Our Civics Lesson notes that there are FOUR School Districts in York County, drawn around for ‘population areas’: York (City), Clover, Rock Hill and Fort Mill. Each District has a seven-member Board of Trustees, with four-year terms. Some are elected this year, the rest in two years. Candidates nominate themselves (in August) — they are technically nonpartisan, and are not part of the Primary process. All qualified candidates appear on the ballot, and voters choose several from the list. This episode is the Fort Mill School Board Candidate Forum, sponsored by the Reaganites of York County and held on September 27 at the Catawba Ridge High School. Six of the seven candidates participated. There are four seats up for election, with three incumbents among the sevan candidates. There will be another Fort Mill Candidate Forum on October 15 at Nation’s Ford High School. It will be livestreamed on the School District’s YouTube channel The Rock Hill School District also held a candidate forum, and livestreamed it on their YouTube Channel. We don’t know if the York or Clover Districts have held or planned forums and/or put video online. NO ENDORSEMENTS… but “a list”Note that because the positions and election are nonpartisan, the YCDP does not endorse candidates, even though most have some political leaning. The GOP and the radical Mom’s for Liberty group do their best to influence candidates and elections, and this year, candidate preference lists are more public than usual (they are often kept quiet to avoid tipping of ‘the opposition’. So in this episode, we do discuss the candidate preferences we’ve heard about (but it’s still not a YCDP endorsement. We take a little more latitude on the YouTube/podcasts to discuss the political environment than we do on the rest of the website). We also call out one candidate in particular - Larry Barnett - because local education activists tell us they discovered (and saved) some alarming Facebook posts on his public (at the time) timeline that were either made private or taken down the day after he filed for election. This is still not a YCDP position, but our producer compiled this PDF of the pages the activists collected. THE LAST WORDS…The program closes with another host/producer (vanity?) segment, this time focusing on an odd Facebook rant by the Reaganites, the group that sponsored the forum. They seem to have a lot of heartburn about us showing up to record the event on video (without asking first). We assumed that it was a public forum (which it was) and open to media (which, apparently, it wasn’t😕?). A minor point, quickly resolved at the event (we thought), but our routine production requests apparently escalated their annoyance (already pre-established because, after all, we’re Democrats) into a major beef🐄. Enjoy.INDEX: 00:00 Intro 01:04 The Civics lesson. School District map, School Board election details 04:08 This video is the Fort Mill School District Candidate Forum. Details. 05:54 Who's recommended? Because it's non-partisan... we have a list. 07:43 Special attention to candidate Larry Barnett 10:06 Note on a second FMSB Candidate Forum, Oct 15 at Nation's Fort HS 10:32 Note on Rock Hill School District Forum on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/8HS0XHg4... 11:39 This video is edited to concentrate on Candidate comments. Unedited version available on York County Reaganites YouTube Channel 13:24 FORUM BEGINS - Intro 14:32 Larry Barnett opening statement 17:00 Keith Griffin opening statement 19:25 Joe Helms opening statement 21:30 Brandon Langford opening statement 24:07 Melissa Maynard opening statement 26:47 Lipi Pratt opening statement 29:07 QUESTION ONE: Spending growth 29:37 Joe Helms response 31:04 Brandon Langford response 33:19 Melissa Maynard response 34:48 Lipi Pratt response 36:35 Larry Barnett response 39:26 Keith Griffin response 41:32 QUESTION TWO: Bond Referendum, debt 41:59 Brandon Langford response 44:46 Melissa Maynard response 47:46 Lipi Pratt response 49:28 Larry Barnett response 51:33 Keith Griffin response 53:47 Joe Helms response 56:42 QUESTION THREE: Safety Issues 56:55 Keith Griffin response 59:04 Joe Helms response 1:01:46 Brandon Langford response 1:04:45 Melissa Maynard response 1:07:40 Lipi Pratt response 1:10:37 Larry Barnett response 1:12:34 QUESTION FOUR: Academic rigor, achievement, measurement 1:12:47 Larry Barnett response 1:12;14 Keith Griffin response 1:16:24 Joe Helms response 1:19:32 Brandon Langford response 1:22:13 Melissa Maynard response 01:25:07 Lipi Pratt response 1:27:16 CLOSING STATEMENTS (30 seconds each) 1:31:34 Gary returns for a little more 'politics' - Reaganites' Facebook complaints about CAPE/YCDP video coverage 1:36:41 Gary's response and comment 1:45:38 OVER and OUT
