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ST. CHARLES COUNTY — Amy Gryder didn’t pay much attention to her local school board until about four years ago. That’s when things started to “feel a little weird,� she said.

In the summer of 2021, the Francis Howell Board of Education approved two elective courses for Black History and Black Literature.

That decision, which incensed conservative parents and activists who believed the courses were laced with progressive ideology, poured gasoline on a fire that began with highly charged debates about masks during the pandemic. In the next two general elections, candidates running on conservative platforms secured a majority on the seven-member board, winning five seats.

Led by the new majority, Francis Howell would go on to make national headlines. In 2023, the board voted to rescind an anti-racism resolution created in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. It followed that in 2024 by removing social justice standards from the two Black studies electives. Gender, and which restrooms transgender students should use, became a frequent topic at board meetings.

“The focus seemed to be shifting from what I would consider to be day-to-day public education to national political narratives,� Gryder said.

This year, Gryder, a district alumna and mother of three, decided to take matters into her own hands. She ran for one of two school board seats.

On Tuesday, she won. So did Sarah Oelke, a district parent who teaches English in the Parkway School District.

The last two elections in St. Charles County have marked a dramatic shift in school board races since 2021, when candidates started winning school board seats on conservative platforms. Candidates who vowed tolerance for learning materials, equity and trust in teachers beat out conservative candidates supported by the same groups that successfully lifted candidates during the height of culture wars.

What changed?

The winning candidates and their supporters — both in Francis Howell and neighboring Wentzville School District — say this year’s election was less about liberal versus conservative ideology or Democrats versus Republicans. Rather, a majority of voters sought normalcy — and a shift away from politics and division.

“People just want good schools that support teachers and partner with families,� said Erin Shetler, a Francis Howell parent and supporter of Gryder and Oelke. “They don’t want any more nonsense.�

Backers of conservative candidates, however, say that’s an overly simplistic take.

They point to low voter turnout and apathy — common during April municipal elections — as factors that are hard to overcome. Hold the school board election in November, they say, and the results would be far different.

“Democrats are fired up to vote after losing so badly in November (2024), and that likely played a role in the turnout for this election,� organizers with Francis Howell Family, the conservative political action committee, said in a statement.

What worked, what didn’t

In Francis Howell, Gryder and Oelke trumped incumbent Randy Cook and newcomer Ashley Sturm. Wentzville voters opted for incumbent Julie Scott and Jeremy Way, an administrator in the Wright City School District, defeating Danielle Looney and Christina Macormic.

On the surface, all of the Francis Howell and Wentzville candidates had similar goals. They said they wanted their districts to be the best they could academically. They wanted good curriculum, fiscal responsibility, high transparency and good teachers.

But messaging surrounding the different candidate slates varied widely. In Francis Howell, supporters of the conservative candidates relied heavily on appealing to the political leanings of St. Charles County’s red majority.

Mailers went around describing Sturm and Cook’s opponents as activists who hated conservatives and supported diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI — a political bogeyman for the right.

One newsletter from Francis Howell Families compared the board’s conservative majority to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying the board had a track record of fiscal responsibility “long before the famous DOGE dog set his paw in the White House!� A blog post on the PAC’s website boasted Cook “produced results — and enraged the left.�

Gryder and Oelke’s supporters, by contrast, say they stayed away from divisive rhetoric. A lot of their messaging centered around protecting public education and moving away from culture wars.

“People are tired of partisan politics,� said Jamie Martin, a Francis Howell parent and president of the Francis Howell Forward PAC.

And people were done with their schools receiving negative press, voters said. In the past year, Francis Howell was in the news for barring teachers from discussing gender with students, for its superintendent resigning, for board members, including Cook, pushing for a way to restrict which bathrooms transgender students use.

Likewise, Wentzville also made headlines for its culture war battles, including banning a book last month. The district also lost its superintendent, Danielle Tormala, who left with an over $1 million buyout amid a wave of hostility in April 2024.

Looney and Macormic, had they won, would have given outspoken conservatives a lock on the Wentzville board, joining Jen Olson, Renee Henke and Davis Lewis. The three incumbent board members ran on the same slate in 2023 and were some of Tormala’s biggest critics.

Even though its candidates lost, Francis Howell Families outraised Francis Howell Forward by about $4,000, with $29,000 in receipts this year. But the conservative group also faced another opponent — St. Charles County Families for Public Schools, a political action committee that raised over $28,000 this calendar year alone and saw all of 10 of the candidates it backed win.

“Everything we’re doing is positive, everything they’re doing is fear and negativity,� former Democratic state Sen. Ted House, a co-founder of St. Charles County Families, said. “Anyone who’s been in politics long enough knows hope will ultimately beat fear.�

In a statement, Francis Howell Families said their opposition ran campaigns “made up of cheerful soundbites promising a return to normalcy,� which seemed to work for voters.

“We look forward to holding the new board members accountable for the promises they made to focus on academics and take politics out of the schools,� the statement reads. “If they break their promises, we will be there to let the public know.�

Adriana Kuhn, a Francis Howell parent and one of two Francis Howell Families candidates who lost in 2024, said parents will have less oversight over the child’s education without Cook and Sturm.

“The loss of Cook from the board and the inability to elect Sturm is a huge blow to parental rights in FHSD that could cause significant infringement on our parental rights and freedoms,� she said in a text.

Voter turnout

Voter turnout on Tuesday, as for most municipal elections, was low, and that’s prompted backers of losing candidates to question whether the last two elections indicated a true shift.

The election saw a 14.48% turnout countywide, slightly higher than the 13.9% average turnout for April elections, said Kurt Bahr, director of elections for St. Charles County. It was just 12.9% for precincts in the Francis Howell district, and 12.8% in the Wentzville district.

Jane Puszkar, treasurer of the Francis Howell school board, said she’s hesitant to decide what future elections may hold because of the low turnout.

“Statistically, it would be nearly impossible to project trends with that small sample to draw from and make an accurate depiction of what is really happening with voters’ attitudes and minds,� Puszkar said in a statement.

“This is why the municipal elections for school boards, alderman, etc., need to be moved to November where a much larger contingent is guaranteed to voice their opinion with a vote.�

Marc Cox, a conservative talk show host who endorses school board candidates, described the turnout as “pathetic� and said April elections “must� be moved to November.

“Low turnout favors NEA-backed candidates with a built-in voter base of union members,� said Cox, referring to the National Education Association, the politically powerful teachers union.

A Post-Dispatch analysis of results by precinct showed Francis Howell candidates Oelke and Gryder performed better in denser, more urbanized areas of the district.

The same happened in Wentzville, where conservative-backed candidates drew more support from rural or exurb areas.

Voter turnouts in those parts of the county were significantly lower compared to the urban areas.

House, the St. Charles County Families co-founder, said the winning coalition was simply bigger than the other side.

They connected with voters by appealing to the love of their schools, House said, and were able to convince voters the culture wars were fiscally irresponsible.

All they had to do was get voters to the polls. It was a giant grassroots effort from numerous groups.

Candidates and volunteers canvassed thousands of homes. There were trivia nights, “house meetings� where people invited their neighbors and church friends to meet candidates.

“I think the takeaway is that we’re getting so much more organized,� Oelke said. “We’re learning more and we’re listening to people.�

‘It was a fight’

Chris Campbell can remember exactly where he was when the “anti-teacher culture wars� in Francis Howell started.

He was at Central Elementary in Francis Howell. He taught third grade there.

As he taught a class over Zoom (about 20% of students opted for virtual learning at the time), Campbell wore masks of different characters to keep students engaged. There was Batman, Hulk, Ironman.

Campbell said he looked out the window at one point. He saw people forming a line to enter the next school board meeting.

At the time, in the spring of 2021, Campbell said the perception of teachers had started to shift. No longer were they pandemic heroes. Instead they were being called groomers by some. There were allegations they indoctrinated kids with leftist principles. Somehow a rumor spread that students were using kitty litter boxes at school.

After nearly 10 years at the district, Campbell decided to leave months later. He currently teaches in Clayton.

“As an African American teacher, I saw the writing on the wall,� Campbell said.

But Campbell kept up with Francis Howell news. He still lives in the district. His nieces and nephews attend Francis Howell schools.

On Tuesday, Campbell said he felt joy.

“It was a fight that took a long time,� he said.

It did take a long time. It took as long to flip Francis Howell’s majority as it did to establish it.

Next is to rebuild trust, Gryder said.

“I think people are really hungry for kindness again and respect and dignity for everyone,� she said.

Josh Renaud of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.