By LaShawn Walker

February 20, 2021

On April 6, 2021, Election Day, Lee’s Summit residents will head to the polls to elect two school board members to fill two open LSR-7 school board seats. Suburban Balance announced today that they will host a Lee’s Summit School Board Candidate Forum on Tuesday, March 30, 2021 from 6:30pm-8:30pm. This event will be hosted “virtually” on the @Suburban Balance Facebook page. This will be the Lee’s Summit base non-profit organization’s 2nd year in a row hosting such an event. “First and foremost, congratulations to all school board candidates who have decided to run in 2021, said LaShawn Walker, Suburban Balance Founder & CEO. We are extremely excited to host this important event for our members who reside in Lee’s Summit and for the broader Lee’s Summit Community as a whole. Last year nearly 3500 tuned in virtually. Our goal is to educate, increase voter engagement and turnout at the polls. The school district is a cornerstone of our community that draws many families to the Lee’s Summit community. It is our hope that the candidate forum will help increase overall community engagement in the school board election process throughout the community including student engagement. We are honored to provide this opportunity for all residents of Lee’s Summit to join us virtually, Tuesday, March 30, 2021 and learn more about all candidates so that the community can make an informed decision when they head to the polls to vote on election day, Tuesday, April 6, 2021”. Please note March 10, 2021 is the deadline to get registered to vote.

The forum will be open to the public and will be live streamed on the Suburban Balance Facebook. Please feel free to share this information with friends, neighbors, family members and colleagues. We look forward to seeing you all there. Suburban Balance is a non-profit education-based organization with nearly 400 families involved that was founded in 2013 that serves as a support organization for families of color raising their kids in the suburbs or attend schools that lack diversity.

Important Reasons Why We Must Get Engaged, Attend Forum & Vote:
• Achievement gaps between black and white students exist at every grade level and in every content area; ranging from 17-35%.
• The elementary school gifted program enrollment of 295 students in Lee’s Summit includes 260 white students (88%) and only 6 black students (2%).
• Black students account for 12% of total student enrollment, but black students with an IEP account for 18% of all IEPs.
• Black students are 3.5 times as likely to be suspended as White students.
• African American students account for 12% of total student enrollment, but African Americans make up only 4% of total staff.
• Black and white students living in poverty underperform wealthier students of their same races on ELA and Math proficiency tests. However, white students living in poverty outperform black students living in poverty by 13-29%.
(LSR7 Data)

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