The Texas Student Union will host a “town hall” Q&A with school board candidates Sheila Taylor and Ryan Echols on Monday at 6-8 p.m. over Zoom.

“The purpose is to give students the opportunity to question the candidates over key issues and what they stand for,” Texas Student Union member Sania Abraham said. “This [Q&A] can help bridge the disconnect between what students want and what parents or the school board think they want.”

Taylor currently holds Place 7: the position the two candidates are running for. The Texas Student Association is a new organization created earlier this school year. The town hall is not affiliated with LISD.

“[The meeting] seems to be a good way for students to get involved in the community and actually make an impact on the representatives,” sophomore Harini Kumar said.

The meeting will start with a set of predetermined questions before it is opened up to the general forum. The predetermined questions were collected by Abraham from surveying teachers and students. Each candidate will get one-to-two minutes to respond to each question.

“There’s a big amount of misinformation about what the school board advocates for, what they do and how admin is treating us,” Abraham said. “This [meeting] can help encourage the relationship with students and their administration.”

For this election season, the union said their goal is arranging ways to connect with school board candidates across school districts. They host town halls — of which the school’s will be its second — and individual interviews.

“We’re aiming for the biggest school districts [in size] around the state in order to maximize our impact,” Texas Student Union president Gage Fagan said.

The first town hall was at Fort Bend ISD, which had 78 student attendees. RSVP is required to attend.

“The core of [Texas Student Union’s] mission is to elevate student voices in any way possible,” Fagan said. “[We] make sure the government understands what students want and to give students a platform to express themselves.”