Questions for School Board Candidates
School board members make important decisions that impact their community in many significant ways. Vetting candidates running for this sought-after position is a crucial part of local civic engagement and ensuring that public education policies and decisions are held to the highest of standards.
Background
What particular experiences or skills have prepared you to serve as a school board member?
What motivated you to run for school board?
Have you received any donations or endorsements from any group(s)? If so, which groups?
In what school district or community activities/organizations have you been involved?
Policy
Do you believe that parents are the primary stakeholders in their children’s education?
Do you believe that citizens should have full access to all public school curricula?
Do you believe that political ideologies and activism should be kept out of public school curricula? If so, how will you ensure that traditional academics remain free of agenda-driven indoctrination? If not, should all political and religious beliefs be given an equal opportunity to be added into lesson plans?
Do you believe it is the responsibility of public education to advance social justice? If not, will you advocate for the removal of Social Emotional Learning in public schools? If so, what is your definition of social justice and what specific school policies would you advocate to achieve that goal?
Would you be in favor of a Gender Support Plan that would enable school officials to change a student’s name, gender marker, or pronouns while they are at school without the approval or awareness of a parent or legal guardian?
Do you support a student’s right to single-sex spaces such as locker rooms and bathrooms?
Considering that less than half of North Dakota students are proficient in math and English, what policies would you initiate to improve student achievement?
When approving curriculum to be implemented, how will you ensure that the recent law banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory will be followed?
Should teachers be able to talk freely with students about topics that have political and moral implications such as sexuality and gender with or without the expressed prior approval of parents?
Absent of a law or mandate, should schools have the right to forcibly mask students against their will and that of their parents?
Are you willing to denounce the letter that the National School Board Association sent to President Biden requesting that he direct federal law enforcement to investigate parents for expressing disapproval of school board decisions? Do you think that the weaponization of the Department of Justice and the FBI against law-abiding citizens is sufficient reason for the ND School Board Association to cut ties with the NSBA?
Governance
How would you measure success for a superintendent?
In what ways can the school board become more accessible and accountable to the community?
What is the best way to address differences of opinion on the board or between the board and the administration?
If elected, would you welcome community engagement in school board decisions?
How can a school board know if its goals are being accomplished and its policies carried out?
Should the ND and National School Board Associations’ input on local board decisions hold more weight than that of local citizens?
