Two new STLCC Board of Trustee members will be elected on April 7 for Subdistrict 1 and Subdistrict 4
By: Lindsey Unnerstall
Sports Editor
*Story Update: Incumbent Kevin Martin, EdD was reelected as the trustee representing Subdistrict 1. For Subdistrict 4, Patrick McKelvey received the most votes. McKelvey is replacing Mary Luebke, who did not seek reelection.
Two seats are on the April 7 ballot for the St. Louis Community College Board of Trustees election, with candidates competing for seats in Subdistrict 1 and Subdistrict 4. Subdistrict 1 covers a large part of north and central St. Louis County including Hazelwood, Florissant and Clayton areas, while Subdistrict 4 covers portions of southwest St. Louis County including Valley Park, Parkway and Mehlville districts. The board’s main duties are to work with the chancellor of the school to hold plans accountable, elect new chancellors when necessary, and oversee the district’s spending.
Running for the Subdistrict 1 seat is incumbent Kevin Martin being challenged by Clem Smith and Theodis Brown Sr. The current Trustee for District 4, Mary Luebke, is not seeking reelection, so the candidates are Patrick McKelvey, Fielding Poe and Deborah Bush-Munson. However, Subdistrict 4 candidate Fielding Poe attempted to drop out of the race in February, but was told it was too late to get his name off the ballot. Poe is currently 73, and the term on the board is six years.
“I would be 79 years old, and honestly, I don’t think I have the energy to go for that length of time, and so it became a concern,” Poe said. “I don’t think that I would finish a six year term. I called the St. Louis County Election Court in early February, and I told them I wanted to resign. They said it’s too late.”
Poe is an attorney from Ballwin that went back to school after previously serving as a teacher in the Fox and Lincoln County school districts and working various other careers along the way to law school. He is also enrolled in a ceramics class at Meramec.
“I know a lot of the students who go to Meramec. I think I understand a lot of the challenges that college students and community colleges have,” said Poe. “And I think that I understand pretty well that most people are going there to better themselves.”
Poe originally decided to run for the
board because of his lifelong interest in education and drive to serve his community in a positive way. Although he himself isn’t looking to win the election, he’s given support to his opponent, Patrick McKelvey.
“I think it’s important to teach and to offer opportunities to students in a way that they’ll learn. There are people in education, who kind of have a science growth mindset to the way people should be taught, and they don’t always work,” said Poe.
Patrick McKelvey, also running for Subdistrict 4, is the executive director of Arnold’s Gateway Food Pantry, has experience teaching higher education and is currently part of two other academic boards in the area. McKelvey previously ran for the board in 2020 at the age of 23, right at the start of the pandemic. He ran against Mary Luebke, the incumbent for the seat.
“I really had no idea what I was doing. [Mary] had worked at the college and retired from it and was an excellent choice. That was my crash course into politics,” McKelvey said about his first time running.
If elected, McKelvey is excited to eventually pick the new chancellor of the school as well as continuing to put an emphasis on the college’s health sciences and technical programs.
“I always wanted to run for this again, because I know how important a community college can be to a community. The community college students from 20 years ago look a lot different from community college students today, and I hope that STLCC continues to adapt to them,” McKelvey said.
The third candidate for Subdistrict 4, Deborah Bush-Munson, did not respond for a comment. Subdistrict 1 incumbent Kevin Martin is a middle school principal in the Parkway school district, and has been serving on the board since 2017. Him and his opponent former St. Louis County State Representative Clem Smith both failed to comment as well.
Fire Chief Theodis Brown Sr., also running for the Subdistrict 1 seat, was previously elected to the board in 2014 and stepped down in 2015. Brown is
running for a second time in this election and is dissatisfied with some of the actions of the current board, including removing pictures of previous
board members from the walls of the college.
“I’m highly upset with this new board that’s in power, getting rid of the pictures of all the other trustees that were elected, and especially the African American ones that were elected ever since the 1960s and 70s,” Brown said.
Brown’s only comment regarding the election was about the pictures, and believes it is undermining Black history aspects in the college.
“I went to the college again, the guard didn’t even know who I was. When Black history comes around, you’re supposed to celebrate those things, not undermine those things,” said Brown.
Although the election is very prevalent and important for the people of these communities, the election is experiencing a lower turnout than normal.
“I don’t think people know all of the incredible things that STLCC does for their community, and if they did, they’d probably take this election a lot more seriously,” said McKelvey. “I’m confident that I put in the work and I’ve done everything I can do, but [I] have no way of knowing if I’m going to resonate with any of the voters.”
Across many of the candidates, the message and purpose behind their desire to serve the community is what will drive their election onto the board.
“Ultimately, I want students to be able to come to STLCC, receive a phenomenal education that allows them to go on to their four year university at half the price but the same quality. And then, I also want other students to be able to get their workforce education at STLCC and to be able to deal with the workforce and earn a high paying job,” said McKelvey. “I think a lot of that comes back to investing in students and investing in your staff.”
