First Rockwood School Board Candidate Forum Held

Three of the four attended Saturday's candidates' forum hosted by the at The Pointe in Ballwin.

William "Bill" Brown of and both candidates from Chesterfield—Sherri Rogers and Jennifer Kelly—answered questions that came from the approximately 40 attendees.

A fifth candidate this year, incumbent , withdrew from the race in January.

Former state representative and budget Committee Chair, Allen Icet of Wildwood chaired the forum. Icet is a former director and past president of the board.

RS for RS co-founder Eileen Tyrrell said questions came from the audience or were submitted prior to the start of the forum. Each candidate was given an opportunity to answer the questions posed, she said. "Attendees also could pick up campaign literature or sign up as campaign volunteers."

In addition, each candidate was given 4 minutes for an opening statement and 2 minutes for a closing.

Rogers said it was a good "starter forum," and that she planned to attend all of the available candidate forums.

Examples of questions Saturday included:

• top three good points about Rockwood as well as the top three items for improvement
• district finances
• Proposition R
• plans to get stakeholders involved in the district's processes
• stance on the district's decision to eliminate the director of drug prevention services
• communication to "empty nesters" who live in the district
• how to solve the district's budget deficits and what exactly to cut
• bringing more board discussions out into the public/open conversations
• how each would propose to handle contracting district services in the future
• any endorsements each candidate had

Another candidates' forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of St. Louis will be held tonight from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at in Ellisville.