Every year, FHC Publications hosts a school board candidate forum for the upcoming election. A candidate forum is an opportunity where the candidates running for, in this case, the school board, are invited to present their policy ideas and express their possible role publicly. This year in the 2026 election, there are six candidates running for the board: Sara Dillard, Jason Adams, Kevin McGuire, David Jaworski, Jane Puszkar and Lauren Greenwood.
This year, only Dillard, Adams and McGuire attended the forum. Every candidate, however, got the opportunity to answer the question prior to the forum so we have everyone’s general idea. About 100 people came to the event and had a lot of strong opinions, one of whom was Grayson Jostes.
“I want to support my candidates in this upcoming election. I was upset that all the other candidates couldn’t make it, I do think it is important for them to show up as our candidates … [I think it’s important to be informed before elections] because the good of the future, not just for Missouri but for America in general. Right now, our liberties have gone down the toilet with all the stuff going on in our country, so the community needs to be informed of what’s to come in the future, as it’s useful for voting because voting is a privilege,” Jostes said. “As an alumnus, growing up in the district and also a LGBTQ person, I support that our school district is supportive towards all of our communities. Since public schools are very similar to the outside world, we need to be supportive of all communities and religions. It is just great to be an alumnus to learn and hear about all the different things.”
As community members shuffled into the auditorium, the candidates were warming up to them to start the forum. For each candidate, a series of questions was asked, followed by audience asked questions. To begin, each candidate gave their background and explained why they wanted to run for the board.
Adams is married to a Francis Howell Middle teacher, and has two kids in the district. He has previously helped the district with technology problems and is very organized with his ideas of helping the staff within our district. Dr. Pam Sloan, former superintendent, has been a big motivation for him running for school board. He feels that since COVID-19, the district has never been the same, and this led him to run, he wants the district to be in the news for positives rather than the negatives. If he is elected, he hopes to reform the policy against racism to make a zero-tolerance approach. He is also very future-focused; he’s not worried about his kids now, but the kids that are entering kindergarten and will be graduating in twelve years. During the forum, he spoke on many issues, but the one he seemed most passionate about was the book challenges going on in our district.
“When we’re in the news [I want to be] in there for positive reasons and not to be a national laughing stock on The Daily Show … I want to be a part of that which I know is only a seventh of that when I’m on board but I want to be a part of the bigger picture to make sure all the voices are heard,” Adams said.
He, among the other candidates, wants to keep the district on what he called the right track. When speaking, he was very sure of the reasons he wanted to be on the board. When looking at the similarities between all the candidates regardless of political ideology they all want to ensure the safety and value of education our kids have. Following him was Dillard, who is a Francis Howell North alumni, she has always lived inside the district and is certainly proud of her time here as a student and hopes the same for current students. One of her bigger goals is for all students to feel seen within the district, no matter the economic situation or how diverse the schools are. She reminisces on the time she spent here when the district was at the top of St. Charles County, and hopes to reel it back in. During the forum, she was most passionate about equal opportunity amongst students regardless of their background.
“When I went through this district, this district was a gold standard district as far as education goes. I want to get us back there. I know we’re on our way, but we have more work to do and I want to be a part of it. I have two kids in the district and I want it for them but also your kids,” Dillard said.
As a former nurse, she mentioned that she has a huge heart for all the kids in the district. She wishes to have fully revamped the district to get it back on top by the time shes done with her term. After she spoke, McGuire got to fully introduce himself and he absolutely loves public school. He loved going to a public school and knew he needed his kids to go to public schools. When deciding which district to have his three kids attend, he said he knew from the start it had to be Francis Howell. He is very detail-oriented and believes his possible position wouldn’t have him leading over us, but rather him working for us. Due to his experience in public schooling, he is running for board because his community worked hard and volunteered for him and his fellow students and he wants all the current and upcoming students to have the same opportunities he had. During the forum, he was very supportive to the staff members within our districts.
“My kids are slowly graduating from the district, which is making me take stock of my life. I’ve been involved with their schooling and activities and life since they were born, I’ve been volunteering as much as I can. I look back on the opportunities and my own life and how amazing the public education opportunities I had. You realize when you get older, that all of that was made possible by people doing hard work and volunteering and I never met them and I don’t know their names, but they stepped it up and did it because it was the right thing to do. So now good schools exist because, yes there’s hardworking teachers and staff and involved parents but there’s also a ton of volunteers who make that happen, including board members who are volunteering as community representatives to make sure the schools are running correctly and that we have these opportunities for our students and I believe that I have the skills to do that,” McGuire said.
Jaworski, Puszkar and Greenwood, weren’t able to comment verbally, due to their absences, but sent written accounts on each question sent to all the candidates. Those three candidates provide collective answers, rather than the requested individual answers. They decided to run for the school board because they feel that the students of our district need the best education possible. Some policies they disagree with are: not passing a safety policy prohibiting mixed gender bathrooms, the lack of book challenges and not enforcing policy 6116, Human Sexuality.
“Children are the most important gifts to our society. We believe protecting them and educating them properly is our duty to the world in which we live and is a very satisfying task in life,” wrote Greenwood, Jaworski and Puszkar.
One of the biggest issues this school year has been the hiring of Michael Dominguez as superintendent at the end of the 2024-25 school year. In light of the Dominguez scandal, the candidates were asked how they would ensure better fiscal responsibility. Along with that, Adams and McGuire both wanted to ensure that from now on, they will be performing thorough background checks on anyone wanting to work on the school board, since the process only took two months rather than the typical six months. Dillard also added that she would want to provide full transparency to the community on what the board is processing. The three absent candidates agreed they wanted to employ a professional hiring negotiator. Regardless of political viewpoints, the entirety of the candidates agree against the scandal. Mark Delaney, the current district superintendent, agrees we need to push past this challenge now that we have other, bigger things to focus on especially with the election being so soon.
“The role of the school board is to provide governance to the district. A member should be asking questions, providing oversight and focusing on the overall district’s mission and their visions goals. Once they do that I think they’re fulfilling their role as a board member,” Delaney said.
There will be three spots open on the board for our candidates and all six running hope to see you, if eligible, at the ballots on Tuesday, April 7th 2026.
