANT TO SAY ONE MORE TIME, THANK YOU TO DIRECTOR PONDER. We're going to have a a short recess to so we can get a chance to say goodbye. You get a chance to take the name plate. Yeah, just whatever it is. Anything that's not bolted down, just just grab [laughter] it. And so, we're going to take a few minutes. And then after a few minutes, we'll have the second half of our reorganization meeting. So, everybody just take a few minutes to take a break, and then we'll >> Here you're going to reconvene. Hopefully my own. All right,
023so Jane, um, love to have you take the next step. We are going to recite the oath of office with our three newly elected Board of Education members. I'm going to say what I need to say and then you are going to repeat it. If you want to raise your right hand and make this official. I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Missouri that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Missouri and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of school board director in and for the Francis Howell School District of school board director in and
024for the Francis Howell School District in the County of St. Charles in the state of Missouri in the County of St. Charles in the state of Missouri to the best of my ability according to law. to the best of my ability according to law. Congratulations. >> [applause] [applause] >> All right, so yes, you can walk right on up to a to a empty seat at the dais. That works. Taking a hard left. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> I take it personally. Okay. Welcome. You're welcome. We'll figure out where everybody sits on Thursday. So, we're so glad that you are here. Thank you all. Um, at this point the superintendent of Francis Howell School District will conduct the election of the president of the Francis Howell Board of Education. As part of the reorganization of the
025board, as superintendent I will conduct the election of the president of the board. I will request nominations for board president. Once a person is nominated, they will be asked if they accept that nomination. Their acceptance will be considered the second. We will repeat the acceptance process until there are no other nominations. Do we have a nomination for board president? I would like to nominate Steven Blair. Okay. Mr. Blair, do you accept? Yes. Are there any other nominations? I can nominate anyone like Sarah if I wanted to, right? >> [laughter] >> All right. Board, I would have a motion to close nominations for president of the board. I need a first and a second and then by roll call. So moved. Second. Ms. Greider, seconded by Mr. McGuire. Ms. By roll call, Ms. Hepler. I just
026turned the microphone off. Sorry about that. We have Steven Blair. Aye. Amy Greider. Aye. Carey Lee I. Jason Adams. I. Sarah Dillard. I. Kevin McGuire. I. Congratulations to President Blair. I will now turn over nominations for vice president. Do we have a nomination for board vice president? I'll nominate Amy. I accept. Thank you, sir. Sorry. We need to go back. We only voted the roll call we just did was only to close nominations, I believe, cuz I don't have a So, now we need to elect. >> [clears throat] >> I even watched that video from last year and we did the same thing. >> [laughter] >> You completely jinxed yourself. >> All right, here we go. Um Board, I have a motion to elect Steven Blair for president of the Board of Education. I need
027a first and second, then by roll call. So moved. Second. First by Ms. Greider, second by Ms. Owens. By roll call, Ms. Hepler. Amy Greider. I. Carey Lee Owens. I. Jason Adams. I. Sarah Dillard. I. Kevin McGuire. I. Steven Blair. I. Congratulations to President Blair. I'm glad I don't have to do this part often. I will now turn over nominations for vice president. Thank you so much. It's kind of scary. >> [laughter] >> I have to like follow the highlighted phrases and hopefully don't mess up on it. So, uh do we have a nomination for board vice president? I'm going to try this again. I nominate Amy. I accept. Thank you. Any other nominations? Board, I have a motion to close nominations for the vice president of the board. Need a first and a second.
028So moved. Second. Greider followed by Owens, by roll call. Carey Lee Owens. I. Jason Adams. I. Sarah Dillard. I. Kevin McGuire. I. President Blair. I. Amy Greider. I. We will now vote for vice president. Board members may only vote for one candidate. In this case, there's only one candidate in front of us. Board, I have a motion to elect Amy Greider for the vice president of the Board of Education. I need a first and a second. So moved. Owens and second by Greider. By roll call. Jason Adams. I. Sarah Dillard. I. Kevin McGuire. I. President Blair. I. Amy Greider. I. Carey Lee Owens. I. Congratulations to Vice President Amy Greider. Do we have a nomination for treasurer? I would like to nominate Kevin McGuire as treasurer. I accept. Are there any [clears throat] other nominations?
029Board, I have a motion to close nominations for treasurer of the board. Need a first and a second. So moved. Second. Greider followed by Dillard. By roll call. Sarah Dillard. I. Kevin McGuire. I. President Blair. I. Vice President Greider. I. Carey Lee Owens. I. Jason Adams. I. We will now vote for treasurer. Board members again may only vote for one candidate, which we only have one candidate tonight. Board, I have a motion to elect Kevin McGuire for the treasurer of the Board of Education. Need a first and a second. >> So moved. Second. Director Adams followed by Vice President Greider. Roll call. Kevin McGuire. I. President Blair. I. Vice President Greider. I. Carey Lee Owens. I. Jason Adams. I. Sarah Dillard. I. Motion passes. Congratulations to Treasurer Kevin McGuire. >> [applause] >> Board, I have
030a motion to appoint Jane Hepler secretary of the board and district custodian of records, who shall enter upon her respective duties immediately. Do I have a first? So moved. Second. Director Adams second by Director McGuire. Any conversation? She's done a fantastic job. She'll continue to do a fantastic job. I agree. Support that. All those in favor, say I. I. I. Any opposed, say nay. Motion passes. Board, [clears throat] I have a motion to approve Michelle Jones alternate custodian of records and alternate board secretary as presented. So moved. Second. Director Owens followed by Vice President Greider. Any conversation? All those in favor, say I. I. Any opposed, say nay. Motion passes. Board, I have a motion that board members affirm their commitment to the code of ethics. And this will be equally applied to all seven
031board members. Do I have a first and second? So moved. Vice President Greider. Second. Then uh Director Owens. Any conversation? Uh just to share that the code of ethics is is aspirational and it's something we commit to and want to make sure that we pursue not just advocating for public education, but doing it in a way that shows respect to all people included. Um and to the board, we can stack hands upon the code of ethics together. Um all those in favor, say I. I. Any opposed, say nay. Motion passes. Board, I have a motion to authorize the district to continue to use the current signature plates until new plates bearing the signature of the 26-27 president and treasurer are received. This is a big one. So moved. Vice President Greider. Do you have a
032second? Second. Uh Treasurer McGuire. All those in favor, say I. I. >> [clears throat] >> Any opposed, say nay. Motion passes. And so, uh at this point we have MSBA delegate election process. And for clarity's sake, there's two delegates, then there's one alternate later on. So, this is nominations for the MSBA delegates. This uh refers to the members who will go to MSBA conferences and when they have a set-aside meeting to elect MSBA president and other uh functions within the MSBA that you would be the ones who can have a voice and vote at those meetings. So, we have uh two nominations that we're looking for. Uh can I have a nomination um for MSBA delegate? I nominate Jason Adams. Jason Adams. Do you accept? Yes, thank you. Is there a second nomination? Sarah Dillard.
033Okay. Got the second nomination would be for Sarah Dillard. Do you accept? >> I do. Great. Are there any other nominations? Board, I have a motion to close nominations for MSBA delegates as presented. Need a first and second, then roll call. So moved. Treasurer McGuire. Good. Second Vice President Greider for the seconds. By roll Vice President Greider. I. Director Owens. I. Director Adams. I. Director Dillard. I. Treasurer McGuire. I. President Blair. I. We will now vote for the two MSBA delegates. Board members again only voting for the two candidates in front of us. Board, I have a motion to elect Jason Adams and Sarah Dillard as MSBA delegates. I need a first and second, then by roll call. So moved. Second. Treasurer McGuire, Vice President Greider for the seconds. By roll call. Director Owens. I.
034Director Adams. I. Director Dillard. I. Treasurer McGuire. I. President Blair. I. Vice President Greider. I. Director Owens. I. Congratulations to Jason Adams and Do we have a nomination for MSBA alternate delegate? Um I would like to nominate uh Sarah Okey. So moved. Uh Sarah Okey uh shared that she would accept. Um we can also have a second. If we need a second, Owens. Any other nominations? Uh Board, I have a motion to close nominations for alternate MSBA delegate as presented. Second. Greider followed by McGuire. Uh by roll call. Director Adams. I. Director Dillard. I. Treasurer McGuire. I. President Blair. I. Vice President Greider. I. Director Owens. I. Wonderful. We'll now vote for the MSBA alternate delegate. Board, I have a motion to elect Sarah Okey as MSBA alternate delegate. So moved. Director Adams followed by
035Vice President Greider. By roll call. Director Dillard. I. Treasurer McGuire. I. President Blair. I. Vice President Greider. I. Director Owens. I. Director Adams. I. Congratulations to Sarah Okey as MSBA alternate delegate. Uh we're at the end of our organizational meeting. We have a moment for board comments. If any board member wants to share a comment before we adjourn? Board member, any comments? I think Sarah said that she wanted to say something. >> [laughter] >> I must have missed her. I want to say something. I just want to welcome all three of you to the board. I know Director Ponder made this sound like a little terrifying on the way up here and sometimes it is, but mostly it's really, really rewarding. Actually, always it's really, really rewarding. But it is a lot of time and
036a lot of dedication and I am confident that all of you will will serve this district really well and I just congratulate you and welcome you to the board. Thank you. Director I just want to say how strange and surreal it is to be up here. This feels very weird, but I do want to make sure that I thank everyone for their support in getting me, Kevin, and Sarah elected. Um there are a lot of people to thank, but I want to make sure that I thank the voters for not only turning out to vote for who they thought best served the district, but also in the defeat of Prop RT. And to all those voters that may not have voted or voted a different way, I look forward to um letting you see that
037we are going to do the very, very best for the school district. So, I So, I just I just want to say it's a new dawn, a new day, new life. Yep. And I'm feeling good. Let's get to work. >> [applause] [applause] >> Okay, I have a love letter to the community I would like to read, hence my hearts on my blouse tonight. On April 7th, I felt the love of our community as I saw the vote come in defeating Prop RT. Our community stood up for paying their fair share so we can continue to have the services so many depend on. I am proud to have been part of a coalition of dedicated people working together to protect our schools from devastating financial loss. So, thank you, St. Charles County, for this victory and
038for making your voice heard through the power of the vote. And welcome to our new board members who have volunteered to serve the Francis Howell School District. We are grateful for your willingness to serve all of the students and staff of the Howell community. I look forward to the future as we work together. Thank you so much. >> [applause] [applause] >> Anyone else? Just that this looks really good. That's all. Thank you, KEVIN. >> [applause] >> UH FINAL WORDS OF OF JUST APPRECIATION for the three new board members. Thank you for taking a step forward to say uh I want to support public education and you're ready to make sure that happens. We have a five-year strategic plan that we are stacking hands on and working together uh that allows us to focus on education
039and make sure every kid gets the best education possible um to make sure we are uh treating and caring for our teachers and staff rights that we're a location of choice in the region and making steps in that direction um realizing that there are steps to go, but we're willing to take those steps, identify those steps, and and pursue those steps. Uh a plan that allows us to focus on financial responsibility, allows us to always make individual short-term decisions with long-term decisions in mind, and to realize that that's a way to continue to build trust and build uh momentum in the direction of the best public education in the area uh for all students. And lastly, the area of safety and security. We want to make sure that again kids have the safest place to
040go to school and even the environment for our teachers and staff where they work in um has advancements in terms of what safety and security looks like for them, too. Uh we're in the middle of this uh five-year strategic plan. Uh we get a chance to stack hands together and I'm so glad uh we'll say this a little bit more a little bit later, but so glad that Prop RT failed um which means that at our next board meeting we're not having a conversation on what does it mean to uh drop $4 million off our budget that includes 75% staff. Um and so for all of you who came out to vote against Prop RT, thank you. Um the immediate future and the long-term future is much healthier and much more exciting because of what
041you decided to do. So, thank you all who came out to fight against and vote against Prop RT. So, thank you all and welcome to the Francis Howell School Board. Uh I firmly believe that the very best days of Francis Howell are still ahead of us and we get a chance to stack hands and working on all of that together. So, board, I have a motion to adjourn this meeting. Do we have a first? So moved. Vice President Greider? Second. Seconded by Treasurer McGuire. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed say nay. Motion passes. Meeting is adjourned.