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Kalamazoo Public Schools has two seats up for election on its Board of Education this November. Six candidates including one incumbent hope to win those seats. In Portage, four seats are up for election with five candidates running, including four members of the current board.WMUK reached out to all of the candidates for KPS and PPS Board. Six responded: Lauren Freedman, Jennie Hill and Paul Marquardt in Kalamazoo and Bo Snyder, Terri Novaria and Dan Bryer in Portage. Don't forget to click to the second page to see all of the interviews!The candidates touched on topics including the role of standardized testing, how to handle discipline in schools, how to address the achievement gap between high- and low-performing students, the role of a school board and whether public school districts receive adequate funding.

School Board Elections In Kalamazoo, Portage

Tom Arthur/Wikicommons

A crowded field is seeking two seats on the Kalamazoo School Board. Four incumbents and one challenger are running for four seats on the Portage School Board. 

Two seats are up for election on the Kalamazoo School Board this year. There will be at least one new member after the November election. Incumbent Jennie Hill is running for re-election, but Martha Warfield decided not to seek another term. Paul Marquardt, Lauren Friedman, Jessie Herron, Maria Bosnak and George White are all running for the KPS board.

The two winners will serve six year terms. In Portage there are four incumbents running for re-election plus one challenger. Bo Snyder, Terry Novaria, Kurt Droppers and Rusty Rathburn are all running again. Daniel Bryer is the lone challenger seeking a four-year term on the Portage School Board.

All of the candidates were invited for an interview. They were asked about education funding, the role of a board member in relation to the administration, discipline and the gap in some schools between high and low achieving students and how much emphasis should be placed on testing.

Gordon Evans became WMUK's Content Director in 2019 after more than 20 years as an anchor, host and reporter. A 1990 graduate of Michigan State, he began work at WMUK in 1996.
Sehvilla Mann joined WMUK’s news team in 2014 as a reporter on the local government and education beats. She covered those topics and more in eight years of reporting for the Station, before becoming news director in 2022.
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