Voters in the Moniteau School District picked three new faces for the district's nine-member school board and re-elected two incumbent directors.

The night's top vote-getter was Eric Anderson of West Sunbury, who received 1,127 votes, or 18 percent.

Anderson, one of the newcomers, said he hopes the influx of new members changes the way the school board conducts business.

“I think there's too much ... I don't see any diversity (of opinion),” Anderson said. “When they vote on something, they all vote the same whether they agree with it or not.”

Anderson said he wants to focus on a variety of issues. He noted drug education in particular, saying he sees too many former students in trouble with the law.

“I don't know what the education is at this point, but I want to look at it and see how we can improve it,” Anderson said.

Incumbent board member Diane Hunter was re-elected with 1,097 votes, or 17.5 percent. Hunter called it a busy time to be a school board member in the district, which is facing funding questions from the state's ongoing budget impasse as well as curriculum updates to flesh out its STEM initiative.

“I like our curriculum, we just need to keep moving forward and adding things like a fabrication lab and robotics (course) to get students involved,” Hunter said.

She said the district benefits from a cadre of young, enthusiastic teachers, and will also benefit from the new members coming onto the board. Hunter hopes they bring fresh ideas, but says she knows 2016 will also be a time of learning for them.

“There's going to be a growing period always for new board members, whether they come with an agenda or not,” Hunter said.

Another newcomer to the board, Cecil Blauser II of Concord Township, said he also sees a myriad of issues facing the district. One of the most important in Blauser's mind is making sure taxpayers “get the most bang for our buck.”

Blauser said he believes the current board has focused too much on sports and “nonessential stuff,” and wants to pivot back to the district's core mission in education.

“I really, really want to get us back to the focus on education,” he said. “I think we need to get back to our kids and get back to preparing them for the next level, whatever that is.”

Blauser won election Tuesday with 1,058 votes, or about 17 percent. He said conversations with Anderson and Cherry Township resident Randy Armagost, the third newcomer elected on Tuesday, have convinced him that all three are on the same page.

“I think we all kind of have the same mindset,” Blauser said. “Let's all go in there and ... get back to education and protect the taxpayers' wallet.”

Armagost was elected with 1,063 votes, or 17 percent.

Incumbent Kathy McBride, the board's president, was also re-elected with 1,084 votes, or 17.3 percent.

McBride did not return a message left Tuesday night for comment.

Libertarian candidate Michael Baptiste was the low vote-getter with 807 votes, which was not enough to win a seat.

Outgoing members of the school board include Vice President Melissa DeMatteis, Douglas Kimmey and Roy Peffer, none of whom ran for re-election. Their terms all end on Dec. 31.