League of Women Voters Candidate Forum set for March 30, 2023

The Mexico- Audrain County League of Women Voters will host a Candidate Forum for City Council and School Board Candidates Thursday, March 30 at the Mexico YMCA beginning at 6:30 p.m. The Forum will be held in the pickleball court area. 

The League of Women Voters of Mexico-Audrain County is a nonpartisan political organization and cannot endorse or oppose any candidate for office. However, a basic purpose of the League is to promote informed voting. The League makes every effort to assist candidates in presenting their opinion(s) to the voters. 

Each candidate was contacted by the League and asked two questions pertaining to the election. Their responses to these questions as well as their answers to questions submitted by the audience attending the Forum will make up the program. The Forum is open to the public and all are encouraged to attend.

Candidates were asked two questions, with a 200-word answer limit for each.

Here are the questions asked:

1. What are your qualifications for a position on the Mexico School Board?

1. What do you see as the 2 major issues confronting the Mexico School Board during the upcoming term? How would you recommend these issues be addressed?

1. Some of the staff of MPS may remember me from my years of working at Central Office. I was the gal who paid the bills, made deposits, assisted in keeping accounts in balance and even helped with the bus radios in a pinch. While I loved my time working for the schools, I knew when I left that I had a larger calling to serve our community and the time would come again to serve our district. I hold Bachelor's Degrees in Business Administration and in Human Resources from Columbia College. I have worked in finance for the past 16 years and I currently work at EquipmentShare in Columbia and the Insurance Verification Manager. Previously, I was a Lunch Buddy and when our boys were little, I coached soccer and t-ball at the YMCA and T-ball at the Optimists. My husband Rodger (class of 1992) and I have two sons who we are proudly raising as Bulldogs! Jacob is a sophomore and Kale is in the sixth grade. My working knowledge of school finance, the inner workings of MPS, as well as being an active parent are all reasons that I am qualified for a seat on the school board.

2. I would like our district to communicate with clarity regarding what funds can be used for upcoming initiatives and school events. Many people in our community want what is best for our kids like I do but we must get everyone the information needed so that they can show up to support our students and staff. We need to meet our stakeholders where they are by utilizing not only our current school messaging system but also other platforms such as the newspaper, Twitter, emails and radio.

There are also some hard decisions that need to be made in order to shift the culture of MPS if we are going to attract and retain quality and qualified teachers. We must think outside the box and open our minds to trying creative ways to make our school district the place to be. Education is different than it was 20 years ago and we have to adapt or we are going to continue to have issues with teacher retention. Hard decisions are called hard decisions because they aren't easy, and those hard decisions are often the most purposeful and in turn they are what's best for kids.