Sioux Falls school board candidates take on final debate before Election Day

The five candidates, who are running for a couple two-year seats on the Sioux Falls School District’s Board of Education, had one more chance to debate issues and market themselves to voters Monday, before the polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday for the election.

That chance was at a candidate forum held by the Downtown Sioux Falls Rotary Club, moderated by Tony Nour. It’s worth noting, Nour gave $250 to Bobbie Tibbetts’ campaign.

He asked candidates Marc Murren, Bobbie Tibbetts, Stuart Willett, Gail Swenson and Pat Starr a variety of questions, many similar to ones they’ve answered for local media or at a debate mid-March at the Instructional Planning Center in the board seats they might occupy in the coming months.

Where do endorsements stand?

Since the last debate, and since early campaign finance documents have come out, a couple of key endorsements have been publicized. Namely, those endorsements came from the Sioux Falls Education Association, which represents teachers in the district, and they were for Murren and Swenson.

Another noteworthy endorsement is that of Stuart Willett by the conservative parents’ rights organization Moms for Liberty, which has lobbied for book bans and school vouchers nationwide.

“The real story is Stuart Willett being the only candidate to pledge to honor parents’ fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their children, which benefits all families,” Moms for Liberty’s Minnehaha County chapter wrote on Twitter. Willett has also received more than $700 in financial support to his campaign from local Moms for Liberty members.

More: Vouchers, DEI, books: Sioux Falls school board candidates give hot takes ahead of Election Day

Swenson and Willett pointed to their newer endorsements during Monday’s forum, and Swenson added she’s also endorsed by Change Agents of South Dakota, South Dakota Leaders Engaged and Determined and the Realtors Association of the Sioux Empire.

Tibbetts did not mention this during the forum, but her campaign contributions show $1,000 in support from the in-state political action committee Sioux Empire Better Government Committee, indicating an endorsement.

What were the main highlights from the debate?

Each candidate made a case for what sets them apart from the others during the forum, discussing the role of the school board, debating the strengths and challenges the district has and explaining why people should vote for them Tuesday.

Murren echoed the point on his campaign signs: He wants to put kids first. One of his main concerns is that students should be able to read and do math at their level by third grade. He mentioned multiple other solutions the district is working on to address attendance and school safety.

In an automated text from her campaign, Tibbetts said she’s “the only mom running for school board with kids in Sioux Falls public schools.” She also said at the forum Monday that teacher recruitment and retention, teacher support and student behavior issues are important topics to keep an eye on.

Willett said he’s running to be a voice for parents and said one of the biggest issues facing education is artificial intelligence. He also suggested identifying the top 10% of teachers in the district and tasking them with leading professional development for their peers instead of “national organizations with all their indoctrination.”

More: Sioux Falls school board candidates file campaign finance paperwork with $48K in donations

Swenson said safety is the most pressing issue facing local school boards, and she wants to work to make good safety protocols, and ensure discipline policies are used and followed. She said she wants to improve community engagement and stay on top of the budget proposal. She said she’s qualified as she spent her career in education, including many years in the district.

Starr said he’s running to be active in the community, show up and lead. He said he values openness, transparency and fiscal responsibility, and that the most pressing issues facing local school boards are teacher pay and retention, safety and student behavior.

How did hot topics play out on stage?

Some unexpected topics also came up from some of the candidates.

As Starr had 10 seconds to spare on the question about the most pressing issues in education, he added, “It’s meth, meth, meth.”

“We’re seeing not just grams of it in the last eight years. We’re now seeing pounds of it infiltrating our community,” Starr said. “How do we help kids who are starting to use meth? Five percent of high school freshmen in South Dakota have tried meth.”

Starr may be overstating the influence of meth among high schoolers. A 2022 report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse showed an estimated 0.2% of eighth graders, 0.3% of 10th graders, and 0.5% of 12th graders reported using methamphetamine in the past 12 months.

On a question about the role of the board, Willett spoke about concerns some parents might have about how the books are curated in the school libraries. He said “there’s no one held accountable.”

“Someone should be responsible. If we’ve got someone putting pornography in the schools, well, who’s doing that? We don’t know. This should all be done publicly,” Willett said.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls school board candidates talk school safety at final debate