I can’t express enough what a great time I had yesterday evening connecting with, talking with, and laughing with all of these wonderful people. I am honored to have the opportunity to compete in an election to represent every student, parent, teacher, paraprofessional, and classified support staff member seen here, and even those that chose not to jump in to the picture! I look forward to representing your voices on the Romoland School Board in the seat left vacant by the last election winner, Derek Rouch, when he moved to Colorado.

It’s about all of the kids, and it’s about all of the people that work hard every day to give our students the preparation for the quality of life we all know they deserve.

Thank you all for taking time out of your busy lives to talk about how to make the futures of our students the best that can possibly be.

Who would not be honored to have a Riverside County Teacher of the Year attend their community event? Thank you, Shaun Bunn. It was great to see you again.

Today we acknowledge that the ONLY reason things like representative government and free speech exist is because others were willing to die for these ideals, to die for the opportunity to protect these ideals for all of us, even those that take them for granted or outright disrespect them at times.

As the daughter of a retired Marine Corps Captain (Mustang) and the wife of an eight-year Navy veteran, both with service-related disabilities, I thank God every day that they are still here to say “thank you for your service.” But today is a day set aside to specifically remember those that did not come home, that are not here to express a “thank you” to. They made the sacrifice that every Soldier, Sailor, Airman, and Marine acknowledge when they sign-on.

As we acknowledge this day of memorials, perhaps we can make a commitment to setting aside a moment EVERY day to remember why the freedoms we often take for granted actually exist.

After last night’s Candidates Forum, I received a few inquiries as to why I was the only candidate that chose to accept the invitation of the forum’s organizers. I posed that question to the event organizers and was assured that both candidates received notification of the event via email on April 21, 2016. The invitation requested a response by April 29, 2016. I returned mine the same day I received it. I was told that at the event last night there was literature that had claims about insufficient notice, or something to that effect. I was assured that claim could be proven false. So, what’s the answer as to why I was the only one there? Your guess is as good as mine.

Many thanks to all of the community members that made time to come to this evening’s Candidates Forum at Mesa View Elementary. It was a pleasure meeting all of you. If you have questions about anything discussed tonight, please use the “Contact Debbie” link at the top of debbiemoon.net and let me know your thoughts.

Really looking forward to this event and hearing the views and questions of our community stakeholders. Hope to see you there!