Basalt Education Foundation hosts school board candidates forum

Four candidates running for school board positions at Roaring Fork School District gathered in the Basalt Middle School auditorium on Tuesday evening to lay out their visions for the school should they be elected in November. 

Candidates Tamara Nimmo and Jodi Barr, both in the running for school board District A seat, sat to the left of candidates Kathryn Kuhlenberg and Elizabeth Cockrill Taylor, who are running for the District E seat. Kuhlenberg is the only candidate running for re-election.

The four answered questions from moderator Allison Alexander during the event, which was streamed on YouTube. This is the second candidate forum this fall following one last week in Carbondale. 

After introductions, Alexander asked candidates what they thought the biggest challenges facing Roaring Fork Schools were, how to address those challenges in the future, about their familiarity with funding and budgeting, how the schools should manage child safety, and about Roaring Fork School’s unique strengths.

All of the candidates identified academic performance in some manner as one of the challenges in Roaring Fork School District, but they had different approaches to how that challenge could be overcome. 

For Nimmo and Kuhlenberg, academic achievement differences between students of different races was a persistent and worrying problem. Both noted that data-driven approaches to solving this gap were the way forward, and that meeting kids where they are and making them feel safe and welcome was an important part of the process. 

“We need to be data-driven, we need to be research-based, and we need to continually be student-focused in those efforts to close that gap,” Kuhlenberg said. “It’s something that we can’t take our eye off of for even a moment because every moment counts, because every moment that flips by is a moment lost for these kids.” 

Barr asked whether a focus on “DEI” — Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion — was a potential culprit, which has held some students back with regard to academic performance. 

“We have to ask ourselves some hard questions: Are we focused on the right things?” Barr asked. “Should DEI really be our focus? Is that helping close the gap with students? I’m not certain that it is.”

All of the candidates noted that providing assistance to those learning English is a pivotal factor to addressing this gap. 

Other challenges were less unanimous among the candidates. Nimmo highlighted teacher salaries and retention as one of her top priorities. 

“Kids benefit greatly from teachers who are committed to and invested in their jobs,” she said. “Our community has a hard time hiring and retaining teachers because we are not competitive when it comes to salaries.” 

For her, one of the ways to solve this is to look into every alternative funding option that may be available. She supports the passing of Measure 7A, which will appear on the ballot in November and would potentially create a small tax for funding for early childhood education. 

Kuhlenberg is focused on declining enrollment and funding.

“The second challenge that I would name is declining enrollment and decreased funding,” she said. “We’re seeing decreased funding levels from the state of Colorado due to shrinking budgets statewide, and we’re also seeing declining enrollment due to a number of reasons but primarily a drop in birth rates and the inability of people in our valley to buy homes and to live here.” 

She said she would like to see a school board that pro-actively prepares for future demographic changes and also supports the passing of Measure 7A. 

Both Barr and Taylor emphasized student safety as one of their top two priorities to tackle. They noted that teachers should be able to voluntarily get firearms training and concealed carry licenses for their classrooms, something that Kuhlenberg pushed back on during the event. 

“In order to find a solution to the school safety issue, we really are obligated to look at all options on the table,” Taylor said. “Whether or not we find (guns) scary or uncomfortable, our children are our most precious asset.” 

Kuhlenberg responded, “Our community has been very clear: The vast majority of our community is appalled by the idea of our teachers carrying weapons in our classrooms. We have armed guards that are unable to go into schools and stop these shootings, and we expect a teacher, who probably taught this student, who is now armed in these hallways, to go out and shoot at them? That is insane.”

Taylor noted that school safety could also include what materials children are being taught, calling attention to “gender-related materials.” 

“I feel the curriculum, the lesson plans, and other educational materials need to be protected from gender-related materials and sexualization. I believe that does not belong in any of our classrooms,” she said. 

She called for increased transparency over the materials being distributed to children in Roaring Fork Schools. 

Her candidate website calls out a toolkit that was distributed to staff and students in 2024 designed to provide resources to support gender-nonconforming individuals in the Roaring Fork School District. She also brought up a Health Kids Colorado survey during the forum as a source for sexual material in school. 

According to the state website for the survey, it is designed to be the “most comprehensive survey on the health and well-being of young people.” It is also distributed by the state, as Kuhlenberg noted, not by the Roaring Fork School District. 

In closing, candidates were asked to highlight unique strengths of the school district, and all of them agreed that the community in the Roaring Fork Valley was special for the school district. 

Nimmo noted that there is an abundance of supportive nonprofits in the valley as well as adults to look up to. Barr acknowledged the community’s willingness to give back to schools via taxes and volunteer hours. Kuhlenberg called out strong school pride and noted the strength in the diversity of the schools reflects that of the real world. Taylor called out how welcomed her son felt during his time in the Roaring Fork school system. 

The hour and 15 minute stream is available online at youtube.com/watch?v=OzR2X0D6HZk. 

In-person voting will be available from Monday, Oct. 27, to Tuesday, Nov. 4, weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Election Day, Nov. 4, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voting will not be possible on Sunday, Nov. 2.