On March 14, 2025, The Harlem Media and Journalism students hosted a town hall for the upcoming Harlem School Board Election. This featured a two hour Q/A in the Harlem High School Auditorium, after that the candidates and audience went to the commons for complimentary food and drinks made by the Harlem Culinary students. The audience members were also able to talk with all the candidates 1-on-1. The event was organized by the Town Hall Student committee which met every day during advisory and after school to figure out how to structure the questions for the event, the logistics of the event, as well as who was going to handle what roles at the event.
History of Past School Board Elections
In the past, some school board elections have come down to narrow voting margins for the winner to gain a spot on the school board. This was the first townhall event Harlem held for students, families, and other community members to be able to hear and talk to each of the candidates as well as after the event. The Harlem News Network Recorded the vent and is now posted on Youtube for people to go and rewatch if a someone was there or watch it if unable to attend the event.
How the Questions Were Made
Journalism and Media Studies students met every week during advisory and after school making a video for a student survey. The survey was a way for all Harlem High School students to pick their top 5 categories that they wanted discussed during the Q+A session as well as to be able to ask a question. The top 5 topics from the survey were: School Start Times – 44.7%, School Maintenance/Cleanliness – 42.7%, Drug Use – 34.1%, School Safety – 33.3%, and Budget/Cuts 32.9%. The Student Leadership committee also asked certain clubs to come up with a question, some of those clubs included (Drama Club, Educators Rising, and Book Club) to help support all students throughout the district. Then the student committee met and with all this data came up with 5 rounds of questions each round has a theme E.X. (School Maintenance and Upkeep, Career Pathways, Racism and Bullying in Schools, and Drug Use among students).
The Candidates
There were 13 candidates running for The Harlem School Board and there are four spots available, three of which were candidates that are running for reelection which are Kurt Thompson, Evelyn Meeks, and Larry Smith. There were also 5 candidates present who were running for the Rock Valley Trustees.
The Flow of the Q+A Session
To start the 2 hour Q&A session, the 5 Candidates for The Rock Valley Trustees gave an opening statement. For these statements, the candidates were called up one by one and introduced by the emcee Kennedie Meyers (11) where each candidate had a time limit of 3 minutes to talk about the policies and topics that they built their platform on. Then the Harlem School Board candidates were able give their 3 minute opening statement to introduce themselves to the community. The candidates were then seated in groups of tables of 3. Then each round each group would get asked one question from the group of questions for that round. Each candidate in that round had the opportunity to answer openly their perspectives and beliefs for the policies that they built their platforms. After the Q&A session, community members were able to meet the candidates and ask them questions more directly.
To wrap up the event, The Town Hall was a great success in total there were 175 people in attendance. Everything went smoothly the audience was very engaged with the session and then devoured the Culinary deserts in the commons. If you would like to rewatch the event please click this link or go to https://www.youtube.com/@HarlemNewsNetwork to rewatch the event.