Tonight: Lincolnwood School Board Debate

First thing's first: Lincolnwood School District 74's debate will be at Lincolnwood Village Hall, 6900 Lincoln Ave., tonight, Wednesday, March 27, at 7 p.m.  

The debate will be aired live on Comcast channel 6 and AT&T channel 99.The debates will also rerun several times leading up to the April 9 elections.

Who is running?

There are a total of seven candidates running for four seats. It should be noted, however, that one of the seats is an uncontested two-year term.

The following are running for school board:

• Scott Anderson (Incumbent - President)
• Kevin Daly (Incumbent)
• Kathryn O'Brien
• Mahmood Khan
• John Vranas (Incumbent)
• Meetal Vakil
• Georjean Hlepas-Nickell (Nickell is running for a two-year uncontested term)

Why these debates are important -

On Jan. 12, 2012, Lincolnwood residents braced poor weather conditions to attend a school board meeting. That day, it was a standing-room-only crowd and residents grilled the school board about reckless spending.

Since that day, there have been four different board presidents, one school board member resigned due to ethical reasons, the superintendent resigned, the assistant superintendent retired, the business superintendent was fired and a $25 million referendum to rebuild a new school was shot down by voters 9-1.

There was even a lawsuit filed against the school district by the former business superintendent, Kevin Nohelty.

You can read all of our coverage regarding Lincolnwood School District 74 here.

We need questions! 

It's not too late to submit a question! 

Submit as many as you'd like and email them to georges@patch.com. 

Debate Ground Rules:

1) Legally qualified candidates found eligible to be on the April 9, 2013 ballot are invited to participate in the debates.

2) The moderators and timekeeper will be selected by Skokie Patch.

3) There will be no substitutes or stand-ins for the candidates.

4) Candidates will have access to the site one hour before the forum.

5) No campaign banners, signs, literature handouts or other campaign paraphernalia will be allowed in the forum.

6) The audience will be asked to refrain from applauding or, in other ways, demonstrating support or nonsupport for a candidate. 

7) The moderator gives opening remarks and introduce the candidates.

8) Speaking order will be determined by randomly drawing candidate names from a container. A separate draw of names will be conducted for opening statements.

9) Each candidate is permitted to give an opening statement limited to two minutes. They will also be allowed to give a closing statement that shall exceed no more than one minute.

10) Candidates will be asked a series of pre-determined questions that were submitted by the community at large and selected at the moderator’s discretion.

11) The moderator will pose questions to candidates in a staggered format. Each candidate’s response will be limited to two minutes. After all candidates have responded, a one-minute rebuttal may be given at the moderator’s discretion. 

12) Time limits on responses will be strictly observed. A timekeeper will flash cards to indicate the amount of time left. (We have decided to move the location of the timekeeper so candidates can more easily see how much time they have left.)

13) The moderator will have the responsibility of enforcing time limits. The moderator will also have the authority to interrupt the proceedings to enforce the ground rules and format that were agreed to by the candidates.

14) The candidates will not interrupt one another.

15) Candidates will abide by the Village of Lincolnwood General Policy and Conditions for Use of the Village Hall for Political Campaign Forums and Debates.

Election day is April 9.

For reporters and candidates running for trustee only:

• Both reporters and candidates may attend the debate an hour early to prep and get a feel for the room layout. Reporters will also be on hand to ask questions prior to the event.
• We kindly ask that resident wait outside the room during this time frame (6 p.m. - 6:50 p.m.)

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