001Welcome to the Westport Library. Today's program will begin momentarily. Supported by Verso Studios, created locally and shared with the world. >> Good evening and welcome to the Westport League of Women Voters 2025 candidate debates. My name is Velma Heler. I'm here as a member of the Westport League of Women Voters board with responsibility for voter education. The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan grassroots organization that encourages informed active participation in government. We do not endorse parties or candidates. We do welcome new members, so please consider joining us. We're we're grateful to our co-sponsors, the Westport Library, the Sunrise Rotary, the Westport Rotary, the Wise Men, the Wise Women, the PTA Council, the Youth Commission, and 06880 for their support during the pre-election season. to Pippa Bill Bell Adder and Jill Greenberg, our debate planners,
002organizers, our timers, our greeters, as well as all of you. We extend a very special thank you for your participation. It is my pleasure to introduce our returning moderator for the evening, Laurel Anderson. A longtime active league member, Laurel is a resident of Trumbull who served as their registar of voters in her hometown. as a member of the Bridgeport Area League of Women Voters. She serves on the steering committee uh as treasurer. She has served as treasurer on the board of the League of Women Voters of Connecticut. Laurel is an experienced League of Women Voters moderator who has led debates across the state. Welcome back. Welcome back, Laurel. It's all yours. Thank you. [applause] Thank you, Velma. Well, good evening everyone. Welcome and thank you for joining us tonight for candidates forums uh in four
003different election races. We have a tight schedule and we need to wrap up before the library closes. So, just some housekeeping reminders, please. out of respect for the candidates and to give them as much time as possible to present their ideas. Please refrain from applauding or making any comments in between the candidate responses. Also, this is really important. Please turn off your cell phones. Um, please be aware the library is taping this and it will be live streaming. Uh, and no other videotaping is allowed. Also, with the standard league debate policy, no campaign paraphernalia is allowed in the hall. And I'm not seeing anything, so we're not going to worry about that. To save time with stage changes, um, the board of finance, zoning board of appeals, and board of assessment appeal candidates are already
004seated. All will have 90 seconds to speak. And we will begin this evening with the board of finance candidates. Please note that this rate race is uncontested. All three candidates are on the ballot and you can vote for up to three. So we're going to begin with Miss Whitney. Please share. >> Thank you very much. >> My mic does. Oh, got it. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Thank you so much for being here. I want to thank thank you to the League of Women Voters for hosting this event and to the voters listening in to learn more about the candidates and the roles of the various boards and committees. I am a former chair of the Westport Board of Education and served on the board for more than 12 years. During my tenure, I established
005a track record of getting things done for Westport. That included delivering nationally ranked educational programs and services even while navigating the Great Recession and a pandemic and establishing an infrastructure for proactively managing the maintenance and upgrading of our educational facilities to ensure safe and effective learning environments for all of our students. For the last several years, I have been a commissioner on the parks and recreation commission where I held leadership roles in two major long-term planning initiatives. Westport is at a pivotal time for making decisions on key investments that will impact our town for decades to come. The board of finance will be key in shaping those decisions through its sorry through its role in improving um town and school operating budgets and capital appropriations. My priorities are further strengthening our vibrant public services, our
006worldclass schools and our valued parks and recreational facilities. As always, I will approach this work collaboratively and transparently seeking act actively seeking and listening to community input, creatively problem solving and balancing and effectively sequencing our investments to deliver for our town and keep us on a sound financial footing for the long term. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Brian, would you please or Mr. Gaines, would you please uh >> Sure. Hi, I'm Brian Gaines. I moved to Westport in 2009 and I've lived here since then with my wife and four kids. I've been active in town uh with the POW basketball board and coaching my daughter in wreck and travel basketball and soccer. Um I founded my hedge fund in 2002 uh where uh called Springhouse Capital where I've been managing member uh and
007basically run that since then. Uh I've also been an adjunct member of the faculty at Columbia Business School uh from 2007 through 2014. Um, in terms of Westport and the board of finance, uh, I think the town should focus on maintaining its high-quality credit rating, uh, and should continue to invest in the things that make the town incredibly desirable, uh, which are, uh, our amenities, our infrastructure, safety, uh, and as long as we continue to focus on that, we'll attract new people to the town, which allows us to keep a mill rate low, uh, and continue to attract, uh, new new people, uh, And in addition to that, I do think we need to focus on any unnecessary spending, which is always healthy for any board of finance, so we can continue to keep again
008the M rate low. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Stolen Work. >> Hi, I'm Allison Stalen Work. For those who don't know me, I currently serve on the board of finance. I first served from 2005 to 2011 and I was vice chair for two years in there. I returned to the board in 2024 to fill a vacancy and I've also served on the Westport Board of Assessment Appeals. Professionally, I graduated from Yale Law School and then worked both for the federal government and for a private law firm. And then I've spent most of the past two decades working at international nonprofits looking for business solutions and approaches to address global poverty. During my time on the board, I've worked hard to maintain Westport's best-in-class community services, including our schools, what makes Westport Westport, and
009then also to do that while keeping our mill rate both constant and u competitive with other towns in the area. Going forward, as folks have alluded to, um our big issue will be the nearly $500 million worth of projects on the capital forecast, and we're going to have to work together as a community to prioritize, to scrutinize, and to sharpen our pencils. And lastly, quickly, I just wanted to say how grateful I am to work on a truly bipartisan board where we all respect each other. and I'm really looking forward to serving again with Liz, with Jeff, with Rich, and with Danielle, and to welcoming Elaine and Brian, who are terrific in their own right. Thank you, Board of Finance candidates. Thank you very much. [applause] Next up will be the candidates for the zoning
010board of appeals. There are three candidates and you can vote for two. Uh, looks like the order is Miss Gordon. First 90 seconds, please. >> Uh, good evening. I'm Sheri Gordon and I've been a resident of Westport since 2007. When I moved here, I was looking for a way to get involved and I discovered the zoning board of appeals. They were looking for an alternate and lucky me, I was taken as the choice. I spent five years being uh an alternate and then ran for election for the zoning board of appeals and spent two years as an elected member. Then the board of finance came calling and I uh spent eight years there including a year as chair. Uh and then I left uh politics so I thought. Uh but zoning board of appeals came
011calling again and asked if I would mind returning as an alternate uh which I did very gratefully. I really enjoy the work. Um, the reason it's not a debate this evening is because the work that we do is a quasi judicial role. We can only make decisions based on the evidence put before us. So, it would be very inappropriate for us to take any positions on those matters without having the facts in front of us. I am a lawyer by training and I feel that that education has prepared me very well for the role of sitting on the zoning board of appeals. Um, I uh also chair uh a not for-profit out of White Plains. I sit on several other boards and I genuinely enjoy the work of being involved in the uh making sure
012that the town is as best it can possibly be and everybody follows the rules. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Scordado. >> Hi, I'm Joseph Scordado. Uh, I'd like to thank the League of Women Voters and the other organizations for providing this forum to introduce ourselves. Some personal information. I've lived in Westport 20 years. I'm a financial services attorney with an interest in land use law. I'm a member of the Westport Sunrise Rotary, although that is not an endorsement by them. I'm currently on the ZBA. Uh like Sherry, I served a year as an alternate first and then last two years I've been filling an unexpired term both as a member and as a secretary. Uh Sher noted CBA is a quasi judicial non-policym body that really only hears applications that are brought to us
013when the zoning rags as applied to a particular piece of property pinch a little too hard. Um to give an example, uh my wife and I applied for an variance about 12 years ago. Uh we live on a very narrow 1acre lot in a 2acre zone and that means that the only place we could put a generator was in the setback and so we applied to the ZBA which did grant the variance. and I pledge as a ZBA member to give everyone who appears before the board a fair hearing and a reasonable determination. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Schustster. >> Hello. Good evening. My name is Scott Schuster. I also want to thank the uh League of Women Voters for allowing us all to participate and meet our other candidates. I um I'm very
014happy to be here. Actually, I went to preschool in this town. I was the first class of freshman at Staples. I raised a family here. I built a house here. I went through all these committees that were going for zoning P&Z. And I got the email in April looking for people to volunteer and to serve. And after receiving that email for probably 10 years, I really really heard it. I answered. I met with the town or my committee. We spoke about my um qualifications. I have uh my career has been in real estate and development around the country locally of course but nationally and internationally and they felt the best place for me to start would be the ZBA. So I was proud to start doing that and I was also very proud because this
015election and what's going on and everything. Our committee is very purple as it's been said here. It's very bipartisan. I've met a lot of candidates. We're all here to serve. We all just want to make our town better, lower the temperature a little bit. I was really taken when uh the program began, what do we like about Westport? What do we want to be known for? I want to be known for just being politically correct, doing things the right way, being nice to your neighbors, and really resetting. We really should just reset to purple and see where that takes us. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Zoning Board of Appeals candidates. [applause] The other >> is the other candidate here. Is the other >> either one? >> Just the one. >> Oh, I thought
016you >> okay. >> Good evening. My name is Tom Block and I'm running for the board of assessment appeals. I've been an alternate for the past three years. I firmly believe that I know the process is necessary to not only listen to whoever is appealing their case, but also to render a fair adjudication of the case before the board. I have lived in Westport for 31 years after moving from Los Angeles. I have never looked back and feel it is an honor just to live in Westport. And I was lucky enough to retire at an early age and decided that in retirement I wanted to serve the town I lived in. I was on the historic district commission for 10 years. I served on the board of Sagatuck senior housing for eight years. I was
017on the in the RTM for two years and I'm currently on the Westport Housing Authority board. I live at the Region's Park Condo Association where I've been the president for the past 28 years. I feel that I have all the necessary skills to listen to all folks who come before the board and render a wellthoughtout decision. I retired from the CIT group as the president and CEO of the business restructuring and bankruptcy financing subsidiary. I received a BS degree in finance and operations research from California State University Northridge. I served in the Army Reserve from 1962 to 1970. I have two children, two grandchildren, and a wonderful wife for the past 59 years. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] So, a special thank you to all of you for stepping up and running to serve
018Westport. Uh, please exit if you would um on the far end of the stage. [applause] Okay. May I now have the board of education candidates come up and sit in the order on the screen which I think you are already in. Yeah, he's he's not going to be here. Um, you want to say that you Okay. So, we will now have the opportunity to hear from the board of education candidates and welcome you all. There are eight candidates running and you may vote for up to four. Please note that under your town charter, each political party is limited to a majority of four. Uh so if the top three vote getters are Democrats, only two can be seated. If there's any confusion about this, please contact your registar voters's office for more information. So each
019of the candidates is invited to give a 60-second opening statement in the order in which they are seated. Mr. Shackleford is unable to attend this evening, but has submitted a written statement which I will read in turn. So, Mr. Harrington, please start us off. You have 60 seconds. >> Thank you. Good evening and thank you to the League of Women Voters for the debate tonight and for including me on the debate stage. I'm a right-in candidate, which means my name will not appear on the ballot. So, it really means a lot to me that you would include me in this democratic process. Um, as I said, I'm not on the ballot. Um, so if you want to vote for me, you'll need to write in my name, um, Robert Harrington. And the way you do
020it is to go a little civics lesson. Go to the board of education ballot right at the bottom in uh 5F. You fill in the fill in the bubble and then you write in my name, Robert Harrington. I'm also supporting two Democrats uh Jod and Steven and also Dory Holden who I ran last time as a Republican. I have three um priorities. One is asking tough questions and holding our superintendent to accountability to raise standards. Number two, focus still on facilities. We celebrate long lots, but there's much more to do in terms of CES, Kings Highway modernization, and a lot more. Um, and thirdly, I think we need to rethink about how we um oversee and manage our special education services in the town of Westport. There are so many parents that benefit from the
021great funding, but we hear from too many uh parents who feel isolated. And I think that we need to look at funding and we need to look at result uh resolution to some of the issues that parents have. And good luck good luck to everyone tonight. >> Thank you, Miss Zukaro. >> Hi, I'm Caitlyn Sucaro. Thank you for having me here tonight. I'm a working mother of three children currently enrolled in elementary school. I have a third, fourth, and fifth grader. The main reason we chose to live in Westport is for the schools. Coming from a background of educators, schools play such an important role in our children's lives. My biggest concern for wanting to get involved is my the prepar the preparedness um from elementary school to middle school and then and then onto
022the high school. It's something that I often talk about with fellow parents. Recently, I came to the realization that waking up and getting the kids ready to school and helping them with their homework just isn't enough. I need to be able to see the whole picture. I hear a lot of issues that pertain to the high school level. And while that's important, I I want to be the voice for the elementary side and really be the foundation for that point. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Frankle. >> Hi, my name is Andy Frankle. Um, I lived in Westport for 17 years with my wife Nancy. I have four kids. Two are Staples graduates. Um, I have two current Staples uh students. Uh collectively they've all been through all the uh schools in K through 12.
023Um some of you know me as the coach of the Staple ski team. Some people might know me uh in my role as a member of team Westport. I was appointed by the first select woman. Um I've spent about 35 years as a as a lawyer working for a large New York firm. I'm very lucky to have retired this year. So, I have a lot of free time to give back to the community and I'm very excited to be running. Um, I have a positive vision for our schools uh to build on what's working and to improve areas that I think need improvement uh in a way that provides more focus, accountability, and oversight and leadership. Um, I think we can all do better in some blind spots in academics, our athletic facilities, certainly special
024education, leading the way on AI, and making sure that parents and commu community members are heard respectfully. Um, but the common thread here is that to do all of this, we need to actually get things done. I know how to bring people together to work collaboratively, find common ground to make difficult decisions. I promise to provide a thoughtful approach if I'm on the board and I'm very excited to be running. >> Thank you, Miss Hopson. >> Good evening, everybody. My name is Michelle Hopson. I'm a proud mom of a sophomore at Staples High School. There's Sophia. Hello. [laughter] Um, professionally, I'm a nonprofit executive focusing on finance and technology. Uh, primarily bridging people and systems together so we can make great impact for the communities. Uh since 2006 I've been in the educator space from
025teaching to program and curriculum development to school administration. Um and to me education is the biggest um passport to opportunity. Um I'd like to bring um that background to the board of ed. Um this is not politics or pageantry for me. It's truly about service. Um, since 2021, I've served with the ZBA as an alternate um, elected official and then alternate, I've really really took that job seriously and I really appreciate uh, the leadership from Jim and Liz. Um, so with that in mind, similar to what Andy, our slate, what we're trying to do is bring fresh perspectives. We have a diverse slate of finance, education, technology, and law. uh that will bring the best in-class education and decisions to Westport. This is not about us. It's about our children and how we can make
026great impact with the community. Thank you. >> Thank you. Mr. Shackleton would have been here uh this evening, but he was uh uh has something else he had to go to, but he has given us a statement which I will read. Uh, I've lived in Westport with my wife Stephanie and our four kids for nearly 10 years. Two of our kids graduated from Staples. One is still at Staples Staples and one is at Kohley Town Middle School, but will be at Staples next year. I previously served four years on the RTM from n uh 2019 to 2023. If you want to know how seriously I take local local government service and how I worked collaborative collaboratively and successfully with people of all different viewpoints, please speak with any of the RTM members I served with.
027My day job is as a trial lawyer at Susman Godfrey, where I've made a career out of standing up to powerful interests and taking on hard cases. But my day job has nothing to do with why I'm not here tonight. Our son is a senior captain on the Staples boys soccer team and they are playing tonight literally right now in the FCIA championship game. The first time in 14 years for the program. I wear many hats, but I am a dad and husband first. And I couldn't imagine missing this one-of-a-kind night with the rest of my family. I mean no disrespect to the League of Women Voters, the other candidates, or any of you spending time trying to make a very important decision. If you have any questions at all for me, please email me
028at harris.shacklefordgmail.com or check out our website at harrisshackleford25.com. Jod Harris and I are always happy to talk about our candidacy, New Voices for Real Change on the Board of Education. Miss Holland, you're next. >> Hi, thank you to the League of Women Voters and for the community for coming out. Um, so school for me wasn't typical. Um, though I have a high IQ, I am hyperactive and u I easily was bored and teachers dismissed my intelligence. Um, I was often overlooked. I was fortunate that some teachers saw the intellectual light in me and gave me opportunities to succeed. Um, and that really changed my life. And uh when I was 27, I had an epiphany that I should pivot from the business world and become a teacher because I wanted other kids to have somebody
029who believed in them and and um you know saw that light in them. Um I helped design a middle school in Washington DC and later I pivoted to public service where I served here on the board. I have passion to serve and I have the skill sets to serve and I hope you'll vote for me. Thank you, Miss Harris. >> Is this on? Oh, it is. Okay. Hi, everyone. I'm Jod Harris. I've been living in Westport since 2008. Uh, my family includes two fabulous daughters, one of whom is a sophomore in college, and I also have a daughter who is at Staples right now. My background is in children's publishing. So, my my focus was on emerging readers, those youngest readers who are just starting to get out on their own. But my exciting side
030of my uh of my past career was working on what we called reluctant readers. Those kids who would want to do anything other than being sitting down with a book. So I bring a lot of passion to literacy on the elementary zone. A lot of friends are here tonight. You probably know me. I was the PTA president at Sagatuck. Most recently I was a PTA president at Staples High School. In the middle of that I served on both the combined BMS CMS board during the uh Kohi crisis. I also sat on the BMS board and I spent two fabulous years on the board of staples tuition grants. So my focus in the schools goes from K all the way through college and I'm really excited to bring that opportunity and all of the different uh
031things I've learned to the board. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Horton. >> Good evening. Um thank you to the League of Women Voters for hosting this wonderful event. I'm Dory Hordon. I'm the current vice chair of the board of education. I'm very proud of the work that we've done on the current board. Um, and I'd like to say now that I know what I'm doing, I'd like to have another four years at it. Um, a little bit of background about myself. I moved here with my family to Westport in 2007. I have three children. Two of my boys are in college and I have to say Staples High School prepared them extraordinarily well. I have a son who's in 8th grade. I was also prior to moving here, I was a teacher in New
032York City for many years. I have a master's degree in education. Um, I also found my way to the board through being on the PTA. I was on the exec board at Greens Farms. I was the president of BMS through the combined middle school and also the PTA council president during COVID. Um, I look forward to a lively and and fun discussion tonight. Thanks. >> Thank you. All right. The candidates will now be asked a series of questions with yes, no responses using the cards provided. Everyone have their card? >> Yes. >> Good. Okay. Once we're finished with all the yes no questions, the candidates will each be given one 30 second opportunity to elaborate. Okay. First, yes. No. Is there work to be done about the consistency of instructional approaches and grading? Okay. Based
033on the current plan for AI as presented, do you feel confident the that the administration is ready to implement the plan? [snorts] Okay. Thank you. Is the school system doing enough to support special needs students? Thank you. Does the board of education's procedure for responding to students concerns need to be revisited? Thank you. There were concerns with the way the superintendent was recently reviewed. Should the superintendent's review be in executive session with the whole board present? Thank you. Is the policy for addressing complaints about books sufficient? Thank you. Do you support school vouchers in your town? Thank you. Does the board of ed respond effectively to the annual climate survey? Everybody up. Thank you. Okay, that's it for that. Thank you very much. All right. So, each of you will now be given 30 seconds
034to address whatever aspect of the yes no questions you wish to address. Uh, Miss Zukaro, you're up first. Um, I'm not sure that I I have anything um to really speak about, but I do think for the AI perspective. I think that um it's something as a person I'm not ready for, but I think that I work in a company where they've been pushing it um for the past year and I think that the time is upon us to really bring that in. I think it'll be a great asset for um the teachers, but I think as long as we're implementing it um responsibly for our students and adapting, I think it'll be a good asset to our schools. >> Thank you, Mr. Frankle. >> Uh there are a lot of subtleties built into uh
035many of those yes no questions, but I also wanted to just touch on AI very very briefly because I did say no to that question. Um, not because I think the school hasn't put in a ton of thoughtful analysis. They've done a fantastic job, but I I think when you look at the actual strategic plan, I spoke about this at the board meeting the other night in a couple of minutes and I think this cries out for a public private partnership. Um there's under the current plan, it's going to be possibly two years before they actually implement some of the uh AI uh processes and by that point uh the the technology will look nothing like it is today. So I'm excited about it. I have confidence in the school um and so I don't
036want my no response to be misinterpreted any other way. >> Thank you, Miss Hopson. Um, similar to Andy, he and I both spoke to uh the board of ed um mentioning our thoughts about implementation. We know it's under development. We understand that um the strategic AI plan has great strategic direction and visioning. Um however, we're looking forward to getting some information on how to test based on measurement. um how the outcomes are tied to the budget um implementation plans like student handbooks and specific uh milestones for the students. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Talen. >> Um I want to address the ex the executive session review for the superintendent. I agree that normally it should be the whole board at the executive session. Unfortunately, there was one board member who has not complied to
037some executive session rules. So there were certain board members who felt uncomfortable about um having those reviews in public uh in an with each other. So I think this year was an exception and I hope next year we have it as a group. >> Thank you >> Miss Harris. >> One of my biggest focuses and one of my biggest passions is bringing more um more energy and more evenness to the special education program. as a yes and no question. I think everyone on this panel would agree that there's not enough being done and there's a lot of concern and a lot of complaints coming out of the special education group, but I don't think it touches into the nuances on how deep some of the issues are and how difficult it is for so many
038people to get services for their kids, the headwinds that they go into and especially if you look at something like the intensive resource room, just how much need is there. Thank you. That is something that I very much look into. >> Thank you. >> Um, sure. I answered no to school vouchers and that's um something where I think there's more of a nuanced answer to. I definitely support open choice the ABC programs we have in Westport, but I would have to learn more about what that entailed. >> Thank you, Mr. Harrington. >> Yes. So, I'm often seen by many and it's true critical of the superintendent uh on certain issues and maybe we'll get into some of those tonight. One area where I could not be more enthusiastic about the leadership from our superintendent is
039in his strategic plan and particularly adding AI to the central part of that strategic plan. As people from Westport, I think we should be excited. I half my career is uh digital assets, half is AI. I haven't seen stronger leadership and goals for implementation about what Tom Scaris wants to do for our district. We should be very excited. He's going to give a framework to how students should learn and develop this tool. and uh I'm very proud of what he's doing. >> Thank you. Okay, we have about another 60 minutes or so. Um we're running a little fast, so we may be able to get all my questions in. Um so on the same rotating basis uh that we've been using, the candidates um next in order will get one minute to respond to the
040question that I ask. Each subsequent candidate will get a 30- secondond response or rebuttal to the first the first candidate or they can say their own position. When the rebuttals are finished, the first to answer will be ordered will be offered a 30 second rebuttal. I think the candidates all got that. You may not, but once we get going, you'll get it. All right. First question is going to go to Mr. Frankle and uh you have one minute here. The timer is right. Okay. Uh so you have one minute. Please identify [laughter] >> little humor. I'm sorry. >> That's okay. How about at it? Please identify and explain two qualities that distinguish you from the other candidates. Um, well, I don't mean this to disparrage any of the other candidates, but I tend to uh
041take a lot of time in making decisions. Um, some people uh like my wife would accuse me of talking too much. Other people accuse me of talking too little. Um, I really it's and it could be my training. I uh I like to take it all in and make an informed decision. uh after really carefully weighing pros, cons, different perspectives, um sometimes those that haven't been raised by by others. It's just part of who I am. Um I do, as my sign just indicated, um this is probably not the most important quality, but I feel like I do have a sense of humor. Um these are really serious, important issues. Um, but you'll find that a lot of us, despite some bickering and and whatnot, actually have more in common on a lot of these
042issues than we have differences. And I think we're all going to have to work together. Um, and I think having a sense of humor is very important as part of that process. >> Thank you. And as a reminder to everybody, I have a little cheat graph up here. Literally, you need to keep the microphone within about three inches of your mouth just to make sure that the public is hearing everything you have to say. Um, okay. So, M. Hobson, you get 30 seconds. >> Okay. Um, so what differentiates me amongst candidates and specifically Andy, I'm not trained to win arguments. I'm not an attorney. I leave that to my own husband. Um, but what I am trained is to operationalize solutions in business and nonprofits. I'm trained to be the solution for my students in
043my classrooms. Um, I'm a systems thinker. So, like an engineer, I think of input, ex, execute, and output. So, there's the if and then, and how I think. That's what makes me a little bit different. >> Thank you, Miss Ten. >> So, I have um deep experience in pedagogy in schools. I worked in schools. I worked with preK. I worked with middle schoolers. I worked with high schoolers. I taught um humanities. I taught special ed. Um I have a deep compassion for students and their individual experience no matter where they are on the spectrum. Um I'm also very open-minded, a very flexible thinker, and I'm very passionate and compassionate. >> Thank you, Miss Harris. 30 seconds. >> Thank you. What sets me apart are firstly the fact that I'm a sped parent. I do have
044a daughter who's on an IEP who's getting services and I do bring a unique perspective to the board in that regard. And the second thing that I would say that stands out for me is that I have 15 years of direct experience inside of Westport public schools including 12 consecutive years on PTA executive board. So I've been in the buildings. I know all the admins. I know many of the teachers. I get to see the kids in a way that you really don't after elementary school which is super exciting. And I do have an eye that has been directly inside the buildings. Thanks. Thank you, Miss Horton. 30 seconds. >> So, what sets me apart from the other candidates is I think I'm an engaged board member. Um, I am on the board because of
045the constituents of Westport and I my experience in the schools with my children is definitely not the same as everyone else. So, I believe it's important to be engaged and to listen to community members. Um, I'm also not a pushover. So, I feel like I am very direct. I'm open with my thoughts. I tell people, I tell the administration what I think. I'm there for the kids. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. Harrington. 30 seconds. >> Yeah, I'm not afraid to uh stand alone, even if it means I know I'm going to lose a vote going in. If that's speaking out for the right situation with soccer coaches or speaking out about an underwhelming uh statement by the board when it comes to anti-semitism last year, I'm not afraid to be outspoken and stand up for
046what I think is right. And if things go the wrong way and I've had some uh you know ups and downs with the superintendent, I show up and when I was unhappy with the review process of meeting with the superintendent one by one, I didn't hide. I had a very civil one-on-one conversation with him. I wish it been in front of the whole board, but I'm going to give candid but respectful feedback. >> Thank you, M. Zakaro. Um, I think for me, I'm a very detail- oriented person and I have a very strong memory and similar to Andy, I like to listen, know the facts, and make informed decisions. Thank you. >> Thank you. Mr. Frankle, would you like a 30 second rebuttal? >> Uh, no, we'll uh I think we're good. >> Thank you.
047>> Okay. Uh, Miss Hobson, you're next. You with the one minute for this question. Seven of you are calling for change. What change is needed and why? What would you keep? Sure. Um academic excellence is one of the biggest priorities. We all move here because of the schools. Um my husband and I decided to take our daughter out of parochial school at Greenwich Catholic School and bring her back here in third grade when real learning and teaching uh begins. Um, so to me the most important is academic excellence. Um, I'd like to keep that and maintain it. And when we hear um, results and scores are actually lower for some uh, of our grades, that's a call to action. So there's a lot more work that we need to do because academic excellence is not
048just math science. It's really making sure from preschool to high school um our students have uh the best in learning and curriculum uh offered. >> Wonderful. Thank you, Miss Tolland. 30 seconds, please. >> I would like to see [clears throat] students in our intensive resource room integrated into the community um more more often. I think that every child learns when they learn with people who are different from themselves. It's a win for all students. And um I'd also like to see some of our service providers like occupational therapists and speech therapists push into the classroom more so that students aren't pulled out and away from their peers. >> Thank you, Miss Harris. >> I'd like to keep a much tighter eye on the facilities. The um mold crisis at Kohi was awful. I had two
049kids there during that time and when the crisis at Long Lots was hearkened to that, it was really really frustrating to hear that there were kids that were going to have to potentially combine with another building and leave their school home. So, it is my sincere hope that with a tighter eye and more time and effort and money spent on facilities through a public p private partnership with the town and with the administration that we can prevent that from happening again. >> Thank you, Miss Horton. 30 seconds. >> Sure. Um, I would like to also remain focused on academics. I feel like Westport is one of the best school systems in the country and it takes works to work to stay there. I think there's been a lot of focus and distractions with things like
050social emotional learning. I'm not bashing social emotional learning totally, but as a former educator, I feel like there's a lot of de professional development money spent. And every time I ask how do we measure if this there's any success with it, the administration can't really answer. >> Thank you, Mr. Harrington. >> Um, sorry, [clears throat] excuse me. Um, I think we need more tough questions on the board, not less. That's what I would change. Um, I think that, as I said, one of my three priorities is is facilities. I praise our chair uh Lee Goldstein and the finance and facilities chair um Neil um who've put a lot of attention on this. I'm really proud of the work they've done and we've done but I think there's more to do in terms of additional schools
051CES modernization Kings Highway and so forth. Um what I would keep I don't think there's a fundamental problem with with the curriculum um learning loss focus yes but the direction of the curriculum is good and I'm super excited by uh the AI focus so we keep that. Thank you, Miss Daro. 30 seconds. >> Sometimes it's simply time for a reset. When you've been looking at the same situation for too long, it's easy to become focused on one area and overlook others. A fresh set of eyes can also bring new perspectives, identify opportunities for improvement, and help ensure the system functions more effectively as a whole. >> Thank you, Mr. Frankle. >> I I agree with uh with Caitlyn, Michelle, and and Dory. Um I don't disagree with a lot of the statements actually on curriculum.
052Um I do think we have some blind spots. Uh it's really interesting to talk to college counselors who u are not just focused on our own curriculum but look at Darianne New Kanan Fairfield Ward and what what we hear is that we do have blind spots. There's no business real business curriculum uh compared to what you can see at Darianne High School, New Kanan High School. I think we have uh we have to get our priorities straight and there's work to be done. >> Thank you. Uh Miss Hopson, would you like another 30 seconds? >> Sure. >> Okay. [laughter] You know, with all of us here, we really want to think about academic excellence and all of the blind spots. We really want to ask not just tough questions, but with our slate, we will
053ask strategic right questions to fill in the gaps that we we see. Um, our biggest issue is that we want to make sure every student has the excellent opportunity to really thrive, uh, be success successful in college, trade, school, career, and life. Thank you. All right, Miss Holland, you get a minute for the next question. What grade would you give the current board of education and why? >> You had to give me a tough one. Um, I would give the board of education a B+. I think that we're doing a lot of really good work. I think we're really focused on the kids. I think we have a good relationship with the administration, but there are definitely places we need to improve. We need to keep an eye on facilities. Um, you know, I I
054I think we need to look at our blind spots and some of our curriculum. I think we need to take a deeper look into um the climate survey and see where students are not feeling engaged and see where students are not liking school and find out more and get more data on that so that we can have our kids feel welcome and comfortable and safe so that they are available to learn. >> Thank you, Miss Harris. 30 seconds. >> I would give the current board a C. There are a lot of great things that are coming out. There are a lot of incredibly intelligent people who are making good decisions, but collectively I'm not seeing the push back on the superintendent that I would expect to see. There are decisions that have taken way too
055long to come to a conclusion. And as a result, there are a lot of parents that are left asking questions and they don't feel like they have resolution. They're telling us that they're asking questions and they aren't even getting responses. So, I do think that with some new blood, some new energy, and some new just overall priorities, the board can really be improved. >> Thank you, Ms. Horton. 30 seconds. >> Sure. I would give the current board a B. I think we do an excellent job with actually I think we we give feedback to the superintendent. I do think we ask a lot of questions and I think we work well with the administration. Where I would like to see more progress is communication with the community. So, I've always advocated to do more community
056conversations so we hear from people what's going on because we don't always hear. Um, and I think we also need to be more on top of our own reviews where we review our goals and then we follow up on those. >> Thank you, Mr. Harrington. 30 seconds. >> Yes. So, if I isolated for the recent issues over some non-renewal hearings, including the soccer and tennis coaches, I would give the board an F. But I would give the board overall a B minus. I think there's a lot of things that the board has really got very right. Um I do think what I would ask the board to do, what I'm trying to encourage is us to have more confidence to take a critical eye. It's not a negative. It's not a criticism. We're not saying
057the school system is bad. We just want to raise the standards and therefore not always patting us patting ourselves on the back. By asking some tough questions, being inward-looking, we can r raise the standards. So that's what I would focus on. Miss Zakaro, >> to be honest, I'm not sure the grade that I would give the current board right now, but I do know that there's always room for improvement. And similar to what Dory said, I think it'd be great if they if the board's able to hear and involve more of the community and their thoughts overall. >> Okay, Mr. Frankle, 30 seconds. >> I would give Dory an A and I would give the board a C. Um, I I think that the the main thing I see is uh a lack of direction
058and leadership from the board to provide the administration with the direction and the priorities that they need. Um, I think it's one thing to ask tough questions. Um, but causing chaos, uh, unnecessary hostility to our superintendent who does a terrific job, I think is one of the distractions that need change. >> Thank you, Miss Hobson. 30 seconds. >> Uh I would give the current board based on staying till midnight at the last board of election uh board uh meeting an A. They stayed there. It it started what time, Andy? Like 7. And they didn't finish till 12. And so they t they had a few priorities. Um and it was so important to them that discussion after discussion were they really thoroughly did their job and they stayed there till midnight. Thank you. >> Thank
059you, Abby. >> Miss Tolen, would you like another 30 seconds? >> Um, I hear a lot of people saying that we need to push back on the superintendent, and I want to remind people that it's a collaborative um experience, right? We are there to work with the administrators. We aren't there to constantly challenge them. We challenge them when necessary. U we ask tough questions, but that doesn't mean we're we have an adverse relationship, and I think we should be careful about that. >> Thank you. Miss Harris, you get the next one minute. Um, this is a little long, so bear with me. And if you need if any of you need me to read it over again, I will be happy to do so. The board of education is responsible for the operation and maintenance
060of the public school system, which includes hiring the superintendent, approving the budget, and ensuring the quality of education. What do you see as crossing the line between governance and micromanagement in such areas as curriculum, staff evaluation and policies? >> That is a fantastic question in many parts. Um, with regard to curriculum, I don't think it's the role of the board of ed to set curriculum. Obviously, we're hearing a lot from the community and there's a lot of different opportunities and ideas that come in, but to tell the superintendent what the curriculum must be is, I don't believe the role of the board. I'm sorry, there are what was the last >> uh so it was uh areas such as curriculum, staff evaluation, and policies. We have a terrific policy group and if you go to
061the policy meetings and I will admit I have not been to all of them. There's a lot of great work that's being done which again is coming out of the community is going into the board so that they can come back and have really terrific and really forwardinking ideas. >> All set. Thank you. 30 seconds Miss Horton. Okay. So, similar to what Miss Harris said, I as a board member, my role is to not get super involved with the curriculum, but I I am a member of the teaching and learning committee. So, that's a time when we can ask questions about the curriculum. Um, and as far as uh staff evaluations, God 30 seconds is not enough. Um, as far as staff evaluations, like that to me is really the purview of the superintendent. Um,
062we can push back and ask questions, but we really leave the decision up to the superintendent. And there's been a I would I would say more, but I'm being cut off. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Harrington. 30 seconds. >> Yeah, we uh we should be very careful about micromanaging. Uh, but we should also make sure that the administration and the superintendent are following the right path. I think there were some situations this year on non-renewal hearings as an example where we didn't follow the right path and so we didn't have a coach's handbook. We now have one. That was a mistake. We should own that and we need to make sure we're setting up our coaches and our teachers to success with the right handbooks and the right policies. >> Thank you, Miss Sukaro. 30
063seconds. >> Actually, no comment for me. Thank you, >> Mr. Frankle. >> Yeah. Um, I think the notion that the board has nothing to do with uh curriculum is a mistake. The board's mission is to prepare all students by fostering critical, creative thinking and collaborative problem solving through a robust curriculum delivered by engaging and dedicated educators. doesn't mean we decide uh what's taught at each by each teacher in every class, but we absolutely have an obligation to make sure that we're meeting our goals, that our curriculum is not falling behind, that if there are blind spots, um we have the professionals and educators to uh to make sure that we're we're doing everything we can to meet that mission. >> Thank you, Miss Hobson. >> Yeah. Um, thank you for the League of Women Voters
064for putting this bookmark out because it says, um, the board of education governs the local public school system. So, governance is governance and not micromanaging. Uh, the superintendent operationalizes the work. Uh however, we as the board of educ education members should ask strategic questions that help with performance and um results and information. So that's what's important for us, not micromanaging. >> Thank you, Miss Talin. 30 seconds. >> I agree. It's not our job to micromanage. Um it's not our job to tell them about curriculum. Um, but it is our job to to check the metrics and to evaluate the results to make sure that our students are engaging in critical thinking, are going to be prepared to go out in the world and be global citizens. Um, so yeah, >> Miss Harris, would you like
065another 30 seconds? >> Yes, please. I did not address the issue of the micromanagement which I think in the last year there were some issues that were labeled as micromanagement when they were actually to me just managing. The block s was a perfect example of that where there was a lot of outcry from the community and instead of actually just talking about it Robert tried to bring it to um the panel and no one would second him and that was very frustrating. Um as far as the administrators go I want to say that I think superintendent scree does a terrific job of recognizing the teachers. They feel seen, they feel heard, and I think the current system is a very strong one. >> Thank you. Okay, Miss Horton, you get the minute on the next
066one. >> Okay. What changes to districtwide policies would you recommend and why? One minute. >> That's brutal. [laughter] Um, I actually have to think about this a little bit. So, can we pass over May and come back? >> Uh um I'll let you think for a minute, but I'd really like to stay in order. So, >> I I can come back with the 30 seconds. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So, you want to read it again? >> Uh no, it's okay. >> Okay. Mr. Harrington. >> Yeah. I certainly don't have the answers here. Um, and I will tell you the probably the most frustrating thing about my first four years was the inbox from individual parents about special education, special education, and I'll own this, my inability to respond to that. All I know is
067that the system is working well for some parents, but it's not working well for far too many parents. I don't know if it's in policy. I don't know if it's in the implementation, but too many special ed parents feel that they are not being heard and they're not getting the proper um uh discussion with the district. I think we need to seriously and collaboratively look at that. >> Thank you, Miss Zucaro. 30 seconds. >> Would you mind repeating the question? >> Sure. What changes to districtwide policies would you recommend and why? Well, that is tough. I think I might need more time to think as well. No comment for me. Thank you. >> Okay, Mr. Frankle. >> I to be honest, my my honest uh reaction is that maybe the biggest change the policy is
068that we spend too much time on policies. We can't have a policy. Policies are obviously very important, but there um you can't anticipate every issue that's going to come up. We have a very very thoughtful and engaged policy committee. We have we have a book of policies. I'm sure there are several that need some change, but if we get too bogged down in anticipating every issue um on policy, we're not going to be able to make decisions and move forward. >> Thank you, Miss Hobson. >> Hi, I was a legal and policy major at Forom University and I got out of it because I felt like it didn't make any change. So, I did direct service and teaching. So for me, I'm thinking about students first and the biggest policy we need to change and
069adopt is AI. It is very important. It's here now. Um I teach uh at the community college uh engineering technology and uh I give my students a students guide handbook from the checklist on when to use AI uh when to uh challenge themselves to use AI and the ethics that goes behind that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Talen. Uh the change that I would make is that the board acts as hearing officers for um non-union members. Um I think what happened with the soccer coaches and the tennis coaches was um didn't really I don't think that it was a successful process. I think it was a difficult process. These are our neighbors, our friends, and I don't think that we should be the hearing officers. >> Thank you, Miss Miss Harris. I'd like to
070shift policy a bit by creating a new position, an ombbudsman per uh position that would act as a leazison between parents in the district with regard to special education cases. There are way too many parents who have to lawyer up, who have to bring um advocates into the room because they're not feeling heard, they're not feeling seen, and they're not getting the kids their kids the services that they need. And by having an independent intermediary between those two groups, it is my sincere hope that a lot less money and a lot less contention will be had on behalf of that community. >> Thank you. Miss Horton, would you like to >> Sure. I'll I'll take the 30 seconds. I mean, I I am actually on the policy committee and what I find on the committee
071is that so much of it is mandated by the state and what we have to enforce in the schools. So, there's wiggle room, but there's not a ton of wiggle room. I do agree that with AI we need to adopt a policy that's broad enough that could be flexible enough that when we start implementing AI on a regular basis it matches our school's values what we want the kids to learn and how it can also like fluidly move with the changes the fast changes in AI. >> Thank you. Okay, next question. Mr. Harrington, you're up first. You have one minute. 80% of the board of education budget goes to salaries and benefits. What are your priorities in spending the other 20% of discretionary funds? One minute. So, one of the things I uh I guess
072try to be like an early voice, an early warning system on the board was the frustration that I think we all have as board members, which is, you know, once salaries are are taken care of and um all the medical um there's not a lot left around and we want to make sure and I certainly want to prioritize and I think our board does prioritize getting those services into the classroom on the front line for students and programs. Um, I was an early voice uh to look at our transportation system. We spend almost $8 million on transportation. It's a state mandate, but there are a lot of empty buses, particularly in the high school. And therefore, I think it is our responsibility to spend those dollars wisely, particularly when they're not happening directly in the
073classroom. Clearly, a student turning up to school on time is critical and being picked up on time is critical. But we have to and I think the board has done this started the process of evaluating where we can make some efficiency savings. I'm encouraging us to use AI to manage bus routes but I think those type of savings can put more dollars into the classroom and I think that's what we just have to make some tough choices. >> Thank you Miss Zakaro 30 seconds. >> I actually do agree with a lot of what Robert was saying just there. I think that um another 20 for that 20% we can put it towards the classroom facilities and even the athletics for the students. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Frankle. 30 seconds. >> Yeah. I think
074first of all um going on a going forward basis we shouldn't always just assume that the 80% for salary uh and benefits is non-touchable. We obviously have contractual obligations, but I think we have an obligation to make sure that all of those employees, certified and non-certified, um are are effective and needed. And so that uh there could be cuts that come up going forward in in those areas because I think, you know, just taking that operating assumption that 80% is untouchable um could be a disaster uh down the road. Um, I do think there are opportunities. You know, we're we're looking for ways to add funding. Uh, not so not as much making cuts. Uh, oftentimes we have opportunities to do private funding for our muchneeded athletic facility improvements. Think needs uh, more attention and
075there there's a lot more, but I'm getting the hook. I see. >> Thank you, Miss Hopson. 30 seconds. >> So, in general, education budgets are moral documents. So every line item budget should be tied to a student outcome. It doesn't matter if it's 80% that goes to teacher salaries or 20% to uh facilities. The most important is on a large level that we're always looking at the budget so that every dollar goes to the teachers and the students. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Holland. 30 seconds. >> Um my goal is to never touch programming. I think the program then that we have is great and should be safeguarded. Um, but I also think we need to worry about our facilities. As many people have mentioned here, I too had a child in Kolen Middle
076School when it closed because of the mold and our schools had been neglected for a long time and we need to make sure that we take care of our buildings and that definitely is tied to every student who attends our schools. >> Thank you, Miss Harris. 30 seconds. >> Less than 20% is not enough to create innovation inside the classroom. And a lot of the work that I've done across three P PTA levels is to provide grants to teachers and to clubs who are trying to do really exciting things inside and they just absolutely don't have any funding to do so. So in the past few years the PTAs have funded VR headsets for special education. They've replaced libraries inside of teacher classrooms. They have provided um money for the science olympiads to compete. Just
077an entire array of things that we can't do for our teachers and for our staff. And ultimately our kids are the ones who lose out. >> Thank you, Miss Horton. 30 seconds. >> So, as others have said, so much of our budget is contractual. I was um and I think as board members, we have to be really thoughtful about the raises we give to our employees. I was one of the board members that voted against the 4% raise for the superintendent. Um I also think that it's really important that we put as much money towards programming, but for the kids, but obviously evaluate the programming. I've actually asked for the guidance department to be evaluated uh to see if they need any funds as an example. >> Thank you. Mr. Harrington, would you like another
07830 seconds? >> Yeah. And something that Jod said about the other 20% is not enough. If you actually do the math quickly on the special ed, it's even worse. When you look at the the salaries and benefits and transportation, which is a big part of the budget, there's only 3% or 3.3% left in the rest of the special education budget, about $34 million for anything else. There's no way that parents can get the full services and the adequate appropriate services with 3.3% remaining in a special ed budget. So again, it's tough choices for the school system and taxpayers, but I think we need to put more resources into special ed in district education. >> Thank you. Okay, Miss Zukaro, you get the one minute question this time. What are your specific suggestions for how the
079school system should manage special education, including its budget going forward? Um, I believe every student deserves an education, one that works with their needs. Um, it's essential to provide the right resources, individualized support, and appropriate staff to ensure all students can thrive academically and socially. I am committed to advocating for these policies and programs that address the needs of all students. >> Thank you, Mr. Frankle. 30 seconds. Um, I would start by encouraging everybody to read a uh letter to the editor in this week in today's Westport Journal. It was a very thoughtful piece that pointed out a lot of the problems that we can't begin to cover in 30 seconds. I think there's some uh guidance and and work to be done about uh when it's appropriate for the school to call the DCF.
080There's nothing more heavy-handed than getting a knock on your door from the DCF and there needs to be more communication about when that's appropriate. Uh when there's not. Um I think there's more to be done on mediation so that everybody doesn't need to lawyer up. Um >> thank you Miss Hopson 30. Um, I really hope that there is a strategic realignment and that this sped program in itself is not a program but folded into the overall uh mission of uh Westper public schools. Um, you know, I think we need to do a better job with tracking our IEPs um and so we can really enhance our achievement gaps. um you know a review of the resource allocations similar to all kind of what a a board of ed would be doing when it comes to
081strategic realignment. >> Thank you Miss Talin 30 seconds. >> So IEEPs are a legal document and we are uh bound we have to provide those services. So those funds are always going to have to be allocated. One of the places that I think that we can um save some money in in something that Robert had said about transportation is if possibly we buy our own fleets for those students who are outplaced as well as looking to bring other programs back into the school so that we can get students who are currently outplaced back into the school system. That would save us hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. >> Thank you, Miss Harris. I say this very delicately, but I would like to see a deeper dive taken into the actual funding and how it's
082allocated. If you look at the state's reporting on special education payouts, um we are spending almost one and a half times what the um reimbursement rate is from the state. We are third highest in the state, but re the gold standard is reportedly number five on the list. What I'm hearing from a lot of parents is that what their child is experienced is not to measure it with the amount of money that we're spending. And without truly understanding where that money is going, I don't think that we can fix anything. >> Thank you, Miss Horton. 30 seconds. >> Um, I agree. We have to look at the funding. And I know I've spoken to a number of parents who are very unhappy with the special ed program. There are also very many happy families, but
083I think it's incumbent on us, the board, to make sure like how do we reach those families? Not everybody is upset with the same issue. It's important to figure out if there's common themes and how we can solve that with the administration. And that is one area I think where we can talk to members of the administration and figure out a a solution forward. >> Thank you, Mr. Harrington. 30 seconds. >> Yeah, I've already talked a bit about the budget. Uh I fully support what Jod's talked about, which is a fully independent ombbudsman for the district within the next 12 months. Um the the budget is one aspect, but I think the human element is very important as well. I don't have the answers and I'll be honest about that. I don't know exactly what
084the answers are. I know as a district we need to do better and there are too many parents who feel isolated and I feel unhelpful and I know some of our board members do as well. We just need to spend more time on this issue and for me I want to be clear, it's one of my top three priorities and I will be very clear on that if I get reelected. Thank you. >> Thank you. Mr. Sakara, would you like another 30? No additional. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Frankle, you get the next question for a minute. As a member of the board, what approaches would you take to address public comments, petitions, emails, PTA requests, and other voiced concerns? >> Um, thanks for that question. Uh obviously listening to the community
085uh and parents uh not just the loudest voices but all voices on an issue is hugely important. It's part of the doing their job. Um you know when I think about public comment I I picture having a conversation with somebody and they start by saying okay you have 30 seconds to answer and and I'm not allowed to respond to anything you say. That's not a conversation. Um there's reasons for that. uh we have to be able to move forward uh with and get things done on the board. Um we have to hear, but it's very off-putting if you're a member of the public and that's how um uh and that's how the then those are the rules for how you can have this kind of back and forth. I agree with something Dory has been
086pushing for which is taking community conversations which are much more informal, much more uh conversational. you don't have those rules. Instead of having it once a year, twice a year, we should be having those uh on a much more regular basis. >> Thank you, Miss Hobson. Uh first, it's it's the acknowledgement. Uh whether it's myself speaking in front of uh the board of ed, I always hear Lee saying thank you at the very end. So, that simple acknowledgement or in an email where Dory's very responsive within the day or the next day, just an acknowledgement. Yes, thank you. Uh we will be thinking about this and we'll get back to you. Um we're trained in board development and board work to really view um everyone in an objective way so that people are heard and
087they're they feel that their reality is their reality. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Miss Cohen. >> I try to respond to every single email that I get. Um and sometimes it leads to having coffee with somebody or having a phone conversation with somebody. I always want to hear um from our community. I agree that possibly we should have more community conversations. Um I will say that public uh public comments because of the Freedom of Information Act, we cannot actually engage in conversation in that way. So more community conversations would be the way I would go. >> Thank you, Miss Harris. A prior superintendent was very surprised and called out quite a bit the fact that Westport was so open with allowing the community, [clears throat] excuse me, to come in and speak. I hope
088that never goes away. Um, with regard to the direct question about the PTA, having worked on a PTA exec board across four super four different superintendent, I've never felt less collaboration with the current superintendent as I did on on the PTA. So, I do hope that that relationship really vastly improves and there is more back and forth and more collaboration between those two groups. >> Thank you, Miss Horton. >> Um, support of ed meetings isn't when we have conversations with community members. They're really meetings of the board that the community can attend and that we listen to public comment and we make it clear that we don't respond to public comment. But there are other avenues in which we are accessible to the public. And one thing I always tell people is we have three
089subcommittees. We have teaching and learning policy and finance and facilities. And the public is always welcome to come to these meetings and they are much more informal and we can engage in a much greater back and forth about what we are discussing on the agenda and they can they're free to bring other ideas as well. >> Thank you, Mr. Harrington. 30 seconds. >> Listen, I believe all feedback is good. It's great when you hear people praise the board for the good work they've done and that's justified a lot of the time. But sometimes when we hear from the voters that we didn't do a good job or they're particularly annoyed with me or someone else, you know what? Kind of suck it up and listen to it. Be respectful. And you know, everyone has the
090right to an opinion. Doesn't mean they're always right, but we should respectfully listen to them. And uh uh I just think, you know, petitions are good. Feedback is good. I really salute the work that Lee and Dory have really championed with the community conversations. I think that's great and we should do more of that. But all feedback is good for the board of education. Thank you, Miss Zucaro. >> I think that listening to the community is just really an essential part of this. Um, sometimes you might not have an immediate response, but just knowing it and hearing it is helpful and letting the community know that they're being heard. I think it's just the best way to be the most effective. >> Thank you. Mr. Frankle, would you like another 30? >> Well, I think
091I should get some credit for uh giving an answer that everybody agrees with. [laughter] Uh seriously, I think this is a a good example of nonpartisan common ground uh on an issue that we all uh share the same values and and responses to. >> Great. Thank you, Miss Hobson. Next question for one minute is for you. What steps would you take to ensure building preventative maintenance and infrastructure improvements? Okay. So, um, back in 2012, I was running a preschool here in Westport off Riverside, and I was the one that picked up the call that said code red active shooter. Um, and so my initial thought as administration is bring the students and the teachers that are outside in the playground in. And what I want to relay from all of that is that school facilities
092save lives. Um, I lived it. We did the proper lockdown. Um, and I can't imagine what my husband was feeling when he knew his wife plus his daughter were both locked in in a room waiting to hear if the active shooter was around our area. So to me, facilities is the one most important priority for me after academic excellence because facilities is not a luxury. It's safety for me. >> Thank you, Miss Tolland. 30 seconds. >> Well, I I don't think that you can have academic excellence without pristine uh facilities. So, currently we have a capital plan that has been supported by the funding bodies, the board of finance, and the RTM. We need to continue staying on top of those things and continue to m do the the regular maintenance be it painting um
093securing the envelopes of the building to make sure that we don't have leaks and uh our and classes don't have to go offline. >> Thank you, Ms. Harris. When I think of facilities, I think of the people who run that department. And last year there was a position that was offered by the superintendent that did not make its way through the budget cycle which was adding a body onto the facilities department to help out. When you think of the eight buildings we have the hundreds of thousands of square feet, there's just not enough manpower to get everything done. And as a result, they're left playing whack-a-mole trying to repair things that are desperately needing to be repaired and there's not a lot of opportunity to be creative and forward thinking and get things done in
094a really manageable way. As a quick example, there was a diving board last year that the team paid for that took seven weeks to come out and even look at it before it could be installed because there was no one physically capable to come out. >> Thank you, Miss Horton. 30. >> Yeah. So, facilities is definitely important piece that the board has to think about. And I think the board has this board that I'm on has done an incredible job of creating a capital improvement plan. We have a great plan. Um, you know, right now we're doing a long last stepping stones preschool. I was at the groundbreaking. It was amazing. Uh Kohley Town Elementary is next. We're looking at the Staple Stage. Uh we are also doing the first um security audit like a
095comprehensive security audit uh in decades. So I I support all of those things. >> Thank you, Mr. Harrington. 30 seconds. >> Yeah, I I agree with the comments. The board should be proud of the work that has been done on facilities. Uh it's not to point fingers, but for a moment I will without naming anyone. Prior boards did not spend the dollars that should been spent on uh maintenance and on capital upgrades. The board of ed didn't, other town boards, prior select men and women didn't. Uh you've got to look forward. We have to prioritize this. We should be super excited by long lots and stepping stones, but we cannot take our foot off the gas when it comes to facilities modernization. CES is next. We need to modernize Kings Highway. We need to stay
096on top of the maintenance. and I'm proud and confident this board and the superintendent has put a very good plan in place. >> Thank you, Miss Zukaro. >> I think for me, I went to high school where there was mold throughout the school so bad that that many students couldn't attend in person due to allergies. So, with so many families moving into Westport for the schools, I think a key factor is keeping our schools up to date and functioning. >> Thank you, Mr. Frankle. I I agree uh with modernization and and the need for that. Um but so much of our uh facilities cost relates to problems that are kind of long in the making. So I think we need to um rely on our engineers and consultants to identify those problems and those issues
097early before they turn into uh longer term problems. I would return again when when it comes to athletic facilities. we have opportunities for private funding that we're just not taking advantage of because of a lack of uh because of distractions and um and a lack of prioritization on that issue. And I think that's a lowhanging fruit. >> Thank you. Miss Hobson, would you like another 30? >> Sure. I just want to say thank you to everyone here because we all share the same um you know kind of feeling of how important our facilities are for our children. academic excellence, sports, safety is all bundled in to where we keep our students and our children safe. So, thank you. >> Thank you. All right, Miss Talin, you have the next one minute. The board of education
098was introduced to a schoolwide strategic AI plan. Grade the plan, identify its strengths, and any questions or concerns you have about the plan. one minute. >> I would give it an A. I think that uh our administrators and our faculty did an excellent job going very deep into understanding what was needed, how to safeguard our students, how to ensure that we're using it without undermining critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, ensuring that the teacher is still part of the lesson, and that students aren't standing uh staring at screens all day. Um, I agree with Andy that some of the timelines were wonky, but I understand that they're going to change. It's fluid. Um, and I want to say we have already started it. We have um we we've had pilot programs, so some of our kids have
099used it and we do have some private partnerships with um our superintendent partnered with Startup Westport to get some um information and I think we have a lot to be proud of that our faculty brought forth to us. Thank you, Miss Harris. 30 seconds. >> Thank you. The presentation on Thursday was robust. There was just a tremendous amount of work done over the summer by a lot of really exciting and excited um professionals. One of the questions that I had because it was the third presentation and the most comprehensive was it wasn't clear to me how much of it was student directed and how much of it was um teacher and staff directed. So, that is one of the questions that I'd like to see a little bit more clarity on. But overall, I I
100don't think there's anyone on this stage who's not interested in AI as a development tool. And um it's exciting. Thank you. >> Thank you, Ms. Horton. 30 seconds. >> Sure. >> I think um the administration and staff put a tremendous amount of work into developing the beginnings of an AI plan. Uh there's so many challenges with it, but it's to me it's the future. It's revolutionizing education. Um, it's going to make education look so different from how it's looked historically. Uh, I think that Westport did do was one of eight towns that participated in an AI pilot which was really exciting. We got to hear um a little bit about the impact it's had on the classroom, the efficiencies that's happened as a result and uh we will they're going to come back with the
101second part of the presentation. >> Thank you, Mr. Harrington 30 seconds. Yeah, I would give um the the plan a B+. Uh not because I don't think it was excellent. It's just I have a very high threshold for giving grades, but um I was really impressed by what I saw. Um what excites me I I understand some of the nervousness from the community and earlier on from some board members. What excites me is that it's not about just outsourcing our students and teachers to AI. It's about freeing up time to enable students and teachers to spend more time critically thinking and independently. And so I think it's going to empower and free them up um not have them controlled. >> Thank you, Miss Sakaro. >> I would give the presentation from Thursday and A. I
102think it was really well um represented, but as a person, I'm not actually in favor of AI. I do work for a company that has actually been pushing AI for the last year and truth be told it has actually been a useful asset to help push the work out. I [snorts] think overall it'll be a great asset for teachers as well on the day-to-day. Some of the concerns I have though is from the student aspect and their creativity creativity overall. But I also think that the time is here and we need to adapt using it responsibly so students can use it as an aid and not a replacement of knowledge. >> Thank you Mr. Frankle, >> I I thought, as I said, I thought the um the plan was extremely thoughtful. Uh my biggest criticism
103was that uh it was um a lot of the work in the first stages or as part of this plan is issues about AI, not actually using it itself, but how to keep the humanity, how uh to deal with the ethical issues, um not the actual day-to-day use of AI. um uh a lot of the aspirational goals are happening today. And so if we spend a year talking about AI, um I we're going to fall behind rapidly. That's why we need a uh experts to help us guide the way, not as mere consultants. >> Thank you, Miss Hobson. 30 seconds. >> I would give it a B. Um the the plan itself read more of a strategic direction with its beautiful beautiful aspirational language. uh what's missing is the aspirational high achieving outcomes. So we
104have the XY if we do this it results in Y but we don't have the Z which is how do we measure this is are our children going to be better off um and uh hopefully we can see a little bit of that development coming up in the next board meeting along with the budget outcomes that's tied to uh improvement. >> Thank you. All right, Ms. Paris, you get the next one minute. >> Do I get another 30 seconds? >> Oh, you do. I apologize. I even have it written down here. And I >> um I I appreciated that the beginning of the um presentation was about the the ethical implications and the humanity. I think when we're looking at AI and how it's going to be implemented, I think the number one thing we
105need to think about is the humanity. That's what's most important to me. Thank you. Sorry about that. >> That's okay. >> All right, Miss Harris, you get one minute. Four. With budget constraints being what they are, what would you examine to find savings or efficiencies and why? This is an impossible question because as we already talked about over 80% of the budget goes towards contractual obligations and one of the pieces that I've heard from teachers is how frustrated they are with the frequency with which their insurance benefits change. So I don't want to look at health benefits and I think we've already cut down on the buses which unfortunately I think is creating even more parents out on the road because the um the bus routes have gotten so much longer. I'm very excited to
106hear so much conversation about a public private partnership because it's something that Stephen and I have been talking about since we announced our candidacy back in July. There is a lot of private money out there. There's a lot of excitement. If you look at what some of the universities are doing, even if you go and look at what Derianne is doing in their athletic department, they have created a booster club that oversees all of its booster clubs for athletics and they give the entire community the opportunity to come in to sponsor to put plaques up on walls. If you were to go into the new Kanan Auditorium and see what they did there and then walk into ours, you would be excited about it, too. >> Thank you, Miss Horton. >> Hi. >> I would
107be open to um private and public partnerships as well um just as an exploratory avenue to see how we could bolster the budgets in the Westport schools. Um we did do a transportation update. We saved a lot of money. Uh it's it's really tight when we're thinking about the budgets and looking for efficiencies. I mean I'd almost look to AI and some of the programming to think about how we can save money. >> Thank you Mr. Harrington. >> Yes. So we started with the transportation. I think we have to go carefully but there's more opportunity there. We currently don't use AI for looking at our bus routes. I think there are more efficiencies to be had there. Um, I do think that when it comes to things like our energy policy and how we procure,
108I know we always say we do it in partnership with the town. I think there's more we can do and I think there are some savings that we can be done there. I also think in terms of renewal renewable resources, selling back some of our energy to the grid could be ways to generate revenue. Um, some upfront costs, but we haven't truly looked at that. And so I think we need to be a little bit more creative and look out outside of the box in areas like this. >> Thank you, Miss Zukaro. Truthfully, that's not really an easy question for me to answer at this time. I would need to be more involved um to give a more thoughtful answer. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Frankle. >> I Yeah, I also would like to know
109a little bit more about how the money is actually being spent before sitting up here on stage and saying, "Well, here's where you need to cut and find efficiencies." I take professional development as an example. It's something that is very important. We obviously have to keep our teachers up to up to date and cutting edge. Um, but I personally don't have a good handle on how that money is actually being used. So, I think the first thing we we should do is make sure that we're kicking the tires uh on the money that we're spending. Now, uh, Robert I is correct that transportation was uh was an area of of uh savings, but I think uh m do Mr. Scarice has already told us that uh there's some more to be done uh there as
110well. >> Thank you, Miss Hopson. I can only speak about process. Uh what I would do in um is always review first uh kind of uh what outcomes are tied to the budget. Um that's more of a student focused way of understanding what cost containment and what other programs or um you know fees or services that we are using that need to be cut. >> Thank you, Miss Tolen. One of the places that we're spending a lot of money is without placement of students that we currently don't have the services to provide proper education for them in the school system. I would like to see those kids come back to the community school because I just think that that's what's right for students and would also save us hundreds of thousands of dollars and I
111think that that's what we should look at. >> Thank you. Miss Harris, would you like 30? >> With the conversation about AI, it made me think of a friend that I made who moved here in fourth grade. they had come from Singapore and the way that AI was working even back then to track their kids on the buses, for example. These same kids that were fourth graders are now sophomores in college. And when I think of what was going on in Singapore then, and I'm looking at what's going on in Westport now, I think there are a lot of creative and inventive ways. And when I think of what's going on to tack on what Abby said, if you think about the um intensive resource room where they are hanging up paper socks on a
112clothing line, whereas if you go to a private school, they actually have access to washing machines and other true um measures of of gaining pre-employment. Those are things that potentially AI could get involved in. >> Okay. Thank you. So, Miss Horton, uh next question is for you for a minute. The board of education budgeting process is complex and timeconsuming. How would you help the public follow the process? >> Um, so I actually think we've made a lot of improvements on the budgeting process. When I would go to the budgeting meetings um as a PTA member, it was really like confusing line items, books and we the budgeting is done through thematic units now. So I mean I think it's important to explain possibly give the thematic units to the public so they can see whatever
113they're interested in to do a deep dive into that unit. Um, I also think that they are always welcome to come to all of our budgeting meetings. There are many. Um, and to we we could have a potentially community conversation about budgeting. Um, that's one thing we could do to help them understand the process. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Harrington. >> Yeah. I actually do think that the the the bud the administration, the superintendent and the board leadership does a good job with presenting the budget and they've made improvements. Um there's certainly been more a more thematic approach to things like special education over the last couple of years. I think there's more we can do there um to try and break down some of the buckets of spending and uh you know potential changes.
114If a change isn't going to happen this year, what might the changes be coming down the road in transportation or energy or or so forth in year two and year three? I think we could provide a provide a little bit more of a road map there. >> Thank you, Miss Zukaro. I think for me um for the budgeting process without a firsthand knowledge of it myself, I think it would be great to encourage the community to attend um the board meetings live, ask the questions and see what they're lacking. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Frankle. >> I I agree with Caitlyn. I I think our town does a fantastic job of asking really hard questions, um identifying issues. Um I've heard uh people in special education for example asking about you know why are
115we spending uh these costs on litigation and disputes. Um I've raised myself the issue of what what is the professional development budget where is it going and rather than deal with those after the fact when the budget is already done because it's a collaborative process with the board of finance. It's not just our say um you need to get the community more involved. So, I like Dory's idea of having community conversation on on the budgeting process. >> Miss Hopson, >> um it would be great as a parent to receive pie charts and quick three slides for us to understand how the process uh goes with budget development. Um, I think there's a lot of languaging uh that happens and there's a lot of information and so um as a parent that uh works and manages
116many things um something quick um and easily digestible uh that we can like an elevator pitch would be most helpful for us. Thank you, >> Miss Talin. >> So, funny story, the way that I got on the board was I was at the budget meeting. Um, I was watching as a spectator and I and Neil Phillips saw me getting very frustrated at how little some of the board members seemed to understand the special ed budget and some of the questions that they were asking were concerning to me. And that is how I wound up on the board. And I think that people should, if they're very interested, they can attend these uh budget meetings. They are long, but they're easy to follow. Um, so that's what I think people should do. Okay, Miss Harris, >>
117I've been through a few of the budget cycles and here's I'm going to give some props to um chairwoman Lee Goldstein because the all day budget cycle, which is the first Friday of January, is truly an all day cycle. There is lunch. It is fabulous. And then every week through February, the board sits and they go through the entire board. It is painstaking. They spend a tremendous amount of time. And the best thing, which I believe Lee has added, is that questions can be asked that are then answered at the next meeting. If there are questions, the various members of the administrative staff will go away. They will come back. And if the community is not aware, it's because they're not attending. So, I would encourage everyone to go to these meetings. They're all open
118to the public. >> Thank you. Would you like a 30? >> Sure. The other thing I would add is that while our budget season officially kicks off in on a Friday in January, I'd say like right now that I didn't realize until I got on the board is that they are the administration's actually thinking of the budgets they want. Like they're already in their minds talking to the teachers, the staff, and prepping to come to the board. And I think it's also it would be great for the public to know that it does start this early. So if there's things that come to them, they can reach out to board members. >> Thank you. All right. So I have two more questions left. >> You all are so spot-on tonight that we're way the heck
119ahead. So I'm going to take a point of privilege and I'm going to change the format on this next question >> and give each of you one minute. >> Nice. >> So we can stretch the time out a little bit and you can actually have maybe a longer discussion. Okay. All right, Mr. Harrington, you're first. So, timers, that would be one minute for all candidates. Uh, okay. Mr. Harrington, there is a policy for handling concerns from parents about books in the schools. Does the policy work or not? Would you change anything? And if so, what would you change? >> Yes. Sorry. [clears throat] So, um there is a policy uh for this. I would not change that policy and if I've ever had a I think if we have a sort of a a moving
120position on any evolution on this, we should own it. I have on this issue. Um I was shown some pictures a year and a half ago, maybe a little bit longer ago, about the now infamous uh the the the the library display. I didn't personally care for some of those pictures. Um that's not the point. Who am I to decide if a book should be banned or not banned? Um, students have choice inside the school, outside the school. And so there is a robust way to evaluate this. I do not think the board of education should get on that slippery slope and start deciding which books are in the library and which books are out of the library. If my view has evolved on that, I will own it and say my initial view was
121wrong. >> Thank you, M. Carl, I think for me as a parent, um especially of children that are in the elementary age, um I do have concerns with certain things being in books that might not be age appropriate for them. And I do think that it would be important for the parents to really have a say in that matter if there's things that are really against the way that they feel as parents. That's all. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Frankle. >> Yeah, I don't think I need a minute on this one either. Um, I'm not in favor of book banning. I don't think anybody on this stage is. Uh, there clearly the library doesn't stock every book published whether it's appropriate or not. So, the schools have to make common sense decisions about
122what's age appropriate and what's not. Um, and sometimes, you know, there could be respectful disagreements about those issues. Some of those uh books a couple years ago were very provocative and it wasn't just that they were in the library, but they were um uh but they were emphasized and shown on pedestals to uh encourage students to read the most provocative and potentially agent appropriate material. But your question was about process and policy and I think our policy uh is adequate. I wouldn't make any changes to it that I could think of offhand if people have objections to any of that material. Um there's a set procedure on how to make those objections uh heard and known and um and for decisions to be made about that. >> Thank you, Miss Hopson. I have some cognitive
123dissonance with this because I know we as um a board of ed we can as Westport we can control kind of our board of ed but some of our curriculum textbooks are being um recommended by the state. So there's just some kind of weird funky stuff that I haven't really kind of reconciled yet. Um but you know with anything we just kind of have to follow the process and what's happening right now. Um, we want to stay within our lanes within within our framework. Um, but we also want to make sure that, uh, the board of ed is working closely with our superintendent to make sure that if there are any books in in the library or curriculum that that they've actually been vetted. Um and uh it doesn't mean yes or no but so
124that you know those who really uh are able to oversee these these books have can say the pros the cons you know when or not to actually use these uh books. >> Thank you Miss Tolland. >> So this is actually a topic I'm really passionate about. Um, my slogan is for every child and part of that is that every child should come into school and see themselves in the curriculum and see themselves in the books in the library. And I think the policy worked. Um, I understood that some people were uncomfortable with it, but there was some kids that really needed those books. Um, and I think that they are vetted. They're vetted by our librarians, and we have excellent, we have top-notch librarians, and we need to trust them. and these were books that
125were recommended by the Library Association of America. Um, there's a reason why they were in our libraries and I was happy to see that the policy worked. >> Thank you, Miss Harris. My background is in children's publishing and when I left full-time work, I was the ghost writer of about 40 children's books. When I got to Westport, most of the work that I did initially was creating book drives and also finding funding to put books not only in Westport's libraries and classrooms, but also in um partner programs in Bridgeport. So to say that I've spent my entire adult life putting books in the hands of kids is not an exaggeration. So book banning of any sort is the absolute antithesis of everything that I stand for. And to answer the direct question about the policy,
126there is a very robust policy as revised by the current superintendent that allows any parent to make a list of whatever books, whatever authors, whatever series they don't want their kids to have, but that does not give that parent the right to be subjective and tell my kids what they can and can't get access to. As a final note to something that Abby said, what a lot of people miss is that the ALA, the um ban book program, it's actually a marketing program. So when towns get really hot and bothered about the whole ban this book program, it's actually doing exactly what they want. It's like getting super crazy about Nike and just do this. It's all marketing guys. Let's let them do their work. >> Thank you, Miss Horton. >> Sure. um it was
127a contrived experience by the ALA but I will say that I am in support of the board of ed policy because if I think without the policy you would just have the ability that the schools wouldn't have the ability to manage the books in their libraries and I think that's important and to be clear books have been pulled from the Westport public schools the public school libraries are different from the public libraries um I think the policy worked well I I really I so dislike how it was called banned books because I felt like it immediately squashed any kind of conversation the community could have and I think it would have been a really valuable conversation to have and that was disappointing. One good thing that came out of the uh thing that happened a
128couple years ago is that we learned that the librarians followed the ALA and they put the books out and they dared the kids to read them but they didn't read them themselves. So now before the librarians encourage all the kids to read the books, it is required that they read the books themselves as well. >> Thank you. Um I'll offer it. Would anyone like a 30 second? >> Yeah, I brought up the very deliberative term of banning books. In the summer when the Republican had a nominating committee, I was asked directly by one of the people on that Republican nominating committee, why had I not done more to vote against certain books in the library? Um I'm not running as a Republican. running as an affiliated uh um candidate, but there is pressure. I felt
129the pressure to answer a certain way when it came to um showing discontent about some of that content. I don't like that. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Mr. Frankle, >> I'd like to respond to that to the extent uh you might be suggesting that I running as a Republican uh is under any pressure to do anything that I think is not in the best interests of students. Nobody tells me or any of the other candidates uh from our party what um what positions to take or not take. So, >> did they ask you about it in the meeting? >> Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Yeah, the Republican Town Committee has never told me to take a position or not take a position. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay, we're doing well, [laughter] but we're gonna go
130back to the old format because I have to be done by 8:30. >> What time does the library close? [laughter] >> I'm very nervous. >> All right. Uh, Miss Zukaro, you get the one minute on this. And we're going to go back to the one minute and then 30 cent 30 30 cent hello 30 second rebuttals um or statements. All right, Miss Zukaro, the ch the changes to school start times have raised other challenges. What are the challenges and how would you address them? you know, I'm not really certain of the challenges that were, you know, there's some that were all in agreement that we're understanding, but I think overall there's going to be a very big learning curve for me as a potential member of the board of education. And uh with that learning
131curve, I will put in my first, you know, dedication and um putting in my best foot forward to learning and trying to make sure that any challenges that come our way because there will be will be set forth with the best interests of all of our students. >> Thank you, Mr. Frankle. Yeah, this issue is a perfect example of um something where the board has to make tough decisions where we can't uh we can't um get uniform agreement uh satisfy all the people all the time. Um research is very very clear that later start times benefit students. There's a sleep crisis. Kids are under enormous pressure. There's no question about that research. But it's obviously disruptive when you have working parents um that whose schedules revolve around taking their kids to school. You have to
132listen to the uh to the community and you have to do the best job you can balancing those sometimes competing uh interests. >> Thank you, Ms. Hobson. >> Yeah. Uh when my husband and I moved here in 2018, it just so happened that Sagatuck Elementary start time really worked well with us as working parents. Um and as Andy mentioned, it's hard to balance all of these factors. Uh but we just want to make sure for myself that regardless of the school starts time that it really does not affect the student or the teachers or the logistics because they are the most important. >> Thank you, Miss Tollen. Well, I wouldn't go back to a really early start time for the high school students because I think the as Andy said, the research is very clear.
133Um, and I saw how difficult it was with my own children. Um, but I am open to uh discussing the the bell times and uh see if we can revamp them. >> Thank you, Miss Harris. >> I was in excuse me, my PTA president 1.0 uh time period when this was coming through. uh a brilliant woman named Christine Myers Shatz and also Dr. Nikki Village were coming week after week after week and talking about the brain science and I was actually living that in my own home where I had a middle schooler who was always up at 5:00 in the morning. Suddenly I was shaking her out of bed every morning. She was exactly li that was really 30 seconds. >> Sorry. >> Oh, am I done? >> You 15 seconds. >> Okay, thank you.
134Um, but I do appreciate the fact that when the high schoolers got moved down, the elementary schoolers got moved up, which really did screw with a lot of working parents, and the only way to fix this is more money. And the only way to fix this is to create another fourth bus tier. And I don't know that we as a town are willing to do that right now. But I have seen that in Greenwich repealing their earlier start times for the elementaryaries and giving later to the high school, it's really affecting their kids, and I wouldn't want to go there. >> Thank you. Uh, Miss Harden. >> So, the start times for the high school to start the school later was really beneficial. I think to work in for the for the elementary, I think
135it impacted them the most. They started later. For the working parents, it was harder. I think it's important that we continue to try to have partnerships with places in town that can possibly have before school programs that the kids can be dropped off at. I know that some families take advantage of that. Um, >> okay. Thank you, Mr. Harrington. 30 seconds. Yeah, I've already said on the board that I think we need to relook at this. It came up in during the uh the transportation question when there's just too short a gap between the elementary tier buses and the high school tier buses. So, we have to spend more money because of that uh because there just isn't enough time flexibility. When Ukan made the start time change, they put extra dollars into their transportation.
136The prior board of education didn't do that here. So I don't think we need to go back to what we had before, but I do think a modest shift can not only keep some of the benefits we had about a later high school, but also will enable us to to basically have even more efficiencies in transportation going forward. So I think we should look about it and we should start looking about it in the next 12 months. >> Thank you. All right. So because we have been so efficient this evening, I'm going to give you all one minute for your closings instead of 30 seconds. >> What a very succinct 30 second point. >> The first person to uh to do the closing will be Miss Zukaro. >> Um so with that, I believe my
137experiences as a working mother, a professional, and a community member have prepared me to contribute meaningfully to the board of fed. I'm committed to listening, learning, and making informed decisions that will reflect the needs and voices of our students, teachers, and families. Most importantly, I bring the same dedication and determination I apply in my home and my career to this role to help ensure every child in our district has the opportunity to thrive. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Frankle. >> I'm going to go off script and and and just make some observations. Um, I think one of the things that's nice about tonight is it really illustrates what I said at the beginning, which is all of us have a lot more in common when it comes to our kids. Um, and there's there's
138no need for partisan bickering, for relitigating past disputes. Robert, I'm sorry, but I don't think people want to relitigate the soccer uh issue and talk about soccer uh endlessly in this election. And I think we want to work together as collaborators with the administration with proper oversight. I see Lee Goldstein uh in the audience. Uh Lee and I disagree on lots of things over the years, but we could work together and have a civil discussion. Abby and I had a terrific night the other night uh meeting each other, meeting uh supporters. Um and we found lots of areas of agreement and disagreement. I promise to provide a thoughtful approach uh and the commitment and motivation um to do what's best for our kids. >> Thank you, Miss Hopson. Boy, do you guys have a hard
139job, huh? You have eight highly electable uh high-profile people who really love Westport and will stay till midnight to talk about really critical important issues. I hope when you come to the voting booth that uh like my family, they're all registered Democrats and I'm the only Republican in my family, but they're here standing because they love me. Uh but they I hope you all see that um you choose a candidate who the shared values and you understand that what we're trying to do is really trying to make uh Westport as excellent as possible. Um, I believe in strong relationships and strong communities. Um, I'm for families, communities, schools. Um, the student, uh, voice, um, and the student perspective is my number one priority. Um, it's how I live my life. Um, and I want to
140role model that out to my daughter. Um, and knowing that she can do whatever she wants to do, um, in Westport. So, thank you. So, I'm going to go off script, too. Um, I want to say that it's been a deep privilege to work on the board, and I look forward to continuing on the board. I come to the board with deep knowledge of education. I understand kids. Um, but more importantly, I understand how to listen. I come to it with an open mind. Um, I come to it with critical thinking. And while I think it's really valuable to have somebody on the board who has great special ed experience as as and regular ed experience, I also think it's important to have a publisher or a lawyer and I think diverse ideas are what
141makes a board good. So I appreciate the other voices and um I look forward to serving another four years on the board. >> Thank you, Miss Harris. >> I'm going on script and putting on my glasses and I think that means Abby likes me and Abby I like you too. So, we're all here for one reason, and that's because we believe in exceptional public schools. But our kids only get one shot at their education, and they deserve a board that gets it right the very first time. In some ways, our board of ed has lost its way. It's confused motion with action, and it's failed in some of its most basic job, which is providing meaningful oversight in it of the administration. The result, unfortunately, has been some erosion of trust, a lack of transparency,
142and costly reactive decisions. I'm not a politician, but I am someone who spent 15 years rolling up my sleeves for this district. I've done this work quietly, collaboratively, and without seeking any praise because it's not about me. It's about preserving the excellence of Westport's public schools. So, my message is simple. It's time to restore balance and accountability. If you want steady, accountable leadership that stands up for our students, supports our teachers and staff, and works respectfully across lines to deliver better outcomes, I ask for your vote on November 4th. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Horton. >> So, thank you everyone who's um stayed and listened to all of our answers. It's also been extremely informative to listen to all of your answers and a privilege to be up here with everyone and a privilege
143to have served on the board for the last four years. Um, I think I've been a strong board member. I show up. I've been effective. I listen. I take decisions very seriously. Um, I'm thoughtful. And, um, I think we have a lot of good things going on in the schools we live in. We have excellent schools. We have excellent kids. And, um, I also work collaboratively really well with everyone. And I have great respect for everyone on the board who takes the time as a volunteer and stays at meetings till 12:00 a.m. sometimes and we say good morning to everyone. Um, and I humbly ask for your vote and hope to see you guys on the board. >> Thank you, Mr. Harrington. >> Thank you, and thank you for the league for hosting tonight. Um,
144I think there's a lot of strong, genuinely strong talent on the stage, so I think Westport voters are lucky to be able to make such strong choices. Um, I've loved being on the board for the last four years. I haven't got everything right and hopefully I own it when I get it wrong. My wife, who is a preschool teacher in, uh, in Westport uh, for many years, uh, is the first to tell me when I come home from a board of ed meeting that I judge the room wrongly or got the tone wrong. And so, uh, I listen very very carefully. Um, I'm I'm disappointed I'm not running with Dory this year, but I'm proud to have served with her for the last four years. And I really hope she gets back on the board.
145I will be voting for her. I'm the only other candidate that will be voting in this election, not just for myself, but for a Republican and two Democrats, Jody and Steven Shackleford as well. I'm really proud to to really vote for the person and not just a political party. Um, my name will not be on the ballot, as I said at the opening of this. I've told you my priorities. If you want to keep me asking tough questions on this board and holding our superintendent to account, which I think he's a great great leader, but he needs strong oversight. It will make him and the schools better. You need to write in my name. I respectfully ask you to do that. Fill in the bubble and write Robert Harrington on line 5F. Thank you. Thank
146you. So the biggest applause ever, please. [applause] So Westport, you are incredibly fortunate in all of the candidates that have been up here this evening. You folks were just incredible, as were the other people who were up here. You're lucky at the caliber of the candidates, the dedication. You're incredible, all of you. And personally, thank you so much for putting yourself out to run for office and to serve this lovely town. Um, I want to thank all of you [applause] for being here this evening and all of you at home for um for taking the time to become educated, which is certainly one of the main goals of the League of Women Voters, to educate voters. Now, I want you to all get out and vote. Uh, and please encourage others to do so. I
147did not know this, but Westport broke the record in 1997. You had a 56% municipal turnout. Wow. Trumble should get half of that. We'd be thrilled. So, congratulations to all of you. Best of luck to all of you. And thank you very much. Safe trip home. [applause] >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you.