Forums Will Put School Candidates On The Spot To Discuss Their Views

Two Spokane Valley school districts with open positions on their school boards will hold candidate forums in coming weeks.

Central Valley, which has four of five positions open on its board, will hold two forums.

Freeman School District, with three of its five positions contested, will hold one.

Central Valley’s first candidate forum is sponsored by Opportunity Elementary’s PTSA. It will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday in the school’s gym.

Each candidate will have between three and four minutes to present themselves, then the audience will be given a chance to ask questions.

The second forum is sponsored by the school district’s PTA council and teachers’ union.

That forum will begin at 7 p.m. on Nov. 1 in Evergreen Junior High School’s cafeteria.

All candidates were given a list of questions to respond to in writing. The responses will be photocopied and circulated to all members of the audience, said Jeff Brown, president of the teachers’ union.

Freeman’s forum, sponsored by the school district’s PTSA, will be from 7 to 9 p.m. on Oct. 30 in the junior high school commons.

Questions for the seven candidates were solicited from the community.

Six questions will be chosen and each candidate will have two minutes to respond to those questions.

Among the possible questions are: candidates’ background, why they want to serve, how they would handle growth in the community, and how they feel about the four-period day, a modified school calendar the district explored last year.

Candidates for CV’s school board are: Cynthia McMullen, Quincy Edmonds, Kay Bryant, Matthew Hawkins, Cheryl Knighton, Craig Holmes, Patty Minnihan and George Springer.

Candidates for Freeman’s school board are: Bill Adams, Ron Fulkerson, incumbent Joe Dahmen running unopposed, Sue Cronk, Steve Taylor, Douglas Spruance and Kathleen Lundy.

, DataTimes