The Shawnee Mission Post will hold a forum for the five candidates running for the at-large seat currently occupied by Cindy Neighbor.

Saturday, July 15, 2017. The forum will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Antioch branch of the Johnson County Library, 8700 Shawnee Mission Parkway in Merriam.

There'll be about 20 minutes of time for chit-chat before the formal forum program begins, and anticipate wrapping up the forum discussion by 10:30, so attendees will have half an hour or so to talk one-on-one to the candidates who are able to stay.

The candidates will have addressed a number of general topics in the questionnaires we’ll be publishing between July 10 and 14, so we intend to ask about some more specific issues during the forums. Those topics may include:

• The candidates’ views on the roles and responsibilities of board members
• The district’s piloting of its “Innovative Schools” model at Apache and Rising Star
• School funding in Kansas and how the board should interact with the legislature
• The role of libraries and librarians
• Practices for addressing student behavior problems
• The use of technology in the classroom and the amount of screen time students spend at Shawnee Mission schools.

As always, if you have additional topic ideas you’d like to suggest, email the Post at [email protected].