Candidate Forum held for open SJSD Board of Education seats

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29-01-2025

A few local political groups hosted an event Tuesday evening, to allow the public to witness policies given from those fighting for two open School Board seats.
Five of the total six candidates will introduce themselves and answer the community's questions this evening as Former Buchanan County Auditor — Nancy Nash acts as Moderator.
The BOE Candidate Forum was sponsored by several local groups who had created a list of questions to ask each candidate.
Sponsors for the forum include:
Buchanan County Democratic Central Committee
Buchanan County Women's Democratic Club
EM-PAC
Persisterhood of St. Joseph
United Democratic Club of Northwest Missouri
Of the six BOE candidates, only three attended and participated in the forum.
Brian Kirk, James Mrkvicka and Cassandra Veale were in attendance.
Jennifer Kerns and Kim Miller had last-minute obligations to attend to.
Ken Reeder was in attendance, however, did not fill out his candidate answer form in time, and was excluded from the forum.
Five candidates have shared their responses to the questionnaire, however, only four are accessible:
Kerns
Kirk
Miller
Veale
Responses provided by candidates originated from the questionnaire, and were related to the District's strength's, DEI initiatives, book bans, Proposition 2 and more.
'It might seem obvious to say that our students are a strength of our district,' said Brian Kirk, a local pastor and candidate.
Mrkvicka, a local veterinarian and candidate, said the District's strength's lie in it's vocational schools, like Hillyard.
A majority of the six candidates supported implementing DEI in schools.
'I think that it's important to create a fair and equitable work environment and learning environment for our students and staff,' said Veale, a nurse practitioner and candidate.
'If we want to live in strong, diverse communities, we need to find ways to make sure everybody is heard, everybody is respected, everybody is included,' said Kirk.
Prioritizing positive academic outcomes were also up for discussion.
'Whatever we can do to increase the amount of staff that is available for these kids, that...especially the ones that aren't, you know, at the level they should be,' said Mrkvicka.
'I think one of the things that we can do to improve our parent engagement and learning is to help provide parents with some resource to educate their kids,' said Veale.
The five candidates who filled out the questionnaire on time, agreed on the bond issue (Proposition 2) to support the construction of a new high school.
The candidates also stated they do not support they elimination of the the Department of Education, as proposed in Project 2025.
News-Press NOW will provide more in-depth reports on each candidate leading up tot he April 8 municipal election.