What do we mean by nonpartisan?

What do we mean when we say we’re nonpartisan and support nonpartisan school board candidates?

We mean that we don’t choose candidates to support based on their political views, who they vote for, or whether they contribute to one political party or another. We look at whether a school board candidate will conduct themselves in a nonpartisan manner as a school board member. 

We want school board members who will listen to the entire community, find common ground on difficult issues, and carry out their duties in a fair manner without preference to one political perspective or another.

We value differing points of view on our school board that reflect the variety of experiences  in our community.

We look for candidates who focus on issues that are important beyond party lines, such as supporting great learning opportunities for all students, attracting and retaining talented teachers, fixing school finances, and guaranteeing a safe school environment for all students.

When we evaluate a candidate for school board we ask the following questions:

• Does a candidate highlight political affiliation as a major reason to vote for them? Or do they have an interest in serving the community, related work experience, and characteristics that will help them work with others and be good stewards of our public schools? We support the latter.  

• Has a candidate agreed to represent a political party on our school board? Or are they interested in representing our entire community regardless of political affiliation? We support the latter.  

• Does a candidate disparage or sow distrust of those with different political views? Or do they demonstrate that they respect, value, and are willing to work with people of different views? We support the latter.  

The bottom line – we support good governance of our school district, not party politics.