Collier County School Board Candidate Forum

With my education being such an important aspect of my life and something I value as a high school student in Collier County, the Collier County Public School Board Candidate Form gave me the opportunity to learn more about the deciding factors that will help voters and taxpayers determine the next elected school board candidate for Districts One, Three, and Five. At the forum was District One candidate, Jory Westberry, District Three candidates Kelly Lichter and Jen Mitchell, and District Five candidate Roy Terry. Other candidates were not present.

Before the forum commenced, audience members were told to write any questions that they may have for one or more candidates on a three by five ruled notecard. The notecards were collected by round six and then set aside to be asked during the final portion of the forum. Candidates were provided a minute to answer audience provided questions and two minutes to give their opening statements, closing statements, and respond to prepared questions. The moderator, and the president of the Marco Island Civic Association, Jerry Swiacki, directed and delegated the discussion. 

The scope of duties that a school board member performs is wide-ranging. From making decisions about curriculum, to creating and upholding board policies, to managing fiscal responsibilities. The way that these responsibilities are prioritized often determines the academic success and achievement of Collier students. The members of the school board have the ability to influence the quality of education and impact the lives of students within their county.

The forum’s prepared questions covered a variety of subjects and pressing issues that concern schools in CCPS. The prepared questions included subjects such as teacher retention, evaluating school textbooks, hiring a new superintendent, CRT, mask mandates, the spending of taxpayer dollars, and federal funding. With such a large budget of $1.4 billion dollars, discussing and assessing the fiscal responsibility of candidates and where they believe they should delegate funding is very important. Fiscal responsibilities are also of high importance to voters who pay 44% in tax dollars which is being used to support the decisions that are made for CCPS. 

A question similar to the ones asked last year at the previous school board candidate forum asked, “There have been various alarming assertions regarding “pornography” in textbooks, CRT, and mask mandates, please comment on these assertions and any others of which you may be aware of?”

Candidate Jory Westberry’s response to the question elaborated on CRT and mask mandates specifically, “This is a concept that has come up in the last year… it’s an advanced college course.” She also comments on mask mandates stating that “The state gave us direction that we needed to listen to the local health departments.”

Candidate Roy Terry responds to the same question with “We do not teach CRT in Collier County Schools…as far as the mask mandate goes…when we opened up in the 2020 and 2021 school year, we required masks. We took the safe route and required masks.”

Candidate Jen Mitchell says, “(CRT) it is not something we teach in CCPS. When people make these assertions, you're accusing teachers of something.” Mitchell also comments on the assertion of teachers pushing an LGBTQ agenda. “(LGBTQ+ students) they have a right to have their clubs, it’s called equity of access…enacted by Congress in 1984.”

Candidate Kelly Lichter comments by saying “There actually is some validity to all of these topics…You can go back and watch the videos of parents reading the “pornographic” materials, it wasn’t even appropriate for the adults in the room yet the board majority voted to keep these books.”

Due to the short amount of time allotted for each response, I felt that some subjects such as CRT and mask mandates were very repetitive and sometimes unnecessary. The discussion of these topics took away from the time that could’ve been used to bring up or further discuss the improvement of other areas such as school safety and security, financial assistance for lower income students, teacher salaries, mental healthcare, and further opportunities for academic achievement in schools. 

Other topics of discussion and pressing issues that were brought up hadn’t been discussed in depth at previous candidate forums. A question that I felt touched on a very important topic was written by an audience member asking: “What is the status of bullying in Collier County Public Schools and what has been done both in person and online? How are you handling that?”

The forum was a great opportunity to learn more about the way a board functions in unison and how the individual candidates plan to prioritize their responsibilities if elected/re-elected. Based on the answers candidates provide, the audience is able to better determine who they believe is most qualified for the role and who they want to vote for. With the forum being mostly centered around education and students, I think more high school students should take an active role in being informed or more involved in their education.