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A group called Kids First Coalition has endorsed four candidates for the Quincy Board of Education in next week's election.

Those candidates are Tom Dickerson, Curtis Lovelace, Vicki Blackwell and Connie Taylor.

Dickerson and Lovelace are incumbents. Blackwell and Taylor are retired teachers.

KHQA's Carol Sowers took a closer look at Kids First. You might remember that Kids First was formed in 1999 to recruit, educate and to help elect what it believes are the most qualified candidates for Quincy School Board.

As the name states, it wants candidates to place kids first when making decisions about the district.

It's made up of community members and the Quincy Federation of Teachers, although coalition spokesman Jim Burns told us today that some non-union teachers also belong to the coalition.

We spoke to a couple of the board candidates today - one who was endorsed by Kids First, and one who wasn't --and asked about the selection process.

Curtis Lovelace said that while the coalition didn't interview him for this election, he had spoken with the group before it endorsed him in the past, and of course, the group was able to look at his record on the board up to now.

Denette Kuhlman said she's disappointed that she didn't get the opportunity to speak to the group or answer any questions before the choices were made.

The coalition spokesman told me the endorsements were made by consensus, and that the group did not interview or survey the candidates.

Several other Kids First members turned down our request to answer a couple of questions about the organization today.

You'll notice that campaign signs for these four candidates often are grouped in one yard, which could give you a clue to who supports Kids First.

The group, with the help of the teacher's union, according to this letter from the union leadership, also plans to send out about a thousand postcards to voters in the Quincy public school district, asking them to support these candidates.

You can learn more about the candidates at a forum Thursday night at Vermont Street United Methodist Church.  It's sponsored by the League of Women Voters.