In a political atmosphere that continues to generate far more heat than light, voters in the Parkway School District provided welcome relief last week.

After a campaign that featured subtle and not-so-subtle code words and undercurrents — a race that was supposed to be nonpartisan and concentrate on education — controversial candidate Jeanie Ames garnered less than half of the votes that went to winners Matthew Schindler and Kevin Seltzer.

Ames’ candidacy had stirred up headlines from the start. She called herself a “Confederate” on her Twitter feed, which she switched to private when negative reaction began pouring in. She retweeted a message about banning Islam in the United States, and she described Michelle Obama as a “giant rat.”

Students and others alarmed at such an attitude struck back. A Facebook page titled “Not On Our School Board” featured photos, videos and messages with one theme: Ames shouldn’t be allowed to make policy for Parkway.

Her campaign clearly showed why that view prevailed. Her signs featured the GOP mascot of an elephant, running contrary to the longstanding tradition of school board races being about education, not politics. On Election Day, when her husband became involved in a oral confrontation with demonstrators at Parkway Central High School, Ames branded the “adults who indoctrinated them” as “loonies.”

Well, the loonies had the last laugh. When the votes were counted Tuesday night, Ames had just 4,436, or 12 percent of the total in an election that had a shamefully low turnout. But those who did bother to vote sent a strong message that a campaign of hate and exclusion should not and would not succeed in one of the area’s largest school districts. 

Now, it’s up to the new and continuing members of the Parkway board to follow through on that promise. Because the kind of civic decay that Ames peddled is always poised to pop up again.