Cape Girardeau's school board candidates to address voters

Candidates running for Cape Girardeau Public Schools Board of Education will be addressing voters at a forum at 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 20.

The event is sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Public Schools Community Teachers' Association (CTA) and will be held in the Richard D. Kinder Performance Hall at Cape Girardeau Central High School located at 1000 S. Silver Springs Road. The forum is open to the public.

Tyler Lappe, CTA vice president and a fifth grade teacher at Jefferson Elementary School, said candidates Casey Cook, Missy Phegley, Jared Ritter and Kim Swartz have all accepted the invitation to speak at the forum. Candidate Roy Diamond said he may be able to attend but couldn't commit.

Lappe will moderate the forum and he said the candidates will each be given two minutes to introduce themselves, after which, each will be asked six questions in turn. They will have 90 seconds to answer each question. Finally, the candidates will each be given 60 seconds to make a closing statement.

Lappe said all the candidates were emailed the forum's rules and the six questions, which include; "How would you give concerned parents a voice in school matters?" and "How many times have you attended an event or visited a classroom in our school district in the last year?"

The purpose of the forum is to give the candidates a chance to show what their platform is so the community can make an informed decision as it votes during the general municipal election Tuesday, April, 4, Lappe said.