April 5, RSD will hold its board of education elections for three positions of three years. Five experienced public servants have stepped up to the post, launching campaigns in an effort to shape the school board in their own directions. All five support Proposition T and STEM education, yet they have little else in common. These are their stories.

Sudhir Brahmbhatt

When it was opened in 1992, the Bal Vihar Center for Indian Cultural Education served just handfuls of students. It was a small program, with few staff members and even fewer classrooms.

Today, under the guidance of Sudhir Brahmbhatt, the president of the Bal Vihar Center for the last 24 years, the Center has over three hundred young students and staffs over forty teachers and volunteers each week.

Brahmbhatt said he is running for school board because of his ties to RSD. His two sons attended both RSD and the Bal Vihar center throughout their youth.

“I’m already running the Bal Vihar center. We’ve had almost a thousand kids run through our system,” he said. “With my background in community service, I see this as an opportunity where I can serve the community for the betterment of our children.”

Brahmbhatt has spent forty years in the technology industry and is currently the President of Technology Services Incorporated, a company he opened in 2013. Brahmbhatt also served as President of the Lafayette PTO while his sons attended high school.  

I see real value in my being part of the board where I can help the system of higher education. I think my educational background, administrational background, and medical skills, as well as my strength in community service qualifies me to be on the school board.

Leonard Kinder

Over the course of his seventeen year career at RSD, Dr. Leonard Keith Kinder did it all. He was the associate principal at Lafayette for seven years before serving in the same capacity at MHS for three years following its conception in 1993. He served as head principal at Eureka for seven years before retiring in 2003. He currently teaches at Maryville University’s Graduate School for Education.

I have a long term connection to Rockwood. But I also realize that a lot of people, when they retire from a job or a position that really helped them find themselves, they have nothing to do after that. I thought that I need to get back to the Rockwood community.

Dr. Kinder was first elected to the board in 2011, before seeing reelection in 2014. He is seeking a third term on the board, made doubly important by the relative inexperience of other candidates.

“We face the possibility of having five brand new members on our seven person Board,” Dr Kinder said. “That’s an awful lot of change for any one time.”

Dr. Kinder said his most valuable skill for the board is his knowledge and love for the district.

“I’ve lived in Rockwood for 30 years and I worked here for 17,” Dr. Kinder said. “I know all of the high schools. I’ve been at every possible school in the whole district at least once and probably multiple times.”

Lynne Midyett

Lynne Midyett first started in education in the year 1978. Two children, three grandchildren, and 39 years later, Midyett still serves her field. She has served as a teacher, principal, and assistant superintendent for a number of school districts around the country.

Midyett’s motivation comes from her passion to give each student a fair opportunity. For her, education is less about teaching and more about “leading learning,” the recruitment of the very best to help students grow.

I truly embrace the concept of all means all. Every single child in the Rockwood School District should find their spark and passion. I’ve worked in the area of special education for most of my career and I know how important it is to meet the needs of all students.

Midyett joined the board in June of 2016 and is running for her first full term in this year’s election. Midyett said she is inspired by the attitude of the board, dutifully exhibited as they visit schools and make long standing rulings.

“I commend this board highly for the amount of time they get into the schools,” Midyett said. “You can’t make good decisions if you’re not out in the hallways with the kids, talking and getting a sense of how things are happening. I’m out there and I want to be out there more and more.”

Midyett said she wants to use the skills she has gained in her six months as a board member to push those with no prior experience in the right direction.

“Part of it is to share the knowledge and the mentorship that has been shown to me by my fellow board members. It is a training process,” Midyett said. “We have to learn how to come together as a team and respect each other’s views.”

Randy Miller

Randy Miller’s path to a candidacy for Board of Education began with a pivotal decision he and his family made six years ago.

“When my son started school, we decided to put family first and take a step back. I resigned from my career and started volunteering in the schools with him on a daily basis,” Miller said.

Miller joined the PTO of his son’s school, becoming President of the organization in 2015.

Once you get involved in something like that you really realize what a need there is for parents to volunteer their time to add that extra tidbit to the school. You really start to dive into some of the issues that confront our schools and you realize that you could do some good. These have been the most rewarding years of my life.

Miller’s son is now entering middle school, forcing the former to confront pressing issues in the pair’s relationship.

“My child’s more mature,” Miller said. “He doesn’t need dad around as much. He doesn’t want dad around as much. But I can’t just not volunteer anymore. I need to continue to give back and I feel like this is a way for me to give back to all the kids in Rockwood.”

Miller said his background in technology gives him a unique perspective on the inner workings of the board.

“My career was in a technology based company,” Miller said. “We were on the cutting edge of most of the technology that’s coming out right now, with the STEM programs that are coming out as well as the addition and maintenance of our schools.”

Tamara Rhomberg

Tamara Rhomberg has served the education community for over fifty years, working as a teacher, a reading specialist, and an administrator. She is currently an adjunct professor at both Maryville University and Webster University.

I’ve devoted the largest part of my career to education. I believe this is a time when I am able to give back to Rockwood School District and because of my because of my background, I can bring that experience forward to the benefit of my district.

Rhomberg is currently the President of the Missouri State Reading Association and has served previously as President of the St. Louis Suburban Reading Association. She has also been President of the St. Paul Parish Council, where she had the opportunity to “network with a large number of parents.”

“All of these experiences give me that insight information on what children need and how we can make their education the best for them,” Rhomberg said.

Rhomberg is a strong supporter of STEM education “because of the impact that it has not just on the sciences, but the overall capacity to build thinking skills in our students.”

“Literacy has been the focus of my education,” Rhomberg said. “And I do believe that we have to have the integration with STEM. Some of those skills, summarizing and sequencing, you need them in science, but you also need them in language arts.”