Columbia to elect school board, city council and state House members this April

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Voters in the Columbia Public Schools boundaries will elect two school board members from a five-person field on April 6.

In the city's Second and Sixth wards, Columbia City Council seats will appear on ballots. And the 45th House District, which represents parts of northern and central Columbia, will elect a new representative.

In the school board race, voters will choose two people from a field of five that includes only one incumbent, Teresa Maledy. Luke Neal, Katherine Sasser, Aaron Saylor and Jeanne Snodgrass, all first-time candidates, are also running.

In Ward 2 of the Columbia City Council, voters will choose a new council member between three candidates: Bill Weitkemper, Jim Meyer and Andrew Waner. Ward 6 voters will also choose from a field of three candidates: incumbent Betsy Peters, Randy Minchew and Philip Merriman.

Columbia Board of Education

The April 6 election comes after more than a year spent under varying levels of in-person education because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Columbia Public Schools students went to virtual learning last spring as the pandemic spread across the country. Elementary students returned to classrooms briefly in the fall, only to be sent back home to learn over Zoom thanks to a deadly surge in cases.

Through it all, the school board had to make the decisions about whether children would go back into schools. The board was the target of legislation to establish a recall process and public demonstrations. The district was also heavily featured in testimony at a legislative committee hearing held in Columbia.

Some of the candidates were motivated to run for the board's two open seats because of the district's response to the virus. Originally two incumbents, Maledy and Susan Blackburn, were in the race. Blackburn dropped out amid the debate over the return to in-person schooling.

Click the links below to hear from the candidates.

WATCH: Maledy looks for return to Columbia Board of Education

WATCH: Commitment to in-person education helped motivate Neal in school board race

WATCH: Education specialist Sasser seeks seat on Columbia school board

WATCH: Snodgrass focuses on equity in run for Columbia school board

WATCH: Saylor runs low-profile campaign for school board

Columbia City Council Ward 2

Ward 2 voters will select a new council member after Mike Trapp decided he would not seek another term.

The vacuum attracted some familiar names -- real estate broker Jim Meyer, former sewer maintenance supervisor and onetime council candidate Bill Weitkemper and Human Rights Commission Chair Andrea Waner.

Ward 2 represents parts of northern and western Columbia.

WATCH: Waner hopes to bring public health, civil rights advocacy to Columbia City Council

WATCH: Columbia City Council candidate Weitkemper has infrastructure experience

WATCH: Real estate broker makes run for Columbia City Council

Columbia City Council Ward 6

The race for Ward 6 does have an incumbent -- one who won reelection unopposed in 2018.

Betsy Peters, a physician, is seeking a third term representing the ward that includes the East Campus area and much of southern and eastern Columbia. She's opposed by two businessmen -- IT company owner Philip Merriman and Randy Michew, who took a previous run at a city council seat.

WATCH: Merriman takes Libertarian approach to local politics

WATCH: Peters hopes for third term on Columbia City Council

WATCH: Minchew takes another shot at Columbia City Council

Two vie for 45th House District seat

Kip Kendrick rose to the ranks of Democratic House leadership while representing the 45th District, which covers sections of north and central Columbia.

Kendrick left this year to take a behind-the-scenes job in the state Senate, prompting an April 6 special election in the heavily Democratic district.

County democrats nominated attorney David Tyson Smith, who is running against Libertarian Glenn Nielsen.