The Wright City R-II School Board election on April 8 will feature a competitive race with four candidates seeking two open seats. Incumbents Austin Jones and Mary Groeper are aiming for re-election, while challengers Frank Zykan and John Woehrle are vying to secure their first term on the board. 

It is important to acknowledge that Woehrle will be a write-in candidate. His name will not be posted on the ballot due to filing for candidacy past the file date. 

Meet the Candidates 

Zykan, a Wright City resident since 2012, is running for the school board for the fourth time. He currently has two kids in the district and owns his own safe and bank vault company. He serves as the chair of the Lincoln County Republican Central Committee. 

Jones is currently in his 24th year on the school board and sits as the board’s president. He is an IT solution architect at Cigna, and has been a Wright City resident for 37 years. 

Groeper has served on the board for 30 years and currently sits as the board’s treasurer. She is on the MSBA Board of Directors, currently serving on the Executive Board and the Future Builder Scholarship Committee. In addition, she is on the Board of Directors for EducationPlus, located in St. Louis. She has lived in Wright City for 52 years, and has two grandchildren currently in the district. 

Woehrle has lived in Wright City for nearly 15 years and currently has one child in the district. He owns his own company called WiredUp Communications and served in the Army for four years. He noted he does not have any political experience. He officially became a write-in candidate on March 12. 

“It got to a point where I realized I can’t be one of these people angry on Facebook all the time, and it just hit me that maybe I should be a write-in,” Woehrle said. 

Candidate Priorities 

Zykan named student achievement, financial oversight, better communication with the public and rebuilding relationships with the city as top priorities. 

“Everybody says student achievement and year by year goes by and we’re worse off than we were before,” Zykan said. “So, I’m not just saying it, I’m going to do it.” 

Within student achievement, he said attendance and lunch related issues coincide in that area. 

Zykan also advocated for more parental and student involvement to address specific concerns. 

Jones’ top priorities are middle school achievement, attendance, English as Second Language students (ESL) scores and student demographics. He noted these are the most pressing issues as of now. 

“In our last APR (annual performance report), these are areas that are showing decline over the last three years,” Jones said. “Although we’re still in the top 50% of the state, those are areas that show concern.” 

Jones also acknowledged parent concerns about the recent move of fifth graders to the middle school. 

“As we look at our demographics and we move forward, we need to look at our school configurations and see what’s best from a space perspective for our kids, and making sure that all the kids have the best learning environment,” Jones said. 

Groeper’s top priorities are academics, parent involvement, community support, local control, finishing the construction of the new high school and passing Prop G. 

“We need to move our academics forward,” Groeper said. “There’s always room for improvement and I think with (Dr. Amy Salvo’s) leadership, we are moving in that direction.”  

Groeper was recently awarded the Carter D. Ward Excellence in Advocacy Award from the Future Builder Foundation of MSBA. 

“I want to help every child succeed. That’s my mission– to see every child succeed and educate every child that comes through our door,” Groeper said. 

Woehrle’s top priorities are improving academics, rebuilding relationships with the city, better school lunches, addressing bullying concerns and Roelker Road. 

Woehrle expressed many of his priorities coincide with each other, specifying that if better lunches are brought in, it leads to better academic performances.

“I don’t see a lot of positives coming out of the school district. Grades and performances are going up a little bit, but I don’t think they are at a level to where they need to be,” Woehrle said. 

He expressed concerns between the disconnect of the district and parents, and noted that he would like to incorporate more transparent, honest communication between the two. 

“There’s a lot of things during this whole project (the new high school) where they (the board) have not been transparent,” Woehrle said. “If I’m elected, there is going to be a transparency shift.” 

Prop G  

Prop G,  an $11-million no-tax increase bond measure that will be used to create a performance gym at the new high school, will also be on the April ballot. 

Both Woehrle and Zykan are in favor of district expansion but questioned the timing and whether or not it was the district’s best use of funds. 

“Question I would have at this exact moment in time is, is that money better spent on a new gymnasium because we have a gym that we can use, or is that money better spent on other classroom expansion needs we have,” Zykan said. 

Woehrle questioned the timing of the bond issue due to Roelker Road damages still not fixed. 

“We shouldn’t even be talking about now because we don’t have this project over here done,” Woehrle said. “I am not against a performance gym. What I am against is the way they’re going about it and the timing of it.” 

Jones and Groeper had differing thoughts. Groeper said she would like to fulfill the promise they gave voters to build a performance gym when they had enough bonding capacity. 

Jones is also in favor of the bond and pointed out the performance gym will be built at some point, and if it is passed, Roelker Road will still be torn up either way. 

“When the construction trucks come in again at some point in the future, if they don’t approve it now, then you’re going to have some additional wear and tear on that road that’s going to have to be repaired again,” Jones said. “Whether it’s our tax dollars or the city’s tax dollars, you’re paying for the (road) again.” 

Roelker Road 

Zykan also believed the fiasco of Roelker Road was handled poorly by the district, specifying the district’s silence for several days after issues were raised. He did agree that there were certain aspects of the agreement between the city and school district, where the district was right to say they did not agree to. 

“At that point, it became contentious between the city and the school district, and I think that’s very bad,” Zykan said. “I don’t see you getting the same level of cooperation out of a group of people you just got done fighting with in public where it makes both parties look bad.” 

This correlates to one of Zykan’s priorities of rebuilding a relationship with the entity. He believes he could potentially be a better person versus others on the board to work towards fixing the relationship. 

Both Jones and Groeper encouraged the public to read the recent FAQ about the road the district has posted on its website. 

Woehrle expressed concerns about the recent hot topic, noting he does not understand the board’s point of “it’s for the kids.” 

“They’re trying to guilt everybody into ‘it’s for the kids,’ but my son rides a bus to school every day and you have zero cares in the world about his safety on Roelker Road,” Woehrle. “As a parent, their responsibility is the safety of our children and to educate our children. I don’t think that’s being done.” 

Why Are You Running

Zykan discussed his previous indirect involvement with the board, pointing out his several examples of helping the board save money in various projects. He also named his relationships with various government officials as a potential benefit when a need arises. 

Specifically, Zykan has said that he saved the district over $100,000 on a classroom trailer and $27,300 in architectural fees for the second East Elementary expansion. 

He also specified numerous examples where he believes he would have fixed something before the issue arose. 

“We feel there are a lot of things that occur at the administrative level of the district that need to be changed, modified, done differently and with all due respect (Groeper) and (Jones) have been there for 30 years and 24 years,” Zykan said. “There are a lot of things they have said in the past that they also felt needed to be changed. I feel if they were going to do that, they would have done so at some point in the previous decades they’ve been there.” 

Jones is running for re-election because he wants to “continue to provide a safe and effective learning environment for all kids, so they can succeed in school and have the opportunity to do whatever they wish with their lives.” 

He specified the financial, infrastructure and academic aspects as to why voters should re-elect him. 

He noted the school is ranked at the near top for starting teacher salaries and the district maintains excellent fund balances to meet the daily needs to operate the districts.  

Infrastructurally, he noted the district has added a four-room addition to East Elementary and built a new high school within budget. 

Academically, the district is in the upper 50% of schools in Missouri and rank third in the EMO conference, while maintaining one of the lowest operating tax levies in the area. 

“I think that’s why people should vote for me, from a financial perspective, an infrastructure perspective and an academic perspective,” Jones said. “Those are my focus areas and that’s where a school district and a school board member needs to focus. I’m passionate about education and I’m passionate about all kids. I advocate for kids at the local, state and federal level.” 

Groeper noted how her experiences have given her the knowledge she needs to be an ideal board member. She also mentioned the current board is good when it comes to working with one another. 

She noted they might not always agree, but they respect one another. 

“The reason I’m running for reelection is simple. I am deeply passionate about Wright City Schools and the Wright City community. I have no personal or political agendas. I strongly oppose any partisan influence in school board decisions,” Groeper said. “As board members, our focus should always be on doing what is best for our students – this is about local control, parent involvement and community support.” 

Woehrle stated, “We have to stop being reactive and be proactive,” saying he believes the current board has been too reactive which has led to many people upset in the process. 

“I’m not saying I want to be the people’s champion but I do want to champion those goals and try to get somewhat of a culture shift,” Woehrle said. “This isn’t good for the children and the kids see it more than we think they do.” 

He also mentioned that due to his work life slowing down, he is able to be 100% present as opposed to other people who might have a lot of things going on. 

“I have a lot more time to give it everything it needs to be given,” Woehrle said. “I don’t want to be somebody that is filling a seat and if I do win, I will not be that. I will be a very proactive, aggressive board member.” 

A Meet the Candidate Night will be held at the Wright City High School Library on April 3 at 6 p.m.