Four of the five candidates running for the Windham and Raymond school board answered questions from voters regarding various issues facing the district at a public question-and-answer session last Thursday.

The Q&A was moderated by Gary Plummer and Barbara Maurais. At the beginning of the event, the moderators explained that the Regional School Unit 14 board, which covers Windham and Raymond, has three members from Raymond and six from Windham, and that the towns vote on their representatives in June and November, respectively. The top two candidates in this race will serve in two of Windham’s seats.

Although the race was officially nonpartisan, candidates Matthew Irving and Christina Small have been endorsed by the Windham Democratic Town Committee, while Adam Zajac and Destiny Johnson, the latter of whom was unable to attend, have been endorsed by the Windham Republican Town Committee. Megan Potter is running as an independent.

One of the more contentious debates surrounded the complicated relationship between parental rights and academic freedom. Zajac was a passionate advocate of the former, proclaiming that parents had the right to be aware of what their children were being taught and exposed to, and alleging that the district’s school libraries were filled with books that contained content inappropriate for children. He argued for more community oversight in book selection, and that the process of requesting a book for removal be streamlined, recalling how, at one point, it took the board four months to bring a contested book up for review. Potter agreed with Zajac that parents shouldn’t have to go through so many hoops to get a book removed, citing the novel, “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” as a book that should not be in school libraries.

Irving disagreed with the idea of removing books from libraries, arguing that freedom does not extend to allowing someone to take away reading opportunities from everyone else because of how they feel about a certain book, while also acknowledging the right of families to opt out of material they disagree with, and suggested a religious opt-out to align with the Supreme Court’s recent Mahmoud v. Taylor decision. Small, the current chair of the school board, said that the bottleneck in book removals was due to the time it takes for the review committee, which is made up of staff being paid overtime, to look at a title, and said that she wouldn’t make any changes to the district’s current policy.

The candidates were also asked how they would support the district’s stated mission, which is establish a safe, supportive and inclusive community; develop strong partnerships in order to support every learner and help them thrive, and to foster learner aspirations and success through engagement in authentic and diverse learning experiences.

Zajac said that the mission statement was great, but not being followed properly, and that he would work with other board members to make sure that students gain knowledge and skills to contribute to an ever-changing world. Irving said that this was another area where one of the best things the board could do was to make sure that the students are connected to the wider community, saying that in today’s world, it is easy to be caught up in a wave of negativity. Potter said that she would be focused on hearing from the students and staff of the district, and that it was important to hear everyone’s perspective in order to best serve all of them.

When asked about how he would balance the school’s budget, Zajac said that he would focus on “trimming the fat” by removing excess administrative staff and giving their salary to qualified teachers, and that he would put in place a system that would reward teachers who raise classroom standards. Irving said the school budget doesn’t reflect the economic squeeze felt by people in the district, and that they responsibly plan for future expenses by looking at grants and improvements to existing costs to improve efficiency, while also having active discussions with the state regarding the funding formula. Potter said the operational and administrative costs could be cut by limiting travel and conference spending, while Small said that the district was already heavily investing in important things such as competitive wages for staff and regular building maintenance, and the only way to make a significant reduction would be to take the unpopular step of cutting staff.

The candidates were also asked about how they would address bullying and harassment within the district. Potter, who had experienced the district’s policies firsthand after her child was bullied, praised the system for quickly resolving the issue by moving the bully and the victim into different classes. Small said the board, which is not involved in bullying investigations directly, does not have a lot of information about the extent of bullying because student records are private, and said that the issue should be addressed as part of their strategic plan. Irving said bullying was a complicated issue, and the board could take a look at how often the school administration is able to review bullying within the district while being attuned to the different ways in which it manifests.