On Wednesday, October 21st, a student-led school board forum took place in the Madison Consolidated High School Learning Commons conducted by the MCHS Student Council. The forum was led by MCHS Student Council members Taylor Lynch and Sebastian Biallas. Beforehand, the student council came up with five school and community-related questions to ask each candidate. The questions were: What are the responsibilities of a school board member, what are your thoughts on black and mixed-race students being unrepresented in our advanced classes, and other academic accolades, what do you know about FFA, what local community-based activities are you involved in and why are they important, and how would you prioritize safety at MCS? Each candidate had two minutes to answer each question.

In this election cycle, there are three candidates running for the MCS school board and who participated in the forum. Their names are Jay Roney, John Schutte, and David Storie. The candidates have been involved in the Madison school district and have lived in Madison for multiple years. Each candidate took the time to introduce themselves and share information about their lives.

Each candidate has either had or has children attend the Madison Consolidated School System. Storie has a daughter and son who graduated from MCHS, Schutte currently has a son who is a junior at MCHS, and Roney currently has a daughter and son at MJHS and a son who is currently a sophomore at MCHS. 

Here is a quick summary of some of the candidates’ answers:

Candidate Platform: 

Schutte answered by saying “I’m a big believer in regards to caring. We have to be compassionate about what is going on in our schools. We have to trust our teachers, trust our students, trust our board.” 

Roney stated, “The main platform I am running on is students, staff, and community and prioritizing each of those.” 

Storie said, “The main platform I am running on is basically just being out there, being present, being transparent. I want to make sure everything is in accordance, going out there and seeing that the money is being spent in areas that it actually needs to be spent at.” 

Changes in the school system:

Roney stated, “I would like there to be more community involvement. I would like for students to be able to go out and have outreach programs with trades they would be interested in. I would also like to see, if possible, if teachers could get paid more.”

Storie stated, “I would like to see a lot more student activity, more students involved with things, I’m very active with boosters and it always seems like it’s the same kids, and I would like to see more kids participating in school activities in any way possible.” 

Schutte stated, “I would like to see more programs in regards to trade and co-ops in the school. I think we can get more construction, more engineering, anything that can help us expand because academics are different for every student out there and we have to make sure we fulfill the needs for everyone.”

Responsibilities of school board members:

Storie claimed that the responsibilities deal with “being hands-on, and getting out where improvements are needed.”

Schutte stated that the responsibility was “A vision followed with communication and transparency, and also advocating for students.” 

Roney stated the responsibilities of a school board member is to “Evaluate the superintendent, enforce policy, and handle the budget.”

The forum was live-streamed by the MCS Technology Department. If you are interested in finding out more about each candidate and how they answered these questions, you can find the live stream on Facebook on the @MCS_Indiana page or watch it here on our YouTube channel.