The Post is sending out this five-item questionnaire to candidates running for public school boards in Johnson County.
These same questions will be sent to candidates running for school boards in Blue Valley, Gardner Edgerton, Olathe, Spring Hill and USD 232 in De Soto. (There are no contested races in Shawnee Mission this year.)
We will publish candidates’ responses during the week of Oct. 20, before early voting starts.
These questions are partly based on input from readers.
The Post has already discussed, or plans to discuss, these topics and more at our live, in-person candidate forums for local school boards.
You can watch forums that have already occurred in Blue Valley and Spring Hill.
Here are the questions we’re asking school board candidates:
- Background: Readers want to know something of your background. Briefly explain your education and employment history and how those experiences qualify you for this job. Readers also want to know if you currently have or in the past have had children go to schools in the district you seek to represent.
- Voucher efforts: What is your position on state policies that allow tax money to be used to pay for private schools, like tax credits for private school scholarships and tax rebates that go toward private school tuition? As someone who will represent a public school district, will you advocate for or against such policies at the state level?
- Artificial intelligence: Artificial intelligence is a new and rapidly evolving technology that proponents say can revolutionize many aspects of modern life, including teaching and learning. But many people in education worry about AI’s impacts and possible abuses, including facilitating cheating and making students’ and staff’s personal data less secure. How should your district approach establishing policies and protocols when it comes to the use of AI in schools?
- Transgender students: There has been much scrutiny in recent years on schools’ policies regarding transgender students. As a school board member, it’s partly your job to set policies that guide how schools accommodate all students. Do you support or oppose policies that allow transgender students to express their gender identity at school, specifically ones that may allow them to use their chosen pronouns or use a bathroom different from the gender they were assigned at birth?
- Student achievement: Monitoring student achievement and enacting policies and programs that drive that achievement is one of the main responsibilities of a school board. What do you see as the most urgent area for academic growth in your district? And how would you tackle it if elected?
