The Farmington School Board Forum is available on YouTube:
Candidates present were current School Board member Julie Singewald, the only incumbent, and challengers Rob Carpentier, Eric Bartosh, Jake Cordes, John Guist, and Laura Beem. One candidate Anthony MacDonald, has dropped out of the race, but his name will still appear on the ballot.
I watched the forum and there are two obvious top choices in my mind in Laura Beem and Rob Carpentier. Before the forum, I was leaning toward voting for Julie Singewald, Laura Beem and picking between Jake Cordes or one of the teachers, Rob Carpentier or Eric Bartosh. My reasoning was that I think Julie Singewald has done a decent job, and I thought she deserved another chance. Laura Beem has been a strong parent leader, and then I really like Jake Cordes because I like young candidates, despite our different political views, and a teacher would be a good pick in my mind.
But the forum made me realize that Laura Beem and Rob Carpentier are far above the other candidates in terms of knowledge and ability to lead. I still like Jake, but I will let him do a little more work in his Republican Party activities to gain experience, and I am going to pass on Julie Singewald. I’m planning to vote for both teachers. Although I was initially turned off to Rob Carpentier’s self-description of “more of a Libertarian,” I think he is an easy choice, and both he and Eric Bartosh mentioned the importance of pre-k education, physical fitness and athletics, and Rob commented on the arts, all things I think we need concentrate on to maintain a foundation for great academics.
You might be asking, what about John Guist? You didn’t say anything about him… Why would John Guist say “I likes love guns” in his opening statement? I like outdoor activities too, but to include “I like love guns” at the beginning makes me think there may be something logically missing there.
This is not an endorsement of any of them, simply my opinion. I would be confident in the future of the board with these three. I hope you spend the 58 minutes to watch for yourself and make your own decision. Do you have a different opinion? Let me know what you think.
www.MNDem.com 