Schools

Meet Fox School Board Candidate Ruth Ann Newman

Newman is one of six candidates running for two open seats on the Fox School District's Board of Education in the April 2 election.

Patch sent all local candidates for office identical questionnaires in order to compile candidate profiles prior to the April election. Each candidate who returned the survey will be featured on the site.

Ruth Ann Newman, 70 (Candidate for the Fox School Board)

  • Address: 404 Persimmon Ridge, Arnold, MO 
  • Occupation: Retired teacher from the Fox C-6 School District (33 years)
  • Education
    • Graduate of Fox High School, 1961
    • Bachelor's Degree in Education, SEMO
    • Master's Degree in Teaching, Webster University
    • Masters Level of Board Training (159 hours of Board Training through Missouri School Board Association)
  • Family: (Tom) deceased; 2 Daughters who teach at Meramec Heights (where they went to school) - 3rd generation teachers there; 4 grandkids in the district (3 at Meramec Heights and one at Ridgewood)
  • Years lived in the Fox School District: 60 years.
  • Please provide a brief summary of your background, highlighting community involvement if applicable. Started 4th grade at Fox. I graduated in the 3rd graduating class at Fox High School. Started teaching at Fox in 1965 at semester, then transferred to Meramec Heights the next year where my mother was the music teacher. I volunteer there at Meramec in my grandchildren's and daughters' classrooms and help with bulletin boards in the halls and volunteer in the library one half-day a week. Other volunteer work:
    •   New Hope United Methodist Church- Organist (not paid)
    •   Registered and trained Boy Scout Leader (with my grandson)
    •   A member of the Creative Arts of Arnold committee
    •   Volunteer with Mastodon Art/Science Fair
    •   Member of Retired Teachers in Missouri and Delta Kappa Gamma (teacher's group)
  • Please provide a brief summary of your reasons for running: I have completed 4 terms on the Board at Fox. I LOVE serving the students, staff and community in this way. It keeps me in education, and I feel that I have the experience in this field to help the district. I am proud of the district. It has come a long way since I first became a part of it. I love kids! I am a "people person" and will listen and help others when I can. I have been there - in the classroom - and understand the many problems schools face today.

Questions

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1.  What do you currently see as the biggest issue facing the Fox School District? The biggest problem ALWAYS is funding. We never know what we can do until we see the budget from government. Now, an added concern is safety in our schools. I attended the Safety Summit held by the district and people and parents from the community expressed their feelings about ideas in this area. We are trying to address ideas that we received that were given to us. Always, student achievement is important and we continually try to improve in this area.

2. How would you address the continuing uncertainty over state funding for schools? State funding is always uncertain. We stay in contact with elected officials. We spend wisely, keeping a cushion just in case the money doesn't come through. We NEVER spend money that we don't have!

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3. In what area does the Fox School District need to improve? Are you satisfied with the way the district has been operating? I am satisfied with what we have done. However, there is always room for improvement. Right now, hiring is a concern. We are working on that! I feel that the District does a lot with what we have available. We hire good people who work hard and take pride in what they do.

4. Assume you win the election. What single thing do you want to accomplish during your three years on the board? I guess that I would just try to always find ways for us to do better! We need to improve technology. We need to improve our buildings that we already have. Because of the support of our community, we are beginning to do these things. When making decisions, we always think, "What is best for the kids!"

5. There has been some opposition regarding the hiring of relatives within the district. How do you plan to address this moving forward? I think that I have mentioned this - we ARE trying to come up with a better way! For a while, we did have a stronger nepotism policy, and it didn't work. There were truly good people that we could not hire, and other districts reaped the benefits. Hiring people from the community instills a sense of pride in our schools! If I was told that I could not teach in the Fox Schools because my mother was a teacher, I would have been crushed! This district is truly a part of me!


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