Nonpartisan interviews with area school board candidates begin Monday

As they have in past elections, more than a dozen nonpartisan Springfield-area organizations have partnered to produce a series of candidate interviews allowing local voters to hear directly — in their own words — from those running for school board positions April.

Volunteers with the Informed Voter Coalition, which includes the Springfield News-Leader, collaborated to help voters learn about school board candidates in Springfield, Nixa, Ozark and Willard.

Starting March 18, candidates will share their ideas and goals in brief conversations to air on KSMU Ozarks Public Radio (91.1 FM).

After they air, video versions of the conversations produced by the News-Leader will be added to this story at News-Leader.com and on the websites of other coalition members.

The coalition selected four contested races to cover for area public school boards of education, which will air at noon on the following days:

h March 18: Nixa Public Schools

h March 19: Ozark Public Schools

h March 20: Willard Public Schools

h March 21:

Schools (Part 1)

h March 22:

Schools (Part 2)

The following candidates participated in the interviews:

h Nixa Public Schools Board of Education — Megan Deal, Elizabeth Dudash-Buskirk, Jason Massengale, Joshua K. Roberts

h Ozark Public Schools Board of Education — James Francis Griffin, Patty Quessenbury

h Willard Public Schools Board of Education — Renee McKelvie, Megan Patrick, Matthew Young

h Springfield Public Schools Board of Education — Scott Crise, Danielle Kincaid, Landon McCarter, Maryam

Springfield

Springfield

Public

Public

Mohammadkhani, Susan Provance, Chad Rollins, Kyler Sherman-Wilkins

Launched in 2019, the Informed Voter Coalition aims to educate voters and connect candidates with citizens. The nonpartisan member organizations are:

h Be Civil Be Heard

h Drury University's L.E. Meador Center for Politics & Citizenship

h Junior League of Springfield

h KSMU Ozarks Public Radio

h Leadership Springfield

h League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri

h Missouri State University's Office of Public Affairs

h NAACP Springfield

h Ozarks Technical Community College's Social Sciences Department

h Rosie

h Show Me Christian County

h Springfield Business Journal

h Springfield-Greene County Library District

h Springfield News-Leader