Kelly Byrne, Sarah Hough, Dave Myers and Gail Smart are all competing in the contest. The two candidates who earn the most votes will serve a three-year term alongside five incumbents who already serve on the board.
On Wednesday afternoon, roughly 50 college students and others turned out for an hour-long forum with the four school board candidates. They began the session by answering this question, submitted by the students of Missouri State University: “If access to free and reduced meals is interrupted or altered, what alternatives would you suggest?”
It’s a serious question for the Springfield district. Historically, roughly half of Springfield students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, with many schools in north and central Springfield having a rate of 60 percent or even 80 percent. And, it’s a question with a national context: A week before this forum, President Trump signed an executive order aiming to dismantle the U.S. Education Department. That federal agency funds many local services by public schools.
The candidates answered in a randomly selected order, starting with business owner Kelly Byrne, who’s running for re-election. What follows are brief clips of their comments shortened for available broadcast runtime.
“I would say, and I totally understand why there's concerns about this, there's a lot of, lot of new things going on at the federal level, and a lot of uncertainty about what may come from that. But this question specifically, I would say there's no precedent for this, and I do not think we're at risk of losing funding for something like school lunches. So I don't think there's any real risk of that, based on my knowledge of what's happened in the past and my experience in the school board. That being said, if, for some reason that were to happen, Springfield Public Schools is in a really good place to adapt to this, we have really good community partners.”
Next up: Candidate Gail Smart, a community volunteer.
“So this question, what are we going to do? Well, I I do think that this is a concern, because the federal government has already cut funds to USDA, and that is one of the agencies that helps provide pre reduced lunch to schools. So that's where the Springfield Public School Foundation comes into play. They raise private money for public schools, for our public schools, and they do that by awarding grants to teachers.”
Dave Myers, an aircraft mechanic, spoke next.
“I so, I was, when I was in school, I actually qualified for free to reduce lunch. This is a very certainly big issue in Springfield. It is something that we need to be proactive about rather than reactive. Thankfully, we kind of see what's coming. We have an idea of what's coming, and so I think with, with some good strong leadership and good communication, we can actually get this addressed and accomplished pretty quickly. So I'll say that, on the one hand, you know what's been said already? Community partnerships. We have a really wonderful network of businesses and nonprofits, churches, etc.”
Finally, Sarah Hough, a human resources officer, shared her view.
“I think this is a great question. And I would say — there have been a number of questions that we've all gotten at every forum and I would say this is the first time we've received this question. It is important, and I'm glad this is on your mind. We have 52 percent of our students in Springfield Public Schools that currently qualify for free or reduced lunches, and so that's a lot. That's half of our kids. It's more than half of our kids. A couple of folks mentioned Care to Learn. I am proud to serve on the board of that nonprofit. It's an organization that was started here in Springfield, and we serve students with home hunger and hygiene needs.”
If you want to hear more from all four candidates running for a seat on the Springfield board of public education, check out the website of Ozarks Public Radio. There, you’ll find interviews conducted by community members for the Informed Voter Coalition.
