Tonight was the night of the forum battle! The school district scheduled their own school board candidate forum for the same date and time as the already-scheduled candidate forum being hosted by the Chamber of Commerce. We were all curious how it would go down…who did the voters want to hear from the most?

The Chamber’s forum, featuring challengers Seth Bryant, Mike Knott, and Keegan Barkley, drew an impressive crowd, as this picture shows:

The same cannot be said for the forum hosted by the school district, featuring incumbents Mick Bates, Cassie Kimbrell, and David Illingworth:

Meanwhile, our superintendent Ken Witt, who repeatedly talks about prioritizing academic success. The High School was holding their Academic Awards ceremony at the same time. Witt decided to go to the district forum for the incumbents instead of actually prioritizing academic success and celebrating the accomplishments of those high school students.