Newtown residents who want to learn first-hand what positions Board of Education candidates are taking on important issues related to the Newtown School District are invited to meet those individuals and hear their comments during a free forum being hosted by The Newtown Bee.

The annual Candidate Forum is set for Tuesday evening, October 22, at the Edmond Town Hall Theatre. A 7 pm meet-and-greet session will take place in the lobby, with the forum slated to run from 7:30 to 9 pm on the main stage. The event will be produced by The Bee with Editor Curtiss Clark again serving as moderator.

Participants include Democratic candidates Laura Main and Michelle Embree Ku, and Republican candidates Debbie Leidlein, Kathryn Hamilton, Keith Alexander, and David Freedman. Ms Leidlein, Mr Alexander and Ms Hamilton, formerly Kathryn Fetchick, are incumbents; Mr Freeman and Ms Ku are newcomers to the race.

Ms Main previously ran as a candidate for the school board in 2011 but was not elected.

Each candidate will be offered up to two minutes to present introductory remarks. The remainder of the forum will pose questions to the candidates, which were formulated from input by residents and newspaper staff members.

As in years past, the forum will be taped and subsequently shown by the local cable public access channel CTV-21 on the Charter Communications network. For nonsubscribers, an audio recording of the forum will be available following the event on The Bee website.

The Bee is still seeking input from readers and residents in the form of questions that might be posed to candidates that evening. Questions may be e-mailed to Bee editor and event moderator Curtiss Clark at editor@thebee.com, with reference in the subject line to the BOE candidates forum.

Deadline for reader questions is Monday, October 21, at 4 pm. The newspaper will also post detailed online profiles of each candidate on or about October 25.

Anyone wishing to submit a letter of endorsement supporting candidates may do so prior to the 5 pm deadline on Wednesday, October 30. The Newtown Bee reserves the right to hold any letters for the issue of November 1 that contain statements about specific candidates that would normally provoke a rebuttal.