Meet The Candidates: Dr. Ken Eigenberg & Diane Finnestead

The following information was provided by the Parkway School District and is available on each of the eight school board candidates on the district's website.

Dr. Ken Eigenberg

A resident of Parkway for thirty years, Dr. Ken Eigenberg is well versed in educational issues concerning our community.  His goals for board service include: insuring the district allocates funds in congruence with stated goals, improving student achievement while maintaining fiscal accountability, ensuring curriculum and instruction accommodate all students, supporting staff, and leveraging teaching through instructional technology.

After receiving a Ph.D. from Caltech, Ken was employed as a research scientist. He now focuses on parenting and community service, through education and children’s services.

With nine-years service as Parkway’s representative on the Special School District Board of Education, he is experienced in all aspects of school governance, including superintendent search, budget and taxation oversight, public school laws and district policy, continuous improvement, and community services.

He has served Parkway on textbook and curriculum committees, as library, classroom and PTA volunteer, on Parkway’s former Citizen’s Advisory Council and the Parkway PACCD.  Ken has also served as state-appointed Educational Surrogate Parent for students who are wards of the state and as Court-Appointed Special Advocate for children in Family Drug Court programs.  As a public education advocate, he currently serves on Cooperating School District's Legislative Committee and as legislative liaison for SSD.

Diane Finnestead

Diane Finnestead is an educator with a business background who believes in Parkway. She is a Parkway graduate who entered Hanna Woods as a kindergartner. She received a Bachelor’s of Music from the University of North Texas, returned to St. Louis to sing with the St. Louis Symphony Chorus and enjoyed ten years in sales, marketing, insurance and corporate training before becoming a teacher. Her teaching career has extended to instructional coaching, administration, professional development and includes two graduate degrees from Webster University. Diane earned a Masters of Teaching in Special Education and her Education Specialist degree in School Leadership. She’s had the post-graduate honor studying as a Summer Fellow at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. Currently, Diane is an administrator with the St. Louis Public Schools and an adjunct professor in the School of Education at Webster University teaching arts integration and interdisciplinary arts. Every week, she enjoys singing in the Manchester United Methodist Chancel choir and spending time with her family.

 See Also: 

• Meet The Candidates: Sam Sciortino & Jenifer Clifton
• Meet The Candidates: Tom Appelbaum & Daniel Brodsky
• Meet The Candidates: Brad Williams & Deborah Hopper