Meet The Candidate's Night

[Jennifer Patruno]

This topic came up at our board meeting this week.  The District has conducted a Meet the Candidate's Night for six years.  While I have my personal opinion as to whether the District should be involved or not, they currently host the event prior to the Budget Hearing.  The idea originated from a District PTA committee because they wanted to know more about the candidates beyond the candidates' biographies that are submitted for the district newsletter.  The format used by the district ended up being no different - basically candidates reading their own bios off a paper.  Does anyone have any experience with an event such as this?  Is it hosted by the district or another community group?  I would be interested in learning about the format used and the types of organizations that have offered these events to the community.  

[Heidi Cambareri]

We have one every year and it is held in one of our schools but is hosted by the PTA and the League of Women Voters. The PTA gathers questions from the community in advance and select questions from those are posed to all candidates by the League moderator. Essentially each candidate can give a brief intro, and then each candidate on a rotating basis answers all questions. Then a brief closing statement by all. Time limit for each statement/response. It is recorded and can be viewed by those not in attendance. This is really an effective way of allowing the community to better understand who each candidate is, why they are running, and what their positions are on priority topics.

[Kerry Wachter]

I do not believe this is something the district should be running. In our district Meet the Candidate's night is run by the PTA in conjunction with the League of Women voters. Members of the public submit questions that night on an index card. The cards are brought to the moderator and they sort and ask each candidate the same question. It seems to work well here.

[Jill Citron]

Ours is sponsored by the PTA and run by the League of Women Voters. The moderators haven’t been great but they are clearly unbiased.

[Paul Haggett]

Hello:

Our district generally holds a similar event, but in our district, the “Friends of Music” group is the sponsoring organization. The president of the friends group has solicited questions to be asked during the event. This person works with a local newspaper reporter, who asks the questions of candidates. By and large, this format works well, as the moderator doesn’t have a horse in the race. As a district and a BOE, I would steer very clear of direct involvement in any such programming. If you have a larger organization, such as a League of Women Voters with some experience in political involvement, so much the better.

[Shayne Mitchell]

Our last one was run by our PTA and the Schenectady County League of Women Voters. I thought they did a great job. Here is the youtube link of the event https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPbpltWjN4k .