MCC hosts Mesa Public Schools open forum ahead of election
The Mesa Public Schools (MPS) Governing Board held a candidate forum Wednesday night in the Navajo Room at Mesa Community College’s (MCC) Southern and Dobson campus ahead of the upcoming election, where two of the five Governing Board seats will be up for election.
The forum–which was organized by MCC’s Educators Rising club–featured the four candidates sharing their thoughts on how MPS is currently governed and how they plan to lead if elected on November 3.
The four candidates in attendance were Jason Smithson, Josh Chilton, Jennifer Echols, and Rachel Walden. Walden is the only candidate who is running for reelection, with Smithson, Chilton and Echols running as challengers.
This was the second open forum for the candidates, as the first was hosted at the Mesa Chamber of Commerce. Justin Lange, MCC student senator for the Educator’s Rising club, hoped to bring more of an educational focus to this event through advocating for it to be held on campus.
“They already held one that was scheduled previously prior to us at the Chamber of Commerce, so that was a little bit more business focused. Over here we will obviously be focusing more on the pure educational impact of their decisions,” said Lange.
Hosting the open forum at MCC has more benefits than just informing the public about the candidates, according to Lange. “Not only is this important for the community and students and families to know about the candidates and who they are and what they care about and how they’re going to make decisions, but it’s also about students and getting them involved,” he said.
One of the candidates, Jason Smithson, local business owner, began his opening statements with a strong emphasis on what he saw lacking from the Governing Board over the years, including communication breakdown between administration and parents, misappropriation of funds, and his own experience as the parent of a child on the autism spectrum.
When asked after the forum about worries he has for the future of MPS, Smithson shared his concerns. “I’ve got many trepidations and uh, the biggest one is the financial future of the district as we sit, as of this year, we are $18,000,000 in the hole and the projection next year is that it could double,” he said.
Smithson explained that he plans to attempt to curb these financial worries and excess spending by putting the focus on students and their needs.
“My biggest concern when I get on the board is to…rein in some of this extra funding that we’re spending. So it’s just focusing on if it doesn’t benefit the students, then we don’t need to spend it,” Smithson continued.
When asked about what excites him about the future of MPS, Smithson still held some optimism.
“I like the direction that they’re moving with their CTE and the career choice academies,” said Smithson. “There’s several things that need work with the career choice academies, but I love the partnership that we have with EVIT. It’s amazing.”
