Several nonpartisan community organizations have joined hands to educate voters and engage candidates ahead of the April 7 municipal election. For this election, the Informed Voter Coalition is hosting candidate interviews for those in races for Ozark School Board and Nixa City Council District 1.
The organizations that make up the Informed Voter Coalition include: Be Civil, Be Heard; Drury University's Meador Center for Politics and Citizenship; KSMU, Ozarks Public Radio and Ozarks Public Television; Leadership Springfield; League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri; Missouri State University's Office of Public Affairs; NAACP Springfield; Ozarks Technical Community College's Social Sciences Department; Rosie; Show-Me Christian County; Springfield Business Journal; Springfield-Greene County Library District; and Springfield News-Leader.
Questions for these interviews were submitted by Informed Voter Coalition partner organizations and were not provided to the candidates in advance. The order of the candidate interviews was determined by a random drawing.
Jamie Santner, a student at Missouri State University and member of Paws to the Polls interviewed candidates Cindy Baker, Amber Bryant, Patrick Sullivan and Christina Tonsing. Matthew Growcock was out of town and unable to be interviewed.
Cindy Baker
Good afternoon. I'm Jamie Santner with the Missouri State University student organization Paws to the Polls, one of the nonpartisan organizations that make up the Informed Voter Coalition. Today we are interviewing candidates for Ozark School Board. They are Cindy Baker, Amber Bryant, Patrick Sullivan and Christina Tonsing. School board candidates will be interviewed individually and asked the same questions. They will have one minute to introduce themselves and two minutes to respond to each question. Our first candidate is Cindy Baker. Thank you very much for joining us. Let's begin by having you introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to run for this office. You have one minute.
Baker: Thank you very much. And it's a pleasure being here. My name is Cindy Baker, and running for school board means everything to me. I was a past teacher. I'm a mental health professional. I'm a business owner in Ozark. I am a mother of Ozark graduates. I'm a grandmother of four Ozark students now, and I feel that, with my many years of experience, I can bring some novel things to the board that right now would make me a unique candidate, and I'll discuss that later in detail.
Okay, so question 1. As AI and social media continue to evolve, what should the district be doing to teach media literacy and prepare students to distinguish facts from false or biased information?
Baker: I think that's an interesting question and, definitely, AI technology is only going to grow more. But I think we start with our teachers, and I would like to see our teachers given an opportunity to get some extensive training on how to work with students in the classroom with the upcoming AI and technology that's going to be hard to get away from. So, for me, having administration provide teachers with outlets and education to meet the needs, ever growing needs, of students when it comes to our future use of AI and technology.
Question 2. Book bans have been a controversial topic in the Ozarks and nationwide. What do you believe should be the criteria for banning books?
Baker: Thank you for the question. I've been a child development specialist for 50 years. I spent time in the courtroom, helping educate judges and juries as to what is in the best interests of children. So, to me, we need to understand cognitive development of children, how children learn and what is age appropriate for children. Those are all things I have knowledge of that I would bring to the school board. But we cannot introduce controversial books to children who have absolutely no ability or need to be exposed to those books. I also feel that there should be transparency with parents. I think parents play a major role, of course, in the lives of their children, and I feel that a school environment should be the safest environment that a parent can trust their children in during the days when they drop them off.
Question 3. How would you work to foster a safe and inclusive environment that supports the rights and well-being of all students?
Baker: Another excellent question. I feel that every student has a right to have whatever needs they have that would address anything that keeps them from learning. As a trauma specialist, I am a certified family trauma professional, I work with children who, unfortunately, are abused, neglected, they're hungry, and oftentimes we hear about students who are bullied. My counseling firm gets those students. So, I feel like what we need to do is to assess our children at a much younger age by, I would say, third grade, and find out if there are any factors that are prohibiting them from learning. And at that point, I feel it is the school district's obligation to provide each and every student the opportunity to be accommodated no matter what is impacting their learning. And I would support that fully.
Question 4. The state legislature is showing increased support for charter schools and open enrollment. How does this impact traditional public schools, and how would you promote and protect funding for schools like Ozark?
Baker: Definitely a subject I've been asked quite a bit about. I'm a traditionalist. I am a public school person all the way. In fact, one solution I have was what I wrote my dissertation about for my doctoral degree 21 years ago, and I believe for public schools, I would want to link school-linked services using our community stakeholders. If we do look at charter schools, I would like to see caps or limits as to how many children would exit at any given time. But honestly, for me, I would love to support public school as a school of excellence, and I feel the solution is by using our community stakeholders and then linking outside within a school model.
Final question. What should the school district be doing to protect staff and students from online harassment?
Baker: I get those students. I have the families of the students who have committed suicide at my company, Touchstone Counseling. So, to me, education, education, education. I also believe in transparency for the community. I love hearing concerns, sitting down at in a forum listening to what the parents have to say. What are some of the current things that they're facing? But I also know that the mental wellness professionals in the community are a very good resource as well because we are the ones that are face to face with the families who are dealing with some of these subjects. And it is horrific. And with social media, technology, everything growing, AI, I feel that we really need to get on top of this subject and make certain that we have measures in place to keep our children, our students, our teachers, everybody's safe within the school environment.
Cindy Baker, that concludes our interview. Thank you very much for taking time to talk to us.
Baker: Thank you very much.
Again, I've been speaking with Cindy Baker, who is a candidate for Ozark's school board.
Amber Bryant
If you're just joining us, we're talking to candidates running for Ozark School Board. Our next candidate is Amber Bryant. Thank you very much for joining us. Would you please introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to run for this position? You have one minute.
Bryant: Okay. Well, again, my name is Amber Bryant, and I'm currently on the school board right now. I have two daughters in Ozark School District. One is a senior, and one is a freshman. We moved to Ozark when my oldest started kindergarten, so they have been in the Ozark School District from the very beginning. I'm running because it's personal to me. My children are there. I'm unique in probably the way that I live my whole life basically in Ozark between I work there, I live there, my children go to school there. We're deeply involved in the community, and this is just one of the reasons I wanted to serve on the school board.
First question. As AI and social media continue to evolve, what should the district be doing to teach media literacy and prepare students to distinguish facts from false or biased information?
Bryant: Interesting question. Well, as much as I'd like to say I want schools to try to not rely on AI so the children can learn how to form their own thoughts and not rely on them to write papers or find those answers, but there is a place for it because society is changing, and you need to know how to use it. So, that is important that you teach them how to fact check it or how to utilize it in a way that enhances their education as opposed to being reliant upon it. I think we are already at Ozark trying to start incorporating that, and there are a lot of, they teach them about internet safety, and I think right along with that would be trying to make sure that they're getting facts and how you can find that out. But I think that there is a place for it and you've got to know how to use it.
Next question. Book bans have been a controversial topic in the Ozarks and nationwide. What do you believe should be the criteria for banning books?
Bryant: Well, I guess banning books for me would be if they were not appropriate for minors because, for me, I'm talking about from a school standpoint, I don't, I wouldn't want anything in there to be explicit or something that would be shown to children that their parents would not approve of. I don't believe that you — I don't want to encroach upon free speech because I do think it's important to learn about all different types of people. I think it's important for children to be able to learn about all different cultures and all different — everybody's family is different. I think one of the ways that you learn that is through public education when you're meeting all these different people, but you also are going to be reading about all different things, history, just a different way of life. And I think it's important that children are exposed to all of that, but there needs to be limitations on things that would not be appropriate for children. And that's where I would draw the line.
Our third question. How would you work to foster a safe and inclusive environment that supports the rights and well-being of all students?
Bryant: I think that's what public school is. I want every student to come to their school — I would want every student to come to Ozark and feel like that was the place where they belonged no matter what family they came from, no matter what situation they came from. When they come, they are all treated fairly, and they should all be accepted. I don't think that — I don't think there's a place for, I don't think there's a place for that in public education. Everybody should come to school and feel accepted. I think that you can look at different views by being inquisitive and accepting of different. I think that is set from the teacher in the classrooms. But really, I just think that it's not a place for — public schools should not be determining what's right and what's wrong. They should be accepting of everyone.
Question 4. The state legislature is showing increased support for charter schools and open enrollment. How does this impact traditional public schools, and how would you promote and protect funding for schools like Ozark?
Bryant: I think that you can protect funding by trying to voice your opinion to your elected officials. A couple of weeks ago, I did go to Jefferson City where I met with our representative. I think it's important to share with them what their bills, what the impact is, for our local schools. I think education is most important in sharing that. Because sometimes, just for an example, one of the bills that our representative was supportive of it, he was supportive because DESE had supported it. And when he was speaking with us, we shared with him some of the reasons we felt that it was not best for the students of Ozark, and he was very receptive to that. But I think just through communication and education you can help try to get your viewpoint across to them so they understand what they're doing to your local schools. And how I believe about open enrollment in charter schools, I think it's going to happen. So, I think my focus would be on how to make public schools still number one, what can we do to be innovative? What can we do to continue to offer everything we can to the students to keep our schools desirable?
Question 5. What should the school district be doing to protect staff and students from online harassment?
Bryant: Well, that's a hard thing to do. Now that cell phones are not allowed in schools, I think that's cut down on a lot of it. They can't really police things after hours. But if the students are being harassed by other students, they definitely, the school wants to know so they can look into it. They can't control it, but they can absolutely try to navigate stopping it. That should — it's not a place where — we would not allow that. And I do think that not having the cell phones in school has helped that somewhat. But there is a tip line at Ozark, so any time that a student is experiencing bullying, they are encouraged to report that so our SROs and administration can look into it. And then and if it does cross into the school, it would be something that would be dealt with.
Amber Bryant That concludes our interview. Thank you very much for taking time to talk to us.
Bryant: Thank you guys.
I've been speaking with Amber Bryant, who is a candidate for Ozark School Board.
Patrick Sullivan
If you're just joining us, we're talking to candidates running for Ozark School Board. Joining me now is Patrick Sullivan. Thank you very much for joining us. Would you please introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to run for this position? You have one minute.
Sullivan: Thank you. My name is Dr. Patrick Sullivan. I'm a professor of mathematics at Missouri State University, and I have been in education for 35 years. I started out as a public school teacher. I watched a huge transition of the school district. I was in Kansas. I felt like I needed to know more about how children learn. And so, I went to get my PhD at Penn State. While there, a friend of mine started a small private school, and I got to do a lot of things, a lot to — an opportunity to try some new things and different ideas. I learned a lot in those in that place. I was an administrator, so I learned about budgeting. I learned about managing a school, managing people. The school became one of the top 1% of private schools in the state of Pennsylvania. For the last 10 years, I've been in education at Missouri State. I've been involved in teacher training, and I felt the call for this was a service for me that I felt like my experience would be an asset to the Ozark community, and that's why I decided to run.
Question 1. As AI and social media continue to evolve, what should the district be doing to teach media literacy and prepare students to distinguish facts from false or biased information?
Sullivan: That's a great question. I looked at, I believe, Forbes, the Top Skills for 2030 Projected, digital literacy is the first one. The next two is, you know, related to AI related skills that things have moved so quickly. And so, I think as schools have a responsibility to, to engage in that shift and also train students up in determining fact from fiction. I mean, we see it all the time right now in social media all the time. You're having a hard time determining whether or not what is being said is truthful and whether the voices you're hearing are actually those people actually communicating what they — is it them? And so, I think we have a huge responsibility to, and a challenge to, to train our students up in being able to determine fact from fiction and establish truth. I think that's a significant part of learning. Many times, it's not about a subject as much as it is can you pull a part of an argument? We talk all the time about critical thinking and logical fallacies. And so, I find oftentimes, even working with college students, you know, we go to the very core of what's the claim, what's the evidence to support that claim and what's the warrant that's going to underpin that? So, a lot of teaching right now is getting students to understand the information that's presented in front of them, the critical information that's in front of them, and also utilizing the tremendous tool that AI is in a meaningful way to support learning.
Question 2. Book bans have been a controversial topic in the Ozarks and nationwide. What do you believe should be the criteria for banning books?
Sullivan: I think that, again, another great question. I think every school has a curriculum committee that they review, and they have a set of standards that they go through. I believe it's a challenge. I mean, at one point, I believe Grapes of Wrath, which was one of the most influential books of my childhood, was a banned book. So I always feel like if you ban books, you're going to be on the wrong side of history. And so, as long as there are parental guides in place to where parents can be involved in decision making for the book, as long as it doesn't involve pornography, I think those are important things to consider. But I think controversial literature is what challenges us and what pushes our thinking forward. So, I'm not opposed to it as long as there is a committee that reviews those, which Ozark has. And it also has a parent opt out opportunity where they get to make the final decision on whether or not this is something a child should read. I think as long as those parameters are in place, I think there's an open window. But I just don't like the idea of banning books. I've never liked it. And as a child growing up, I a lot of those books that were once banned were very influential in my growth as a as a person.
Question 3. How would you work to foster a safe and inclusive environment that supports the rights and well-being of all students?
Sullivan: I think, foundationally, we want every child to walk through the building and being seen, valued and heard. I think those are all elements, and we have to acknowledge the fact that, in a public school setting, you're going to get students on all levels at various places in their life, and especially teenage years are very challenging. And so, I think to build that environment, we need to be able to have open conversations with students and make them feel — making them feel safe is making them feel valued and being able to work through a lot of things. I know, when I look back at my 14-to-18-year-old self, there are a lot of things I wish I would have done differently, but I also had mentors and teachers in place that helped me move through that time and put things in front of me to help me critically think. And so, that's a very important piece of, not to be exclusive to anybody, but to give students an opportunity, a forum to communicate what their understanding of their reality is at a given, you know, at this point in their life. It's really important for students to have a voice. I've sent two different students through the Ozark school system. One was very involved in the STEM field, and one was involved in the culinary arts program. And so, they've had a diverse experience in going through the district. But there's an opportunity for every student to pursue their passions and their interest, and that's what it's there for.
Question 4. The state legislature is showing increased support for charter schools and open enrollment. How does this impact traditional public schools, and how would you promote and protect funding for schools like Ozark?
Sullivan: I am definitely an advocate for the public schools. That's what I grew up in. Even though I ran a private school in Pennsylvania, that's a whole other story for another time, but I felt like it allowed me to try some things out that I normally wouldn't be able to try out in a public school setting. And so, that's, that's why I did that when I was in Pennsylvania. But I'm a strong advocate for public schools. I believe they are the foundation of every community. And so, with respect to your question and how to support that right now, I know we have Senate House Bill 3, which is going to cut, possibly cut funding, but, and there's a concern about that, but I think the biggest things that we're facing right now is we got to figure out, you know, Ozark has a tremendous early childhood program. They have a tremendous — the OIC is a tremendous facility as well. And so, we've got to leverage — as a school district, we've got to continue to leverage our strengths and lean into those strengths and make it. I've always told people, you know, I've sent in my, my job as a teacher educator, I recommend Ozark School District to my teachers because I believe it's progressive, and it's also giving a strong place for teachers to cut their roots and to grow and really learn how to become a tremendous teacher. And so, I feel that that Ozark is a destination district for not only teachers, but also for students. Not that we're out recruiting students, but when school choice comes about, parents are going to have an option. And so, I think we have to continue to promote the strengths of the district and what the district stands for. And again, there are tremendous strengths. Like I've said before, we have also a tremendous vocational technical program. That's another strength. So we need to continue to lean in to those strengths. And I really don't think it will be an issue if we continue to to do that as a school district.
Question 5. What should the school district be doing to protect staff and students from online harassment?
Sullivan: Another great question. These are questions. Obviously, when I started 30 years ago, when there was very little technology that I had to think much about, you know, most of those conversations happen in place and in person, so I think in this setting, you know, I don't know that it's about protecting, but I think it's a matter of setting those boundaries and really pushing back against some of the negativity directed at teachers. Because as a teacher educator, you know, the pipeline is trickling right now, and we need to make sure that, again, as I said earlier with students, that teachers are seen valued and heard. And we are in a difficult situation right now in terms of education, because I can say it — tell you that in my 11 years at Missouri State, some of the strongest teachers that I've seen are out of the profession. And a lot of times that's because of some of the harassment that they've had to tolerate because they've tried to hold high standards. And so, I think as a district, you need to have administrators in place and protocols in place to really draw some boundaries there to where teachers don't have to deal with that when they're walking through the community or involved in the community or even online. Again, you can only control so much because oftentimes we find that those are not even some of those folks doing the harassing are not even from the community. It's just they've jumped online and decided to be a keyboard warrior.
Patrick Sullivan, that concludes our interview. Thank you very much for taking time to talk to us.
Sullivan: Thank you. It was a pleasure being here, I appreciate it.
I've been speaking with Patrick Sullivan, who is a candidate for Ozark School Board.
Christina Tonsing
If you're just joining us, we're talking to candidates running for Ozark School Board. I'd now like to introduce Christina Tonsing. Thank you very much for joining us. Would you please introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to run for this position? You have one minute.
Tonsing: Thank you very much. Again, I'm Christina Tonsing. I taught math for 28 years in public school high school, secondary, post-secondary, and I have a passion for education. I believe that that is one of the most important things we can do for our society is to educate kids as they're growing up. They need to study history, study human interactions. I'm a math teacher, but I promote history. They need to understand how other people and societies interact with each other and the results that happen, the consequences that happen, think about the implications of what they do and say and how to make the world a better place, how to think critically, how to analyze information. The math teacher in me wants them to be able to pick apart the important parts and put it back together in a better way. They're going to be our creators, our innovators for the future. They're developing the things we need, technology we don't even know about yet. They're developing solutions, medical remedies, all kinds of things. I think public education is vital to our society.
Question 1. As AI and social media continue to evolve, what should the district be doing to teach media literacy and prepare students to distinguish facts from false or biased information?
Tonsing: What a great question. I think that's not just vital, essential for our students to be able to analyze and say, now, is this a real source of information or has this been put together? Has it been conglomerated answers from different places that are pulled together that don't really fit or how can I sort out, how can I use this as a tool? Because AI is going to be a great, is already a great tool, right? It's going to be so helpful in different applications. But just like the old math teacher says, when calculators first came out ages ago, we told our math students, you have to understand how the process works. You have to understand how to put things together, you have to understand the methods and then you can have this tool to be your aid to make it faster for you to make it more efficient for you. I think AI is the same way, right? You understand how the thoughts are put together, you understand how the research needs to happen and then you can use AI as your tool to make it faster, more efficient, to save you time searching through encyclopedias like I used to have to do, print ones. I think the school district is well on top of that. We, in Ozark anyway, we have, and I'm sure lots of school districts, I didn't mean to make it sound like anywhere else didn't. But in Ozark we have great people who are already preparing and already on top of designing structure for what is going to be beneficial and helpful for our students versus putting some boundaries so it's not just unleashed without any kind of limits, or I think boundaries is a good word so that it's a tool, it's an appropriate tool, but it's not taking away their ability to honestly think and understand themselves.
Question 2. Book bans have been a controversial topic in the Ozarks and nationwide. What do you believe should be the criteria for banning books?
Tonsing: Good. I think we have to be careful to make a distinction between a ban versus putting something in the appropriate section or appropriate age category. There is a age requirement when we go to the movie theaters to see a certain movie we have to prove our age to see certain kinds of movies. I think the book banning that was happening in Ozark, specifically in the library, in the Christian County library system, was not actually banning, it was really trying to sort things out and put appropriate guidelines on them so parents could know ahead of time, oh, this is for 14-year-olds or this is for six-year-olds or things that are appropriate. We have state laws and federal laws regulating what's appropriate for kids of different ages to find, and I think that those safeguards are important. Now, I don't I don't agree with, you said banning, I don't agree with any kind of banning like no parent anywhere can ever get ahold of this book. That would be a ban. I wouldn't agree with that, but I do agree with limiting what public tax dollars are spent on purchasing for kids to see, for kids to read and be involved in.
Question 3. How would you work to foster a safe and inclusive environment that supports the rights and well-being of all students?
Tonsing: Good question. Again, the board is supposed to be, the school board members are supposed to be only setting the guiding policy so, we're not supposed to be involved in the specific details. But I think that setting that guiding policy is important to make a structure where human worth is recognized and value is recognized and respected, both by modeling that in our administration and our teachers, modeling that to students and specifically emphasizing that as we teach that and encourage those kinds of, those kinds of character traits of as a human being, you're worthy of respect. So. So tell me the rest of your question again. I kind of wandered around. Sorry.
How would you work to foster a safe and inclusive environment that supports the rights and well-being of all students?
Tonsing: Good. So I think that placing that value and emphasizing that, reminding that, reiterating that often, modeling that as teachers and administrators, as we interact with each other and as we interact with students, I think, that value of human life, will do it.
Question 4. Does state legislature is showing increased support for charter schools and open enrollment? How would this impact traditional public schools, and how would you promote and protect funding for schools like Ozark?
Tonsing: Good question. I know there are legitimate concerns about the funding might be redirected to different places, and so that might shortchange public school funding. But I haven't seen that actually happen. Every year for the past several years, the legislature has fully funded our public schools. And I believe I have faith in our legislators. They know that Missouri has to have strong schools if we want people to move here and live here and find out what a great state, we have to have strong schools. To provide for our citizens who already live here, we have to have strong schools. So, our legislators know that. Our administrators who run those schools, I have confidence in them. They're smart, they're innovative. They're already talking about, well, you guys, we might have to streamline some things like most voters have to do themselves with their budgets. I think that that is coming. The school choice thing is coming. The property tax reduction seems to be coming. I don't know if it really will come or not, if it's going to make it through the court system, but all of those funding concerns are things the voters want, in our area anyway, in Ozark area, in Christian County, it seems like those are the things they want, and if they vote for that at the polls, then we'll make do. We will innovate. We will thrive. Right? Trials make organizations stronger. Good organizations, adaptive organizations make their way through it. I don't think it's going to be gloom and doom. I think we're going to find ways to make it work. Our society — in Ozark, our community values our schools. They know. They know that's important. And we have great schools, and we have great support from our community. I don't think it's going to be an awful train wreck.
Question 5. What should the school district be doing to protect staff and students from online harassment.
Tonsing: Oh, that's a good question. I think that one thing that really helped was, the legislature did this one, but the school districts had to enforce it individually, removing the cell phone from the school building, from the classroom. That cut back so much on the texting and the exchanges, whether they were good or bad, kinds of exchanges. That kind of pressure got — that cut that back. Teachers have said the students are more engaged. They talk in the hallways, they talk at lunch hour, they interact with each other. And I think as they interact with each other, they're remembering that they're rediscovering, if you will. maybe that's too strong to say, but I think they're remembering, oh, these are other people, and I see their value because I'm interacting with them, talking with them rather than being behind a screen. It's easy behind a screen to bully or to say things that you shouldn't say that you would never say to someone's face. I think as they have that those personal interactions that will help. That was one thing, keeping the technology out of the classroom. And I think it goes also with the, not technology out of the classroom. Let me correct that. The cell phone, the personal devices out of the classes. They need computer technology to be able to know how to use it and all those things. I think another thing that helps is the same thing we were saying earlier about showing value for people. It just takes one person to say, hey, don't talk like that to her. That just takes one person to stand up and then the other people are kind of like, oh, yeah, that's right. You know, that changes the culture.
Christina Tonsing, that concludes our interview. Thank you very much for taking time to talk to us.
Tonsing: Thank you very much for having us. I appreciate so much that you're doing this so the voters get to find out who is running for election on the school board. It matters. I appreciate it, thank you very much.
I've been speaking with Christina Tonsing, who is a candidate for Ozark School Board. This concludes our interviews with candidates for Ozark Board of Education. I'm Jamie Santner with Missouri State University's Paws to the Polls. Thank you for joining us.
The election is Tuesday, April 7. We hope you continue to research the candidates to see how their values and positions align with yours and then exercise your right to vote on Election Day. If you have questions about where or how to vote or the status of your voter registration, please contact your county clerk's office.
This program was prerecorded and will be posted on coalition websites and social media platforms after today's broadcast. No part of the audio or video may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the copyright holder. League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri.
Brent Slane served as producer/videographer for this project.
