Lightning Strikes at School Board Candidates Forum

The League of Women Voters of Richardson and the Richardson ISD Council of PTAs jointly hosted a forum for school board candidates Thursday night at the RISD Administration Building.

The candidates for school board trustee are:
Place 6 - Justin Bono, Rachel Chumney.
Place 7 - Kristin Kuhne, Judy A. Yarbrough, Bonnie Abadie.

The election is May 10. Early voting begins April 28.

The full video of the forum is available on the LWV's website. Watch it. Or just read my take on what was most important, or entertaining, or both. It's your choice. It's a free country.

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Many interesting questions were quickly disposed of in a so-called lightning round, when nine questions were asked and the candidates were restricted to giving yes/no answers. When all candidates answer the same way, you're going to have to look elsewhere to find a reason to differentiate the candidates. But when some say yes and some say no, you just might be onto something. Maybe.

• Question: RISD is one of hundreds of Texas school districts currently suing the state over state funding of public schools. Do you support the lawsuit?
  
  All five candidates answered yes.
  
  
• Question: Do you support moving school elections to the fall?
  
  Four candidates answered yes. Justin Bono said, "I'll say no, not without further study."
  
  
• Question: Do you favor principals or other staff being armed with guns?
  
  All five candidates answered no.
  
  
• Question: Do you think Creationism should be taught in science classes:
  
  Four candidates answered no. Justin Bono said yes.
  
  
• Question: It has been rumored that several of you are always late to events. Do you have a problem getting to events on time?
  
  Four candidates answered no. Rachel Chumney said, "Not a fair question. I can make it happen. Yes. No. I don't know."
  
  
• Question: Are you in favor of home schooling?
  
  Four candidates answered yes. Judy Yarbrough said no.
  
  
• Question: Are you in favor of charter schools?
  
  Kristin Kuhne and Bonnie Abadie answered yes. Justin Bono, Rachel Chumney and Judy Yarbrough answered no.
  
  
• Question: Are you in favor of school vouchers?
  
  Bonnie Abadie and Judy Yarbrough answered yes. Justin Bono, Rachel Chumney and Kristin Kuhne answered no.
  
  

Of the questions that the candidates were given 90 seconds to answer, there were a few sound bites that I felt were worth highlighting.

• Question: Should the district allocate more funding and/or time to training teachers in the effective use of technology in the classroom?
  
  All of the candidates more or less said yes, but Bonnie Abadie had this interesting take: "We'd probably save a lot of money if we got the kids to teach the teachers how to use the technology, right? I know sometimes that I'm not that technologically savvy and the kids are like, just give me the phone, mother."
  
  
• Question: Have you seen the results of the recent dyslexia audit and, if so, how would you address the recommendations?
  
  Justin Bono, Rachel Chumny and Kristin Kuhne said yes, they have seen the audit. Judy Yarbrough said she has not seen it. Bonnie Abadie said, in part, "I don't know how I missed that audit. I have not seen the audit results, either."
  

There were more questions, so again, I urge you to watch the video of the whole forum before making up your mind about how to vote. As for me, I won't be saying at this time for whom I'll be voting, but a few, not all, of these questions and answers can't help but influence me when I do step inside the voting booth. Guess which ones.