story by ALEX ROZAR and AMISHA PAUL
On April 2, Rockwood voters will choose between three candidates to fill two three-year seats on the Rockwood Board of Education.
Loralee Mondl, the Board’s current president, is running for re-election following the end of her second term. Matt Doell, who has been on the Board for eight years, is letting his term expire following an unsuccessful run for the Missouri House of Representatives in August.
Running against Mondl are Azra Ahmad, an attorney, and Tom Dunn, security screening company territory manager.
Polls will open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Any Rockwood resident who is a U.S. citizen and is 18 or older can register to vote in the upcoming election. Prospective voters can even register online or at “any Rockwood school,” according to the Board’s website.
However, registrations “must be postmarked by the fourth Wednesday before the election,” according to Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft. For this election, that deadline would be March 27.
After the election, the Board will hold a “reorganization meeting” on April 11, where the two candidates who won the election will be sworn in and the Board will choose its president and vice president, according to Mondl.
This means if she is re-elected on Tuesday, Mondl would not automatically be president, despite currently holding the position.
The Lancer Feed had the chance to speak with all three candidates. Here’s what you should know going into the polls.
AZRA AHMAD
story by AMISHA PAUL
Azra Ahmad is currently an estate planning attorney working in private practice at her firm, Mid-America Law Practice, LLC. Previously, she has worked as a speech pathologist.
Ahmad also serves on several boards in the St. Louis area. In April 2016, she was appointed to the St. Louis County Human Relations Commission by county executive Steve Stenger. Ahmad also is on the Board of the Hearing and Speech Center.
As a candidate for the Board of Education, Ahmad said she hopes to draw from her various and diverse experiences to offer a new perspective to the Board.
“Most of the Board members right now have an education background. I’m an attorney, so I have a legal background, and I may look at things differently in terms of a policy point of view,” Ahmad said.
However, Ahmad’s professional background is not the only area in which she may potentially offer the Board another viewpoint.
“I definitely have a different perspective, as I am a minority. I was born and raised in America, so I know that perspective as well,” Ahmad said. “I know what it’s like to come from an immigrant family. I can empathize with students who come from a different background and the pressures they feel.”
If elected to the Board, Ahmad said she hopes to be an advocate for minority students.
“There are things that I’ve learned about that bother me, and I’d like to be a voice for those students,” Ahmad said. “I do feel that the Board should reflect the community it serves.”
Ahmad said she also feels that the social and emotional aspects of learning are very important to address in an educational setting.
“I’m finding that kids today are really anxious,” Ahmad said. “They have depression, ADD—you name it. Sometimes just going through daily routines can be difficult. I feel that schools can help give students the tools to help them cope with all the stress they have in their life. So I’d support the Board in addressing social-emotional learning for students.”
Additionally, she said the current educational standard of excellence and use of technology in Rockwood are also important aspects to be continued in the future.
Ahmad decided to run for the Rockwood School Board, as her youngest child, Feross Habib, is graduating from Lafayette High School in May.
“The Rockwood School District has given so much to my children, and it was my time to give back,” Ahmad said.
Along the way, Ahmad said she has found the campaigning process to be a fun way to meet new people and get to know the Rockwood community.
“I’m getting to meet people that I would not normally interact with, and I am really enjoying that. I can go up to strangers and shake their hand and tell them to vote for me,” Ahmad said.
photo courtesy of MID-AMERICA LAW PRACTICE, LLC
TOM DUNN
story by ALEX ROZAR
Tom Dunn works as a Territory Manager for security screening company Rapiscan Systems. He, his wife Lindsey and his three children chose to move to St. Louis from Chicago a few years ago, and Dunn says they found a house in Wildwood in order to live in the Rockwood School District.
“We moved to Wildwood because of the school district,” Dunn said. “When [Lindsey] said 'Let's move down [to St. Louis],' the first thing I said was, 'What are the school districts?' And I identified Rockwood as being one of the top in the state. And so we just took it from there.”
Dunn said growing up in Chicago was very different from living in St. Louis.
“Schools are done differently. The government is done differently,” Dunn said. “It's a great school I went to, although we did live in an unsafe neighborhood.”
In fact, Dunn was in Chicago during The Lancer Feed’s interview with him, speaking over the phone. He said he was there both on a business trip and to visit his father, who was undergoing surgery.
“I'm out of town on business, but my father had surgery today. So I wanted to be sure that I was here for that,” Dunn said.
As a Board candidate, Dunn said he has two main priorities for the district.
“What I want to bring to Rockwood is really twofold,” Dunn said. “One, I want to make sure that Rockwood continues to keep their facilities in excellent condition so that the teachers and students have equal opportunity and access to the best amenities.”
He cited the construction of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) areas at Eureka High School as a “perfect example” of Rockwood achieving this goal.
“The other part that I want to see is more support in terms of thinking of student activities and parental involvement,” Dunn said.
Dunn also spoke from his expertise in the security sector about the issue of ensuring students are safe at school.
“The first question you have to ask is, "What is your objective?” Dunn said. “Are you trying to prevent students from bringing stuff in, or are you trying to prevent like what happened in Newtown or other places where somebody from the outside came in and then started doing harm?”
Despite working for a screening company, Dunn actively discouraged implementing metal detectors at schools because of “public perception”, instead encouraging methods that are “a little bit more discreet”.
“I would support security cameras, first and foremost,” Dunn said. “Because, to be perfectly honest, metal detectors are meant to be a deterrent. Because if you think about it, what does a metal detector somewhere indicate? Do you live in an unsafe neighborhood? Or do you go to an unsafe school? And that is the stigma that parents will start having—that ‘Oh my God, why is there metal detectors here now? Did something happen?’”
However, Dunn did applaud the “great strides” the district has taken in terms of security.
“As of right now, I say Rockwood has taken the proper measures to secure the students,” he said.
Comparing himself to the other candidates for the Board, Dunn talked about his daughters currently being in each level of schooling (elementary, middle and high school), and challenged fellow candidate Azra Ahmad as not having the same “vested interest” in the district’s success as he does.
“[Ahmad’s] last child is graduating this year,” Dunn said. “So I don't know how much of a vested interest she may have going forward. Whereas I have a very long, drawn-out, vested interest to see this school district achieve, not only for my children but for all the children that my children have as classmates.”
Talking about Loralee Mondl, Dunn congratulated her previous six years on the Board and predicted that she would be re-elected.
“[Mondl]'s been on the Board for a lot of years, so she's got great experience. Okay? And I foresee her being chosen to continue on. She's very, very passionate about the role she's played in this,” Dunn said.
photo courtesy of TOM DUNN
LORALEE MONDL
story by ALEX ROZAR
Loralee Mondl has been on the Board of Education for six years and serves as its current president. If re-elected for a third term, she said she hopes to continue to be a leader in the district as it prepares for a new superintendent.
“I just feel that I still have more to give,” Mondl said. “I think the transition between Dr. Knost and Dr. Miles is an important one, and I've been the Board president for the past year.”
Previously, Mondl was a teacher and basketball coach at Marquette High School for five years. She then decided to stay at home to raise her two sons, Nick and Cam. Now Mondl teaches adjunct at both Maryville University and Webster University.
“First and foremost, I believe anybody who knows me just knows that I'm very passionate about kids, their education and their lifelong experiences,” Mondl said. “Really, I feel like my whole life has kind of revolved around kids and their education, so that's the core of who I am.”
Even though she has been on the Board for two terms, Mondl said her priorities as a Board member now are still quite similar to when she ran for the first time six years ago.
“It's funny, because I look back at what my priorities were six years ago, and they haven't really changed,” she said.
However, Mondl did say she has had to adapt in her approach to education over time.
“Putting kids first obviously is the most important thing,” Mondl said. “But a lot of things have changed in the last six years. The social-emotional learning piece, I think, is pretty crucial.”
Along with five other Board members, educators and Rockwood faculty, Mondl was one of the founding members of Rockwood Gives Back (RGB), a group which “provides assistance to students who have a demonstrated need,” per its website. This includes donating food, giving free-and-reduced meals at lunch, awarding matching grants to needy students and families and hosting a 5K and a Fun Run.
“[Being a member of RGB] kind of exhibits how much I care even more about kids, that we want to try and help not just kids, but families as well,” Mondl said. “So I think that is really a big thing that I've really latched onto in the last couple years.”
photo courtesy of the ROCKWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT