DeKALB – About a month before the April 9 election, voters got their first broad look Thursday at the candidates for DeKalb School District 428 board and the DeKalb Park Board.

The five candidates who are competing for three spots on the school board – Vickie Hernan-Faivre, Mary Hess, George “Joe” Mitchell, Victoria Newport and Marilyn Parker – each touted their personal and professional experience to the public.

“I am not a politician. I am an advocate of education,” Mitchell said in his opening statement. “The success me and my wife have achieved is because of education.”