9-22-2012 2:47am

Campaign Notes: Nagpal and Friese Meet the Voters

We received this press release from school board candidates Smita Nagpal and Diane Friese, who are running as a team. Karen Delhey and Paul Hynek are also running as a team. There are two six-year terms up for grabs in the election.

Smita Nagpal and Diane Friese, two of the candidates for Saline School Board, presented a slideshow on their candidacy and fielded questions from a varied audience at the Brewed Awakenings Café last night.

The forum that started at 6:30 p.m. and went well beyond 8 p.m., was well attended. Other than a couple of tables, the entire café was filled with people who had come to listen to the presentation and milled around afterwards to meet the candidates personally.

Nagpal and Friese informed the audience of the reasons they are running for the Saline School Board, and why they think it is important to vote for them.

Nagpal stated, “We have heard much about finances and running the school as a business. The school is not a business, but the school does have an important business to carry out – educating our children. It is important to bring focus back to the business of our school district – providing a quality education and a healthy, safe environment for all students. If you would like 2 people on your school board with the right qualifications for this job, please vote for us on November 6th.”

Nagpal holds a Ph.D. in Counseling with a minor in Educational Psychology and Friese holds a Master’s degree in education. She worked as a special educator for 30 years. Both have a common interest and background in child development. Both believe that financial sustainability is an important goal, in fact, it is their first guiding principle, but they believe it is time to also attend to other important aspects of education.

Friese fielded a question about goal #2, related to teaching techniques the candidates might encourage. She stated, “the goal is to provide critical thinking skills, learning how to learn, and being lifelong learners, as well as practical skills that can be used for 21st century jobs.”

People who were unable to attend yesterday’s forum may visit Facebook.com/nagpalfriese for more information, or send their questions or concerns by email to nagpalfriese@gmail.com .

(Editor's Note: The Saline Post will run press releases from local election candidates on our Editor's Notes Blog. Send releases to tran@thesalinepost.com)