Wednesday, March 15 the Mineral Point School District hosted its annual School Board Candidate Forum. (Scroll past the video for times of topics discussed). The election is set for Tuesday, April 4. Voters will be asked to select not more than two of the candidates: Kelly Gundlach, Mike Thousand, Glenn E. Kinch, Jeff Basting. There are two seats available.

  1. Please provide a brief biography of yourself (2:30 mark).
  2. What motivated you to run for the school board and what makes you believe you would be/are an effective member? (7:30)
  3. What do you believe the district is doing well and what could use improvement? (12:20)
  4. Looking for clarification/thoughts around Member Kinch’s statement at the Monday night School Board meeting regarding the possibility of filling in part of the Oak Savanna as a potential solution to traffic problems at the elementary school. (19:00)
  5. Looking for thoughts on the current school board’s direction of paying Nexus Solutions a walk away fee and managing the long-term facilities plan itself. (23:40)
  6. Questioning candidates’ thoughts surrounding unfunded state and federal school mandates. (30:30)
  7. Who do you see responsible for day-to-day operations of the district–Board or Superintendent and what does that relationship look like? (37:38)
  8. Rural schools are losing funds. How would you address this shortfall? (42:50)
  9. Do you support growing open enrollment into the district? (49:50)
  10. Opinions on transgender government laws for schools. (53:45)
  11. Ideas to increase stakeholder engagement, especially at school board meetings (56:40)
  12. Thoughts on the importance of professional development for staff and the board? (1:03:15)
  13. Is education a business? (1:07:25)
  14. Do you feel you will be able to have productive dialogue and work toward compromises? (1:14:45)
  15. Closing statements (1:21:00)