South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education candidates Elizabeth Baker, Maureen Jones, Godwin Molokwu and Donna Smith
For those who missed the first candidates forum for the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education on September 18, there will be two more opportunities to hear the candidates speak and answer questions in October.
The League of Women Voters and the SOMSD Presidents’ Council, will host a BOE candidates forum on Monday, October 13, from 7:30-9:00 p.m. in the Board Administration Building, 525 Academy Street, Maplewood.
The Schools Committee of the South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race will present its 9th annual forum for candidates for the Board of Education on Tuesday, October 28, at 7:00 p.m. at Marshall Elementary School. According to a posting concerning the forum on the Coalition’s website: “We want a Board of Education that will ensure that our entire community comes together to create schools that are the first choice of families of all races and socio-economic backgrounds.”
Although candidates will be able to prepare responses to some pre-submitted questions, each of these forums will allow for candidates to respond to questions submitted by members of the audience.
The October 13 forum will follow this format:
- The order of candidate statements and responses to questions will be determined by a random drawing of numbers at 7:00 p.m. before the start of the forum and will vary throughout the evening.
- Each candidate will be provided 2 minutes for an opening statement.
- Four questions prepared by the LWV and the Presidents Council will be posed in the first question segment of the program.
- The first candidate addressing each of these 4 questions will have 1.5 minutes to respond. Subsequent candidate responses will be allotted 1 minute.
- Members of the audience will also be provided the opportunity to submit their questions. Those questions will be collected, vetted, and given to the moderator to read.
- Questions posed by the audience will be answered in the agreed-upon order of rotation unless directed to a specific candidate; all candidates will have 1 minute to respond to these questions.
- There will be 2 minutes for closing remarks from each candidate.
The CCR forum on October 28 will follow this format:
- Introduction and welcome
- Opening statements from each of the candidates (two minutes per candidate)
- Questions from the moderator, provided to candidates in advance
- Questions from the audience
- Closing statements (90 seconds)
- Each candidate has the opportunity to address one of the questions first for 1.5 minutes; the other candidates get to respond for one minute; and the order is random. Audience members are asked to carefully consider their questions, keep them brief, write them on an index card (to encourage clarity and brevity), and to ask questions that all the candidates can address. They are also asked to pose the questions at the microphone.
To watch video of the first candidates forum, visit here.
The election is November 4, 2014.
To check your voter registration status, visit HERE. Find voter registration information HERE (including Vote By Mail). New voters must register 21 days prior to the election.
