Information Overload, Candidate Forum Tonight

Upcoming Events

Municipal Election Day is this Tuesday, March 8, 2022.  I'll put out my usual ORCSD election guide this weekend; let's focus on the five candidates for two ORCSD school board seats here. I won't be shy about telling you who I am and am not voting for when I figure it out, hopefully soon.  But in this post I will strive to deliver neutral, unbiased information.

Thursday March 3 (tonight as I write this), 7 pm, though they've been a bit cagey about the time, the ORHS Debate Club is hosting the ORCSD School Board Candidates' Forum at the high school. I don't think it's open to the public in person, but we can watch it.  It will be recorded and streamed by the district's professional staff, so I don't expect any technical problems.

Information Released

After Candidates Night on February 15 there was a two week lull where there wasn't much happening in the ORCSD school board election (but I did complete my 14th RPM Challenge).  That all changed in the last couple of days, with an avalanche of information released as the various questionnaires that the candidates have responded to have been published and the district responded to community calls for information.  

Let's start with the district website publishing candidate bios.  The district proper has an ethical and legal obligation to stay out of the election campaign, which is annoying as it's the obvious place to look for election information.  That's why Candidates Night was historically run by the District Clerk, who is not involved in district administration, and the last two years by the PTOs. 

But the district thought the step of posting photos and statements submitted by the candidates was ok (and that allowed me to make the above image). It's also OK for the students to get involved, so be sure to tune into tonight's forum.  And of course, this is my part to help get information out to the wider community.

The candidates are constantly updating their facebook pages, so here they are again: Matt Bacon, Marie D'Agostino (no candidate web presence known), Giana Gelsey, Debra Harmon, and Heather Smith.

The video from Candidates' Night has been published.  I said I'd review it and update the bios in the last post, but with all the new, candidate-authored information out now it's a lower priority.

Foster's has published an article and candidate questionnaire.  Yahoo picked it up, and I think it won't be behind a paywall there.

The Oyster River Teacher's Guild published their annual ORCSD ORTG SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE QUESTIONAIRE 2022.  Some of the candidates have reproduced their answers on facebook, perhaps because the paragraph formatting seems to have been lost on the guild's grid; I saw Gelsey, Harmon and Smith.

Oyster River Equity and Justice published their questionnaire as well.  I believe the OREJ is not affiliated with the school district; it's a community group supporting DEIJ issues.  Frankly I'm a little hazy about the names, history, authority and membership of the various DEIJ committees and organizations that seem to be operating; I'll try to brush up.   

Phew.  That's all the new candidate information until the forum tonight.  I urge everyone to watch.

Tom Newkirk and Al Howland Say Goodbye

Last night was Tom and Al's last school board meeting, after ten years of service (YouTube).  The board and administration all had kinds words praising Tom and Al.  I was watching at home but when I realized it was Tom and Al's last, I went to the meeting in person, first time in almost two years. Unfortunately there were no hor d'oeuvres for the occasion, but it was wonderful to be there nonetheless. I definitely need to write a longer tribute to these two, but that will have to wait until after the election.

It was great to see everyone.  I finally met Principal Noe. Three candidates were present: Heather Smith, who presented the Long Range Planning Committee enrollment predictions, Matt Bacon and Debra Harmon.  Masks were optional so it was interesting to see who was masked.  At the table, only member Cisneros did not wear a mask.  Among the candidates, Heather and Matt were masked, Debra was not.

While making a public comment thanking Tom and Al, I got to brag about my Mathcounts middle schoolers, 7 of which passed the hurdle of the chapter competition and will compete in the state competition at the end of this month.  I taught middle schoolers calculus on the first day of the new school; here's my visual aid for Archimedes' Quadrature of the Parabola.