Frank Zykan For Wright City School Board

Vote April 4, 2023

My Commitment

To Our Students:

I believe that all students in our district should receive the most robust, knowledge-based, traditional education our tax dollars can afford. I will support a learning environment where our students are safe, supported, treated fairly and equally, and inspired to achieve.

To Our School Staff:

I believe that our teachers and staff are the greatest contributing factor to student achievement. I will endorse fair compensation and benefits, a supportive work environment, and training and development opportunities. Teacher recruitment and retention are a priority.

To The Parents:

I believe that parents have the primary responsibility for the education of their children and that the fundamental obligation of our school district is to support that role. I will defend parental rights, encourage involvement, and restore productive dialogue.

To Our Community:

I will continue to engage with our community, promote conversations, improve transparency, and support responsible stewardship of your hard-earned tax dollars. I believe we can build upon our current foundations to provide an exceptional public education to the next generations of our community.

Meet Frank

I was born and raised in St. Charles, MO. I attended the St. Charles School District graduating from St. Charles High School, then attended SMSU (now known as MSU) to study business management with an emphasis in entrepreneurship.

My partner Renee and I purchased our home within the Wright City School District in 2012 when our oldest child was two. Our son now attends Wright City Middle School as a sixth grade student while our daughter attends Wright City East Elementary as a first grader.

I am a business veteran that has been involved with several small businesses, many of which I founded. I am best known for my security business which I founded at the age of 14. This company specializes in the sale, service, and rigging of safes and bank vaults.

Proactive Leadership

I believe my proactive leadership style sets me apart from many of those currently serving as board members who trend towards a reactive style.

Reactive leadership:

Often involves waiting for a problem to present itself prior to addressing it.
A leader makes independent decisions and dictates their preferred action to the remainder of the team.
This style of leadership is more dictatorial and tends to be task oriented and not as focused on the end result.
Debate amongst team members is minimal as the team prefers to follow the directives of their leader, often resulting in “rubber stamping”.

Proactive leadership:

Plans for a variety of contingencies in order to be prepared for an evolving plan of action.
Involves additional forethought and focus on the end result in order to avoid potential problems throughout the process.
This style of leadership is more self-reliant and takes the initiative to produce results.
Constructive debate amongst team members is encouraged so that a variety of ideas may be consolidated into agreeable solutions.

My Involvement

School Board Meetings:

I have attended every regular board meeting in person dating back to August 2021 with a single exception.
I have attended most special board meetings in person.
I have addressed the board as a member of the public on multiple occasions. These comments pertained to a number of issues including our district’s handling of Covid, lack of communication and transparency, systemic student bullying, the new high school project, and the bond issues passed to finance that project.

Parent Engagement:

I actively participate in local parent groups which focus on student and district related issues.
I have met with several parents to assist with the issues they have experienced. These situations involved topics such as bullying, being new to the district, missing children, making reports to law enforcement, and navigating general bureaucracy.

Public Engagement:

I began video recording and publishing our school board meetings as of May 2022 at my personal expense. This is the first time our board meetings have ever been available to the public in video format, allowing viewers to witness public speakers, student presentations, guest speakers, and regular board business at a time and place convenient to them. These videos have resulted in over 1,000 views to date.

Positions

Prop 1967, Prop 2025, And District Expansion

Last year the voters were asked to approve Prop 1967 which would allow the school district to construct the first phase of our new high school, expand East Elementary, convert the existing high school into administrative offices, and expand the early childhood education center into the current administrative building. Tax payers were told these projects were to be completed within a budget of $37,000,000.

The voters were also asked to approve Prop 2025 which would allow the school district to add “extras” to the core high school project. Additions such as athletic fields and performance facilities would be options available within a budget of $15,000,000.

Despite my warnings that their figures were wildly inaccurate, and assurances that they were accurate and conservative, the total project cost as currently planned is approaching $15,000,000 beyond what voters were told.

Some of what I would have done differently:

- - - I would have been honest and forthright with the public as to the actual project cost from the beginning.
    - I would have challenged the architect on his estimates.
    - I would have investigated temporary solutions to facilitate a delay until conditions were more favorable.
    - I would have suggested completing the East Elementary addition as originally planned with 8 classrooms.
    - I would have proposed an auditorium/shelter at the new high school in lieu of the practice gym/shelter.
    - I would have recommended holding off on duplicate athletic facilities.
    - Most importantly, I would have suggested capping the architect’s contractual fee with a percentage variance instead of the flat seven percent without any cost overrun protections the board agreed to. This would have prevented the architect from collecting a windfall for the same amount of design work as a sole result of their grossly underestimating the actual costs. Early projections from the architect indicated their fee would total approximately $2.8 million. Despite their errors, they will now be entitled to $4.3 million.

Educational Excellence

Curriculum

I am in favor of a knowledge-based curriculum with a strong emphasis on traditional core subjects free from ideological or divisive slants. With few exceptions, I am opposed to our schools wading into issues involving morals, religion, or sexuality as I feel those topics are best left to the individual families. The public should also have easy, full, and transparent access to all curricula.

Missouri Assessment Program

Our scores have been an area for concern as current board members have pointed out consistently throughout several past election cycles. Many are shocked when they learn the percentage of our students which do not possess an adequate command of the subject matter as determined by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

I believe that some positive efforts have already been made, but it will take proper leadership, focus, student participation, and community involvement to keep us on track to rectify this issue.

Educators & Staff

I believe we should focus on attracting and retaining high quality teachers, support staff, and bus drivers. Topics such as pay, benefits, training, support, and appreciation are all areas which I feel should be improved upon. The 2022 turnover rate was 21%.

Current exit surveys indicated that 27% of those leaving the district cite district leadership as a reason, and 55% citing the lack of communication as an issue. Only 36% of those leaving would recommend our district to others seeking employment.

Student Attendance

Chronic absenteeism is a real issue facing our district and requires a multi-faceted solution. With only 73% of our high school and middle school students attending school more than 90% of the time, we need to determine the root causes and take immediate action. Our students need to be (and feel) safe at school, know that we care about them and their success, and be treated with dignity and respect. I believe that relationships can be established which would motivate students with attendance issues to participate on a more regular basis.

Critical Race Theory & Sexism

I oppose any notion that individuals are inherently racist or sexist due to their own race or sex. I do not believe that people are privileged nor oppressed due to their race or sex, or that any race or sex is superior or inferior to another.

Students should not be made to feel guilty about who they are, or to feel responsible for actions committed by other members of their same race or sex. I would vote against any agenda items constructed upon these concepts.

School Safety

Bullying

Bullying is a common complaint from students and parents. Perhaps worse than the bullying problem itself are accusations that our district fails to adequately intervene in these situations. I believe in the strongest possible responses to these situations and doing so in a timely manner. We fail both the victims and the bullies themselves when these efforts fall short.

As a board member I will support utilizing existing policies more effectively and/or modifying our policies to better address the needs of our students.

Building & Grounds Security

I believe our district is doing a good job with the physical security needs of our buildings. Procedures and equipment have been implemented as needed into existing buildings, and all new construction is planned accordingly.

I would support having a school resource officer assigned to each of our school buildings. I would also support instituting a program to allow teachers and staff to volunteer to become school protection officers.

Student Data

I oppose the third-party collection of student data without the express consent of the student’s parents. Although this concept is codified in federal law, it is not uncommon for it to occur deceptively or via loopholes within the laws.

Obscene Literature

I oppose any book, magazine, audio, video, or other material which contains depictions of graphic sex acts being present within our schools. The primary purpose of a school’s library is to curate material pertinent to the curriculum of the school.

If the words within these books cannot be typed on a school computer, spoken in a classroom, possessed on a school bus, or worn on a student’s clothing, then I believe they should be excluded from the district libraries.

GET INVOLVED

Attend Board Meetings

For the sake of our students and the Wright City community, we must be involved. Please consider attending our board meetings where many of these topics are discussed and voted upon. You can make public comments, simply observe, or support others in attendance who share your concerns. Board meetings are held the third Thursday of every month at 6:00 PM at the administrative offices located at 90 Bell Rd. Future board meetings: January 19th, February 16th, March 16th, and Tuesday April 18th.

Participate In Parent Groups

You are not alone! There are many other parents who share the same concerns you do when it comes to our children, and our voices are louder as a collective. You can find Wright City Parents For Change, and WC Parents Against Bullying on Facebook. If you do not use Facebook let an involved parent know as there are other ways to participate.

Talk To Your Children, Friends, & Neighbors

We are a tightknit community and communication is key. Help by starting conversations, discussing ideas, and encouraging involvement within our school district.

Vote On April 4, 2023

You should vote and encourage others to do the same. Municipal elections have a notoriously low turnout, yet these elected positions have the greatest impact on our community and everyday lives.

2023/04/05 08:00:00