There are four candidates vying for three seats on the Newton Community School District Board of Education in the Sept. 8 election. An upcoming public forum will allow the voting public to get to know the candidates.
The Newton Daily News and the Jasper County League of Women Voters are co-sponsoring a moderated forum. The event will be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 27, in the Newton Council Chambers, 101 W. 4th St. S. The event begins at 7 p.m. and will run until about 8:30 p.m.
Challengers Josh Cantu and Ann Leonard and incumbents Donna Cook and Bill Perrenoud are all expected to attend. Each candidate will make a brief statement. A Q&A session with all of the candidates will follow.
The forum will include statements from each applicant as well as a question-and-answer period. Those present may submit questions for applicants.
The League encourages all interested citizens to attend and participate. The plans include televising and showing live on box channel 12 channel 85 or channel 121.12.
Each candidate will be given two minutes to present background information and reasons for wanting to be elected to office. Following this, questions from the public and the league will be presented by the moderator, Linda Kirchhaff.
Each candidate will have two minutes to respond to each question and two minutes to clarify any position and to summarize at the end of the forum. Proxies will be permitted to read the introduction statement but not to answer questions in the name of the candidate.
The league may disallow, limit or combine questions. Two questions per subject will be entertained until questions on all other subjects have been addressed.
Write-in candidates — if any are declared by Thursday, Aug. 20 — will be allowed to be introduced and to speak dependent upon announcement by the candidates in official county publications within one week prior to the forum.
Candidates are requested to stay within their time limits. At the end of the allotted time, the timekeeper will signal. Candidates may then complete a thought, but are requested to finish their remarks promptly.
A notice will be posted at the forum site to notify participants that no campaign material is permitted in the room in which the forum is conducted. This also applies to T-shirts.
Incumbent board president Sheri Benson and board members Andy Elbert, Robyn Friedman and Travis Padget are in the middle of their four-year terms, which don’t expire until 2017.
Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com