Candidates for Carthage City Council and Carthage R-9 Board of Education met with a few residents at an early-morning Eggs and Issues event sponsored by the Carthage Chamber of Commerce.
A few of the candidates had conflicts and couldn't speak, but enough showed up to make for a good conversation.
Two of the five candidates for the three open board of education seats along with four of the seven candidates for the five open city council seats appeared and took questions from the audience.
Incumbent Board of Education member Jeff Jones and challenger Alan Snow discussed a number of topics, including crowding in schools, underage drinking, parental involvement in education and others for more than 20 minutes.
Jones said he and the other council members were excited to get the new high school under construction as a way to combat overcrowding.
"And that's just one part of a long-range plan that the school board's helped put together to help solve the crowding issue," Jones said. “That's going to create some space at the elementary school and allow for some growth there.
“The unfortunate thing, or rather the good thing, we're seeing a lot larger than normal kindergarten classes coming through. They keep growing each year so part of our long-range plan is to that it looks like there is going to need to be a new elementary school somewhere in Carthage. The succession plan is the high school, the vo-tech and then the elementary school."
Snow said parental involvement is key to combating underage drinking and there is a limit to what a board of education can do with that issue.
"Going forward, this issue has been going on for years and years and I think parent involvement, student involvement and community involvement are all needed to make a difference," Snow said. "The discussion the other night is only the beginning, but you've got to get the entire community involved in it and until everybody's involved, the problem won't be resolved."
Council Candidates
Of the council candidates present, Larry Ross is running unopposed for the Ward 4 seat after moving out of Ward 1 recently, and Claude Newport is running unopposed for reelection to his Ward 1 seat.
Vince Scott, a local developer and builder, is running against John Studebaker for the Ward 3 seat currently held by Cyndi Curry, and Timothy Teed is running against Ronnie Wells for the Ward 2 seat currently held by Mike Harris.
