Forums set to add attention to candidates, some little-known, in 4 Duval School Board races

A coalition of civic groups is organizing candidate forums for voters to learn about the people competing in elections next month for seats on the Duval County School Board .

Separate forums are scheduled between Tuesday evening and Aug 1. for races in each of the four board districts — representing most of the seats on the seven-member board — where elections will happen Aug. 20.

“These races are going to shape … the future of our public schools. I think it’s very important that people don’t lose focus,” said Jacksonville Public Education Fund President Rachael Tutwiler Fortune , whose nonprofit coordinated plans for the forums with a series of other organizations.

Fortune said nearly all nine board candidates have committed to be part be part of their districts’ forums, part of the last School Board election cycle before a November referendum that could replace Florida’s practice of holding nonpartisan board elections with partisan elections built around party affiliations.

When are candidate forums happening?

Organizers scheduled these forum times:

∎Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. at the Jessie Ball DuPont Center, 40 E. Adams St., for the District 3 race between incumbent Cindy Pearson and challenger Rebecca Nathanson ;

∎Thursday, 6 p.m. at Citadel Church of Jacksonville, 1057 Arlington Road North, for the District 1 race between first-time candidates Nadine Ebri and Tony Ricardo ;

∎Tuesday, July 30, 6 p.m. at Edward Waters University's Milne Auditorium, 1658 Kings Road, for the District 5 race between Reginald Blount , Nahshon Nicks and Hank Rogers ;

∎Thursday, Aug. 1, 6 p.m., at Hopewell Church, 3990 Loretto Road, for the District 7 race between Sarah Ann Mannion and Melody Ann Bolduc

Most of the candidates were also part of a forum organized in May by the Libertarian Party of Duval County , but the new gatherings, planned to each last tabout wo hours, will allow candidates more time to connect with voters.

The forums will have time set aside for candidate statements and responses to questions from audiences and from forum organizers.

The gatherings will be a chance for some candidates to reach voters for the first time, a real consideration in an election cycle where only one candidate is seekng reelection and several have never run for office.

Organizers have planned for audiences of at last 50 to 100 people at each gathering as well as online audiences reprising virtual forums JPEF used in the 2020 and 2022 elections because of pandemic-era concerns about in-person meetings.

People attending the forums either in-person or online are being asked to register in advance through a page of JPEF's website.

The forums were arranged with input from community groups such as the Jacksonville Civic Council, Duval County Council of PTAs, Jacksonville NAACP and 904WARD and the nonprofit news organtization The Tributary.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Forums set to add attention to candidates, some little-known, in 4 Duval School Board races