St. Louis- At least three St. Louis County school districts rejected the old, and voted for new leaders.
According to final but unofficial election results, the president of a national strip club chain soundly won a seat on the Mehlville School Board, despite attacks on his character. The other winner? A fundraising consultant, who often works with churches. Neither has held public office before.
In the Ferguson-Florissant School District, a mail carrier and a math teacher - neither with any political experience - beat two incumbents.
And in Riverview Gardens, one incumbent lost in an election flush with candidates. Board bickering, many said, was leading the district into turmoil.
"Controversy breeds candidates," said William Rebore, associate dean of the college of public service at St. Louis University.
In most St. Louis County school districts, politics were hardly exciting. Well more than a third of the county's 23 school boards didn't have enough candidate interest to require elections.
Even in contested campaigns, incumbents - often with years of experience - won Tuesday in about two-thirds of their races.
In the Kirkwood School District, incumbents John Glunt and Ben Clark each have more than five years on the board; they breezed by their challengers.
In Normandy, incumbents Joe Collins and Patricia A. Madison won handily.
Yet in elections fueled by unrest, incumbents lost.
"People in Mehlville are looking for a change," said Micheal Ocello, , president of VCG Holding Corp., a Wall Street-traded company that runs more than a dozen strip clubs from Denver to Indianapolis. "There's not any one of the candidates who would argue - this district is in trouble right now," he said.
Ocello was attacked early on in the election; he said he turned many to his side when they stopped to talk to him.
But not everyone said it took controversy to oust incumbents. Paul R. Schroeder, new to politics and the top vote-getter in Ferguson-Florissant, said voters liked his experience as head of the math department at McCluer North High School.
But it also didn't hurt, he said, that one incumbent didn't post signs or campaign, nor that the other withdrew.
