School Community
Parents are the primary educators and role models for their children. I see the Wright City R-II School District as a partner in assisting parents in their duty to educate their children. The job of a School Board member is to make sure public schools provide ALL kids a free and appropriate quality education.
It take a village to educate a child. Parents, teachers, administrators, students, other school board members, retirees, farmers, and other patrons whom do not have kids in the district all play a vital role in making our school district successful.
Parental involvement is the most important aspect and key to educating kids. I am committed to exploring additional ways to meaningfully engage parents in the schools through study groups, and volunteer opportunities for extra-curricular activities. Finally, coming out of the pandemic, the school district needs to re-engage parents and others to come back to school and volunteer.
I recognize there are other groups of people that play a vital role in making the Wright City School district successful.
For instance, all of the groups I mentioned pay taxes to the school district. Passing both Propositions 1967 and 2025 will take support from community members who do not have children in our school district. Furthermore, many members of our community volunteer time to help educate our kids. Local farmers provide field trip opportunities. Retirees volunteer their time for robotics, in classroom activities, and other extra-curricular activities. Business owners provide part time jobs and intern opportunities.
In summary, it takes active involvement of all stakeholders to create a vibrant educational environment to help all of our kids succeed!
School Vouchers
Frank Zykan was recently pressured to provide an opinion on vouchers via FaceBook. Here is the response Frank provided:
“Ramiz Hakim – Wright City, MO Alderman – I have opinions about everything. CRT and obscene books in schools are areas where parents have concern AND where a school board would have a say. Unfortunately vouchers aren’t under the purview of school boards. Despite my having no influence at all over this topic, I do believe a middle ground exists. The side generally against vouchers believes that anybody receiving tax dollars should be accountable to the public. I agree. If a school were to accept these monies they should be held to the same standard(s) as our public schools. The side generally in favor of vouchers believes competition would create better education. I also agree. Take your example of always considering those with limited means. Not everybody has the luxury of being able to afford better educational opportunities. If we could solve the problem of “taking resources away from public education” I believe there is merit to the voucher idea. So as it is? No, I’m not for it. I do believe I could be for it should a well planned system be designed that accounts for the problem areas.”
Let me start off by unequivocally stating, I have no issues with parents sending their kids to a private school or home schooling their kids. In fact, I have seen specific examples where kids have excelled in both the private and homeschool settings.
However, as a candidate for a school board, there are many red flags in Frank’s comments I would like to point out. First, Frank writes, “Unfortunately vouchers aren’t under the purview of school boards. Despite my having no influence at all over this topic…” This is absolutely wrong. Vouchers are under the purview of school boards. As a school board member, it is expected each board member will vigorously advocate for public education. A school board member represents a large bloc of voters and a school board member does wield considerable influence. This statement exhibits Frank’s complete lack of understanding the role of a school board member.
Next, Frank wrote, “Take your example of always considering those with limited means. Not everybody has the luxury of being able to afford better educational opportunities.” From this statement, one could imply Frank thinks “private school is a better educational opportunity” (direct quote from a FaceBook respondent.) Frank’s reply does not refute this statement but rather indicates, “I’m simply saying there are merits to both sides of this issue…” A candidate for a school board needs to zealously defend public education!
Third, Frank, by his own admission, “…believe(s) there is merit to the voucher idea.”. Frank’s basic lack of understanding on how a voucher system would be financed is very concerning. The State of Missouri has a finite amount of money. Any money siphoned off to pay for vouchers reduces the total amount available to pay for public education or some other service. The net result is the amount siphoned off will either disappear or need to be replaced with local sourcing.
The other candidate for school board, Beth Dean, did not unconditionally commit to opposing vouchers at the meet the candidate night on March 14, 2022. Beth has been conspicuously silent on this issue. My concern is, like Frank, she does not understand the full ramifications to school funding.
Frank and Beth are clearly missing the point, ALL vouchers take funds from public schools. Schools that would utilize vouchers do not take ALL kids. Those are non-negotiable for both Frank and Beth’s “middle ground”.
My first Facebook Post to Re-elect Austin Jones Wright City School Board
My wife Donna, a graduate of the Wright City R-II School District, recently retired as a teacher from the district after 31 years. My three daughters graduated from Wright City Schools.
When I am not working, my hobbies include vegetable gardening, playing slow pitch softball, tennis, hiking, and walking. I volunteer for three organizations:
In summary, it takes active involvement of all stakeholders to create a vibrant educational environment to help all of our kids succeed!
Hello! Allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Austin Jones and I am seeking re-election for the Wright City R-II School District Board of Education. I am 58 years old and I have been a resident of the Wright City School District since 1987, the year my wife Donna and I were married. I am currently employed with Express Scripts, a Cigna Company in the information technology department as a solution architect. My current duties include working with business partners, determining how applications can be adapted to better serve our mail order patients. I am also responsible for writing high level design documents to aid the engineering teams on how to modify the software to meet business requirements.
- Wright City Lions Club
- Tribute to Veterans Memorial Committee
- Wright City Blue and Gold Scholarship Committee.
Thanks for reading