In the first Palo Alto Board of Education debate of the election season on Thursday, five candidates discussed their views on the state of the school district, transparency, youth wellbeing and academic rigor, among other topics.

Five candidates — special-education advocate Stacey Ashlund, incumbent Ken Dauber, attorney Shounak Dharap, parent Kathy Jordan and recent graduate Alex Scharf — are vying for two open seats on the board.

In front of a standing-room-only crowd at the Palo Alto Art Center, they answered a wide range of questions from Weekly Editor Jocelyn Dong and education reporter Elena Kadvany, as well as student journalists from Palo Alto and Gunn high schools and members of the audience.

To watch a video of the debate, go to the Weekly's YouTube channel.

The Weekly and Palo Alto Online will also host a City Council debate with the five candidates on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at Cubberley Community Center's Little Theatre, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. The candidates are council incumbents Tom DuBois, Eric Filseth and Cory Wolbach and challengers Pat Boone, who is a TV journalist, and Alison Cormack, who led the Measure N library-bond campaign.

Election Day is Nov. 6.