蜜芽传媒

ST. CHARLES COUNTY 鈥� St. Charles County voters again voted against conservative candidates in key school board races, the second sweep in a row.

In the hotly contested race for two board seats in the Francis Howell School District, Sarah Oelke and Amy Gryder defeated Republican-backed incumbent Randy Cook and Cook鈥檚 running mate, Ashley Sturm.

鈥淲e have a chance now to make normal happen,鈥� Oelke said in an interview after the election.

Voters in the Wentzville School District opted for incumbent Julie Scott and newcomer Jeremy Way, an assistant superintendent for the Wright City School District, over conservatives Danielle Looney and Christina Macormic.

鈥淚 think people showed up because they鈥檙e done with culture wars and buzz words,鈥� said Scott, the top vote-getter in Wentzville.

Looney, Macormic, Cook and Sturm did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

All of the 10 candidates supported by St. Charles County Families for Public Schools, a political action committee formed by former Democratic state legislator Ted House and two former Francis Howell superintendents, succeeded.

The results mirror that of the last general election, when no candidate running on a conservative platform across the 蜜芽传媒 region was elected to a school board.

In the Francis Howell district, conservatives have held the majority on the school board for two years, after issues surrounding gender and Critical Race Theory emboldened candidates to run on platforms promising values that matched St. Charles County鈥檚 conservative makeup.

Cook, the Francis Howell board鈥檚 vice president, has championed some of the board鈥檚 more controversial moves since he was elected in 2022, including the rescinding of an anti-racism resolution and removing Black literature and Black history electives that used the Southern Poverty Law Center Teaching Tolerance standards. Voters also had to select a replacement for Board President Adam Bertrand, who decided not to run for reelection.

Historically nonpartisan school board races have, for the most part, turned into battles of left and right in St. Charles.

The results Tuesday indicated that last year鈥檚 election wasn鈥檛 just a fluke, but the start of a real drift from the partisan politics that embroiled school boards over the last few years in 蜜芽传媒 and beyond.

Voters are exhausted by the 鈥減olitical back and forth,鈥� said Gryder, one of the two newly elected Francis Howell board members.

鈥淧eople are ready go back to focusing on our kids and the real issues that affect them, to feel a sense of community again,鈥� Gryder said.

This post has been updated to correct the spelling of聽Sarah Oelke's name.