001welcome to tonight's special Bo meeting rise to of the United States of America the repic stands one nation indivisible Mee mogn com issues matters there are reminders discuss invation the only reason I wanted to come up is I was sent this from Facebook this is Ono committee okay and it says show support for a a democratic process and better candidates than the good old boy choice to me this causes division when it comes to school board decisions should not depend on if you're a Republican or Democrat depend on caring about our kids quality of Education that that politics get our kids educated get productive to be productive citizens they need vision is not it's not that's all I wanted to address thank you thank you all right interview process Mr sarian ourne Mr Mo uh
002in terms of that I believe the board has the okay and if you would announce that good morning evening before you get started um just let everybody know I I wanted to tell the candidates indivually we're going to all be asking the questions and we're just going to go down through each question and take our turn so um and you can talk to all of us all right with that in mind I get the opportunity to ask very first question and thanks for joining us tonight what qualities or strengths do you have that will make you an asset raise a school board and how you view your role as a board thank you first and foremost I am invested in the community schools as a parent of two young children I am President elect of
003the hilltop Neighborhood House directors I've gone through Porter County's first things first strosacker Early Learning fellowship and I have spent over 14 years in higher education I also have a lot ofre I understand the value of quality education in the community and the impact education has on a child's life by aligning my vested interest as a mother in the Vel school district and bringing my experiences with higher education advocacy Community engagement I believe this would be a natural position where I can contribute to accomplishing the goals and strategies that ultimately measure continued success for schools as for my view as a role as a board member I believe it is our role to act as a truly representative body for citizens in all men matters related to programs and operations it is our responsibility to
004maintain open communication with with our community members and to hear aspirations and concerns about our community schools ensuring good governance within the school system establishing policies that are evidence-based sound and transparent for school system employees students and the community members I see this function as an important duty of my role as a potential School Board member it's not about individual agendas or political affiliations it's about with and for everyone to make sure we're doing what's best for our current students and our future students in this community Kelly thank you um I want to thank all 14 candidates that we had apply we had 14 outstanding candidates you know but I think four exemplary candidates Kelly thank you for being here what is your vision of a working relationship between the school board and the school
005superintendent great question I believe that strong schools are the foundation of a Vibrant Community and a key part of that working relationship is understanding that the role and responsibilities of the board differ from that of the superintendent and that the school board does not operate the schools working with the superintendent to set a strategic plan for the school system and to Ure academic achievement advances for all students is the highest priority and responsibility as a board member followed by holding the superintendent accountable for the execution of such good evening policies will be proposed that teachers parents and the community do not agree what will you consider and be influenced by before voting on any proposed policies thanks very as a school board M making decisions on proposed policy requires careful consideration and a commitment to
006representing the best interests of the students teachers parents and community members first thing for me to consider is the educ educational impact of the proposed policy ver and foremost how does it affect student learning how does it affect educational outcomes how does it align with our our District's educational goals our priorities that are set in place and then also understanding that the board may not be experts on the topic um we need to hear from those experts whether that be the superintendent the teachers our stakeholders and maybe even the state of the thank good evening Kelly and welcome thank you for coming question number four when Bisal School renewed its operating referendum did you support or not support its renewal and why and did you have a role in the process so I did support
007this Bel braal schools operating referendum in both 2015 and again in 2022 for the renewed operating referendum I did not have a role in either one of those processes I supported the referendum because it allowed for future continued improvements in our schools and to remain among the best schools in State Indiana I believe we are a community with great pride in the quality of our school system we see people moving here from Illinois and other parts of the state of Indiana because of that quality the referendums allowed for more flexibility to keep our class sizes low for more curriculum offerings and more career path choices for our students alongside the staffing needs this is why I supported the referend I Echo what Dr Mall stated the real winner was the valko community Anthony what strategies
008do you see as necessary to preserve student retention at PCS absolutely I look at three different things when I think of retention number one is hiring the best teachers we can about the school district number two is to give those students the resources they need to be effective and successful and third to provide an environment conducive to learning which happens to be that both referendums had a positive impact on all three of those areas thankfully uh but by fostering a culture of lifelong learning for both our students and our Educators I believe we can adapt to the evolving needs in our society and our community and prepare all of these students for the challenges of the future th I think we can retain our students in the school district because of that quity keep them
009in our community Kelly question number six please be honest two areas of strength two areas of concern you have schools how will you address these if you are so the top two things that came to mind when I saw this question for strengths for academic excellence and community involvment number one academic Excellence I think we all know in this room where that comes from we have consistently demonstrated commitment to academic success for our nearly 6,500 students that we have here with High student achievement and a strong academic reputation including graduation R we have a dedicated team of Educators administrators who can contribute to all of that success of our students resulting in being ranked in the state and then with Community involvement I think we are very prideful community and that's great uh we see
010so much active community members here so many um they are engaged in school activities they provide additional resources for us and they have a sense of unity and pride in our school system but to the tough side of your question two concerns um the first two that came to mind were school safety as a parent and number two providing equal access to education um school safety I think we all are aware of that and it's all on top of our minds as parents in this school system that we need to have a safe and supportive environment in order to have the well-being for our students and our staff and it those back to Mr M's question about retention number two providing equal access the reason I thought of that immediately is because we have almost
01120% of our students in the school system that are eligible to participate in the federal free and reduced price meal program and what are we doing to help those students succeed we can give them a laptop we can give them an iPad but they might not have access to WiFi for example so there's many things that we can be looking at in that aspect as well I do believe in all four of these areas that we need to have a collaborative approach and focus on the longterm and Sustainable Solutions um in order to make those successful or to change of concern into success I believe again it comes down to communication with stakeholders datadriven decision making and a commitment to continuous Improvement to guide efforts as school board members what motivated you to apply to
012serve on the B old school board sure um my involvement in 14 plus years of higher education um extends beyond my profession responsibilities I have a personal dedication to the betterment of my community and through my various roles I have gained a deep understanding of the importance of education and that starts with prepay all the way through high school and of course higher education this knowledge positions me as a valuable advocate for policies and initiatives that support our buo community schools in order to keep a strong school system a High graduation rate in quality that is recognized throughout scho Kelly Number Eight what role do schools have in being supportive of all students what types of programs would you Champion yes I think schools play a crucial role in being supportive of all students that
013the role of schools goes beyond an academic institution and instruction um pivotal and fostering that inclusive and in supportive environment that addresses the diverse needs of all of our students some things that I thought of immediately that I I personally Champion that support inclusive education are accommodating diverse learning styles professional development for teachers so that they can enhance their skills in inclusive teaching strategies mental health and well-being awareness within the school setting diversity and cultural competence education and awareness then lastly uh family engagement programs and Community Partnerships that enhance the overall wellbeing of our schs anony if appointed as a school board member how would you address gender identity I think number one approaching gender identity with sensitivity empathy and a commitment to inclusivity can contribute to a school environment where all students feel accepted
014and supported making sure the stud the superintendent is given the resources to also regularly assess the effectiveness of any current or future initiatives and then on the flip side being open to feedback from students parents and our Educators and thank you ell question number 10 U towards which programs or resources would you like to see more funds devoted in the context of allocating funds I believe it's important to recognize the expertise of Educators administrators and specialists in the field I always defer to The Experts um I might not be one of them on that specific issue and I would love to make sure that those experts are there to ensure that the allocation of funds align with the Practical needs of the classroom and the broader educational environment and priorities this approach promotes collaborative decision
015making and increases the likelihood of success outomes for our students and then also how would you better identify and address issues of our students great question I think it comes down to regular assessment because we know it's an Ever Changing world and we need to always look and be able to change and adjust based on ongoing and new strategies that we find they're based based on our also evolving needs our students our students are different whether it's every year every decade we have different challenges but we need to make sure we are holistically and effectively addressing the mental health issues in our community based on all of these new things that we see can't be the same thing and number 12 tell us about a teacher coach or School administrator who had a positive lasting
016impact on your life and to think back a little bit on this one um I thought of my high school volleyball coach first um he had tremendous enthusiasm for learning um on the court and in the classroom um he instilled in me a love for lifelong learning he instilled me on the understanding of the importance of diverse perspectives and his support and belief in me led me to succeeding in the classroom first of all but also as team captain as an adult looking back on that so thanks for that question I realized he also was teaching me patience confidence and how to overcome challenges with Grace so thank you for thank you for those and Li but before we move further is there anything you know we would hate as a group that you went
017home and I at 2: morning woke up in the middle of the night you know well wish I wish I could have told him this I wish they would have asked this or what do what don't we know that it's your chance to bring I mean that's tough on the spot right but we want we we want you to have your chance that there's you know no missed opportunities so well I I feel great about the information I gave you in my application um and today I I just wanted to say thank you to each of you for taking the time um I just appreciate the opportunity being here being an advocate for students and higher education and quality education in our community I just really appreciate thank you any other questions com promise I'm
018good all right well we appreciate you coming thank you app for at your pleasure I would like to go get our next candidate yes please good evening cyber cyber Cy um this will take 30 minutes around it's a open discussion as long as you like to questions um I'll be asking the first one and then we'll go down and the others will ask the following questions come back so um first question is what qualities or strengths do you have that will make you an asset about raise a school board and now you view your role as a board member okay thank you so much um I come at this opportunity from multiple points of view I do have a master's degree in education I have a teaching background in val perzo schools at multiple levels
019from kindergarten through high school and different subjects and different buildings for 20 years I was in B schools I was an extracurricular adviser for speech and debate team for the Builder club and I was an administrator's wife for over 40 years and uh that was an interesting point of view because uh as you all know being an administrator is difficult some days and very very rewarding other days so I got to see head of both sides of that I am a parent and I raised two children in the VCS um system my husband John and I have four children now in and they're all in administration education Administration two in the area in Crown Point and two in the Indianapolis area um very different school system so when we get together we talk about education
020and we can hear kind of what's going on throughout the state um I have a lot of past and current experience with individuals in education systems both in bzo and Statewide at multiple levels um with our personal children as I just mentioned I also go every Wednesday I go to Ben Franklin Middle School and I am a mentor in the girls Women program with seventh grade girls this is a part of our greater good um I am on the circle of IV guiding Circle through IV Tech I am a Statewide membership chair of that and on the executive board the purpose of the guiding circle is to remove barriers to um completion of education degrees so that's what we work toward um I'm a Community member and collaborator on multiple projects including Val PLO one
021Val PLO 2 the skate park lounder and friends that just opened um I've presented love and logic parenting classes in the classroom as well as love and Logic for the teacher to kind of um have consistency between home and school and um as a board member I I think coming from different points of view you have to look at issues from so many points of view you have to consider so many issues when making decisions and I I think that will be a strength that I can bring to that prilla is that K let's go by K I said now everybody in town knows my name is Priscilla let's get funny what is your vision of a working relationship between the school board and the school superintendent okay this is an interesting one for me
022um I I see the superintendent as the CEO of the corporation the superintendent as the CEO reports to the board the superintendent manages day-to-day operations of personnel curriculum budget facilities Etc the superintendent seeks board approval as needed particularly if there are new policies and guidelines from the state if you're doing new construction um issues of and budget I think that the board has to be very um much aware of those things and has to give advice and approval obviously um the board approves and votes on policies and Personnel issues sought by the superintendent as well as state mandates that must be implemented the board evaluates the superintendent's performance and signs a contract with him or her in this case in this district is yeah the board expresses the voice of the community as well I'm
023sure you get many calls and comments from the community and um you can screen those evaluate those and bring those into your decision making as well I think the relationship between the school superintendent and the Board of Education needs to be a very close relationship that is open transparent communicative and respectful on both sides policies will be proposed that teachers parents and the community do not agree what you consider and be influenced by before voting on any proposed policies okay that's that's a very important question and it's very important for us to remember that vzo Community Schools is a public school corporation and we need to when we're making decisions about anything whether it's curriculum or emotional issues or budgeting or anything we need to look at core values that apply to all of us
024in all situations and um our core values have to be a litness test for every decision that comes up um we need to do this with Integrity we need to have high expectations we need respect for all we need to consider safety the community and every decision should be student centered those are the core values of the valkar of school system in which I agree I would thoroughly research myself policies and proposals related to the issue at hand I would re research best practices uh throughout the state in other districts or dealing with specific issues I would talk to experts in the field to see their opinions and their um strengths weaknesses advantages disadvantages whatever it is we're talking about I would allow stakeholder input I think we have various mechanisms through public comment through
025the suggestion box on the website Etc so I think we need to listen to our stakeholders as well I would ignore personal bias political pressure and undo influence from interest groups he you're welcome thank you for coming tonight thank you question number four when B appraisal schools renewed its operating referendum did you support or not support its renewal and why and did you have a role in the process okay um in looking at the referenda we've had two that I've been able to be a part of I was completely Hands-On for the May 2015 I worked at the phone banks that we had at thorman tool and die I went door too trying to educate the public and get input I attended and assisted with Community presentations in May of 22 when that operating budget
026needed to be renewed for eight eight years to support and boost the operating budget of the system I was completely supportive I voted for it and I try to convince others to see the value in that thank you what strategies do you see as necessary to preserve student retention DCS okay um as I see retention first of all I thought in my mind what makes any of us stay or leave an organization or a bu school system or whatever and I see two sides to retention one is the graduation rate we want to keep kids in school we want them to graduate alpro has a very high graduation rate I think that is awesome when we're looking at graduation rate in maintaining it we need to look at academic success or failure we need to
027have supportive remediation where needed students need a sense of belonging feeling safe or unsafe having a purpose and friendships those things will keep kids in school and U hopefully work toward completion of their degree but as I said the research I looked at the graduation rate was 98% that's awesome the the other side of retention that I was thinking about is transfers in and out of the school system I think we've dealt with those over the years we've had people transfer in from school districts that they thought were inferior and they wanted greater academic opportunities at a larger School uh some have transferred out because they felt um maybe lost in a larger school and there was so much competition for sports and other extracurriculars so there you know you need to look at both
028sides of those coins if you have a large school and you want to keep kids here and not have them transfer out I think you need to look at how they can belong how they can be a part of things how they can have a purpose in the building if you you have a basketball team and only 10 or 20 kids out of over 2,000 can make that and you have a student who just loves basketball which I ran into one time he didn't make the team and he said that's it I don't care I don't want to come back to school anymore I'm done so you know is there a way to make that student still feel a part of something to help you know help them I think that's a part of the
029staying here and not transferring to someplace else um I think some people see this a smaller school might offer opportunities to participate and get involved um but we could look at other ways to have maybe a school within a school or something to to reduce that size issue if it is an issue question number six K is and this is kind of look type question that's scary name two areas of strength I mean as a school system we need to look in the mirror name two areas of strength and two are concern for Val Community Schools how will you address these if you are appointed okay I think that valo schools have um a lot of strengths it's an award-winning academic reputation with a high graduation rate I think we have a um safe environment
030for the most part I think um in our community we have a decent socioeconomics um status though obviously there's room for uh help in the community for for some who need it uh we have a we are a large school we have many opportunities both academic offerings and extracurricular activities um so we have the ability to meet the new needs of students with many diverse needs you know we have challenging coursework for the high Achievers to programs for students with special needs I think another strength is the there is very good vertical articulation from the elementary to the middle school and the middle school to the high school I think that provides consistency in learning and um is it is a strength for the for the um students I think we have state-of-the-art facilities due
031to the referenda that we passed it was amazing what happened to the facilities here and so I think that's a definite straight um so Velo is very very strong but as any of us as an individ idual or organization we can always find opportunities for improvement so I don't see too many weaknesses I but I think that we can always open our eyes and look and listen and find opportunities for improvement as I said there are there's a lot of competition for extracurriculars it's a large school corporation there are many opportunities at times um for students while some other students may fall through the cracks some of the just really great kids middle of the road not high enough to make some of the um extracurricular teams and not low enough to get special needs
032assistant I think those kids in the middle that would be a good place to take a look and and see if we could have some new other programs number seven what you to okay I um obviously am very passionate about this school system about education in general and I have thought about the school board uh but if you look at um my life in the past couple of years first of all when I retired it would not have been appropriate or probably not legal for me to be on the school board when my husband was superintendent so that eliminated those years then in 2018 he got very very sick um and just as he retired in June he ended up in the hospital in July and had passed away by November so at that time
033I was going through some personal challenges grieving rewing my life so that was not a good time to apply either but now this seems the timing is right the timing is good I feel I have skills that could be useful in helping to guide and maintain a quality school system I'm passionate about education this challenging World often um requires a calming voice sometimes and I think I can help with communication and compromise and difficult situations and decisions I'm generally for the most part pretty good with um bridge building and communication when there's a stale made um and as I said the timing is right when it was not in previous years okay question number eight what Ro do schol SCH have and being supportive of all students what type of programs would you Champion okay
034um there are many opportunities I see for high Achievers we have IB programs we have AP programs we have speech and debate we have Science Olympiad we have many many great opportunities for high Achievers we have many accommodations for students who are struggling we have remediation we have 504 plans we have monitoring we have tutors and mentors Etc as I said earlier if we want to meet the needs of all students I think we need to look a little closer and this is just my opinion look a little closer at the B and C average great kids who work so hard but maybe don't qualify for academic scholarships or special classes average income May eliminate them from maybe just too much to get scholarships and and or too yeah too much to get get scholarships
035and too little to to receive any subs subsidies um so I think we need to take a look at all students in the system and see how they can all fit in how they can all belong and as I said if we consider something like a school in a school if we have a way to make every student be a part of something they don't all have to be a part of the same thing but they could be a part of something if appointed as a school board member how would you address gender identity okay this is a a topic that is receiving a lot of discussion right now um I think we have to remember that we are governed by the US Department of Education and we need to follow Title 9 ruling for
036students in schools which receive federal funding those things require us to provide a safe secure environment IR M for all that is supportive and respectful of all students personal opinion or biases cannot be used when making policy in these decisions public schools are governed by and must follow US Department of Education regulations they include the right to be free from discrimination safe spaces particularly in bathrooms and locker rooms those are very vulnerable areas um bathrooms particularly that's always bothered me it's very hard to monitor we all know they're vulnerable you can't put cameras in there because of privacy and you don't have the staff to monitor everyone so I think finding some way to deal with that situation having a safe bathroom a safe space having sa safe spaces as I said offer opportunities for
037support groups or counseling when needed maintain privacy and confidentiality of medical records or counseling sessions that may happen I think it would be good to provide staff training and policies to help guide School staff in ways to support and communicate with families uh we need to have equal opportunities for all but also equal expectations for all uh dress code must be followed by all students and um that's in the handbook so no matter what you're doing whether it's the way you dress or whatever you need to follow the guidelines and your address should not be a hindrance to the learning environment the consequences of not following these guidelines by Doe could include and probably does bullying harassment discrimination and at times an individual may have multiple forms of discrimination U simultaneously they may have race
038gender and disability all at the same time making them feel feel unsafe insecure unwanted and hinder their ability to thrive in a school setting um they may also have decreased attendance lower attendance rates so I think following those doe guidelines we could make a safe safe place for all okay question number 10 toward which programs or resources would you like to see more funds devoted okay um I think for professional and College Bound students in a changing world with um Ai and other technological advances in science Etc I would like to see continued and maybe increased funding of steam programs and um higher level thinking programs for the students who need that I think the career center is a tremendous asset in this County and in this school system I would like to see that
039um maintained and maybe increase the capacity as well as the offerings if possible they have a great um working operation with ibtech and the business Community i' I'd like to see that grow more as well I think with all of the things that we talk about with mental health issues the gender um identity issues just all the things that kids are going through I think we need more social workers and not counselors who just have to spend the bulk of their time scheduling students for college classes that's needed too but we need social workers who can help with increasing mental health needs number 11 how would you better identify and address the mental issues of our students that's good timing the mental health issues I think may be the greatest issue facing not only our
040schools but our society it's is a very very difficult time we need to try to maintain safety and dignity at all at for all and as I said we need increased social workers and support systems um in most rooms we sit including this one it's very likely that we have the potential to have individuals who are going through depression or anxiety or other issues that are not outwardly visible it's very very sometimes difficult to know what a person is going through and to identify those mental health issues they have inner struggles such as depression anxiety and Etc they need support to help deal with that internal pain that they're going through we have other issues with overt struggles antisocial Behavior autism and OCD and bipolar um problems that they need counseling but they need more
041significant intervention at times for their safety as well the safety of others in the classroom and in the school and in the workplace while identifying these issues can be difficult at times we must create an environment that is supportive of those dealing with challenges as well as maintaining a positive learning environment for other students um we need to create a way to make a school within a school maybe that is already happening I don't know but I think i' I've seen programs where um there's something like an advisory time or a viking time that maybe start as a freshman or start as a sixth grader and that same group of kids would stay with the same teacher for all three years or all four years becomes like a family that teacher could say you know
042you don't look like you feel well today looks like something's going on you have somebody who knows you especially in a big school um I think also mainstreaming is a priority when feasible and appropriate however sometimes the controlled environment is required to protect the individual who has mental health issues as well as other students in the classroom um results of ignoring mental health concerns can be catastrophic from suicide to substance abuse to aggressive behavior that can hurt others okay number 12 tell us about a teacher a coach or a school admin who had a positive lasting impact on your life okay well I'm a very very blessed person I will tell you that and so for me this question is twofold obviously Rick fasha a school administrator had a great impact on my life from
043the time I was 22 he helped to shape me Teach Me Guide Me and helped me grow into um an active Community person he was smart he was knowledgeable he was fiercely supportive of kids and teachers he researched every topic so thoroughly before making a decision but greatest of all he had courage of his convictions it's hard sometimes as you sit in your seats or in the superintendent's seats you get a lot of push back you and and Rick would say to me you know what's right you know what's wrong but you have to have the courage to make it happen to stand up and make things happen um he was courageous to his last breath and was still fighting for and celebrating Belo schools in the hospital and so this the second side of
044the coin as I said this was a very difficult time for me and so I had to kind of regroup so my second Mentor the director of the park Department sort of parallels the school system uh John cyber is strong smart knowledgeable he's man who thoroughly researched every option before implementing or making in any decisions relating to the valko parts department on a personal note John was like a brother to Rick he supported him to the very end of his life while caregiving his own wife who was dying of cancer at the same time he supported us throughout those months often driving to Indianapolis to read to pray for and talk to Rick while simult simultaneous telling me go try and find some relaxation take a walk get some lunch do something so up on
045the death of both Rick and Ren we were left there we were friends we had been friends for the four of us for 30 35 years and they were gone so I said you want to sit on the patio and talk would we like to have dinner and um you know John brought me back it to Faith which I had deviated ated from a little bit and that's helped me with resilience it's helped me move on he is courageous as well I've tried to help him and so he's the other hero in my life or you are approximately 26 minutes into the interiew well we're going to give you a chance at the end for your final final comments but I I wanted to ask a question that is is there anything that we didn't
046asked that you wanted to tell us I don't want you to wake up at 2:00 in the morning and say I wish I I wish they would have asked this just so we know um here's your chance even if you're baging you know we want you to make sure to feel like you were your chance so is this the final comments this is the final comments per se is there anything else we should have asked that you would like to brag on or talk about or tell us um I don't know I don't know what that would be uh I would like to tell you about my time at Ben Franklin as a Spanish teacher um it's interesting how I ended up there um in 1995 uh Rick was a administrator here at central office
047and he was having to cut teachers Rift teachers he said if you will go to the middle school I can save an elementary position so I've been working at TJ Elementary with young students who had reading problems and needed remediation and I had to go to the middle school with really big kids who had to have a B+ average to be in my class so I had to go from helping kids who were struggling to helping or working with kids who were very very bright and that I was scared I was nervous but it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life so I you know I I don't know if that's what you wanted to hear but but it it was a hard decision and a hard time for me
048but turned out to be great I loved it in the end any other questions any other questions from the board okay okay I want to thank you for the opportunity to participate in the interview process this process allowed me to revisit my core beliefs and my philosophy of education while testing the their alignment with the VCS um core values I'm happy to say they were very closely aligned I'm honored to be considered in conjunction with three other very qualified candidates with whom I currently serve on other boards and committees as well and I can tell you they're all good and have great follow through uh education continues to be an important part of my life currently I remain active in multiple initiatives to support children families and education at all levels as I said I
049currently serve as a girls to women Mentor at BF with seventh grade girls and I I serve on the hilltop Neighborhood House board on their Early Childhood subcommittee so I'm working with that curriculum as well I serve on the state guiding Circle for circle of ivy with the goal of removing barriers from completion of the college degree so I you know you have great candidates at this round I wish you good luck when making your your selection you have so many good candidate options from which to choose if I'm called to serve in this position I will do so with the best of my ability with humility and selflessness we are vvo thank you very much with your permission our next candidate have you been here the time soad you're good I didn't want to
050yet too much so about 30 minutes that's first down the road what qualities or strengths do you have that will make you the asset ass to uise of school board and how do you do your role as a board member yes well thank you um again I'm excited to be here I'm Ashley Cruz uh I appreciate the opportunity and the consideration especially given just the outpouring of C again um I am someone who's committed to education not just as a policy issue but as a personal value I truly believe that education is one of the greatest equalizers of opportunities that we can provide for our children I come from a big family I'm one of five I'm actually the middle of five and so from a very young age I've developed a collaborative mindset I
051know that success is not achieved in isolation but through the efforts of a greater team and this has served me well in my personal life in academics Athletics and my career I'm also a strong analytic and strategic thinker I have my degree in informatics which has given me the tools and resources the the tools and resources um to analyze complex problems and strategic Solutions I've been solving problems in the tech sector for the past 20 years I've a proven track record of developing long-term technology plans and I feel that's a skill that's easily applied to other long-term planning I work with numerous other educational institutions I'm familiar with their technology infrastructures and their road maps I've acquired substantial experience in two critical areas that PO significant challenges for districts and that's cyber security and physical
052security I have Assist organizations in developing cyber security strategies and help them make sure that they're meeting their cyber insurance requirements I've collaborated in the development of data recovery and backup Solutions and I've been there and held it directors and boards and administrators hand when they get that challenging phone call that they have to put those actions into motion technology has also been impacting physical security and I've been working with a lot of school districts to ensure that they're safe from outside threats I understand the delicate balance of ensuring that our schools are safe and that they still feel like schools I've designed and implemented solutions for numerous districts including what has been dubbed the safest school in America I've moderated safety and planning and emergency response sessions at fortify imposium I've hosted sessions with
053cios for campus safety magazine and I presented at educational computer computer coordinators conference um on the tech advancements and how they've changed the ways that education institutions think about Safety and Security I also have strong communication and negotiation skills throughout my career I've sat in this seat and collaborated presented and negotiated with numerous boards not only School boards but Tech committees privacy committees Finance committees compliance committees and governing Boards of the private sector and as a millennial candidate the unique shared life experiences between my generation and gen Z afford me a distinct perspective this understanding positions me to advocate for educational init initiatives that address specific challenges faced by today's students including Tech integration economic uncertainties and the importance of mental health support lastly my view as a role as a board member is really
054one that promotes the educational welfare the students this means making informed decisions on budgeting facilities and infrastructure and ensuring accountability and transparency in The District Operations additionally I really think it's important to be a liaison between the community and the district understanding to the community's wants and needs and making sure that that's being incorporated into the decision making process welcome Ashley thank you uh question number two what is your vision of a working relationship between the school school board and the school superintendent so the relationship of the school board and the superintendent is really one of imbalances right they're distinct but they do complement each other and each plays a unique role in the governance of our school district the board is setting the policy and making strategic decisions while the superintendent is enforcing those
055policies and running the day-to-day operations of the district but again they complement each other the board should be taking into account the needs and wants of the community and ensuring that there's oversight and the superintendent has a deep knowledge of educational best practices and the needs and wants of the students and staff number three policies will be proposed that teachers parents and the community do not agree what will you consider and be influenced by before voting on any proposed policies great question I have spent my career effectively communicating with multiple stakeholders and understanding the needs and insurance of each group and when it comes to policies that teachers parents and the school board might not see eye to eyee on I would do or approach it in the same manner um first and foremost I
056would educate myself as much as possible I would try to gather as much information on the Propst policy and why it was being proposed I would consult experts to get their their input I would research that policy and its potential impacts I would also speak with teachers and parents and community members that are both for and against the policy to understand each of their perspectives and obviously I would consult with District leadership and after I've all that information I would weigh the potential benefits and drawbacks of that policy I think at the end of the day it's really about making the best informed decision for our students and I think as long as we're approaching this with an openness and a willingness to listen and learn we just that good evening Ashley and welcome thank
057you for coming question four when B praisal schools renewed its operating referendum did you support or not support the referendum or the ren its renewal and why and did you have a role in the process yes I supported the referendum um referendums are crucial investments in our schools it's funding that goes towards retaining our wonderful teachers and staff maintaining class sizes and making sure that our students have the individualized learning that they need to succeed I think it's really important when it comes to referendums to understand that everyone in the community regardless of whether you have students in the schools or not benefits from the success of those schools thank you what strategies do you see as necessary to preserve student retention at DCS I think when it comes to PR preserving student retention we
058really need to understand and have data on why parents or students are choosing other learning methods besides the public schools whether that be Charter Schools or at home learning um you know understanding these metrics is imperative before putting any strategies in place and I think once we have a strong understanding of those metrics and the reasons why we can start developing strategies to address that it might be based by school might be a district issue but until we have that information um there's not there's not like actual actionable items to take um one thing that I do have in mind that I've seen some other districts do is implementing a chief Communications officer um this is a role that they they help with internal and external planning content creation you know crisis Communications media relations
059branding um and it's not a role that's typically associated with K12 but I am seeing it more and more in very high-profile districts and top districts and I'm not saying that bbo doesn't have people a person or multiple people that are doing this or that they're doing it poorly I just think that if student retention is at top of mind and it is a big concern this is a potential Avenue that we can explore um because it's a position that's dedicated that has a focus on executing strategies that would then impact enrollment mention Ashley question number six name two areas of strength and two areas of concern for Val brazo Community Schools how will you address these if you are appointed no surprises here um I think it's very evident as uh witnessed by previous
060answers too BPO has a really strong academic performance I think that's why a lot of parents myself included chose to you know moveed to B they've moved here um is because of the schools we've consistently scored higher than average on our testing um St testing and we have really high graduation rates I think another really strong area is community involvement has ATT tested past um two School Board rounds we've had great number of candidates that have come forth and wanted to put an effort and um be part of the school board process I think it's evident when you go to football games or when you're at any of the kids events just how happy and enthusiastic that parents AR to be there I think if we're talking about two areas of concern or Improvement um
061as a parent of Elementary age children the growth concerns in Velo um are concerning especially on the west side of the city we have two new neighborhood developments that are coming in and we have elementary schools that already have pretty large class sizes especially when there's other schools that have significantly less so so trying to understand what a potential influx of population would look like not only on class sizes but resources um staff teachers and how that shift might need to happen over a longterm period and then Safety and Security I think it's on top of everyone's mind um especially with the threats against the high school last year and especially in the line of work that I'm in and seeing what other schools and are doing to keep their kids safe I think that
062improvements can always be made number seven what motivated you to apply to serve on the doal school board yes so education as I shared is a personal value I do really believe in equal opportunity and equal access to education I also value giving back to my community I feel like the school board is a place where I can make an impact and I also feel that I am a place in my life where I have the time the resources the skills and the experience to do so I'm also a mother I have a strong desire um to see my kids succeed and that also translates to the well-being and success of the Youth of our community Ashley number eight what role do schools have in being supportive of all students what types of programs would
063you Champion so everyone knows that schools play a pivotal role in students academic Journey but it's just as important to support our students for everything that they're going to face in the world today as they face challenges we need to be able to give our students Tools in their tool belt to face those and navigate those at on obviously the goal is that students have a parent or an adult or a mentor figure to give them supplemental tools but that's not going to be the case for all of our students and some students will reply heavily on the resources and education they're getting from the schools that being said a program that I've actually Taken part in and I've seen is a conflict resolution um program and I think this would be really really strong
064for our students especially in junior high and high school as we try to navigate a lot of these divisive topics that are very today's society these type of programs can teach communication empathy and problem solving and the positive impact that these kids receive um the resilience they'll develop and the skills everything from mediation critical um conflict analysis assertiveness flexibility at such a formative age I'm a big proponent of any type of program that promotes that type of emotional intelligence thank you if appointed as a school board member how would you address gender identity yeah so this is a very broad question and gender identity is complex in nature right it's it's a topic that we're as a society trying to navigate so these are new paths that we're forging as we're trying to figure out
065all of the things that go along with gender identity on top of that you have the political climate and the polarization of a topic like this um so when it comes to complex topics I do what I always do I try to educate myself understand what's going on what all the different perspectives are this is a school district so first and foremost we would need to make sure that any discussions we're having or any decisions that are being made about gender identity are in compliance with the law I think after that any discussions really need to be met with a respect for all students um and a respect in conversations that take place and the decisions that are made I think we also really need to understand that that we need to balance um a
066need for privacy and safety in each of these situations that might come up and that might look different from situation to situation from um child to child it it really depends and I think at the end of the day no matter what we're talking about as it relates to gender identity we need to make sure that we're providing the Comm communication and transparency around that so making sure that we're providing clear communication on how the discussion um I guess played out right and how the resolution was made and I think we need to revisit those because research is always changing political climates are always changing people's opinions are always changing so um it's just something that needs to be Revisited often as well Ashley question number 10 towards which programs or resources would you like
067to see more funds devoted yeah so I took this more as like a personal preference like what what's like my personal um thoughts and obviously I'm a big proponent for fair funding across all of our different programs but if we had a hypothetical pot of money that we you know needed to spend um I'm totally all for advocating for preschool Services there's so much research behind um early childhood education and play based learning and to be able to offer that at a public setting I think would be huge in setting up our SKS for Success I'm also a proponent for promoting um conflict resolution programs that I talked about or anything really that has to do with emotional intelligence and your social emotional learning I think the more that we can prepare of students um
068emotionally and mentally for everything they're they going to face outside outside of an academic Journey would be beneficial and outside of that um I love personally just initiatives like maker spaces and V Labs C career exploration centers outdoor classrooms anything that really breaks that traditional classroom mold for our kids how would you better identify and address the mental health issues of our students great question as I shared um as a millennial I share some unique life experiences with jenz um and I have a deep understanding of the mental health needs of the younger generations and I think When approaching this some practical steps are necessary right open and stigma-free environments making sure that we're overly communicating that that they have people to come to and they won't be judged I think Partnerships with mental health
069professionals are really important um and just as important I think integrating mental health education into our curriculum and modeling mental health behaviors by our teachers and staff for our students is so important especially because there's going to be a lot of kids who don't have that modeling at home and I think we really need to leverage technology so that the kids have access to these resources at all times and ashing number 12 tell us about a teacher coach or student administrator who had a positive lasting impact on your life yes so I love that coaches were included on this because so many of like our formidable experiences growing up um have been made by coaches and I instantly thought of coach Bob um I played softball growing up I I was pretty good I was
070really good and coach Bob was my coach and when I was about 12 or 13 years old I got ex uh invited to tr out for the travel team and it was a big deal like it was travel this was the 90s like travel teams it's not what it was like what it is today right um so my mom had the address on the paper and we went I tried out and you know I was feeling really good about it and then I didn't make the team and I was devastated and I go to practice and I'm crying a little bit and I'm whining and I'm complaining and Coach Bob's letting me get it out of my system and I'm telling him I'm like I was better than some of those girls like and I'm
071going on and on and he lets me finish and when I'm done he looks at me and he goes maybe you were better than some of those girls but that's life it's going to be unfair you have to make yourself so good that they would look like like fools not to put you on that team and I can't tell you that's been one of the greatest Gifts of my childhood because in that moment he took my destiny out of those coach's hands and he gave me my power back and so to this day um if I ever feel like I'm blaming other people or circumstances for why I don't have the life that I have or the things that I want I just think to myself make yourself so good that literally none of that
072matters thank you now we're g give you a chance for your final comments but is there anything that we didn't ask that you that we should have and here's your chance you know to right um not sure I talked a lot but I I do appreciate the opportunity um as you know this is my second round here and I've been in some phenomenal company during these interviews and I just feel very privileged and very honored to be part of this and to be considered for this SP so I appreciate or any other questions I got kind of fun on coach Bob from no thank you thanks thank you work with your permission our final candidate please craing Bush have you been here this whole time to hear me oh yeah you don't have to go
073through the protocol that's I'm I'm just going to assume I got it at this I don't have to keep talking I'm going to put a timer on because I have been known to be CH all right well good evening good even are coming what qualities or strengths do you have that will make you an asset to the bisa school board and how do you view your role as a Bo well good evening everyone and thank you for having me um um I've lived in Valpo for over 20 years we moved here for my husband's job he's in healthcare um and uh I uh have an undergraduate and a graduate degree in education but I was an educator from the very beginning of my life my sister um is younger than me and I had taught
074her to read by three years old because I was going I was the teacher in the house um I have two children and they have attended Hayes flint and now are currently at TJ middle school they're twins so they're they're in eighth grade um as a teacher I did teach in the public school I taught middle school and I taught science social studies health education advisory which is kind of similar to what we call Viking time um and I taught in two distinct environments I taught um in the projects of Charlotte meinberg Schools like the projects I was the projects every 100% um everyone was on some kind of subsidy uh and then I taught in um Neighborville uh Illinois schools um I've been following School Board since I was a child my mom's best
075friend was president of the school board in Neighborville for the 10 years that it was the fastest growing community in the country um very much challenged by some things that come with that um I am currently an entrepreneur and in business and I have been since I left the classroom I left it accidentally I followed my husband um for his training in San Francisco and worked in educational software and was in educational Consulting and suddenly I found myself leaving the classroom not not by any deliberate way but suddenly I was in business and since then I've done healthc care um Consulting I've done Consulting in finance I've done um I've been in multiple different Industries um in that sense I actually think I really would be able to come on board to work with you
076um quite effortlessly because I've switched geographies I've switched Industries I've switched roles and I know how to get up to speed very quickly um I'm a team member um I'm a community Builder um really uh I worked with constituents and elected officials I've worked with students in classrooms um colleagues and business strategies um I my passion in the whole world nothing makes me happier than to network people so if someone says I need help with this it's like oh I got someone I introduce you and make an introduction and and get you um connected because we are so much more alike than we are different and we just need an introduction um so I uh that's that's really what I think makes me a great opport it's a great opportunity for the community and for
077myself Alison welcome thank you question number two what is your vision of a working relationship between the school board and the school superintendent so I taught Civics and we have this check system of checks and balances and I think this kind of is very similar in that I do believe there's a professional collaboration but I also think there's a check and balance and ultimately the school board does hire and fire a superintendent they hold them accountable um they set policy and procedures along with the superintendent or we work to set them together um approve a budget um I think uh I think that it's one of an opportunity for a superintendent to um have conversations and learn from different perspectives and um in and shaping uh his or her thoughts and sometimes um they just
078need uh to expand their bench um I know often times um people are called on for their expertise Erica has an expertise in um education you know Rob I know you have an expertise in healthcare Carl they they lotted your expertise in accounting and finance and so that at times is needed that's what you want from your board a network to be able to make a phone call to someone else um and uh but it in ultimately it's a system of checks and balances number three policies will be proposed that teachers parents and the community do do not agree what will you consider and be influenced by before voting on any proposed policies so first and foremost um we are responsible for um making sure the corporation is protected and um we don't assume any
079legal liability or risk that we protect our um finances that we're making sure whatever policy we Implement is aligned with student learning and our strategic plan for their student learning um we need to operate within state and federal laws uh first and foremost I always am I'm a researcher researcher researcher researcher and like I said I have a network that would stand into corners of places you wouldn't even believe and I'm not afraid to like touch base and excess one um it includes teachers and principles and superintendents and attorneys and Physicians and I actually in the last week have been texting with a tribal Chief in Alaska if you can believe it or not like it it you just never know who you're going to need to connect with for what reason um often our
080in our home decisions are made with analysis of risk and reward and that's something that would is kind of ingrained to my thinking um I do believe that we're going to have to compromise and not everyone is always going to be happy I work really hard to identify by my own bias so that I can make sure I'm keeping clear with the goals and and that I'm not artificially influencing a direction um I have the ability to listen through four lenses I think here I have the ability to listen through as a student because I'm still can connect to my student experiences when I was a child I'm now a parent of kids who are in our schools I can I can look at it through that lens I'm a teacher I can look it
081through the teacher length um and then for in addition I own businesses in this County and so the reality of it is I also am always looking at things through an economic L um so balancing the the three strategic focuses of educational safety and physical and economic development I mean there's just a lot of lenses that I have um either conscious or subconscious access to thank you Alison number four when Val prao schools renewed its operating referendum did you support or not support its renewal and why and did you have a role in the process so um of course I supported it I support education I support mental health I support um operations that that service all sorts of different needs um um I don't necessarily support that we have to do it that way
082um um and the state we we don't have a different structure or model in Indie but um uh until we have that changed I will always be on the front line supporting um I did uh put a yard sign in place and you will find um with me that if I say I'm engaged then I'm going to call 10 other people in my sphere and make sure that it's not just me that you threw a stone into my pond it's that you capitalized on my ripple effect and so I'm going to reach out to 10 other people and make sure you're on board and what do we need talk through to get you there um so in that sense I was uh I was an informal um campaign organizer I guess thank you what strengths
083do you see is necessary to preserve or what strategies using do you see to as necessary to preserve student retention at PCS so this is actually this is a business question and this is a real a real concern and a real is issue I think um my my best research that I could find is we get about $88,000 per student depending on how you look at what what Financial lens you're looking through State funding local um so that that's a lot of money um uh I'm not necessarily going to chase those people that from the gate are going to seek religious education I don't think we don't have that to offer and if that's what they're seeking I don't I don't know that I need to worry about competing with that but um I do
084know of multiple situations where um families have left have started so their kids have gone through the system or started in the system and chosen to leave and um it's it when I count the number of kids that's affected it's almost 100,000 a year and over their lifetime that of Education that's a million dollars and so I'm not confused that we need to have some aspect of AUST customer service model so if we see that people are leaving Midstream especially like mid year like what's going on we need to call and do an exit interview and find out what's going on um it's possible that we need to I mean it's essentially a loss of market share which is really ugly to look at it as that but um we we need to to chase
085whatever opportunities we have and um making sure that we have um as many people within in our district in our seats is is critical um but more importantly than just making sure that we've got numbers is what's going on that we're not meeting their needs what what did they not feel supported were was there not the appropriate Staffing in their classroom environment did they not have someone to talk through their challenges with so possibly doing an exit interview um and then listening to what needs need to be met thank you question number six Alison name two areas of strength and two areas of concern for valo Community Schools how will you address these if you are appointed so I love that we have such strong academic Excellence I love that we have amazing um athletic
086Excellence I mean we got some state champions it's very exciting all over the state people know our name our branding is strong we have tremendous school um Pride we are valo is is everywhere um and we have a trajectory of improving test scores so those are all good things one of my favorite quotes is from MC Jagger not a millennial I am old and Mick Jagger has one of my favorite quotes and he says um our vices are our virtues mismanaged and I really love that quote because it does sometimes speak to the fact that do we get caught up in the we are Valpo and we miss looking and seeing is everyone feeling that does everyone feel a part of it is there a space for everyone um uh are is everyone swept up
087in the trajectory of improved test scores um so when I look at some of the opportunities uh and I analyze the stats on the Indiana Department of Education um we have some significant gaps and we have some gaps in our black and brown communities which says to me not everyone is participating in the the the um anthem of we are valal the same way and so what do we need to do to look at that um a similar opportunity um might also be we are mandated by the state to test for high ability in the elementary levels but yet we do nothing nothing with that test and that information and we have teachers at the elementary level that are are trained in high ability um and so implementing we have we have the training we
088have the testing so just implementing some simple High ability strategies we could start with our math and Elementary start with our math and Elementary in the black and brown communities and let's see what happens when we look at it five and 10 years later um I don't know where I am on my numbers here but I'll just tell you right now meeting the social emotional needs of our community and the economic insecurity and mental health addiction and social isol isolation that we have going on it's no joke that's that's some opportunities it's not unique to valo it's a national Challenge and um uh it's it's one that I think we're going to see that we have to continue to focus on more than ever number seven what motivated you to apply to serve on the
089Bal School Board well um I'm a 22-year resident here I'm a community Builder um I have been raised my whole life with the expectation to serve I've been on multiple committees and I'm I'm on I'm on multiple committees and multiple boards and over my my um adult life span um I've been actually following this school board since back in the days when Mr McMillan um was on the board I he and I actually would have lunch over topics that I needed to learn more about and I was I was without even kids then at that point um and I followed things that Mr KN did and M Miss Hoffman and so more than 15 years I've been kind of following um I feel like this is the right time for me to make this particular
090commitment my professional responsibilities are manageable my children are still in school but they're not um at an age where they require um minute by minute uh assistance uh this opportunity combines my professional background my passions my former experience as a former educator and my experience in business management Finance um and I'm really really uh I'd like to see the board have a parent on it I'll I'll be direct about that I know T is graduating in May and that's exciting but like I I just um I think there's nothing like the fact that in the last year I've been to all but three elementary schools I've been to both middle schools and high school I'm on the sidelines I'm in classrooms I'm in front offices and there's just something that through osmosis I am getting
091to observe thank you question number eight what role do schools have in being supportive of all students and what type of programs would you Champion so my children are active in the Arts and sports and if you've got kids in those you're you're solid gold we have just exemplary programs in that I wonder if this is the case for all of our students um do all of our students feel like there's a place for them um are the vocational students valued and celebrated as much as the kids going to University do we have an Roc or a junior high school version that helps track kids who are interested in the military um we do an excellent job of excelling where we Excel um but I kind of look at us as a having a four-legged
092table here and we've got academics and arts and sports but there's all these other programs that I really think can determine a child's success if they haven't really had excellence in the other areas and that's all the social emotional um I uh I see if you've not been over to Veil at um Mike bison's program that's at the old haste program old P school he is doing amazing things and you want to know why we have the graduation rate we do you go talk to him it's because he's taken all those kids that would have normally never made it across the finish line of that whether they're um participating they they have to work to support their family whether they've got teen pregnancy going on whether they're cou couch surfing because they're truly homeless he's
093doing some amazing things over there um and he and I met through valo Americans and you know we're talking in the stands and he's likei really just need a washer and dryer I got too many kids who really don't have access to to wash their clothes and I was like no problem so we figured it out and within 30 days we had a washer and dryer oh I did not put the washer and dryer there um I um I called the foundation the Community Foundation I said we need a wash and dryer let's get this to happen I will supply soap if you can find me a wash and dryer he um bill hiby was wonderful he accessed some donors who were former teachers and we had a washer and dryer that man is moving
094mountains and I do believe that the way to be more supportive of all students the teachers know they do all you have to do is ask them ask them what can we do and where do you need a grant where do you need Pro you know money where do you need support and they'll they'll do it because teachers are passionate about making sure everyone succeeds thank you if appointed as a school board member how would you address gender identity well within the law um the reality of it is this is a third real topic right now and it's been made such because of the political climate we're in but this is not a new topic it's been around for years thousands of years some might say um I don't think it's new I don't think
095it's going away I do think we are going to have to look at this differently and um evolve in our understanding and our policies and procedures and the reason why I say that is identity attraction biology expression it's real easy for those of us who have um a natural alignment that is mainstream but those that don't are in Mental Health crisis at different times and if we want to keep our graduation rate this is an economic issue if we want to keep our graduation rate we got to keep people in school we got to people engaged in learning we have to see keep um students seeing their next step and their future our goal is as a school corporation is to educate students and to create a community where there's Economic Opportunity for them to
096stay and and create Vikings of the Next Generation and and um I think we need to look at some of these policies and P procedures with respect for the individuals in light of the whole safety and privacy um I would do that because I know this is not easy I would do that from listening accessing some networks um it's imperative that we begin and continue this conversation because I think it's a mental health um concern and it's not just our students we have employees that are also um H are are lgbtq mean that that's just the truth of it um statistically anyway um and so we want to be a good employer and we want to be um a good environment for our students question number 10 towards which programs or resources would you like
097to see more funds devoted um so like I had this big pot of money and I was just passing it out and um I it's it's there's so many opportunities um I think you know when you start about and you look at at your challenges you always want to look upstream and say where did they start so I I kind of started thinking in elementary and I thought about preschool programs because I was on the board at Hilltop neighborhood house and even in my early years in college I studied a lot of preschool education and the benefit of having good programs for working women um that needed child care and so I look at preschool I look at making sure the elementary schools are overwhelmingly staffed with pair of professionals that are treated as professionals
098that see their role as being Educators they just do not want the responsibility as a full-time teacher or may they may not hold a credential that they are treated as professionals with um a livable wage and benefits that they're not treated as an afterthought if we can get our elementary schools um holistically staffed with that um that additional extra population of support I think we can really move the needle on some things um I would make um principles able to access more of those professionals if they needed it um I wouldn't have it all just be driven by uh student teacher ratios and dollars um at the uh at the special ed services I I would say in two or three years let's look at where we are with special ed because we just did
099this R this this transformation of bringing it from a county level inhouse how are they getting the training they need are they getting the support they need do they have the pair of professionals because I can tell you as a for former teacher that taught in a full inclusion model if you don't have the pray of professionals at as a team working with you to teach it all falls apart for everyone so we need to make sure with the special ed coming on inhouse are we appropriately Staffing and are we accomplishing what we are intending to um at the middle and high school level I'd make sure there are Mental Health Resources we have atypical the the umbrella of atypical uh needs of kids that are falling in that atypical umbrella is is growing neurotypical
100and um we need more social workers and Hands-On people that can um that can just I so I have these random people in my life and one of them is a mother who's who's um whose son is friends with my son and I get a call maybe every two months where she doesn't have a ton of support she's a single mom and she does and she's young and she's just stuck I don't know what to do I don't know how to do this what do I do and I have finally uh I today I I helped make the call and get her into the school and connect her up with the social worker on how to get strategies to get our kid at to school more appropriately reducing um absenteeism and I happen to know
101this mother through my sons but she's around the school if we had more adults that weren't so stretched so thin to look out for those people that are sitting in the shadows and sitting in the margins it's just enough to have that friendly relationship to keep them going and and maybe down the line reducing um tardy reducing absenteeism increasing graduation rates number 11 how would you better identify and address the mental health issues of our students so um I want to make sure it said better identify and any educator I know could walk the halls and identify mental health issues in 5 seconds so I don't know that we need to to be um we we have so much lwh hanging fruit that we can be working with I I um think it's really just
102about creating program and programming and Professionals in place to be able to catch all the opportunities that are coming our way that that's really the TR I mean it's it's that simple um uh I do know I want our our hiring practices to reflect the populations of our students I know just just making that shift in our schools um uh effortlessly um uh puts us in a position to be able to be more responsive and asley number 12 tell us about a teacher coach school I'm sorry Alison my fa tell us about a teacher a coach or a school administrator who had a positive lasting impact on your life well I just did my Christmas cards this week so I thought it was interesting that I had Christmas cards that went to elementary school middle
103school teachers high school and college professors still to this day that I'm in touch with um and um like some of them I've had meals with and some of them have stayed in our home when we when they their home was being remodeled actually um so that isn't a stretch for me at all because um and and and you'll be surprised to know maybe you won't but my first time speaking in front of a school board was actually as a student when I ran for student body president I was a freshman and I was told that no freshman had ever been student body president of a 4,000 student high school and I was like I'm going to go for it I ran on the whole thing of changing the gym uniforms and um surprise surprise
104I won because our gym uniforms were brown paper bag colored it was terrible and um so I won and my principal goes oh no you still have lot I had to work with the superintendent and the school board and the vendors and I had to um make things but but basically um I I just have I am so fortunate I don't know if I am just the luckiest person in the world I have mentors and teachers that cross my path all the time so I am very lucky thank you B you were approximately 26 minutes into the interview all right thank you I timed it well right that's amazing my time all over turn it over I'm sorry that's okay before we get your final statement is there any question that we didn't ask that
105that or something you would like to say to us that we need to know um well I think you have a hard hard decision here and I feel um so the wonderful thing about going through this the first round through city council is I made a dear friend in Ashley she's amazing so you um you guys can't go wrong that's one thing um through the whole skate park initiative Kay and I got to um Network together so um and I I don't know um Miss abery very well but I'm sure we're going to be friends because she's president of the hilltop and I am over there too um uh so it's not an easy decision but um I guess my final statement would be um uh I I'm a parent and I'd like to see
106a parent up here again um I love what's doing good I love doing what is good for kids and I didn't realize how innate that was until um I was teaching my first I was student teaching my first seme and I realized my kidss didn't have access to toothbrushes and deodorant so then I found the custodian and he built me like this toothbrush thing that we could all hang our toothbrush I had sinks in my classroom as was a science teacher and then everyone had a cubby of deodorant above and everyone just brushed their teeth right there together and put their deodorant on right together I was teaching nth grade at the time and I didn't even know that they didn't even know that wasn't normal I didn't even know that wasn't normal because that's
107what my kids needed they needed toothbrushes and deodorant so this is we weren't going to learn science until we had the basics covered and so um I just I just would approach this role with that in mind as my guiding principle thank you very much any other question thank you so much thank you yes we're going to take doesn't have to be five minutes but we've been up here for a little bit so break for some discussion start with you wow where do we start I mean we are so blessed um to live in this community and have so many people that are passionate and caring about our community and I think what we've just witnessed here tonight is uh po outstanding individuals who have applied and who have come up and have interviewed so
108very well tonight and um just thinking about each of them you know Kelly came up and and just I will say this about everyone after everyone concluded I said man I could really see this person on the board and um you know Kelly came up very polished and um think had a good understanding of what it means to be a school board member was involved in um in our community and has kids in the school um mentioned some of the concerns of school safety equal access um but wanted to have a collaborative approach that really impressed me um K fasha well she's been here for a long time a beloved teacher um and has a very good understanding of Val praisal very serves on many communities I think understand understands what it's like to be
109a board member um wants to make sure none of the Kids U fall through the cracks I think that's that's very impressive to me you know we have a gap I think several the others mentioned too about um concern for our kids that maybe aren't the high Achievers and maybe aren't the you know needing extra help or maybe aren't in sports but those that need support so that was very impressive to me as well um Ashley uh was impressed too with her um technology IT background um working already with schools um communication was really big on her list um and I like that she was thinking kind of what is it that we need to do for kids and conflict resolution programs I thought was very important um I loved her story about coach Bob
110about you know when I think it's something I probably need to hear sometimes you know that's life um you you have to you know make yourself better and you just have to pick up yourself and keep on striving we can all make a difference and then Allison of course um she's a people person I think she knows everyone here in valo I don't think there's a soul she doesn't know in valo probably most of the kids too um her teaching background was impressive her um involvement in business so I think she has a good understanding of you know business and I think that's important um impressed that she wants to have conversations and that we can learn from each other I think that's especially important as as a board we have tough decisions that we
111have to make um and being objective I think that's really really good um so those are kind of my initial thoughts um I I see qualities in in each of these uh folks so I may have some additional comments as the rest of you um reflect but um you know this is my first time going through this process so I don't know the right protocol but um um I'm so blessed that we have people here that care so passionately um I wish we could almost appoint all four of them well I never thought that I would be sitting on this side um of the discussion I almost feel like if I played any miny mo that I would be just fine with uh any of the candidates that um came before us this evening I
112probably needed a longer break to be honest um I almost feel like I need to overnight I don't know how they come up with this decision um so quickly you really need time to go back I I want I can see myself going back watch the video um later just to hear your responses there were some things um that made me challenge could I even answer these questions as well I mean it made me want to go back and look at my own interview and size my own self up and just you all are really just great candidates I do not see uh how you managed to stay in the room the entire time that would have been very difficult for me to do um but there were so many great things I I find
113it difficult even to try to go and pick that one thing out uh I am a true advocate of early childhood education so anytime that I hear people talk about adding prek um to schools and supporting those families that is always you know a thumbs up really for me U really hearing uh the discussion about the four Table leg and thinking about us and really being an inclusive community that is huge for me um I say it all the time I am the uh black brown person that is sitting here and I often think of are we able to meet every need I am blessed uh to feel very comfortable being in this community because I I I I I give that credit to my children if they weren't uh involved um academically and athletically
114I'm not sure that I would even be sitting here or as engaged in the community as I am so when that conversation comes up about how do we make sure that everyone feels that we are ball I think I'm now going to say thing and I'm a Channer of that we are Vall all the time where I go and now I'm thinking does everyone feel the same way you know he in that conversation um man the skill set the financial skill set hearing from Millennials I am uh I I tease these guys I said I'm always on social media because the young people the young people keep me I need to see what they're talking about I need to be able to keep up with the youthful slang that's used um so if a you
115know a millennial sitting here and and as expressive as she is you know that's a that's really difficult for me and everyone having such uh Community involvement that's one of the things that I really love about vzo um and when I when I listen to these gentlemen uh share uh their relationships their Community involvement you know it really makes me even more proud to be uh a la corter girl uh so um but I also uh realize the ties and the connections and the things that have been made here listening to every person on the boards that they serve on you know from Collegiate work all the way to parks Recreations I mean you all are everywhere so I will say this is a very difficult decision um even if I picked little things that
116you said I won't call them little things but great things that you share there are so many that it's still really difficult um for me to make this decision so I just say kudos to everyone that even applied breaking it down from the 14 to the four my God we were here all day it felt like um I needed we had lunch but I needed dinner by the time we were finished we were here trying to really get down to these four so um I really do thank each of the applicants who um appli kudos to the work that you all and know we'll continue to do even after this time thank you so to Echo Carl and Erica um one thing I just want to say uh our the four of us and the
117mayor select John C say this board gets along really really well um meaning you know we're able to put our differences aside and and work together for the betterment of the kids and there's no question all 14 candidates that applied for the position would be able to do that um like Erica said we we spent a lot of time the other day we took this very seriously uh much like we did with the superintendent search quite honestly um I think it was Mr minko made a comment during our meeting the other day that you know that was the best thing the best meeting we ever had is when we had a public open forum for people could come in and talk to us about which superintendent we were going to pick what would be best
118for the parents and the community and we view this as the same opportunity I view things as an opportunity to me I learned so much tonight this was great but more importantly than what I learned is you guys affirm many things that we've talked about that we don't sometimes we can't talk about in open in the public and you guys affirmed a lot of things which was fantastic to hear that affirmation um because it it can only make us better as a board and whoever this fifth board member is um Kelly was fabulous you know she's got the background of working at V at Vala University she's basically the you know right-hand man of the president my understanding at B University um she's got a passion she's got kids in the school system um I
119think I think she'd be an excellent board member I mean I think she'd just be unbelievable um Kay fasha um Kay has spent her entire life in education okay um she taught in our school system for 20 years um that institutional knowledge is is crucial um uh we've had past board members in the past that were teachers and stuff like that I can tell you that those conversations and meetings matter because they they would uh the term best practices for instance they can if something was tried 20 years ago that person may have the knowledge to say you know we tried that 20 years ago and this is what went wrong and this is what we could do better or we shouldn't do it at all why make the same mistake again and again and
120again um so institutional knowledge um I was very impressed by her story about the 1995 I never heard that before um that her husband at the time had asked her uh to take a separate job uh to give another teacher to keep their job that was very impressive to me um tells me she's a team player um and that's boor as a team that's for sure um uh I I I'm a big person in in sense of belonging um all of you touched on this this this again this is part of the affirmation what I was talking about I think it's crucial that our kids feel a sense of belonging because there's no question that mental health is a tremendous problem in our society today as a whole so I've always said this and I
121and I I really mean it outside of your family your friends probably you spend more time with your friends you can do with your family for a lot of people this is really important so a lot of people who you associate with and what you do can either get you in trouble can it make you feel lonely can it make you feel like you belong so that sense of belonging is very very important and I think as a school system we can do a better job with that we need to do a better job with that because the mental he Health crisis is not going away um wanted to speak about uh Ashley I mean what can I say her knowledge is unbelievable I mean it just off the charts uh Ashley's knowledge is just
122unbelievable I mean U she knows more about tech than I could ever dream of the rest of my life probably okay there's no question okay um cyber security obviously that's really important that's important any business today I can't tell you how many you know my my dental practice is it's become corporate owned and we get emails once or twice a month about cyber security uh you know we're protecting health records so we're getting fished at all that's called fishing right I think it's p i is that the right way to say it um and we're always warned we even have our it person send us fake emails just to see if we bite so we can learn which is a great idea actually uh just to see if we can bite and it's really smart
123um and it's um definitely something that we're all dealing with that that the world is dealing with quite honestly um it's not the phone call to Grandma anymore it's through email um I'm constantly asking my wife to take a screenshot of an email and I say do I do anything about this and she say get rid of it you know get rid of it you know you can tell the Chase Bank thing doesn't doesn't look like something legitimately from Chase Bank and you know um the uh I love her idea of conflict resolution program I learned something tonight conflict resolution program this is something I'll definitely go back to Dr Mcall and we got to have a conversation about this um and the emotional intelligence um I mean I was just blown away by her
124on that um and of course I love the coach Bob story that that coach for me uh was Mark Hoffman so I I live that story I got cut from The Freshman baseball team my freshman year and Coach Hoff coach Hoff he had me over at his house in his basement he told me the Abraham Lincoln story about how many elections he had lost before and he became president of the United States sure enough I made the varsity baseball team by my senior year and uh I think the first game I had the game-winning hit at the time was Coach Pat Murphy he he he didn't know that he knew the story because Hoffman and they were buddies and I had no idea Murphy knew the story and he called me Abe the game like
125whisper so that that had a lot of meaning to me her coach Bob story and it's helped me throughout my life there's no question because it builds character um Allison uh I've personally gotten to know Allison um Carl when you were actually going out for the board I had coffee with Alison for a couple hours a couple hours turned in about four hours Alison and I are both talkers so um and we both like to talk and we like people a lot and uh many of Allison's attributes I share with her to be honest with you U I run a health care business so I I could share a lot of the things um that Allison believes in quite honestly um I'm glad she touched on the retention of the kids tonight I think that
126was important that we say that publicly because that's not something that we talk about a lot because it's can be a negative because we do lose kids to the other uh five four public high schools and one private school in valarezo with a valarezo address there's six a lot of people don't know this I tell patients this all the time we have six public high schools with a Val perzo address six high schools with the vraal address including Victor Christian makes number six okay wheeler Bove Morgan Township Washington gzo I miss one okay uh and victory okay six so School business is competition there's no other way to look at it guys because that's $8,000 per kid you lose 300 kids that's $2.4 million think about how many teacher salaries that is so I'm glad
127you brought that up um I love the whole thing that you talk about branding and the sense of Pride and I love your MC Jagger thing that was great um the uh we did have a program and this is where my institutional knowledge comes uh Vel was called very able Learners program opportunity we had that when I grew up at Val braz and they started it in the elementary schools we don't have that anymore very able Learners program opportunity and they took kids each school at a bus they would pick kids up from the elementary kids these high achieving kids and they would go to one school and and do CL you know two or three classes above what grade they were in at that time and then they would come back for the afternoon
128session with the regular class and they would do this a couple days a week or one day a week I think they went to North viw at the time when I was in school so we have had that before I grew up in B so I kind of know some of this stuff um I was not a teacher in bpel though I've never been a teacher in dville so um uh there's a lot of things I don't know but there are some few things I do know Dr Mcall the other day when we had our little meeting um he was not with us of course but we just he sat and said hi to us you're talking about a past teacher at Val and he was telling a story and he didn't realize that one
129of us in the room had lived that story you know he was talking about it and I said you know I was in that class I didn't say it at the time because I wasn't running embarrassed I never call but it was funny to hear him say it like secondhand and I'm like I was in that class I knew what he was talking about um so as a community and as a school system we've come a long way we really have have but there's always room for improvement and Allison made that very clear and I was happy to hear that um you know you're always striving to be better and better and better and we we need to do a better job with the career opportunities with the career center uh many of you touched
130on that tonight because it's not a oneway street with that we all have to go to college there's many great jobs out there without going to college I think Val particularly does a better job than other places but that doesn't mean we do the best job I'd like to see us partner more with ivtech oo at ivtech is phenomenal we have an unbelievable resource there and he wants to partner with us so I think there's things that we can do um to continue to help our kids that's that's what I'm all about I I want to help the kids that's all I care about that's it period I you know my kids are through the school system now my kids have done well in college uh you know I got a kid gradua dental school
131in four months I'm very proud of my children just as we all are um but I want all the kids to want to come back to valo I think that's really important I want the kids to say you know what I grew up in a fantastic Community Val I don't say valarezo Indiana I say valarezo USA I want people to know valo is the best place you can grow up as a child and want to come back to if if the opportunity presents itself call me bias call me whatever you want this the way I feel I think you know I went out last Friday night and I went to three different places I had brought a buddy to been back to town in 10 years I mean our place this a pretty impressive Place
132guys we should be very thankful for the community we live in I mean I was taking videos like Don takes at all our meetings I was taking videos sending it to my friends and sending it to my future in-laws and stuff saying look at how nice our community is man I mean we got a lot to be proud of here we really do guys um and and the Civic engagement uh you know the quality of the candidates we had is just unbelievable I mean like Carl said this the decision is not easy you know we just passed each other on all way and said man this is miserable I mean it's miserable from the standpoint that it's difficult it's fantastic that we have the opportunity again to pick somebody so great so I just want
133to thank everybody um for being here and coming out doing this because you're putting yourself out there and I hope you you know the other three that don't get selected or the other you know 13 that don't get selected out of 14 do it again because 's a position for you in this community and um I'm very thankful thank you Rob I Echo many of the same things that we've heard from other board members um it's not an easy decision and and we uh we had some very we have some very talented people in in the city and it doesn't make the process any easier when everybody's but it does does make it better for for all of us um when I'm looking at the process I you know I filter it through what lines
134I looked at it first is I was trying to look at are they putting kids first is it is about the kids first I think that was really important versus a a personal opportunity um I wanted to look at their abilities and what unique abilities like of course you know you had Miss Cruz in in her ability to um was with cyber security or um we had some people with past a few people with past education experience and that's that's a great ability to to know and to bring that knowledge um to the board their knowledge of of our community how deep U is it their skill sets uh quack bush is a phenomenal networker um I mean that's a unique skill set that she has and I lastly was looking at their ACC in
135on boards and leadership in general I think that that being a leader is you know you have to be able to of course set your ego aside and and represent everybody else um because when they win you've done a good job uh not when we lose and you get to uh uh be the leader so I was really looking for that um values is really important to me because values Define what ultimately the culture is going to be I was looking for Grounded people that know who they are and I saw that many people all people don't make they have resolved that that you know they're going to be able to go through tough times uh in tough meetings in tough situations that they're accountable that they they can they can take something on their
136shoulders and that they they they will they will they will finish the deadline they will meet the the team's effort um that they're clever that they'll come up with unique Solutions and new unique ways to fix a problem um that needs addressed and that they're enjoyable it's it's it's always better to have somebody enjoyable on on your team because the team has a culture has a life its own and it's very important that team work well together because that really defines the culture of of the team and then lastly I think past successes the biggest indicator for future success is past success how many successes what type of successes they've had in the past and you know Awards matter uh leadership matters and you know I saw that with the candidates tonight and I was
137very pleased with that so was kind of the lens of uh of me as we're looking at this or any other comments can we come back with a decision tomorrow well at this point I have a nomination yes uh Mr President I would like to nominate K fasha K fasha can I have a second it's a really tough decision but I will second the motion right any other nominations I'd like to nominate Alison is there a second all right see first candidate Miss fasha cyber um I will ask for um all those in favor sign signify by say I oppose uh May and U we'll move on so for Miss fasha seber all those in favor signified by saying I I I I all those opposed May okay well the eyes have um this m
138fasha C cyber is uh will be our next board member and she will replace uh the outgoing John kases so thank you all have a good night appreciate it