Board of Education

The Francis Howell Board of Education typically holds its regular business meeting on the third Thursday of the month. These meetings are open to the public and agendas are posted to BoardDocs at least 24 hours prior to the meeting. Unless otherwise noted, meetings are held in the Board Room of the Administration Building located at 801 Corporate Centre Drive in O'Fallon, MO. Regular business meetings are listed below. For the latest information about special meetings and Board work sessions, please visit BoardDocs.

2025-2026

July 17, 2025 | 6:30 p.m.

August 21, 2025 | 6:30 p.m.

September 18, 2025 | 6:30 p.m.

October 16, 2025 | 6:30 p.m.

November 20, 2025| 6:30 p.m.

December 11, 2025 | 6:30 p.m.

January 15, 2026 | 6:30 p.m.

February 19, 2026 | 6:30 p.m.

March 19, 2026 | 6:30 p.m.

April 14, 2026 | 5:30 p.m. (Board Re-Organization Night)

April 16, 2026 | 6:30 p.m.

May 21, 2026 | 6:30 p.m.

June 4, 2026 | 6:30 p.m.

June 18, 2026 | 6:30 p.m.

The Francis Howell Board of Education welcomes comments from its community. A period for public comment is set aside at the beginning of each regular Board of Education meeting.

Board Policy 0412, regarding public participation at Board meetings, states:

A period of thirty (30) minutes will be allotted to residents of the District and staff at the beginning of the meeting to give the Board of Education the opportunity to listen to citizens. The Board is very interested in citizen viewpoints and problems. We encourage citizens to work through problems at the building and/or administrative levels before coming to the Board. We ask that remarks be limited to three minutes and to one appearance, thus allowing a maximum number of participants in the allotted time period in which citizens are to speak to issues. Questions directed to the Board will not be answered during the meeting. All questions will be responded to by an appropriate administrative personnel within one week wherever possible. Persons who wish to suggest items for the agenda should contact Board members or the superintendent.

Patrons are encouraged to familiarize themselves with other Board policies that apply to Board meetings, including but not limited to: 1431 - Code of Conduct for Adults; 1455 - Distribution of Materials; and 1471 - Public Solicitation/Advertising in District Facilities.

Addressing the Board? Here are some things to note:

• Exterior doors will open to the public at 5:45 p.m.
   
• Only current FHSD employees and individuals who reside within the FHSD attendance boundaries are eligible to speak during the patron comment portion of the meeting.
   
• The Board allots a total of 30 minutes for patron comments, and each speaker is limited to 3 minutes. Speakers may not yield unused time to another person.
   
• HOW TO SIGN UP - Any person wishing to address the Board must complete an electronic Patron Comment Request Form. The form will begin accepting responses 24 hours prior to the start of a Board meeting (typically, 6:30 p.m. the day prior to the Board meeting). All electronic Patron Comment Request Forms are automatically timestamped by Google. The Board President will call speakers forward in the order they signed up online via the Patron Comment Request Form. Please note: Submitted comments will not be read aloud; patrons must appear in person to make their comments.

Sign up to present a patron comment

• VIEW THE SPEAKER LIST - Speakers who have signed up to speak are listed on this webpage 24 hours prior to a regularly scheduled Board meeting. The list automatically refreshes every five minutes. If you signed up to speak and your name does not appear, check back in five minutes. Duplicate entries, spam entries and unverified addresses will be removed from the speaking queue. If you have questions about the sign up list, email the District Communications Office.
   
• Speakers are not to address the Board concerning specific personnel issues at a meeting. Such issues should be addressed using the District's established procedures for sharing concerns about school personnel and, if necessary, brought to the Board's attention in private.
   
• Board members will not directly respond to a speaker during the meeting, but if a response is required, the appropriate individual will get in touch in the days following the meeting.
   
• It is possible - based on the number of patrons in the speakers' queue - that not all patrons will have the opportunity to speak during the Board meeting. However, all Patron Comment Request Forms will be seen by the Board of Education and the appropriate administrators, and as such, it is recommended that patrons include a short summary of their position so their feedback can be considered. Patrons may also wish to email a copy of their comments directly to Board members before or after the meeting. 

The policies and regulations that govern Francis Howell School District are available on BoardDocs. (Click the Policies Tab in the top navigation.)

Adoption of new policies and amendment of existing policies is the responsibility of the Board of Education. Proposals for new or amendments to current policies may be initiated by any Board member, citizen of the District, or employee of the District by submitting a Policy PIN  (Problem/Issue/Need) Form. 

Suggest A Policy Revision

Candidate filing for the April 7, 2026 election to the Francis Howell School District Board of Education, opens at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec 9, 2025 and continues until 5 p.m. on Dec 30, 2025. Current Board of Education members Ron Harmon, Mark Ponder and Jane Puszkar's terms will expire in April 2026.

Eligibility:
To be eligible for the Francis Howell School District Board of Education candidates must be:

• a U.S. citizen;
• at least twenty-four years old;
• a resident taxpayer of the District;
• has resided in the District and the state of Missouri for a minimum of one year immediately preceding the election;
• not delinquent in the payment of any state income taxes, personal property taxes, municipal taxes, or real estate property taxes on place of residence;
• never pled guilty or been convicted of a felony, has not been convicted of or entered a guilty plea for the offense of assault in the first or second degree or the offense of harassment in the first or second degree where such assault or harassment occurred on school district grounds;
• is not registered or required to be registered as a sex offender;
• has filed all required campaign disclosure reports for any previous elections.

For more information, contact the Superintendent's office at (636) 851-4026.

How to File: FHSD residents interested in filing must do so in person at the Administration Building, 801 Corporate Centre Drive, O’Fallon, MO 63368. Candidates can file between the hours of 8:00 am to 1:00 pm and 2:00 to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday. Filing will not occur on days that the District’s offices are closed due to inclement weather or between the following dates: December 22nd – December 29th, 2025. On the last day to file, Dec 30, 2025, the office will only be open from 4:00 - 5:00 pm. 

Qualified applicants may file for office beginning on Dec. 9 at 8:00 am in the Superintendent’s office by declaring their intent to become a candidate, in person and in writing, to the Secretary of the Board. A lottery system for ballot order placement for first and last day filings will be utilized. The candidate shall draw a number at random at the time of filing. The names of the candidates filing on the first day will be listed in ascending order of the numbers drawn and ahead of the names of candidates filing on a later date. The names of candidates filing on the last day will be listed in descending order of the numbers drawn after the names of all candidates who have previously filed on an earlier date. 

View the Informational Packet for Board Candidates

This is not an exhaustive list of Board communications. Please visit BoardDocs for additional information.

• Update on First Amendment Lawsuit (June 14, 2022)
• First Amendment Lawsuit (Feb. 16, 2022)
• Survey: Francis Howell North construction project (Dec. 9, 2021)
• Seeking input on Francis Howell North and Prop S (Dec. 1, 2021)
• New Sign-Up Process for Patron Comments (Nov. 12, 2021)
• Response to Community Concerns (July 22, 2021)

In accordance with law and with District Policy 1450, we provide access to District records for inspection or copying.

The District provides public access for the inspection and copying of the District’s public records. As a general practice, the District requires advance payment of a copy fee of ten (10) cents per copy and a search and duplication fee that does not exceed the average hourly rate of pay for District clerical staff.   However, copies of the District’s public records may be provided without a fee or at a reduced fee when it is determined by the Board of Education that a reduction is in the public interest. In assessing fee reductions, the Board will consider the potential that the reduction will significantly contribute to public understanding of the District’s operations and will consider the degree of commercial value to be gained by the person requesting a fee reduction. In accordance with state law, search time that would require more than clerical duplication of documents may be charged at the actual cost of research time.

Similarly, the District will provide public access for inspection and duplication of the District’s public records maintained on audio, video, or similar media. Public access includes but is not limited to computer facilities, recording tapes, discs, videotapes, films, pictures, slides, graphics, and illustrations. The District requires advance payment not to exceed the expense of duplication, staff time required to duplicate, programming if necessary and the cost of the disc or tape used for duplication.
 
In order to facilitate public access to the District’s public records, the Board will appoint a custodian of records. The custodian will be responsible for maintaining the District’s public records as well as for assuring access to the District’s public records. The identity, business address, and office telephone number of the custodian of records will be published annually and will be available at the District’s administrative office. The procedures for implementing public access provided in this policy are set forth in Regulation 1450.
 
Public Records

As defined by state statute and provided in Board policy, public records include but are not limited to reports, surveys, memoranda, documents/studies prepared and presented to the Board by consultants or other professional service paid for in any part by public funds, provided that such "records" are retained by the District.
 
The phrase “public records” does not include:

• Creation of a document not retained or creation of a summary/compilation of District data where such compilation or summary is not an existing, retained record.
   
• Internal memoranda or correspondence received by or prepared by or on behalf of the Board where such documents involve advice, opinions, or recommendations related to the Board's decision-making process. However, if such memoranda or correspondence is retained by the District or are presented at a public meeting, they will be deemed public records subject to public access.
   
• District records closed to public access by the Board including but not limited to appropriate legal actions, real estate matters, information related to the performance or merit of individual employees, academic discipline and testing records of personally identifiable students, testing and examination materials, software codes, preparation for employee negotiations, specifications for competitive bidding, personnel records, and sealed bidding.

Request for Inspection and/or Duplication

• Requests for access or duplication of the District's public records must be made to the District's designated custodian of records.
   
• Upon receipt, the custodian/designee will provide or deny records within three (3) business days of the request.  The date of request will not be counted as one of the three (3) business days provided for response.  Where reasonable cause exists the three-day response period may be exceeded.
   
• If access is not immediately provided, the custodian/designee will provide the person requesting access with a detailed explanation of the reason for the delay.  The custodian/designee will advise of the earliest date, time, and place when access will be provided.
   
• If access is denied, the custodian/designee will provide the person requesting access with a written explanation of the reason for denial of access.  The written explanation will provide the specific provision of law relied upon in denying access and will be provided within three (3) days of the date when access was denied.
   
• Fees for obtaining and duplication of the District's public records must be received prior to copying unless the fee has been waived by the Board.  Upon request of the person requesting duplication, the custodian/designee will certify that the actual cost of document search and duplication does not exceed the allowable charges for public records set out in state law.

Unauthorized Removal of Public Records

No person is permitted to remove original public records from District facilities without written permission of the custodian of records/designee.  Employees who violate this provision are subject to discipline up to and including termination.  Violators may be referred to law enforcement officials.

Commercial Use of District Records

No person or business entity will be provided with the exclusive right to have access to, control over, duplication of, and dissemination of the public records of the District.
 
Reference Regulation 1450 for more information.
 
Submit a Public Records Request