(April 1, 2011) — On March 11, six of eight school board candidates — current board members Nayiri Nahabedian, Mary Boger and challengers Jennifer Freemon, Daniel Cabrera, Todd Hunt, and Vahik Satoorian — came to Clark to be quizzed on program cuts, creationism in the classroom and tuition-based summer school by students. On April 5, voters will decide which school board candidates will fill the two empty seats. During the forum, candidates discussed Measure S, a school bond that would extend Measure K, a proposal that takes additional property tax money and gives it to the schools for building renovation and improved technology. Clark Magnet may receive some of this money for improvements in technology and buildings. Senior Nare Israelyan, director of the debate, said, “It’s better that the money goes to the schools rather than anywhere else.” “I thought the debate was really irritating at times,” said senior Nancy Oganezov. “Many of the candidates would avoid answering the questions they were asked.” The forum was organized by teacher Nick Doom for students to be more aware of their educational experiences through GUSD. ” This is the only debate held at a school where students get to ask questions mostly asked by parents or community leaders or home owners,” Doom said. Candidates were asked to prioritize extracurricular activities, art programs or sports teams for elimination. ” It was interesting,” Doom said. “One question was, ‘Which would you cut? Electives, arts, or sports?’ And no one answered. No one refused. So they all dodged the questions. Some supported Measure S, others opposed it.” Doom says that he supports Measure S. ” I believe it is the best solution in this current economic climate to upgrade our schools,” Doom said. “The state is broke. The feds aren’t going to bail us out.” None of the candidates answered the questions directly, according to Israelyan. Despite the non-argumentative candidates, senior Jacob Minasian, who was also in the audience, said, ” Mr. [Todd] Hunt says that they don’t know where they were going to make the cuts so that brought out a lot of good reactions from the audience.”