Issues facing the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District were discussed during KSRM’s coverage of Decision 2023 focused on the Board of Education District 5 (Sterling) race.
The Wednesday evening radio forum featured candidates competing in the race to fill a three-year term seat. Sitting Board of Education member, Beverly Romanin, and challenger Kelly Cizek spoke on issues impacting the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District in advance of the General Election on Tuesday, October 3rd.
The subjects discussed included the reconstruction proposal for Soldotna Elementary, the Alaska READS Act, and state education funding.
The candidates also discussed the the Mat-Su Borough School District’s choice to remove books from its libraries, specifically whether or not they agreed with the Mat-Su’s decision, and if they would support similar action in the KPBSD.
Romanin;
“Well, I can’t really speak for Mat-Su. I think that the one good thing for them is they have a process in place. You have to do exactly what they did. And we have a process in place. Anytime a parent or community member that lives here in the borough feels that there is a book that’s inappropriate, all they have to do [is], there’s a form that you fill out and then that book is pulled and there’s a committee of parents, teachers – I think even with the high school level, they have a student on that committee – but they will review that and then we’ll make a decision whether that book needs to be pulled completely, maybe just taken over and only the juniors and seniors look at it or you know, they can set the age appropriateness of it. So, we have a process in place and that’s the important thing.”
Cizek;
“I do agree with the decision in the Mat-Su. I think it’s a concern a lot of parents have right now, is that their children not be exposed to material before they’re grown up, before they’re adults. And you’re saying 16 and under, so I know that I wouldn’t want my younger children exposed to something I would call sexually explicit in any way. So, I would support making sure that the materials that are in our libraries, that are in our classrooms, that are being taught, are all age appropriate, and that we’re not going to inadvertently expose our young people to things that are explicit in that way.”
In case you missed it, click the player below to listen to the entire Romanin, Cizek candidate election forum:
