Candidates for the Marquette Area Public Schools board discuss several important topics during a forum at Kaufman Auditorium in Marquette Thursday. The four candidates, from left: Monet Borione, Jason Zdunek, Cherryl Maddox-Smith and Adam Ladd. (Photo courtesy of League of Women Voters of Marquette County)

MARQUETTE — Four candidates who are vying for seats on the board of Marquette Area Public Schools discussed issues during a candidate forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Marquette County on Thursday.

While candidate Leigh Beth Freburg was unable to attend, candidates Jason Zdunek, Cherryl Maddox-Smith, Monet Borione and Adam Ladd took to the stage at Kaufman Auditorium to make their case to be elected to the two open board seats during November’s midterm elections.

Each of the four candidates began the forum with a statement. Borione went first.

“As a mother, I care about what you care about: keeping our kids safe, helping them grow into capable, resilient adults, and helping them get the skills they need to cope with stress as it occurs,” Borione said.

Zdunek went next, stressing that his classroom experience gives him the tools needed to excel in the positon.

“I am the only candidate that is running that is a licensed teacher in Michigan and Wisconsin that has taught in a full-time capacity in public schools,” Zdunek said. “I look forward to using the experience that I’ve learned to offer a balanced perspective on issues involving teachers, parents, and other staff members at the schools, such as maintenance staff, administrative staff, transportation staff, kitchen staff. I want to make sure that we support all of our staff.”

Maddox-Smith stressed the importance of education in the post-distance learning world.

“I think a lot of the issues that are facing our district are not unique to Marquette, but nationwide issues. Pandemic learning has been difficult and helping students who fell behind to get back on track is absolutely critical,” Maddox-Smith said. “Educator shortage is an ongoing problem that we have to address creatively and practically.”

Finally, Ladd discussed his extensive experience as a substitute teacher and says that area schools are in dire need of subs and volunteers.

“One thing we need, desperately, right now, in every school in Marquette is subs. We need subs and volunteers right now. MAPS students and MAPS teachers need subs now. Not in a month, but now,” Ladd said.

The candidates were then asked what issues currently facing the school district are particularly concerning to them.

“The first item that comes to mind is the importance of involvement in extracurricular activities for all of the students,” Zdunek said. “That is one of three areas that is empirically proven to increase academic success and it’s also empirically proven to increase emotional well-being. As a coach of athletics for over 20 years, I know the importance that extracurricular activities had in my life.”

Maddox-Smith stressed the importance of educator staffing and addressing the teacher shortage being seen all around the country.

“We have to get creative and we have to get proactive. It’s something we can’t wait on. We need to retain the amazing staff that we have at MAPS and we need to find ways to recruit more amazing staff at MAPS,” Maddox-Smith said.

Ladd also continued to discuss staffing issues.

“I just had the opportunity in the last two days to visit every school in (the) MAPS district, and all of them need help. Last week, when I looked at the MAPS website, I believe there was still 26 positions that were unfilled and a couple of those had multiple positions,” Ladd said. “They also are short on special education. This is not only affecting our children, but it’s affecting our teachers.”

Borione feels that fostering social and emotional skill-building is a vital issue facing MAPS.

“In addition to the academic rigors needed to prepare students for a global workplace, school must cultivate these needed extras,” Borione said. “It’s really our mental health we need to focus on. Schools really cultivate a sense of belonging and a place where you can find strong relationships with peers and other students. These meaningful connections are incredibly positive and will help to mitigate future or current stressors that our students face.”

The question of banning books was posed to the candidates next.

“What we can do is talk about it in meeting openly, discuss it, consider different points of view,” Maddox-Smith said. “As far as book banning goes, I don’t think that is so much an issue in Marquette but I do think that it merits discussion and people being open on both sides.”

Ladd said that further discussion would be needed.

“If the issue did come up in Marquette, I would definitely want to start from an objective viewpoint and go into it with an open mind and look at it from both sides and see what the argument was,” Ladd said. “I’m sure whoever brought it to the attention of the school board would have a specific question or a reason. I’d want to look into that reason and look at it with, obviously, the rest of the board and be able to look at the book ourselves and look at the content that is being questioned.”

“Anyone with a really passionate opinion, I would love to know where that feeling is coming from. I would take the time to really listen to that parent and find out exactly what seems to be objectionable with this particular book,” Borione added. “There is a lot to learn from, even from something that doesn’t have a particularly modern ring to it.”

Zdunek said he would listen to any concerns about objectionable material.

“I would work with the librarian, the administrative staff, and the school board and have a discussion to include making sure we address any legal issues,” Zdunek said.

The candidates discussed several other topics during the forum. A full video of the forum can be found on the League of Women Voters of Marquette County website at www.lwvmqt.org.