Only three candidates for the Zanesville City Schools Board of Education attended the candidate forum hosted last Thursday night at the John McIntire Library.

Both incumbents Mike Coulson and Brian Swope did not attend.

Brian Swope has served 3 terms, currently seeking an additional fourth term this November, while Mike Coulson is currently in his first term seeking an additional second term. Both candidates did not return a request for comment as to their absence from Thursday’s candidate forum.

Candidates who were in attendance were given the opportunity to introduce themselves and respond to questions from the public during the 90-minute forum.

Moderators included Dr. Hannah Nissen from Ohio University Zanesville and Kelly Ashby from the Zanesville-Muskingum County Chamber of Commerce.

According to Katie Sites, President of the Zanesville Education Association, typically school board seats run uncontested, therefore candidate forums were not necessary during past elections.

According to documents from the Muskingum County Board of Elections, the last contested race for the City of Zanesville’s School Board of Education was in 2013.

This year, five candidates are running for three open four-year seats.

Kyle A Baldwin, Bret Hickman, and Brian Oliver were the three candidates in attendance Thursday night.

The entire candidate forum is available on our Facebook Page Y-City News.

***Update 9/17/19***

Mike Coulson has since issued the following statement in response to Y-City News’ request for comment:

“I am writing in response to the Y-City News article on the Zanesville School Board Candidate Forum and my absence from it.  I have a strong commitment to my children and family and felt it more important to support one of my children participating in an event at the same time as the forum.  My youngest child is in the Zanesville High School Band and performing at a pep rally at ZHS the same time as the forum.  It was unfortunate that the Forum was scheduled on top of a ZHS student event and I felt supporting not only my child, but all of the students at the pep rally, was more important.  Therefore, I had to make the decision as to where to be that evening, I chose supporting my family and the students.  With 35+ years of business and 10 years combined School Board experience I know some decisions are not popular but are right and, as a School Board Member, I believe in our students and believe in supporting them every chance I get. ”

A previous version of this story did not include the three candidates that attended the candidate forum. The story has been updated to reflect their names.