Students in the Roaring Fork School District want to know how the five school board candidates will make the district more sustainable.
Basalt Education Foundation hosted a forum with the candidates on Oct. 17 at the Basalt Regional Library.
Lindsay DeFrates and Phillip Bogart are running for one open seat in Director District C and Betsy After and Alan Kokish are running for the open seat in Director District B.
Incumbent candidate Jasmin Ramirez is running unopposed.
Students submitted one question to the forum about what opportunities candidates see for making the district more environmentally conscious.
In response, DeFrates suggested formalizing a partnership with the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) since many middle and high school students already use the bus service to commute.
“How can we overlap that to have less vehicles on the road?” DeFrates asked. “How can we offer better passes and support?”
When it comes to teacher housing, DeFrates added that working with the Roaring Fork Valley’s existing housing stock could be more environmentally-friendly than building new units.
She suggested the district could buy free market units with the support of the West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition and offer them to teachers at a discounted rate.
DeFrates’ opponent Phillip Bogart suggested making district buildings more energy efficient and expanding their solar energy production.
“I love that the next generation is thinking about it,” Bogart said. “We already have solar energy that is powering some parts of our school district. We can expand on that. We can look at paper reduction. We can look at other ways that we can save and utilize energy better.”
Candidate Betsy After agreed that energy efficiency was a top priority, and she’s interested in applying for more funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to support that goal.
She also emphasized her work at Rocky Mountain Institute and her desire to build more partnerships between the school district and community organizations.
“There's a huge opportunity to do deep partnerships with the many environmental organizations in this valley, to really go above and beyond and make this a world-class school district in terms of the environment and clean energy and the energy transition away from fossil fuels,” After said.
Alan Kokish, After’s opponent, agreed about the importance of sustainability, but said he did not know how he would support this goal.
Incumbent Jasmin Ramirez, who is running unopposed, said she wants to add electric school buses to the district’s fleet, but has questions about the logistics in a rural district.
“There's obviously a huge concern of like, ‘How will that work in rural Colorado?’” Ramirez asked. “You know, our schools are not necessarily very close to each other, and what does that mean for the wear and tear?”
After and DeFrates echoed Ramirez’s support for electrifying school buses, but Bogart questioned whether the move would have a significant impact on the district’s carbon footprint.
The Roaring Fork School District’s board election is on Nov. 7.
Find more information about the election in Aspen Public Radio’s voter guide.
