Editor’s Note: The following correspondence is from Carrol Harvey, a former Woodland Park Council member and Mayor Pro Tem, who has served as the moderator for a variety of candidate forums, conducted by the Woodland Park Chamber of Commerce. The Woodland Park RE-2 District will have four candidate forums, scheduled for Oct. 18 and Oct. 19 and Oct. 25 and Oct. 26 at various locations.
Good morning to all,
My sincere thanks to you for your desire to serve our community as elected officials.
An election campaign can be a challenging and exciting experience. It presents an opportunity for you to contribute and improve your community. Effective school board members contribute their unique talents while collaborating as a team with other board members and the superintendent. With children as the ultimate focus, school board members work together to accomplish the board’s goals. You are all committing to this goal with your willingness to run for office this year.
As part of the campaign process, the Woodland Park RE2 School District has agreed to host candidate forums for each of the Districts with open seats. I am honored and humbled that the District asked me to serve as an impartial moderator for these events. I am dedicated to making sure the forums offer all of you the opportunity to share your reasons for running for office and to respond to questions I will present. The questions are intended to solicit thoughtful consideration of your personal views about how our children should be educated. You have absolutely no obligation to participate in these forums, but I will endeavor to facilitate fair and unbiased dialogue between all of the candidates that do join us.
I am attaching a document outlining the conduct of the forums. I will be forwarding all of the questions that may be posed during the forums for your review prior to each forum date. In an effort of full transparency, I have primarily drawn questions from two websites: 2016 Take Action Template (pta.org) & Prospective Candidates / Prospective Candidate Questions (wpsba.org) . Additionally, the District established a website for community input. I will add these questions, without edits, to the final compilation of questions for your review. As a point of information, no current Board members or District Superintendent, nor any staff or faculty have influenced the question selection process.
If you have any questions prior to the date of your forum, please reach out. I profess to only serve as a moderator. However, in order to maintain neutrality on the part of the School Superintendent and his staff, I will be happy to answer any procedural questions you may have. I can’t have all of the answers, but I will do my best to get the answers for you.
One more point of information. Members of the Woodland Park Student Council and members of the High School Debate Team will be assisting in the conduct of each forum. Namely, they will introduce each forum and serve as timekeepers. I am so pleased to acknowledge their involvement and extremely proud of their interest in our democratic process. Be sure to thank them when you meet them in the coming weeks!
Carrol Harvey
Woodland Park
