Nine candidates for the three at-large seats on the Lexington County District 1 school board gathered Sept. 26 to answer questions from the League of Women Voters.

Though all 11 candidates running in the Nov. 8 election were initially reported to be attending, Beth Shealy and Mary Price didn’t attend. Both were given the option to send in a closing remarks video, which Shealy did.

White Knoll High School Performing Arts Center hosted the forum, during which moderator Lill Mood, with the League of Women’s Voters, asked questions about transparency, measurements of success, developing constructive work relationships, handling contentious issues brought when confronted by the public, and diliniating board and staff roles.

All candidates emphasized that fostering student success should be a main focus of the board, and through the debate they were often unanimous in their answers. Bringing better transparency in communicating with the public and repairing what many candidates portrayed as a lack of trust between the board and the community was touched on by all of the candidates, and most touched on the importance of giving a voice to teachers, parents and students.

Chris Rice, a utilities operation manager, spoke about how all children should have the opportunity for an education, with which Richard Gehling, a retired business owner who previously worked for the Department of Defense, agreed, saying the district needs to provide better avenues to pursue options besides traditional four-year college.

Rhys Sage made a similar argument, stating that student success should not be measured on a standard scale but rather on personal achievements.

“A fish can be taught to swim, an elephant can be taught to ride a bicycle,” the special needs bus driver said. “But if you try to teach a fish to ride a bicycle, it's going to go through its entire life thinking it's stupid because it can't.”

Other candidates espoused the virtue of diversifying the paths available to District 1 students.

Aaron Granade, a software developer, spoke on how this is an important time for parents to get involved.

“Parents are the primary stakeholders in our children's education,” he said, emphasizing that he is a father. “They are not the consumers, the primary consumers [are] the children.”

Katie McCown, a realtor, and Harriet Coker, a stay-at-home mom and substitute teacher, said they have a strong focus on the parents, students, teachers, and the community having a voice during board meetings, with McCown speaking to the importance of creating a more orderly environment.

All the candidates hinted at the board needing a structural change to better serve students and the public. A common interest for all candidates was how the board will need to work together, listen and observe each other. 

Andrea Nazarenko used the analogy of the board members “co-parenting” to describe how board members should work together.

Dealing transparently with the public and specifically within the scope of Freedom of Information Act requests was also a hot topic.

When answering a question on transparency, one candidate brought up a possible plan. Rice mentioned bringing in an internal auditor who reports to the board and can post information directly online. Many candidates spoke on the need to communicate better with the public.

Coker spoke on how the board follows a set of laws that outline what information can be released and the information that can’t be released. Grenade responded to the transparency question with the phrase “When in doubt, let it out."

[Online copy corrected.]

The candidates were mostly unanimous on creating more transparency, putting personal feelings aside, making all information available for all board members, and following the Board of Trustees handbook.

Granade was the only candidate that brought up religion, bringing up the story of Jesus and The Centurion to speak to how he would distinguish between board and staff responsibilities.