UCSD #1 School Board Forum

001your state oh good glad they did you know I did got her she yeah you're right here no I think you're good to see you Mr Wheeler thank youel hi Joel how are you nice to meet you pleas [Music] how are you are you there here I guess it's all good stuff good how are you hey how are you this is what I miss good stuff the candies minut half the time we newspaper should be here last last week good yeah man that was a great game I didn't tune in until like the last three minutes was that was it that was it I can't believe it was great was it yeah we had fun it me my son his wife and their 11-year-old good she had a lot of fun I'm going to the

002next two games my brother's we home till in the morning late but it was worth it mhm oh yeah especially with Victory like that pulling it out oh no paper [Music] Ryan are we going to do the same order for answering questions or okay kind of move I'll explain this he's going to explain it but start Mr Wheeler gets the first question and we go this way and then Ricky gets the second question you get the third you get the fourth fifth and then the closing statements start with David and go back this way great and David's not going to be here Mr U chairman Mr Peterson had a family commitment he has a statement and he'll explain that again yeah yeah [Music] you guys are going to be shoulder to shoulder it's in here

003I can move over one here Mr Peters not seems like but then that could just be sitting up here yeah that's right I feel fine in Hot Seat [Music] Y watching I think [Music] makes it easy yeah those things make it really easy that wasn't good the way it a look m is Mr Kev they asked me about the order explain okay you may just want to ask any questions well should I go over it for people listening yeah perfect okay um and then Ryan do you want me to read each question each time to each person I'm just going to read it once with my plan they have a copy of the question that's all I want know here we go again just to keep me on the street if I am and okay

004and uh I just find if I screw just you know yeah some good contracts come up is it Asia Asia yeah maor polar but I would prefer you not to but I mean that's my candidate name [Music] all right I have never done this it's oh I'm just going to clarify here question number nine you mean question number 10 including a closing statement yeah you know what I didn't change I stand right okay I just want to make sure question I'm just I'm just proof reading brother thank yeah I go back and read the other two yeah yeah should God k class good yeah we're making it takes time yeah I'm probably being nowbody fourth graders and then they and they uh come on so just you're patient with it until you know it's good

005no it is by the time you get through oh absolutely by the time you just get through everything it's like okay mhm right the other thing I need to just make sure I keep track of who's too bad we didn't get these well I have it written right here so the question number two going to start and then sry each question so just keep okay just you know what I mean and then I'll put that right there so hopefully [Music] speci my mom was oh [Music] yeah she [Music] good time I see random thank you and then I would you say Jessica okay all right ladies and gentlemen those of you in attendance and everybody that is uh participating online and streaming at home we welcome you to the U County School District number one

006candidate Forum to begin tonight we would like to start with a pledge of allegiance so if everybody would please stand we will ready iedge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you welcome to the school board candidate Forum sponsored by uen County School District number one school board candidates we appreciate your willingness to serve the community of Evon as a member of the school board we wish you well in your campaign and on Election Day Tuesday November 5th 2024 this forum is an effort to provide an organized platform for candidates to express their opinions on important issues facing education in our communities a series of questions will be asked of all candidates the

007questions were selected from those submitted by the staff of UA County School District number one and the Evon Community special thanks to UCSD number one school board and administration for sponsoring this forum developing the format and selecting the questions to be asked before we begin a quick review of the procedures that the form will follow each candidate will be given one minute to respond to the first question including an opening statement the order will be from left to right questions two through two through 9 will be asked in sequence and in and the order will be in from left to right with the candidates given the opportunity to respond to each question each candidate will be given one minute to respond to each question to conclude all candidates have one minute to respond to each

008question question number 10 including a closing statement and then we will go from right back to the left as the we ask that candidates respect each other and the time limits that have been established a timer will be visible and when your time has expired the moderator will respectfully move on to the next candidate each of you have been given a copy of the procedures the questions and a copy of the pathway to Excellence the Strategic plan for your use good luck and thanks again for participating thank you so um David Peterson is not in attendance tonight he has a family commitment and therefore uh he does and has provided a closing statement at the very end so we will begin with Dan wheeler and I will read each question only once before you have

009it in front of you but I'll read each question once and then we will just move down the line from left to left to right question number one and include your over statement what are your top three reasons for running for Schoolboard elaborate on at least one of those reasons Dan wheeler uh as the gentleman said my name is Dan wheeler I currently serve on Yuan County School District uh number one as a board member I was elected in 2020 uh I think that the reasons that I'm running again is that our Pathway to excellent excellent Excellence is a excellent uh format uh I believe that it's essential that we support our Administration our teachers uh for the end result that education is best for our kids I also think it's very important that we

010offer safety not only for our students our Administration and our uh our staff that uh we do everything we can to make sure that everybody is safe I think it is extremely important that we make our buildings safe uh and I think that it is uh extremely important that our Capital Improvements uh still progress uh we've done a lot over the last two years but there are still things to do so education of our kids is the number one priority thank you hi I uh Ricky cook um I've been living here for about 11 years 12 years um I uh feel that I am a voice to all the teachers and parents and students I I talk to most of them quite frequently and I will be the voice to the to those people and

011I am committed I will be there at almost every meeting I say almost because sometimes my job will interfere with that and I feel like I will bring a fair and balanced approach to the decisions that will be made on everyone's behalf in our community so thank you Jessica Arch yeah thank you um thank you to everyone attending and and listening in tonight uh it's so important for our community and district and I'm running to because I want to do my part for our kids for our students um for our teachers for our parents um I'm passionate about education I've currently serve as the board chair of ecdc which is the Early Childhood um education provider here in Evanston um I've experienced Building Bridges and coalitions in our community um and that's part of what

012I want to do through the school board um is bring our our community together um when I worked at Evon Regional Hospital I um was built a coalition on Child Abuse Prevention and I believe that leaders should listen so I want to be on the board so I can be in the school's hearing Direct from from you from um from all of the stakeholders about what needs to change and be improved um yeah and I uh you know I hope to bring that energy and uh and build a culture of trust thank you John Duo um uh I'm currently uh running for the two-year position uh on the school board I was on the school board for nine months uh a little while ago um and decided that I wanted to to run again and

013be on the school board um I think I bring a lot of strength uh to the the school board in that uh i' I've been in uh running business for over 30 years um I take care of my people I take care of my customers um and and I I do that in pretty much all aspects of my life uh that I'm associated with people um my focus has always been the education of the kids to make sure that uh make sure that they uh that they have uh exactly what they need to be successful after they leave the the school system here in Evon um I support the parents th% there are parents that have issues they brought them to me there are there are staff members that have brought me those issues and

014encourag me to run so I I have a lot to bring to this board as I have in the past thank you thank you Joel weedi yeah I'm Joel weedi uh been in the community since about 2009 had a a tour of Duty in modessa Texas I'm in the oil field so I came back as soon as I can back in 2013 U so anyways uh top three reasons one I have three sons in the school district currently two on the high school one in middle school and I'm invested in their education and their safety um second I want to assist in the continued development and Improvement of with our teachers I think we've done a lot in the last four years I'm currently on the board and U proud of the accomplishments that we've

015had since 2020 one of and and the third reason is in 2020 we had a big election with the CK Rule Rule and policy and uh I was in favor of that and figured I would uh put my name in the in the on the election and approve that which we have and I'm proud to say that our schools are safer now uh in the last four years and I think they ever been and that's one of the reasons I'm continuing to do this is to ensure the safety of my kids and make sure they have a good great experience in their uh high school and middle school careers thank you Maia Cobb hi I'm Asia cob and I think my well I don't think I know my top three reasons are I want to

016be a voice for all so I have done extensive um research on what the school board is and what they do on top of being an advocate of myself I've been a mother for 17 years and I've advocated for my own children I've worked in education and social work for the last 10 years and advocating with families throughout um I think a voice for all is one thing that um this board really needs on top of encouraging other community members and just students staff and parents to attend these meetings I plan to encourage everybody but also learn what people don't know and inform them I think information is something that is kind of blinded in the school district because sometimes I don't get the answers that I want but I would love to be able

017to give people the answers that they need thank you thank you Brian Woodward as you said my name is Brian Woodward I'm a local businessman um I came on the school board two years ago because I had children in the school district and I wanted to do my part to see that they got the best education they could possibly get best experience that they could possibly have in in their school Endeavors and that continues to be the case I still have a daughter that's in the school system and I still want to continue to do those things um but after getting on the the school board I discovered that there's so much more to it this school district has an incredible Administration and an incredible staff and they are working very hard to implement the

018high reliability schools program and to see to it that our children are educated in in a consistent and uh acceptable fashion and um I want to go ahead and see if I can continue to help to cause that to progress and move forward thank you thank you Tina Johnson hi my name is Tina Johnson um I decided to run for school board I had some concerns so my history is I was the general manager of KFC Taco Bell for 16 years um before that I worked at TA Travel Centers um for 17 years I was a general manager um oversaw up to um 140 to 150 employees in RS um later uh a few years ago I was struggling with a lot of the teenagers they were unable to fill out their own paperwork they

019are unable to um sign their name and it is come to my attention that if you cannot sign your name you cannot own anything um those are issues that really concerned me um and I want to be a part I feel that I will definitely listen to the people um I think that we are accountable to the voters and to the um Community thank you thank you David Carrington good evening um I'm David Carrington I've lived and worked here in Evon for the past 12 years I'm the medical director of the Wyoming state hospital and in the 12 years that I've lived here I've really come to appreciate what this community means and what this community is it certainly has come to mean a lot to me and I decided to run for school board

020because I wanted to contribute to this community in a meaningful fashion I believe that school board is a good fit for my particular skills experiences uh and attributes for a variety of reasons um I have a great deal of administrative experience I've sat on the board of directors at a large KN for profit in Chicago for nine years uh the Wyoming state hospital is obviously a large uh organization I'm a state employee I know the frustrations and the benefits of working for the government um um and finally um the development and the education of our children really determines the future of our community our state and indeed the world and there is no higher calling that I think an individual can serve in so that's why I'm here thank you that'll conclude question number one

021so question number two we will start with uh Mr cook and then just continue uh down the line there so question number two what do you believe are the roles and responsibilities of a school board member and what is your priority um I think the biggest role as a school board member is to gather information from the community and be uh in your service you know be the your voice that you guys want to bring up um uh and I think that I bring a a very fair and balanced uh approach to the school district um I have come before to the school district and talked about sports programs and I I think that we can make some changes that could help our community with with our programs that are going on right now in

022our school systems but I am very open to everybody and I've talked to several several people um the teachers students parents and I've heard their concerns that I will bring up so thank you thank you very much Mr Arch yeah um as I said in my opening statement I think leaders should listen um and that's where I'd start as a school board member um second then is to ask questions um you know I think there's lots of different ways that information can be presented and um and I really want to kind of get to the root of issues and and hear from lots of different different perspectives and and to know you know get a full picture about what's going on uh and third is to follow up uh it's you know it takes a

023lot of energy to do that to um you know dig deeper to find an answer or to keep working to find a common ground if you're building a coalition or collaboration and um that's the kind of kind of energy that I want to bring um I've heard from a lot of teachers and parents uh wishing that uh school board members would be in the schools more finding out what's happening in real on the ground um and uh and I think that our people are our greatest strength so um there's I know teachers and parents have wonderful ideas of ways to improve our district and I want to give those a voice and listen to them thank you Mr dubo um I I agree with that wholeheartedly um I think the Rosen responsibilities of a Schoolboard

024memb is one is to lead the district ensure that policies and procedures are followed support the parents and ensure that budgets are followed and expenditures are are valid and wise um just just like in business you know you can't just do things willy-nilly you You' you've got to do things responsibly and school school board trustee the the word trustee explains exactly what that role is and I when I was on the board for nine months I I I I took that to heart I prepared myself before every board meeting I didn't miss one and I asked a lot of questions um and I think sometimes you have to ask the hard questions because you need to sometime get to the to the answers uh there's a lot of growth that can still happen in this

025school district um and uh and I I think that uh I think that I was integral to to some of those things when I was on the school board and I think I can do the same thank you Mr weedi yeah I agree with John uh he he did prepare very well and that's a that's a key of a good trustee member you come prepared you do manage the finances and all of that is a tax money and so you get government money so you got to ask a lot of questions but you know but as a Schoolboard trustee you you write policy and those policies like you said you got a hold of our people and our and our teachers and our Administration accountable to those policies that we adhere to them properly so

026beyond that we need to listen to teachers and and parents I've been in schools I've talked a lot of teachers and I've talked a lot of students and and parents unfortunately unfortunately my wife runs a El Salon out of my house and a lot of times a lot of discussions happen in El Salon I get pulled in and I have a lot of questions that I have to right on the spot because if I don't get the right answer I get get that bad look so uh I think you have to listen and become prepared and make sure policies adhere thank you Mrs Cobb um I definitely agree with everything that has been said um as for role and responsibilities definitely the school board is responsible for writing policies and making sure that Administration and

027everybody involved is following and being held accountable um I also think that listening and gathering information and then making a decision is also very important for a school board member um I also think that the information that is needed or even given it needs to be more public I know that like we we are here to work for the people but a lot of people aren't showing up to even ask questions we're getting asked questions in the community versus here in the school board and I really hope to bring more people into the board meeting so we can get those questions asked with amongst the whole board and not just individually so I think that is really a big role and responsibility is informing individuals on how to get those onto the agenda and then

028attending a meeting thank you thank you Mr Woodward well I feel like uh through input from the public the administration and and metrics that we're given that it's our job to provide policy and support and resources for the administration and the staff to accomplish the objectives that are outlined in the pathway to excellent which is an excellent framework for what we're trying to accomplish as a school district it's well thought out it's an incredibly precise document and it is stable it doesn't change every year it it's an an awesome framework for us to work in and my feeling is that we should continue to pursue that and and those are the the things that the school the school board can offer to accomplish it thank you Mrs Johnson I believe that the school board is

029definitely um accountable to the voters because that is why they're here um I think that the roles and respons ability is definitely to make sure that the opinions and the um concerns from the public is first and foremost because that's why we're here that's who we represent um I definitely believe in being in the schools I would love to visit the schools um a lot of people have concerns on things that are in the libraries things that are curriculum that's being taught I would love to know every single thing about every every bit of it I love it all um and definitely creating policies that work for everyone thank you Mr Carrington yes um a school board is an interesting sort of uniquely American thing it sort of serves as the conduit between the community

030the electorate the people and the educational professionals who work in the district and as such the role of the school board as I see it is to make sure that the educational professionals are acting in a manner in that the community expects obviously there are the issues of using taxpayer money public funds in an efficient and effective manner holding the educational professionals accountable and setting the tone for how the district should should proceed what are the priorities uh what are the concerns how can we best accomplish those priorities to give our children the best education that is possible thank you Mr Wheeler uh yes when uh I ran for the board and was elected four years ago uh my background was not as an administrator or an educator and so I had to study a

031lot of what was going on and I think one of the responsibilities is is to study every aspect that you can and understand the workings of un County School District number one um finances knowing budgets you know I was very familiar with financial statements and budgets uh but the financial statement and the budget for the school district is much much different and so being able to realize what those things are and the interaction with other board members with administrators uh with different teachers and even the students that come before us uh it's just very very important that we stick the pathway of excellence and continue on that path thank you that concludes question number two question number three we will start with Jessica Arch what is your position on the national narrative that public schools

032are failing please explain yeah um I think you know Co really hit our schools hard in terms of um changing the the framework that we're ating in right um the number of kids on IEPs has just exploded um attendance and enrollment is more of a struggle than ever before um and uh you know and here locally right we're seeing the the our ability to recruit and retain teachers um also be impacted and but I you know I'm I'm an optimist and so I believe that you know if we put our heads together and we work together as a community um we can solve a lot of these issues that we're facing um and you know it starts with putting student welfare first it starts with communication it starts with um better strengthening our parent teacher

033organizations it starts with Innovation and you know maybe adding more vocational and Technical Training to our schools or um you know concurrent enrollment things like that that we can achieve if we work at it together thank you Mr Duo um this question was asked a couple years ago U so I've seen it before but the the narrative that schools are are failing uh there are I'm sure there are schools that are failing I'm sure that there's districts that are failing I don't see that here in this District at all um what I do see though is in some of the test scores year-over-year I do I do see some uh drops in in average scores in the eighth grade and 10th grade level whether it's math or science or or English uh writing skills but

034it's not but it's it's it doesn't raise the red flag that it the school district is failing I think there's a lot of great uh parents uh teachers um that are in this District even the support staff whether they work in accounting or wherever it might be I I I know that there's great people that work here and the kids' interest is at is at the at the for but this this school district is not failing it's it needs Improvement but it's not failing thank you Mr weedi oh great question I agree with John I'm sure there's school districts out there that are and their public schools that are that are struggling but uh that's the reason I live in Evon Wyoming uh because I want to be here in Wyoming I want my kids

035in this uh uh in the environment that I want them to to grow up in and uh I think here in the school district we have teachers that that's their calling in life is that they want to teach and we see that in each school district and we have Administration that's their calling in life and I really choose I I want my kids in the public system because it giv so many uh opportunities that you don't get and if you're homeschooled or take them out or go to private school you get emotional and U resilience when you go to public schools and you have opportunities to to go to activities and sports and do the things that you enjoy and find new things whether it be trades and really start that path for them to

036go with their career so uh there might be those schools out there that are struggling but I'm proud of what we've done in the last four years U as a school district and uh uh that's the reason I keep keep my kids here in the you County School District number one thank you Mrs cop um I agree I don't think that uh un County School District number one is failing at all I actually think that we are meeting the goals cuz the teachers and staff are working on a common goal they're working with the high resiliency curriculum and I think that the policy is in place and everything it's working like why would we get rid of something that we've all worked so hard on to continue and it we're now seeing the data it's

037growth um I think that because it is kind of data driven and we do see the numbers it's we all have a common goal at the end of the day um but yeah I don't think you and a county is struggling or failing in any way we definitely have good numbers we have great teachers I think it's amazing that we hire so many and encourage so many support staff to even go on and get a further education to become teachers even here hiring local um candidates as well thank you thank you Mr Woodward it it's going to be very difficult to add anything to what's already been said but uh I agree completely that there are certainly schools out there public schools that are failing and having challenges that they're struggling to overcome and we

038have our challenges here but this school district is not failing it's nowhere close to failing it's excelling it is meeting its objectives or exceeding um um I know many of the staff members personally and these are people who are dedicated to accomplishing the objective of teaching our children both academically and socially uh how to be good people how to be good family members how to um be productive in society and and how to Excel and they set examples for those students and so I have nothing but praise for this school district thank you than thank you Mrs Johnson I have a little different view on that um I feel like our our commitment doesn't just end at the student in school and the standards I believe that what they do on the outside does matter

039and I um looking at the scores that just came out I don't feel I feel like there's a lot of kids getting left behind I feel like um half of all I believe it was 24 students enrolled in the University of Wyoming and 12 of those had to take remedial math I feel like when they finish school they should know how to do they shouldn't have to take remedial math from there so I feel that there is a little bit um I'm not a proponent of Common Core I believe that is helping to destroy society and I think that's what a lot of the national um narrative is um across the country I think that that's part of the problem um and I would like to see that changed actually so thank you thank you

040Mr Carrington yeah I don't think uh public schools are failing but I do think that things are getting more complicated particularly for our kids everything from social media to living an online life to the perception of the world being a dangerous chaotic and unsafe place um as well as various social pressures and differing opinions and all of these factors could lead to a school district or the school system at large failing and our job here as board members in uent county in this district is to make sure that that does not happen that we can meet the challenges of a more complicated smaller world and we can inoculate our children against these pressures against uh uh the factor that cause them to um potentially fail so that is uh an important role of the district

041in this board thank you Mr Wheeler uh yes thank you uh I think the key word here is National narrative uh there probably are some school districts that are having some issues but we are not failing uh Co was something that was very difficult to deal with and so Behavior attendance social media cell phones mental health all of those are are are big issues to deal with and we have done I think a very good job in addressing each one of those uh to help our students to be more successful to be able to uh progress and do the things that they need to uh it's always a difficult time uh when you have to address all of these but we've done a very very good job with the people that we have thank you

042thank you Mr cook yeah I have three kids that are going to school right now in our district and I've had four graduate and we are not failing our kids are doing well U my kids are wherever they go and our teachers are just outstanding I you know my kids love their teachers uh they get along with them they they I feel like they could push them some more but I you know my my son loves band which is kind of interesting and I love that extra activity that the school systems have um all my kids did the the jazz band and the Honor Choir and all that and it it made I know it it was one of their funnest classes that they did just because it was there and it was extra and

043the teachers you know I feel like they're prepared they teach our kids well and I I'm very thankful for them okay thank you that will conclude question number three question number four we will begin with uh Mr Duo what is your opinion of the board and District goals listed on the Strategic plan Pathway to Excellence and what is your level of support level of support is high uh when I was on the school board we talked about this and lot of these goals and have carried over to the 2024 25 school year I support them uh immensely uh the the key I believe with these goals though is you've got to hold people accountable if they don't if they don't meet these goals find out what's going on uh I I believe that the uh

044responsibility of the board of uh of trustee member is to hold the superintendent accountable for these goals um if if there's a problem then you got to raise those issues you got to ask the tough questions um but I support them wholeheartedly always have and always will but you've got to hold people accountable as well and they can't be just something written on a piece of paper and you know and now we we'll do the same goals next year we'll do the same goals next year you got to hold people accountable for those things so uh so I support them always have them thank you Mr wedrick got a great question um two goals to pop into mind one is accountability and I think the district has an extremely good job I think a couple

045years ago the state mandated that you have to find a format to follow to make sure we have high reliability and the education of our students they selected the marsano program and we've we've done extremely well and the levels of tiar that we've accomplished just recently is is remarkable so I think we've focused on that we're achieving well and I support that and I said one of the goals as well is behavioral just in the last uh couple years the Administration made some very good changes within our middle school and how uh behavior is um you know make sure the kids are held accountable uh but you have enough presence you have enough good people that are in the in this each School uh talking with principles and working with kids that are having a

046difficult time I think the just in the last three years has been something remarkable in just in the Improvement in the behavior in our middle schools so definitely support it thank you Mrs cop um I think goals are good for sure and I think that the goals that we have are pretty acceptable um I love that accountability is number one on here because as everybody has stated accountability is only as good as your word right if you're can't be accountable for your word you can't be accountable for your actions and and I think that that needs to be we need to be holding more and more people accountable the next thing that I think that is most important is behavior and it's not just behavior of the students also needs to be behavior of the

047staff and that goes back to accountability and holding everybody accountable for their actions and words as a parent of a behavior student I know that all too well because I have been in many many meetings with principles and I can tell you that as of right now our staff are taking care of our kids and are holding them accountable and I fully support them as even a parent so um I think that right now we are doing great job but accountability and behavior those are to my high priority um goals thank you thank you Mr Woodward I'm going to just be kind of reiterating what I've already stated I believe in the program I think its foundation is good I think it's a great framework for our for our Administration and our staff to work

048in it provides a clear Direction it doesn't move every year there are adjustments that are made as we evaluate it and uh and it gives a a clear Target to uh to try to hit and so um I I don't know what else I can say about that I fully support it I think it's an awesome system thank you Mrs Johnson um I agree with the with the structure itself I do think that there's a few things that I'm concerned with especially with the Common Core part of it um the Marzano I would like to know where the funding for that kind of thing comes from I'm a little concerned about um some of the socialism aspects some of the social justice first educ later and then during our luncheon when we talked about the

049level five the level five seemed to me to be the most important that is missing that we haven't even seemed to have written and I thought that that was I felt that that was a little more important than the other for levels that that were on there so thank you thank you Mr Carrington yeah what's not to like I mean accountability School Improvement I mean attendance behavior all these things are some things that no one's going to argue with I mean the issue is making sure that these are real things that are measured and achievable and not just buzzwords that we took out of some kind of workbook that we paid some consultant a bunch of money for so you know I don't know um exactly where the U County School District stands on measures

050of progress in these areas but in terms of these being goals that uh we seek to achieve uh I don't think any reason able person is going to have much of an issue with them thanks thank you Mr Wheeler uh as I've stated this is the fourth question and I've referred to Pathway to Excellence twice in the previous question so you know the vision is to provide the highest quality of education for our students um and that's that's what we want to do are we 100% no do we have 100% Buy in from our staff no but we are progressing in in towards this that we can make a lot of uh progress a lot of uh um steps to our our high reliability uh framework um I I just am very emphatic that I

051support this and we've as a board have talked about it and we've we've done everything I think that not everything we we can but we've done so much to make sure that this this does work and give support to our Administration thank you Mr cook um I feel it's a great model and it's a clear direction of where we want our school system to go uh the only thing that people have concerned uh brought up concerns to me about is how how much time the teachers spend filling out things for it right and you know they they just want to teach and and I I think maybe that's something that could be addressed but I know that we need some data to to see where we're at but I I think it's good I think

052everything that's in it is very uh worthy to pursue so thanks thank you Mrs Arch yeah um yeah the board's responsibility is to hold the district accountable towards achieving these goals are is getting as close as possible as we can in any given year um I think the real question here is um how do we Implement our policies and our procedures to reach these goals and that's really what I would what I want to um work on and focus on I think um you know having a culture of collaboration is critical and vital and sometimes um you know that gets missed like when the no phone policy was implemented um which I support I think phones can be a distraction in the classroom um but I think that was a missed opportunity to do it

053in a collaborative way that got Buy in from the students from the teachers from the parents um and uh and so that it would have been more successful even in its implementation okay thank you that will conclude question number four question number five we will begin with Joel wedrick employees and community members can contact board members directly or can attend school board meetings to have their voices heard in what ways will you as a school board member seek input from stakeholders to help you see all sides of an issue love the last part of that question says all sides of the issue you're going to have people that disagree with you and it's okay um uh just as an example we had uh some people that were concerned about the cka policy and uh they're

054pretty adamant pretty vocal about it so I called them and we had a discussion it was very cordial and uh I think you know Thomas Jefferson says if you aim to please everyone you'll aim to please no one and so sometimes it's okay to to stand true to to your values and how you can uh and move forward with u with your policy I've uh in the last four years I met with principles I've contacted uh parents I've fielded call from parents and from students who have concerns um I answer my phone I talk when we have good discussion about it and uh you know I think moving forward if I get elected another four years I'll continue to do that and kind of be a voice of reason and be levelheaded with it and

055and try to help re in thank you Mrs cop um so in what ways will you at school memb seek input from stakeholders so as I've said i' I want to encourage more and more people to come I wanted to teach and basically let everybody know the steps of what to do when you come to a Schoolboard meeting I also think that to see all sides of an issue it's not my just my value or core it's the whole board we all see the issue and we all work together to come to an answer a decision it's not just one person I think that um when you hear all sides all sides need to be present so in order to get input you got to have everybody there and everybody has to have their word

056and say it shouldn't be just one person making that decision it needs to be agreed upon and if you don't agree you need to State why you don't thank you thank you Mr Woodward so in the past two years that I've been on the board there've been I don't know if I would call it many instances but there have been several instances where um members of the community or members of the school district have contacted me to express concerns or ask questions and there have been uh several instances where I have reached out to uh members of the school district um and uh community community members as well for input on on issues that we were facing to try to get an idea of where they were at and to see what the very opinions

057were so we could you know as it says see it from all sides and U people have uh had no problem contacting me I don't see anything about that changing I'll continue to do the same kind of thing when when faced with something that needs uh a general input thank you thank you Mrs Johnson I also agree um I have been contacted just since running uh several times um I believe that they are the voice of what needs to happen a lot of times parents have concerns I was a parent um I had three daughters who graduated from Evanston um I think it is important to have an open communication with everyone in the community um I will always be available um as a general manager and as a boss we had employee issues all

058of the time um lots of things play into to that cultures um age groups um different thought processes there's always reasons why people feel the way that they do um and trying to figure out what exactly is a common solution as well as um how to solve the issue thank you thank you Mr Carrington yes well the stakeholders are the community the educational professionals who work for the district and the students as I see it and so each of those have to be taken individually with regard to the community I think it speaks volumes that there are I don't know 40 people in this room in a town of 9,000 or something and uh I've heard it expressed previously that um attendance and engagement with the functioning of the school board in the district is

059not all it could be so how do you get the community more involved more excited more interested more informed about what's going on you know I don't know I made a joke the other night you know door prizes free dinner I mean you know make the meetings more interesting uh controversial issues you know I don't know but Outreach may be a part of that with regard to the educational professionals and the students uh as the medical director at the state hospital I am a lead from the front kind of guy there's no way you can read a spreadsheet or a report and know what's really going on if I am part of the school district I'm going to spend time in those schools obviously I'm not going to teach a class but in terms of

060uh uh faculty meetings Schoolboard lunches or school lunches or whatever to hear from the constituents directly sorry thank you thank you Mr Wheeler um it it is essential and and very uh a part of of what we do to be able to be contacted approached asked your opinion uh on different issues uh and sometimes I find that uh yeah there are differences of opinion and sometimes uh you don't like what you hear nor they they like what they hear from me but you have to uh respect everybody's opinion and uh I am visible in the community uh on the website there's a email there is a phone number for me and so I welcome anybody to contact me at any time about any issue uh and then we can solve or put people in the

061right direction thank you Mr cook yeah um you know you just got to go out and talk to people I love what Mr kton said about going and actually being in the schools and and listening to the teachers the students you know the principles and understanding their job and what their duties are um I I volunteer here once in a while at the schools and that's a great time to get one-on-one with kids uh reading books um you know and and the Lunch Ladies how nice they are right but they they all have their part to make our kids successful and we need to go out and understand and then when there is something that comes up um we need to have our phones open or our and listen to what their concerns are so

062we can bring it to the school board so thanks thank you Mrs Arch yeah uh this is a question I've been thinking a lot about um as I've been running um because I don't want to be in the position where I'm siloed where I'm only hearing information from one source and um so yeah I I the idea is I've been thinking of my phone and my email or public as has been stated I would love to be contacted um but I think it also takes a certain level of energy investment out you know back out right being in the schools being in the community at community events at school events um so that it's easy for people to approach you um I have experience building coalitions in our community and um I think that's another

063way that we can get stakeholders engaged and involved um and uh and then you know I think it comes down to communication and uh I feel like I'm a good communicator but there's things that can be improved right if someone does come to the school board um what's the followup um how is how are those issues continuing to be discussed and addressed with the people who have raised the issues um and that's something I want to do as well okay thank you Mr duboyce um I understand uh that parents are very busy their lives are ex extremely busy you have kids in school you have jobs you have other things that you're dealing with volunteer work I understand all of that uh it makes it difficult sometimes for parents to come to board meetings uh

064they can go on zoom and see it I understand all of that um uh I I I think that uh making ourselves available I mean I've got my phone number my email uh people know where I work they know where I live um people always have questions and it's it's it's important to answer those questions um you know I work 60 to 70 hours a week in in the business that I'm in um I probably put in another 15 to 20 hours of volunteer work every week um and then I've got three great grandchildren and a grand and a granddaughter that lives with us so we you know I understand I understand people's lives are extremely busy and it's important for me to make myself available and always have been to to to the parents

065and everybody that's involved in their in this whole thing thank you that will include question number five question number six we will begin with major Cobb what is one thing you believe our district does well and one thing you think the district needs to improve or what is one District policy you agree with and one District policy you would change so I'm going to take the beginning of the question one thing that our district does well is we do hire compassionate loving teachers and support staff I have met many Educators throughout my life living from Arizona Utah and to hear and I have never met such loving compassionate teachers as I have at you a County School District as well as support staff I myself was a support staff and those those ladies and gents

066are in the battlefield on the ground man um thing something that I think that the school district isn't doing very well is supporting their mental health and ongoing training as a parent when I was there I mean I got to go to some trainings but I was not very informed on on the behaviors that I was working with and I'm continuing to hear that even from the support staff we have today as for teachers I've heard mental health is such a need as of right now especially after covid they don't feel that they have the benefits that they need to get the support that they should have thank you thank you Mr Woodward I feel like the school district does an excellent job in in metric and feedback-driven changes to their system to constantly improve

067um to improve um the quality of Education that's been given the environment that the students learn in and the students ability to to grasp the material that's being presented um I I I have seen tremendous examples of that since I've been on the school board and heard feedback from my own daughters as we sit around the kitchen table discussing their education here as far as things that need to be improved virtually everything I can think of that needs to be improved is already being addressed by the administration and the staff and if there were one thing to stand out there is always a need for improved communication and there are efforts being made toward that every day thank you Mrs Johnson um I think that our district does very well I love this Sporting Community

068um I love the way that they all work together I think um a lot of the um I think there's a lot of things that they work well with there um as far as a policy that I would change um once again some of the curriculum is is um concerning to me and I do feel that we take a little bit of individualism away from the teachers the teachers as we talk about the collaboration and the my concern is is that if there is somebody who doesn't approve of some of the things that are being taught that they are being forced into um believing or being taught and I'm concerned about um just some of those things thank you thank you Mr carington yeah I wish there was a list I could pick from um

069I'm not really sure uh what the district does well I met um the superintendents and um other members of uh you know the district uh at lunch the other day and they all seem like you know nice guys women uh seem to know what they're doing but um you know uh and I've heard today from current board members and former board members that things are by and large going well so I have no reason to uh disagree with any of that I think we've lost a few football games so that could be improved but you know I don't know if that's really within the school board's purview with regard to what um we're not doing so well I too have heard from community members and others about mental health and social issues in the schools

070and um obviously kids come from different levels of uh parental support and education is primary but the schools by default also serve a a social support role everything from providing nutritious meals to emotional support and referrals and I think that could probably be improved and you know I'm a guy who knows a fair amount about that kind of thing thank you thank you Mr Wheeler uh what our district does well is many things uh we address mental health uh do we understand that those are some issues and some concerns absolutely uh do we address curriculum absolutely and we know that we need to improve uh and make uh make it better uh so our district does extremely well of addressing uh the needs of students addressing the needs of the faculty uh addressing the needs

071of the administration and so um if we are going to do anything better um yeah we can always improve we're not 100% uh there and there is a concerted effort from the top on down to to make this as good as we possibly can and make it a great place for our kids thank you Mr cook yeah I think uh teachers are our greatest out outsets they're the ones that are teaching our kids they're the ones that are doing the presenting the information working on the lesson plans and they just know our kids right so I I think our teachers need to be compensated The Fairly you know and keep up with um the salaries that are going on around this the state and I know that we are addressing that and and I think

072that they need to feel comfortable uh teaching their our kids teaching in their classes uh part of the policies I don't know a lot about the policies but as soon as I know where to find them I'll read them all and I'm sure I'll bring them up uh the ones that I feel that we need to change uh to make our kids better and to make our kids more successful thank you Mrs Arch yeah um yeah people are absolutely our greatest strength um I have three kids in the district um attending Aspen and EMS and I'm just so grateful that you know to all their teachers and and Paris and and um everyone in the buildings who have been looking out for them and um and it's just been really incredible ible um and I

073yeah I greatly appreciate that um and I think we need to keep investing in our people for sure um you know if we look at our ability to recruit and retain teachers it's getting harder and harder and that's something that I think we really need to prioritize um and and make a concerted investment and I know we're you know working um wait awaiting a decision from the state supreme court on funding um or when it when it eventually goes to the court there um but in the meantime what are we doing uh what other Creative Solutions can we invest in to to recruit and retain our teachers and and staff thank you Mr Duboce um I I believe and don't get me wrong we we have some excellent teachers here some good people um I

074I believe though that we need to improve on the hiring process I think that sometimes we put too many hands in the cookie jar to select someone to be a principal or an assistant principal or something like that we get too many hands in there um when I uh uh I I have uh general managers that come from all over the country that come here to evinston to train with me for 4 to8 weeks and sometimes I see some general managers that have been hired that have no business being a general manager um and and it all faults with the hiring process and those that do the interviewing so I I I think that this District can do a better job in in that process uh I don't like the committee method I don't like

075that at all um and I voiced that before U but anyway that's that's that's my opinion I think we have good people here but I I also think that we shouldn't be just hiring Warm Bodies okay thank you Mr weedi yeah great question I think uh something our district does really well is that we're very reactive you know after Co we did see signs of emotional and social issues and depression and we our administration were quick to address that they they started implementing social emotional resilience time part of advocacy time and Red Devil time and they taken the time and the train teachers what to look for and so I think that's a huge uh Plus in what we do they're very reactive they see an issue and they tackle it and they they get

076the Buy in with the principles the administration they then they come with a good plan they move forward and then they implement it so something I'm very proud of what they're done um you know the the salaries is something also another example for very reactive and they're going to see it and they're being proactive and trying to maintain uh good teachers and so we've taken uh things and items to the state to uh to leverage better uh salaries for our teachers so uh those are two things everything else I seem to be you know they seem to be very good and I'm very happy with okay thank you our next question we will start with uh Mr Woodward House Bill 0125 Wyoming repeal gun-free zones Act passed both the house and the Senate but was

077vetoed by the governor this act would have eliminated gun-free zones in public schools allowing any person with a concealed carry permit to carry a firearm in a school facility or athletic event what is your position on the repeal of gun-free zones in schools and athletic events what position should the district take on future legislation repealing gunfree zones okay so wow um for those of you that don't know my livelihood is based on the Second Amendment and so I am very sensitive about that topic and I am an Ardent supporter of the Second Amendment we went through great effort before I was on this school board to get a a program put in place to where we had employees who had been strongly vetted and trained and put in a position to where they could defend

078our children with firearms and I support that policy as it relates to public carry of firearms at these events there are clearly some issues to be overcome the potential that the number of firearms that you increase on school grounds increases the potential for an accident or maybe a a passionate moment where somebody does something stupid and so uh that would be something that would have to be addressed um I don't feel feel like I'm in a position to take a stance right now as to what the school board should do as it relates to that thank you Mrs Johnson so my opinion is that it was passed by the house and the Senate um it should have gone into law and one man stopped it so I think that that goes against what I believe

079as far as the concealed carry I believe all of those people are vetted and they have the permit so we know who they are I think we were a safer Nation when people had guns um some of the biggest crime happens in cities such as Chicago where they have gun-free zones I think it is a scary thing so in my opinion I think that I don't have a problem with it as far as the Second Amendment goes they have the right to carry the gun um and I believe that it should be adhere to I think we're infringing on people's constitutional rights by making um by changing those amend the rights thank you Mr Carrington yeah I don't think guns have any place being in schools I uh would agree with the governor on this

080I'm not an anti-gun guy I know it's a sensitive cultural issue here I own guns I was part of a tactical shooting league with the police in Chicago and uh you know I I have nothing against guns however I think having guns everywhere particularly in school sends a message to our children that the world is a danger ous chaotic and unpredictable place and we need armed people to be able to shoot lunatics who are going to come busting in and kill you but the the data and the facts just do not support that I mean the the murder rate in the United States is half that as as it was in the 1970s I think there is an overblown fear and paranoia yes there have been you know mass shooting events that are widely publicized

081and everyone's afraid that that's going to happen here but you have to balance the message that you're sending to our students that you people need to have guns around or otherwise you're likely to get shot which is not good for them versus the likelihood of some Maniac coming in and the only way to stop him is someone else with a gun I I think that's less likely than the damage that is done to the message you're sending by saying you need guns everywhere thank you Mr Wheeler yes thank you um I also agreed with the governor um and I I was not was not for the the repeal of that uh although I do think that uh the house and the senate in the next legislative session will pass it and I do not think

082the governor will veto it again so I am glad that we do have the cka policy uh that we are prepared to deal with any issues that may come our way um as far as a position that the school board should take um if if it's mandated by the legislature there not a lot we can do about it we just it it is the situation that we have and we just have to deal with it the best we can again it gets back to making sure that kids staff everyone involved is safe thank you Mr cook yeah you know no one likes guns until someone shooting at you right so uh I I I have a sealed weapons permit and do I feel comfortable packing a gun no right especially during school functions at school

083you know but do I care if a police police officer is packing a gun no I don't right so if someone has the training as a police officer and and is able to to carry at school I'm comfortable with that but to repel it or one way or the other I see both sides of the issue and I would just have to go with whatever everybody says so thanks thank you Mrs Arch yeah um you know I think this is uh going to be something debated and decided by our state legislator legislators um we you know I think we all recognize that we live in Wyoming where the second am amendment is king um I I agree with what uh Bob Woodward talked about in terms of implementation um the ultimate goal here is we

084want our kids and our teachers to feel safe on school premises and what what does that uh what can we do to to help them feel that way and and to implement that um you know I'm again I'd love to love to hear from teachers and and staff and parents if they do feel unsafe for any reason in our schools here in Evon um you know I want I'd want to hear about that but I know that when I walk in the schools um with my kids I feel I feel so safe um my kids walk to school um and I love that that I feel like it's safe enough in our neighborhoods that they can that they can do that and walk to school as well okay thank you Mr Duo um I own

085weapons they're locked up for a reason um I support uh that police officers are on campus I support that they are carrying tasers as well I support the staff having uh weapons in there uh either locked up in in their uh in their classroom or in their office um there's certain procedures and policies that are associated with that and and I think that the district has been very responsible because before you can do that you have to go through some specific training the school district sends the you know they spend the funds to get this training done I agree with that wholeheartedly I uh I think that the the community is well prepared for anything that may come up our way um uh I at my work guns are not allowed on the property it's

086all there is to it and I support that as well I have to um and I but I do support that as an individual um but at the same time uh I don't think anybody'd be smart to do anything in this town because of the the level of guns and amount of guns that are in this town so but anyway that's that's my point Thank you Mr redri yeah I support the uh the cka policy which we have in place I think the vetting process is well well written it was well thought out and I think that's the the amount of guns that should be in the schools is with them and the and the and the police officer that's on campus and I think it need to stop there uh that's that's my personal

087feeling on that um I I like everyone else in this room probably have uh I have my own guns and it's uh they're there to protect my house but at that point I think uh that's where I keep them if I'm going to go to an event there's no need for me to worry because we already have people that are in place and uh uh that are trained that that can handle that situation thank you thank you Mrs cop well I'm kind of torn on this a little bit um I see everybody's point of view and kind of um and weighing a little bit I understand that the Second Amendment is very big here in Wyoming and I understand that the legislation would make a law and we would have to abide by it now

088if I agree to it or not I guess it wouldn't matter because it would be a law right um do I think that people should be able to carry if they had a concealed carry to events no but what I feel safe knowing that somebody did the proper you know certification and training and had a gun in the event that something major happened I would feel a little bit more secure do I feel that wild do I feel unsafe here I don't feel unsafe here kind of like what you guys have all said that we do live in w we live in a great area we live in a great state great town and people just don't do crazy stuff like that here not saying that it couldn't happen but I do I I'm kind

089of torn on this so I don't really have an opinion at the moment I'm sorry thank you that will conclude uh question seven question number eight we will start with uh Tina Johnson what is your commitment to the salaries and benefits for teachers and support staff to attract and retain the best qualified candidates when surrounding districts and States offer higher salaries I 100% believe that they should be paid um I believe in great wages as and everyone knows especially in the fast food industry wages was a big thing in California they raised the minimum wage to $20 an hour um what that did to our company is close restaurants when it comes to this salaries because everyone has been asked to have their taxes raised we're talking about property taxes they try to put a

090half cent tax people are feeling the pain all over it's not just the teachers and I understand that but sometimes the reason that we can't keep and retain teachers is not always about the money um I want them to be paid and I want them to be paid competitively I'm not against that but I am definitely I would think twice about some of the things and I I am not for the lawsuit and I've made that clear um I just feel that there are other things at play here thank you Mr Carrington yeah this is an issue that the state hospital has always faced it's very difficult to attract and retain uh qualified Professionals in a relatively rural area and you just have to pay a premium if you want to attract those kind of

091people and based on our lunch in the other day with the school board apparently uh the U County School District paid a premium of about 25% more than teachers were getting at the waset front about 10 years ago and that's now atted to nothing and now we get four candidates for four positions instead of uh 100 candidates for four positions and so we don't have a lot to choose from so society and the community has to make a decision where their priorities are uh is having an exceptional level of Education with the best and the brightest teaching our children a priority or is uh having a few more dollars in your pocket so you can make the payment on the big fancy pickup truck that you've always wanted um that's uh that's a decision that

092everyone sort of has to make um so I'm for uh I'm for attracting the best in the brightest and giving our children the future of our society all the advantages thank you Mr Wheeler yes thank you uh I think the board has uh over the last two years has had a great commitment uh to increase salaries increase the starting salary uh and hopefully we have a a great benefit package for our employees one of the restrictions that we have is that we are not totally funded as well as we should be and because of that we are lagging behind other states uh and so uh with the decline of people that want to be Educators uh it becomes even more difficult to recruit people and so we have to make sure that we do the

093very best we can with what we've got and that we uh make a good working condition for all of our people so that uh they can be successful and again uh the common thing is is to help our kids thank you Mr cook yeah I I think it's pretty simple they need more money and we need a better insurance package um I I feel our people well everybody has felt the what's happened the last three years years we've lost 25% of our income due to inflation right and can you imagine a teacher trying to make it with one salary supporting a home that would be very hard to do at at this time so I I feel that we need to make that happen we need to pay our teachers that's an important thing and

094then make them feel comfortable make it so they want to come here even though it might be the same amount of money so that's what I think is important thanks thank you Mrs Arch yeah um I agree we need to invest in our teachers to so that we can recruit and retrain I've said it multiple times tonight um but we're not you know operating alone in this um other the other districts in Wyoming are struggling with this as well some have come up with Creative Solutions um other districts have been able to give their teachers steps recently it's I think it's been too long since our teachers have received one um so I you know I think there are ideas out there of things that we could look to and and gain experience from other

095districts uh in in the region and in Wyoming um and uh and you know work these Creative Solutions until if and when uh additional funding comes um you know there but absolutely it should be the priority to kind of keep and retain that or or get back to that Competitive Edge um for our for our teachers and our District thank you Mr Duo yeah I used to uh folks from Utah used to want to come here and be teachers and now it's the other way around uh folks from Wyoming or other states want to go to Utah because the pay is better now I understand the cost of living is better uh there or the cost of living is higher there um I was on the school board when we when I voted yes uh

096and the school and the and the trustees voted unanimously to to support the lawsuit for the w EA to the state of Wyoming I still support that today it hasn't been adjudicated yet um and I'm hoping for the best the the the legislation uh the uh the education committee has now uh voted unanimously except for one who happens to be the co-chair to increase the pay by 8 and a half% um I I think that that is should happen however I don't think it should be at the expense of the lawsuit that the legislature voted for and put into the law that they the pay should be uh commensurate with inflation they haven't done that so I'm I'm still an absolute Fighter for uh uh increase in pay for teachers and attracting new new teachers

097as well thank you Mr weedi uh in my career I'm a in the oil and gas I'm a vice president of a construction and Service Company here in Wyoming I have 84 guys that work for me everything from welders to operators to Pumpers installator scaffold Builders and pay is key if I want to keep and maintain good people I have to pay them well and have a good benefit package and and and provide uh an income that they don't want to be looking all the time for the next job or the next dollar who's paying per DM and who's not so I play this game a lot in my professional career uh I support our District's stance in in going to the state and and requesting more funding for our teachers this is pivotal and

098maintaining U good and qualified teachers and having more people when there's attrition a natural attrition that we have currently you got to be able to replace those with good bright young people that want to and and experienced people that want to want to teach here in Evon Wyoming I think the district's stance on maintaining and providing good funding is an example of the eser funds we had extra monies we're able to pay onetime bonuses for maintaining and keeping people that year during Co so I think the district's maintaining that thank you Mrs cob um I definitely think that we need to kind of relook at the budget and revise it in the sense of like why are we not paying our teachers and support staff enough and why are they having to get second jobs

099in the summer cuz I know quite a few of Educators that do I work with a few in the summer um at my second job um but after our lunch in that we had on Thursday I kind of realized that it even if we got this lawsuit and the state approved it it really comes down to what is our community like our city Evanson what growth are we having having that's going to bring some Revenue to the district we talked about the Kimmer plant coming in and hopefully getting more student numbers there but thinking about that why would I want to buy a house here in Evanson when there's not very many places to live when I could buy the same one in Kimmer so I'm hoping maybe Evanson will grow a little bit more

100to bring some Revenue into Evanson and then we can also get some more revenue for the school district thank you Mr Woodward so I I want to preface my statements by saying that some of the things that have been said in here tonight might uh be misconstrued as saying that we've been in a POS in a position where we've hired teachers that we didn't feel like were the best okay I don't want to to promote that I believe that in spite of the financial challenges that we've had we have hired some incredible teachers here and that we have been very fortunate that way that being said I want to continue that Trend and the difficulty in doing that is is great if you don't have something to offer them we have a beautiful town here

101we have a great community in it we have a school district that I believe is second to none in the administration and the staff and the direction that is going and what it's offering our children and I want to continue to bring in the best talent so I will support any combination of things we can do within the constraints of our budget and the results of the lawsuit to promote a better pay package thank you our next question we will start with David Carrington yeah I would get to be first on this one um there's a lot of stuff going on in this question so Title Nine um I don't think anyone's going to disagree with adequately funding uh women's in this case girls activities Sports etc etc and giving them the same opportunity that

102the boys have to express themselves athletically artistically etc etc when it comes to issues like restrooms and locker rooms and this kind of thing these are cultural issues and you know frankly um I I I don't think I think cultural issues need to be a product of where the culture is in this case uh you went County Wyoming USA as opposed to Washington DC telling you know the ENT School District you know who should be using what bathrooms that's just my opinion on the issue now my opinions on the bathrooms is who cares I mean probably in everyone's house here um you have you probably don't have men's and women's bathrooms I mean okay for kids it's probably a little different because they don't have the maturity but uh these are all complicated issues that

103must be dealt with one at a time thank you thank you Mr Wheeler uh uh yes um I am glad that Wyoming decided to uh be one of the states that took legal action um this uh Title 9 is something that we've been dealing with or had since 1972 And from where it started in 1972 to where it's at now uh very very different uh but is it going to uh have implications for us as a board absolutely are there going to be these challenges that we're going to have to deal with absolutely and so they're going to be uh I would hope one at a time but you you never know what these are and they are going to have to be uh dealt with and uh uh whatever works best for uh our

104our kids and being able to take care of them uh it's just uh it's not going to be a friendly issue thank you Mr cook yeah I I believe in women's rights right and they need to participate and they need to have the same opportunities as boys do in all the sports so um this stuff about locker room use and all that kind of stuff that's kind of weird because I travel a lot with my kids playing sports and this is not an issue in Wyoming so I I think everything is going fine um about the title 9 um I'd have to find out more information about it to really you know make my judgments on it so thanks thank you Mrs Arch yeah um I was a three sport athlete myself in high school

105um and uh definitely benefited from uh the shoulders of of uh women who who benefited from Title 9 in in the 70s and 80s before me um I uh yeah I this we don't exist in a vacuum uh there's going to be a lot of uh competing or or voices in this uh as Dan said you know the state legislature is going to have something to say uh as well um education schools are primarily a state-based issue um uh what I particularly want to see though is to make sure that we don't sacrifice Student Activities um right now out of fear of if and when something may happen um you know I think our our overnight trips need to continue I love seeing what Clark was able to um put together this year with science

106camp uh in in the county um I think things like that need to continue to happen thank you Mr Duo it's a tough issue I don't think it's so tough here in Wyoming but I think it's a tough issue I've got daughters and I've got granddaughters and I've got some great granddaughters I've got two of them one's 2 years old and she is a pistol um I'm 68 years old and she drains me uh just about every night cuz she wants to see her Grandpa but at the same time um I am a firm believer in men's sports I'm a firm believer in women's sports I'm in firm believer and supporting financially all those activities uh because I think that it it benefits all of us uh as parents it in it affects uh the

107children who are involved in these Sports it builds their self-esteem I absolutely support it um what I don't support though is men competing in women's sports I'm against it and that's just the way it is with me and U I think there's going to be some issues in the future that we're going to have to deal with when they come then we can deal with them that's that's that's who I am thank you Mr weedi yeah I agree with a lot of people here um I think people do care that you keep men or boys in boys' bathrooms and girls and girls bathrooms I think uh my opinion is that you keep boys in Boy Sports and girls in girl Sports and uh there's just an unfair Advantage either way and so um you know

108moving forward I'm proud that Wyoming did take a stance I agree with Dan that uh you know we stood up for something and allowed women to excel in what they uh strive to do and and boys a gender hit you know their birth that gender don't interrupt that and so that's that's my stance on that policy thank you Mrs C I'm going to second kind of what Joel said here um I agree I think that we need to keep it kind of traditional in a sense of boys day with boy sports girls stay with girls Sports and I think here in Wyoming as the equality State we should still stay equal like we should keep it how it is um I'm not very familiar with the title 9 Federal regulation so I will definitely need

109to look more into that I know that there's more than just this female Athletics in it it goes into a lot more um as for kind of what Jessica said to Piggy on that continue with the sports and then what Mr Duo said we'll deal with it when we get kind of when we get approached with it we'll just kind of take it one day at a time I think all of you board members had great great answers and I'm just going to pay you on those so thanks thank you Mr Woodward I believe that these onerous new requirements uh from Title 9 have gone from the original intent of protecting women to harming them we have seen um uh women in women's sports being injured by biological males competing against them we've seen recently

110college teams having to Forfeit games to protect their girls from having to compete against biological males and I as a father of three daughters that are going through our school system would be appalled if there was a situation where they were forced to be in a locker room with a biological male and I would oppose that vigorously and so uh I am very proud again like the others of Wyoming for being one of I think it's only 13 states in our Union that oppos this and uh and I will continue to support uh the protection and and freedom of our girls thank you Mrs Johnson I 100% agree with everything he said um as thank you not everything s pretty well as a mother of three daughters I would be appalled if there was a

111man in their locker room I know that um athletes Riley gains in a college um locker room they didn't even know that the mail was coming in came out in his birthday suit they had absolutely no action to take um I feel that they were victims in the situation and I think that that will continue to happen if this is allowed to take place um 100% believe Boys in boys rooms girls in girls' rooms um I don't think that there is room for moving that at all so thank thank you okay thank you so our final question of the night uh we'll have a question and we will ask that you include a closing statement we will start with uh Mr Carrington and then we will go to your right our left all the way

112down to David Peterson and because David Peterson has a family commitment his uh closing statement will be read by uh Joe Les so Mr Carrington if elected what do you hope would be the district's key accomplishments during your years of service I think uh instilling confidence and pride on the part of all the stakeholders community members families teachers and parents being confident that the school board and the district is doing the best possible job with the resources that are available financially as well as Personnel wise um I I get a sense that things are you know by and large people are happyish with how things are going I don't think it's a catastrophe but I think there's definitely room for improvement I want to see you know glowing thrilled Pride as opposed to a sort

113of settled complacent Pride um how would that be accomplished uh transparency forming consensus forming buyin um and getting everyone to move in the same direction to accomplish our mutually agreed upon goals and and uh I'm the guy to do it yeah time's up thank you Tina Johnson um if elected I do have a lot to learn I have not sat on a board such as this um my key objective would be to incorporate the public I definitely think that they um need to be more present um I know that with covid a lot of school boards there was a lot of fighting across the country with M mandates and and those kind of things and I think people are scared to use their voice I want them to to definitely be encouraged to come um

114because I think it is important that all of the community has a voice um I want to also I want to learn all of the curriculum I want to know what's in the libraries I want to know and I want to represent the parents and the community in that area so that they feel safe and know that there is that not that kind of stuff in our schools I do not know for sure if there is at this point but that's what I would hope thank you thank you Brian Woodward I uh as far as key accomplishments I'd like to see the the Frameworks that we've put in place already continued I'd like to see the school district continue to create environment of Excellence on the part of the teachers and the students and uh

115let see what else I was thinking here oh and and and perhaps above all I'd like to see us continue our efforts as as a uh school board and a district to uh get the funding that we deserve from the state so that we can uh create an environment where our teachers feel valued and appropriately compensated and comfortable and um so that we can move this whole program to even a higher level thank you major Cobb um if elected I hope some of the district's key accomplishments will be a little bit better communication and informed I definitely um hope to get resources known and available for parents teachers and students um I really think that my main focus will be communication if elected and holding transparency and just informing the public of what's kind of

116going on listening more to the public making decisions with the public and having a place for them to see all where all the decisions are um I want to inform the community on how to get things on the agenda because until recently I didn't even know and I think that there's a lot of parents like me that didn't know I want to be the the main spot of being able to communicate that to everybody that is all thank you thank you Joel weedi you got thanks um I'd like to make maintain and build upon what we've done that it's been a blessing in my life to be a part of in the last four years I've learned a lot I've seen a lot there's a lot of Rich rewarding things that we've been a part

117of that I'm proud of so you know maintaining the safety of our schools is a huge priority for me and to continue with their education we're proud I think the ACT scores are continuing to go up we're seeing that and that's just been by the good implementation of our Administration uh to make sure that they have multiple times to take the ACT and their and their instruction that's going and develop that so proud of that um in closing statements of U education is a key part of my life I have uh a bachelor's degree in business and in Spanish and uh then have a master's degree in in business administrations have an MBA and I think part of that gives me a little uh some value creates value looking at budgets and and maintaining schedules

118on different construction projects which is my line of work and uh also be able to speak Spanish I've been able to work with uh people that that's their primary language and able to sit down with them and discuss that so I look forward to be able to do that for another four years thank you John Duo I guess some people may look at me and think that I'm a pretty Stern type of guy you know and all that stuff but I really am a I really am a happy guy you know you got to be happy when you got four kids and a bunch of grandkids and great grandkids you know I've got I've got a 5-year-old great grand kid at home he's he's he's he's slightly autistic but and this kid man he just

119just ah he's just a ball of energy and um but he when I get home from work I hey uh how's your day at school oh it's great grandpa you know he's great grandpa and I talked to him and you know what did you learn what did you do you know so I I I think that uh I think as a community we're we're a pretty happy Community I'm a pretty happy guy you know but 19 years in the military have taught me a lot of things and uh sometimes you have to hold people accountable and sometimes you have to put your foot down um and I think I'm good at that as well and have been and continue to be that way in the responsibilities that the folks in Mississippi hold me to um

120I was on the school board I loved it every every minute of it I I thought I was pretty good but anyway vote for me thank you Jessica Arch yeah um thank you for everyone for investing your time this evening and and listening in to those on the live stream um I yeah I'd appreciate your vote I think we can do a lot together to build bridges in our community um create trust between stakeholders whether that's between you know Community organizations in the district as well as within the district um between Administration and teachers in the classroom um what I'd love to see is is new energy and and some innovative ideas um whether that's um around budget and salaries whether that's on um you know adding vocational programs or or adding B Teams to

121the middle schools Athletics um I I think we do need uh you know increased transparency and communication and and doing that we can we can um I yeah I don't even know all the ideas that are out there that you all have um but I'm excited to learn about them and to see what we can do to bring them to life thank you Ricky cook um I I did I appreciate everybody that has put this on that have come and those that are listening at home thank you um I think we need to bring our community together I think our community has a little bit of r in it right now and we could take care of that with with some simple things so bringing our community together is it would be important for me

122and then uh making our athletic programs more competitive you know I have some ideas with that i' I've been a travel coach for about 15 years and spent lots of hours doing that and I I I have some good ideas that I think would help us be more comp competitive especially on the Middle School level and it is my hope that we can have a district that our students feel safe and enjoy learning and preparing for the challenges that they have ahead in life in a district where our teachers are comp compensated fairly and feel comfortable teaching our kids thank you thank you Dan wheeler uh yes when I came on the board uh four years ago I had no ideas no idea what our accomplishments would be uh but they've been many uh whether

123it's Capital Improvements whether it's uh uh maintaining our Pathway to Excellence uh we've had a lot of great things happen uh but yet in the next four years don't know what those accomplishments would be other than we need to keep doing what we're doing doing at the best we can um and uh I remember when I first ran for the board uh I asked my wife it was okay and she said yeah it's okay do you get paid and I said no and she says oh but I can tell you this I've gotten a lot more out of it personally being able to give back and uh uh it's been a great experience and uh I would look forward to uh serving uh Evanston and unna County School District for another four years thank you

124David Peterson his closing statement will be read by Joe Engles thank you for the opportunity to be part of the Schoolboard candidate Forum hosted by the UN County School District m one unfortunately I am unable to attend this event this evening I am large help helping my in-laws with cows and Ranch work as you know when the veterinarian has an open date you take it even if it conflicts with the Schoolboard forum for those who don't know me my name is David Peterson and I am seeking reelection to the UA County School District number one school board having served for the past seven years on the current board and as the board chairman for the past several years I feel like I have a strong understanding of the improvements of the district and those that

125have been made over the past years as well as the needs that we can still work on I'd be honored to continue serving in this capacity to support the district in future growth I'm a graduate of Evon high school as well as a fifth generation resident of U County my two daughters both graduated from EHS my wife has worked for the district as was a teacher and coach for 35 years and I have worked with the youth in our community as a coach and church leader my experience as a parent of students in our district coach for athletics on our high school spouse of our classroom teacher in the middle school and project manager within the construction industry has given me additional insight into the needs of the community district and I believe that I

126have been an asset as a Schoolboard member for the community I would like to highlight some of the accomplishments that our board has made during my tenure on the board we pass cka and additional security Majors to increase safety for our students and staff built a new state-of-the-art football soccer track facility built domes to provide additional practice space for winter and spring activities that thousands of students will benefit from throughout the years and put staff in place to address the number one teacher concern of student behavior issues we have received National recognition for having high reliability schools certified at levels one two and three and four and continue to make progress each year we also sto providing funding no organizations like the National School Board Association because we felt they were not in alignment with

127the goals and mission of Y County School District number one I have enjoyed my experience serving on the school board and I feel I have a great working relationship with other board memb staff and administration I have no agenda or biases in running for this position I have not missed a regular monthly board meeting in 7 years I bring my commitment and passion to provide the best learning and working environment for our students and staff and I would appreciate your vote on November 5th sincerely David B Peterson so we want to say thank you to all of the candidates for uh taking the time being invested in our community and in our school district we want to thank you County School District number one's and the school board and administration for sponsoring this forum we

128want to remind everybody in attendance tonight and if you are listening online remember to get out and vote on Tuesday November 5th so with that in mind uh thank you there is a recording of this forum and it can be found on the link at The District's website at www.one.com thank you have a great night and as always go Big Red thank you thank you