Election season got rolling with the North Kitsap Herald Advisory Board this week as school board primary candidates initially looking forward to a forum-type setting instead found themselves in the hot seat.

It’s as good a place as any to launch a career with the North Kitsap School District Board of Directors, a group which has had its share (and then some) of heated debates and heavy scrutiny.

We sat down with District 1 candidates Brian Maule, Tom Anderson and Grant Romaine and quickly discovered that all three not only knew the goings on in the NKSD but had a pretty good vision for where it should be headed in the future.

That said, Maule rose to the top in several respects.

The board, while partially split on the endorsement, agreed that he would bring much needed new blood to the NKSD and would force discussions that otherwise might fall by the wayside. We did have some worries concerning his wife’s occupation — she’s a teacher with the NKSD — but ultimately we agreed that this was an asset as opposed to a liability in that it will provide him valuable insight into the inner workings of the district that others don’t possess.

Maule also presented himself as a team player but not a sheep and as a school board member, we’d expect him to raise questions of policies he disagrees with and explain why he supports others.

The only major problem we see is that he’s pretty much unknown in North Kitsap, something that will likely hurt his chances as a candidate. Nonetheless, he is our preferred choice for the school board.

While we feel that Anderson should also proceed to the general elections, we didn’t see him as much of a change from the director he hopes to replace. In fact, when we asked him and Romaine which school board member they most emulate, both selected Dick Endresen. While we like Endresen a lot and respect his 20 years of service to the NKSD, we also feel certain elections should bring change — not maintain the status quo.

Who did Maule choose when asked the same question? Nobody. He pointed out that it was difficult to determine the positives and negatives of each by using the public forum of school board meetings as a means of determining their abilities in that certain elements of the group’s work takes place in the community and in executive session.

His decision to reserve judgment wasn’t viewed as a hedge, rather seen as a good indicator that Maule likes to have all his facts before deciding. A good sign, in our view.

All three felt the NKSD’s handling of the Kingston High School site selection was its biggest failing in the board’s recent history but were split on the transition from the four-period day to the six-period day. The latter of which brings the high school on par with other state schools in terms of class time.

While Romaine said the district should have sought another waiver, extending the school’s 13-year tradition of offering less class time than is mandated, both Maule and Anderson were for the transition — something that scored points for both.

All three had their doubts about the effectiveness of Small Learning Communities but Maule separated himself from the other candidates by noting that having smaller class sizes was in the best interest of the students. In fact, he seemed to put the students first throughout the discussion, which again was a big plus in his favor.

All three also agreed that micromanaging day-to-day operations wasn’t the role of the board and while Anderson introduced the concept of “micro-observing” (i.e. keeping a close eye on the happenings in the NKSD), Maule pointed out that sometimes the group should step in if a major problem continues to go unresolved. We liked that, too, and wish him every success in his bid in District 1.