001Welcome back everyone. Uh we're continuing with the interviews and we do have now Mr. Farhhat. Mr. Farhhat, you have five minutes to answer the three questions that were already provided to you. I'll give you a warning at the 4 and a half minute mark. You may start at this time. >> Good evening. My name is Kador Farhat and I am a public speaker, advocate and activist for quality education and individuals and students with disabilities in Dearborn for well over a decade. I was born blind in Beirut, Lebanon. I immigrated to the United States in 2009. I attended Zel Ford High School, but then I had to move to Lincoln Park High because they do house the program for the visually impaired students. Upon my arrival to the states, I did not speak one word of
002English. I did not know anything pertain to the to the technology for the blind and my life was so difficult to deal with at first as a result of the new transition. Yet, despite all of these challenges, I graduated from high school with honors. Then I transferred over to Henry Ford College where I pursued my associate degree in pre-special education. After that I went to University of Michigan Dearbornne where I pursued my bachelor's degree in political science. Upon my high school graduation in 2012 that's where my community service journey began through getting so involved with countless number of organizations across our city. So I'm applying today because as a blind person myself, I would like to make sure that the under reppresented, the misrepresented, the minimally pres represented, which is the individuals and students with
003disabilities on the board. When we talk about somebody with a disability, we're not talking about one individual. We are talking about an entire support system starting from their immediate and extended families, friends, professional staff, as well as the entire community. As an advocate, I'm fearless. I'm not a quitter. I'm a fighter. I never back down from a challenge and I always fight until the end. As a father, I have a 2 and a halfyear-old daughter name is Miriam. Just for a fun fact, Miam means Mary or Maria. I have meat in the game. Not only that I have been living in Dearbornne for over 16 years now, but I would love to raise my daughter here and I would love to see her attending and succeeding in Dear Public Schools. On top of that, my
004community service was reflected in my school board campaign. I earned 12,288 votes. I was just 14 votes short of winning that election. If that shows something, it shows the trust and respect that the public had placed in me, which I'm extremely honored by that. In closing, I would like to say that the roles and responsibilities of the school board is not only is not only to oversee the budget and to manage it, but also to make sure that the hiring process is transparent, evaluation process is over there as well. appointing the HFC president, school board, uh I mean the uh public schools district uh superintendent and to set the policies, vision, um you know, and laws for the for the schools. I have so many things that I am so uh that I feel so
005strongly about, but the top two are certainly ensuring that the special education department and the special education students therefore are all their needs are met. their accommodations are provided and their voices being heard and also the potentially proposed bond to fix our infrastructure. I assure you that each and every single resident of Dearbornne deserves nothing but the best for our schools. So from a from a community perspective, as long as we have a clear message with all the communication sent out thoroughly, I'm pretty sure they'll be supporting. And as a board member myself, I will ensure that everything will be delivered clearly. I will be that bridge and access and make that access between the community and the school district. As a staff, they are the frontline runners and we got to make sure that
006their input is considered as well in consideration the student needs and as well as obeying the laws on the state and the federal levels. >> 30 seconds. I would like to thank you all for listening to me and I'm looking forward to working with all of you in providing a brighter future for all of our Dearborn students and it does not take sight to have a vision. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Farad. Truly appreciate your time and thank you for applying. >> Sis, >> okay, >> next we have um Mr. Joseph Sison. I hope I pronounce your last name correctly, but if not, correct, >> but nobody has for 44 years, so it's I wouldn't feel too bad. My name is Joseph Saikon. >> Sychon. Okay. >> Uh, so Saikon, you have five minutes
007to answer the three questions that were provided to you. >> Okay. >> And I'll just give you a warning at the four and a half minute mark. >> I'm medium- winded, so we should be good. >> Perfect. Where is yours? >> Uh, to begin with, I want to say I was talking to some of the gentlemen in the back. Uh, I don't envy your position of having to select people because this seems there's a lot of good candidates out there. Um, why am I interested in serving? Uh, I'll be honest. I have slightly selfish reasons on some level for this. I have two young sons that are in Dearborn public schools. I've lived in Dearborn for million years somewhere in there, right? I uh am involved locally on the with the schools in terms of
008coaching and uh different committees uh locally, but I've also served on a number of the committees for the school board, including the infrastructure committee, uh the health uh puberty and uh sex education committee, a few others as well. Um local small business owner. Uh I started a small business about 10 years or so ago mostly because I wanted to make sure that when it came to being there for my children's education to be able to come to events uh that I would not have scheduling issues so I can make my own scheduling. So far it's worked out pretty well. All right. What do I bring to the table? Uh so first um I'm really good at what I'll call triage. uh I can stack rank a set of problems uh most important to least important
009figure out what needs to be done based on a variety of parameters. So whether or not it's cost related, whether or not it is time related, whatever the case is, that's a skill set that I I have. Uh data analysis and interpretation. Uh I can aggregate and look at large quantities of data and derive information from that that will benefit uh whatever the situation may call for. Whether it's comes down to budgeting, whether it comes down to finding the best candidates or positions, that's something I'm able to do. I do have a strong marketing background. Uh I'm a uh personally a big fan of uh continuing to push for uh bigger and better bond proposals to continue to upgrade our schools. I will say that um one thing that I have noticed is that we
010can come up with a great program, but if we cannot get it out there marketed to the public in a way that they are able to interpret and understand, it dies on the vine. So, uh, I'm hoping that on some level that that would also be able to help. Um, prior to, uh, the small business that I own, I spent about 15 years in, uh, multi-unit, uh, operations management. Uh, I've hired and fired hundreds of people. Uh, I have a heavy HR background. Uh, very familiar with all the current hiring practices as well, even though nowadays I don't do as much hiring. Uh, one thing that is really important to me that I also hope to be able to bring skill sets to the table on is teacher retention. I to me it's not just
011a matter of money, it's also a matter of condition. It doesn't matter how much money you offer your staff if they go home miserable at the end of the day. Uh, at my at my local school, we recently lost a teacher that was one of my kids teachers starting in kindergarten. Very good teacher. Left to go to Lincoln Park uh schools. Uh, with due respect to the city of Lincoln Park, we should not be losing teachers in situations like that. There has to be more that we can do and I'm hoping that I can help solve that problem along with everybody else. Uh, what are some of the roles of a board member? Fiscal oversight. Uh, we're ask we're acting as fiduciaries for the public. Uh, there's always going to be push back when it
012comes to uh, spending, budgeting money. Uh I have this uh theory though that there's no such thing as any city in the uh state of Michigan where you have low t uh low property taxes and really good schools. But at the same time, the public wants to know their money is being spent in a responsible way. They may not always agree with every single item that we're spending it on, but they at least it's easier to swallow that pill if they can actually see in a way that they're able to read and interpret my money is at least going to good use. uh governance, not management. You know, the superintendent, the future superintendent is going to be the one handling those calls. But it starts with the hiring process of getting the right candidate in
013place. Uh transparency. I watch all of our schoolboard meetings, if not show up in person, and regularly you'll hear public talk about transparency. Transparency is not just putting the stuff on the website and saying, "Here you go, check it out." It needs to be in a way that the public can understand and interpret the information. I would like to be able to help with that as well. >> Uh last question was about a board decision that uh that I agreed with. And for me it was the free breakfast and lunch for all students basically year round. It is very hard for students to be able to concentrate and focus when food insecurity is an issue. Uh to me that was a great decision that benefited the entire public and I agree with it. That's all
014I got for you. Thank you very much for >> Thank you Mr. Sikon. appreciate your time and thank you for applying. Next candidate is Mr. Hassan Alhajab. Senator Hajab, you have five minutes to answer the three questions that were already provided to you. I'll give you a warning at the four and a half minute mark. You have the floor. Go ahead. >> Thank you. Um, thank you for your time first of all. Um, I'm eager to join this board so that I can help make a positive impact on student success and community development. Um, I believe my professional and personal background make me an adequate steward uh for these public resources. um my professional background in finance and accounting at companies such as Google, Rivian, NPWC, where I've overseen billions of dollars in revenue, capital
015expenditure, and operational expenses. Um, I feel like that's helped me um helped me be uh it's it has helped me uh let stakeholders have assurance in their decision-m and I believe these skills can be applied to the role on the board uh as the board's constantly making um decisions such as approving purchase orders and change orders uh as well as reviewing graduation requirements. ments policy um and other enhancements in student experience. Furthermore, I have experience in serving on boards in my academic career such as uh my time at Michigan State uh where I served on the student uh government board where we were the stewards of the funds that the university had allocated uh towards student extracurricular activities. Moving on to the second question. Um what I see is the roles and responsibilities for this
016role. Um I think the main role of the board is uh starts with the objective of achieving high academic standards as well as student success. This is done by creating policy that policies that comply with state and federal law as well as approving appropriate curriculum and financial management and other related responsibilities. And the final question, um something that I I strongly agreed with was um something that was proposed in a board meeting on June 23 where the board proposed uh that personal finance uh as a subject be a graduation requirement. Um, I think that adding the requirement, um, assuming that, you know, the class would be offered in high schools, uh, would give students critical skills that are helpful for anyone as an adult, um, and in their life after graduation, uh, no matter what
017their career is. uh teaching them skills such as investing, teaching them about taxes, teaching them how to use credit and debt instruments uh such as, you know, loans. Um I think if the community was concerned that it's not an important curriculum, I would say that, you know, I'd reiterate that these uh helps, you know, promote basic life skills that anyone is going to need no matter what their career is after graduation. Um, as far as the laws around it, I believe around 30 states have already made it a requirement for graduation. And um, I think like I said, I just reiterate, it teaches valuable life skills. Uh, furthermore, I think the the requirement and the investment would be minimal uh because I believe it's already offered. It's a class that's already offered at all three
018high schools. Um, so I believe like the monetary investment would be minimal while you know the impact it would make would be great. That's all I had. >> Thank you for your time. Appreciate your time. >> Thank you for applying. >> Next candidate is Mr. Albert Salah. >> Good evening, Mr. Salah. You have five minutes to answer the three questions that were already provided to you. >> Yes, sir. >> I'll give you a warning at the 4 and a half minute mark. Floor is yours whenever you're ready. >> Thank you. And thank you for permitting me the time to be here. I do appreciate it. Um, I'm seeking to serve on the board of trustees now because I care deeply about the future of our school district, not just as a lifelong resident, but as
019a new father. The vacancy comes at a great time for me personally. Um my wife and I recently welcomed our first child and that's given me a renewed sense of urgency about the quality and direction of public education in our community. Uh just by way of background, my wife and I graduated from Dearborn public schools. We are product of uh Dearborn public schools. Uh she graduated uh from we both graduated from Dearborn High. She graduated from U of M Dental in Ann Arbor. I graduated from Western Michigan uh in 2019 with a dual major in public law and economics. Uh, I graduated from Wayne Law in 2019 and I've been working professionally as an attorney since then. I operate my own law firm and I manage my own case load. As an attorney, I think
020I'm equipped and I know I'm equipped with several skills that align well with my service to the city of Dearbornne. Um, I'm trained to review and interpret complex documents and policies with precision. I understand how to read and interpret the law and regulatory frameworks. Most importantly, as an attorney, I'm an advocate. In this case, I would be an advocate for our community's youth, and I take that very seriously. Uh, and that would include the parents of those children. The goal is to achieve equity and fairness so as to elevate our community's education, relying on the youth to pave the way for our future. I'm also experienced in resolving disputes, negotiating outcomes, and making decisions that balance fairness and accountability, focusing on long-term impact and results. I believe my legal background combined with my growing personal
021investment as a as a parent positions me to contribute thoughtfully and responsibly uh to the board's work. The roles uh and responsibilities of a school board member include defining district's direction for education and then declaring what the mission is and achieving that mission by focusing on goals that incre incrementally fulfill that mission in the long run. I understand that the board is responsible for developing educational policy, providing oversight and implementation, creating budgets, getting them approved, and ensuring the funds are used responsibly. Furthermore, I understand the board is currently being asked to replace the superintendent, and the board has a role in evaluating its successor. Lastly, the board is responsible for ensuring all actions uh are in compliance with legal and ethical standards. We are we are representatives and advocates of the community at large. We're
022tasked with promoting equity and of utmost po of utmost importance to me is academic success. Simply the school board's primary role is governance, not just day-to-day management. It's about establishing a clear vision for the district and ensuring that the decisions are aligned with that vision. This requires transparency and accountability. We have to ask and answer the tough questions. We have to work collectively, collaboratively, even when our views differ and they inevitably will. Board members are stewards of the public trust and that trust is earned through consistency, fairness, and putting students at the center of our decision-making. Uh the the most the most recent well not the most recent but the a recent board decision that I felt strongly about uh was when we passed the 2016 uh smart bond to fund school security, make school
023modifications to maintain and improve school buildings uh inside and out. It added classrooms to schools and made necessary renovations that our children could benefit from. Then obviously it funded upgrades to technology and replace our our transportation, our fleets. This to me was a no-brainer. I highly value any proposal that provides funding that goes back into our schools. To me, that decision wasn't just about bricks and mortar or just reallocating money. It was aimed and intended to reinvest in the infrastructure and technology for our future and our youth. This is a non-negotiable to me and it should be done regularly. Modern, safe, and well equipped learning environments directly impact students outcomes and community pride. I believe that when we invest wisely in our in our schools, we're making long-term commitment to the success of our children,
024our educators, and the vitality of the entire community. That bond was a clear step in the right direction. Obviously, we all have personal beliefs and values, and those values and beliefs are certain to clash. Personally, I'm hyperfocused on cultivating an environment conducive to the love of learning. I want our youth to thrive and be well-rounded. This I do not take lightly. We are responsible for ensuring our youth are equipped with a quality education prepared for their next step upon their departure. I'm not naive. Anything that is proposed will have competing interests, thoughts, values, and beliefs. Luckily, I believe that I'm trained to stop and assess the situation as a whole. How is this done? I would begin by listening to the community, to students, to school staff. I understand all perspectives. Lastly, I'd like to
025end with why I believe I would be a strong addition to the board. I want to give back to the community that's given me everything. As a board trustee, I would be deeply committed to our community, provide thoughtful and balanced perspective and a genuine desire to ensure student every student has access to high quality forward thinking education. >> Thank you. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Next candidate is Mr. Habib Abbas. >> We missed her on the agenda. >> Welcome Mr. Abbas. Uh, you have 5 minutes to answer the three questions that we already provided to you. All right. >> I'll give you a warning at the 4 and a half minute mark. >> Floor is yours whenever you're ready. >> Thank you. All right. Good evening um board members and thank
026you for the opportunity uh to be here today. My name is Habib Abbas and I am honored uh to be considered for the uh board of uh education position. This is an important role and I'm so passionate about it. I'm interested in the board of education. Okay. Thank you. I'm interested in um applying for the board and being uh part of the board uh me uh uh uh members because I do believe a strong education um system is the backbone of a strong community. So um I want to use my knowledge, my experience and my skills to uh contribute and collaborate with the rest of the board and uh make sure our students are receiving the best um education. As a federal employee with over 20 years of uh leadership uh experience in the federal
027service and the private sector as well. Uh I bring a lot of experience and I understand governance, I understand accountability and I understand policy oversight. locally. Um, I did serve as a PTA president at Miller Elementary School and I also served as a vice president of the PTA at Sto Middle School. I served as part of uh multiple parent committees in the district. Um, I participated in uh the principal search committee multiple times within the district. I've also been active in the community. I did um I was a board member in multiple um nonprofit organizations and I volunteered in multiple events for organizations that are specifically concerned with education, students and financial support. I was invited multiple times to speak um uh to students in in the district and outside the district. Uh during career
028days and during special events, I talked about multiple topics. One of them is safety online. I am a proud parent of three children that are attending the district right now. My oldest son is attending Henry Ford College. Uh my uh daughter is attending Edel Ford High School and my youngest son is attending uh Miller Elementary School. So this is personal to me and um it's very I mean I I take it personal to for the district and the education here and for our students to to thrive. Um academically I have a very strong foundation. Um initially I started at uh Henry Ford Community College at the time and then I moved on to the University of Detroit at Mercy. I got my bachelor and my master's degree from there and then I acquired u so
029many um cert professional certification leadership certifications as well. um one of them was from the National Defense University at Washington DC and I'm currently attending the University of Michigan um Dearborn uh doing my second master's degree in MBA. Uh when it comes to the board responsibilities um I do believe all the responsibilities are very significant. You guys do um have a very important job in the district. Um I do understand that the trustees hire and evaluate the superintendent and also the HFC uh president. You guys uh the board sits the policies and the budget. They approve um uh contracts and pay scales. Um they oversee facilities uh and and project uh and constructions. I do understand that the role of the board is more about governance and accountability and not to deal with the daily
030operations um within the district. Um I understand whoever is going to be selected this is going to be a short-term um assignment. So um my my primary goal if selected is to support all of you and collaborate with all of you to uh basically maintain stability within the board and also to um help with the critical decisions ahead. One of the recent decisions that I felt strongly about is the decision that the board made back in December 20 um 24 which is to approve the installation of the um uh vape detectors in the high schools. Um for me safety and security of our students is very very critical and very important and uh if I was involved with the board in making a decision like this I would love to listen to the community. Um
031I would assume that the parents would be concerned with the safety of their uh children and uh the community in general would be concerned with um how we use the budget wisely. Um I would talk to the staff because they they oversee the daily operations of this. I would also make sure that we are in compliance with the federal and the state laws and we're not violating any of those especially privacy issues. So basically balancing the cost and the long-term benefits to ensure safer schools. Thank you so much again for this opportunity. I would be honored to serve um and to put the students first and to help strengthen the foundation of the Derborn public schools. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Abas, for applying and thank you for your time. David, do we have
032our last applicant? Okay. So, Mr. Show up, so we can go to our next item. >> That no blue cards. There's no blue cards. President Moz. >> Okay. Um I'm surprised because on a very sure we have a lot >> um we still have another opportunity on Monday because we do have a uh special meeting scheduled uh on Monday prior to our regular meeting to make deliberations and make the selections. So we can go to the next item. >> Next item is discussion the selection process by President Moz. >> Yeah. So as as stated before, I wanted to open this time for discussion to agree at least on and have a consensus on how do we want to select the two trustees on Monday. Uh if we want to follow uh the same process that
033was done in 2019 um where every trustee would bring up a name forward and bring the strengths and why they want to select that trustee or that applicant to be a trustee. And then we can have a discussion. And if we do agree or at least the majority of us three at this time agree on one candidate, we can have a motion to appoint this trustee and uh we could do the same process again for the second vacancy. Uh I welcome other opinions or other processes if you'd like to bring them forward to be considered. Um but I I do believe that process served us well and we can we can erase it again. Trustee Ali, Trusty Petleskov, then go ahead. >> Um I I think that makes given that there's only five of us
034to begin with, that that makes the most sense that um we each bring forward one at at the beginning. If there is um three of the same name, we would already know that it would be a motion made that would have support. But I do recommend that each of us give the um reason behind why we chose that name. I just want to make sure that we're all very clear that we should not have any conversation about why somebody else's choice they are against. We don't want to turn this into a a a a contest or a combat between who's more deserving because they've got a a an argument for the other person. So, we should only be bringing forward the positive of the people that we want to submit um to be uh moved
035on and not anything else. And I do say we do it exactly the same for the second one as well. Trust me, >> I I agree. Um the one only thing I want to add is given just one at a time um get >> it get it becomes a problem because if you have two viable candidates and your timing of them is uh you provide only one. I would prefer that we provide both candidates that we want to support instead of just one because there's two open roles. >> President Mosep, uh it looks like one of the candidates, the the last candidate showed up. If you feel fit to uh >> Oh, he went to the wrong building. >> Well, we'll take them. That's fine. Um so, let's hold off on the discussion if Nojs.
036>> No objection. No. >> Okay. So, we'll take Mr. Abdul Salam for the interview. Um, you have five minutes to answer the three questions that were already provided to you. >> Sure. >> I'll give you a fair warning at the 4 and a half minute mark. >> And my apologies for the lateness. I went to the Dearborn Administrative Building instead. >> Okay. >> I never been to this location. >> Are are you referring to the DAC? >> Yeah. >> No, the actual city hall. >> Oh, city hall. That's what >> we have nothing to do with that. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I saw that and I was like, "Oh, okay." >> Okay. Go ahead. >> Okay. >> Is yours? >> Sure. So, um, should I read the questions or >> So, the questions are in
037front of you as well. Um, but I I read them in the beginning. Yeah. So, they were already provided to you. >> Sure. >> Yeah. So I think you know the decisions that our community makes have long lasting implications on the access of opportunity to our children right and uh with my background in technology and economic development we see the rapid changes happening right everyone's using AI from faculty to students so I want to ensure that kids are ahead of the curve and that these technologies are being incorporated to give them the best heads up in in uh in the actual market place. So I spent time at the University of Rhode Island managing the office of IP and economic development and I also served as adjunct faculty at Wayne State and I was a
038tech entrepreneur as you can see in my CV. And I think all of these roles uh dovetail quite well in guiding the educational policy of a city like Dearbornne. I also went to eight different public schools and four high schools. Started high school in Japan and then went to North Carolina and then followed up in Plymouth, Salem and Fortune my last two years. So, I've seen quite a few uh different cultures and and communities and I think that's a unique experience that I have from the perspective of a student. And uh when I went to Fortune, I was one of three young men in the National Honor Society. It's funny because I just met, you know, one of the class of O2 alum at Fortune the other day and uh we didn't know each other
039at high school, but I said, "Do you remember the NHS? There's only three guys. I was one of those guys. And um served on the yearbook team and the SAD club, which was Students Against Drunk Driving. And uh so graduated at Fortune 3.8, got recruited out to Florida State University and uh did a dual degree in engineering and economics. went to Washington DC, worked for the Department of Commerce, and I'll save the the background because I know you guys have that, but I think this diverse array of experiences uh would work quite well for uh managing the policy and and the district's resources. So, question two, roles and responsibilities. So, first and foremost, we are a trustee of the district's children and stewards of the district's finances. And so, I think having been a CEO
040of a company, having run, you know, a department at a university, I understand the fiduciary responsibilities. I understand bylaws. I've worked with many boards. And um I believe that I could execute quite well with you all as well. And of course, you know, balancing the needs of our students is our top priority, but also being a sound board for the community, for the parents, for the teachers, and uh making sure that the superintendent just like a CEO is operating as a welloiled machine. Not to speak robotically, right? but and hopefully not using AI too much because we see a lot of that and uh it's actually funny. So, as an aside, I know Ammer's a he's a comedian part-time, but uh in in a past life in a past life. So, uh you know, someone
041had wrote me an email today from I won't name the university, but uh they they messaged me and at the end it was actually a prompt from chat GBT. So, it was the old copy and paste but forgetting to delete the last part. though I I jokingly brushed it off and and I think they got a kick out of that. But uh I'll answer the third one because I can keep going. So a recent board decision that you felt strongly about. Uh I don't know if one year ago is recent enough, but I remember the approval of the the Zoom contract and that that was uh coming off of COVID right four years prior. And I think that you know as a technology person that is very important uh to maintain those sort of tools
042for not only the students um for equity. >> Excuse me. >> 30 seconds. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Not only for the students but even for the the faculty, right? If there's transportation issues um students or faculty uh just adding that flexibility I know is critical. when I was adjunct and and COVID happened, we had to go from uh the physical location at the Mike Illich School downtown to remote and uh that was very useful and and times are changing and I know that the you know the digital education and learning is is only going to become a more uh focal point of the educational experience. I'll I'll >> thank you sir Abdam for for your time and thank you for applying. >> Thank you. All right, that concludes the interviews for tonight and for everyone
043and we come back to the discussion. So we were with Trustee Al Jahi mentioning that we need to bring forward the two names since we have the two vacancies. >> Yeah. And my thought process on that if you select the top two then you're going to be able to have a better idea of the overlaps. >> Okay. without having to go back and forth and say this is the one and then uh but if you name your top two and the other trustees name their top twos, you're going to see overlaps that will match um the top vote getters >> so we don't keep throwing name after name after name out there. We could have five different names the first goround. >> Yeah. Uh, Trusty Zah. >> Um, first I'd like to correct the record.
044I'm a full-time present day Canadian on a part-time past. Give me a full-time present day. My mom says I'm a lawyer with Pat. That's what she tells people. Um, first, I mean, I'm sure we'll all say this on Monday, but I'm kind of like embarrassed. I feel bad for other communities. We have so many amazing people that want to come forward >> um in this community. I'm not surprised. I don't think any of us are surprised at the vigor and energy and interest um and if and you'd have to not be paying attention for the last 20 years to be surprised at the talent. We are so talented in this community. So, I'm just I just think we're very lucky, but of course it makes our job that much more difficult. Um, what I'd like
045to see from every trustee on Monday is sort of a maybe we should do the same thing. Give ourselves each like three or four minutes time, you know, so that we have a presentation of how we felt about the candidates. And I'd like to I'd personally like to hear three, four, whatever, however many candidates you think would do a good job and then so that we start to see like trust Jimmy was saying, maybe sort of a consensus forms around there. I I look, I don't I I don't want us to each put up a name and say, "Hey, does that have three?" And then we just go. I want to hear how everybody felt. Okay, I have these four people who I thought were really good. I'd be good with any of them, but
046I like these two a little bit more. Whatever. And um so that we start to form a consensus and understand where everybody is. Uh I don't see any re I'm I'm hoping that we can um select two people whether it's in one motion or two. So, I think it'd be great to have a holistic conversation first and then maybe we get to a point where we can select two people with one motion. Um, we don't have to, but maybe we can. I think that would be better for everybody. And I'd like us to get to a point through a vigorous discussion where whoever we select is coming in with five votes, not with three. You know, I mean, and I think that's possible. Um, after seeing where everybody is. I'll tell you me personally, if
047I have if I have four people that I really like and even if I rank them 1 2 3 four and you know um I see my three and four are the ones who have you know consensus that I'm going to start running with them because I want whoever's in uh selected to come forward with with the support of everybody and I think if we have an in-depth conversation we can do that but I'd like to hear in the beginning again I'd like to hear in the beginning where every trustee stands um on the people that they that they liked and whether hey maybe maybe throughout this whole process it was only one but if it's five I want to hear about that too and I want to see where we all stand and then
048maybe that lets us see okay cool there's a consensus around >> we know we can get five votes for two people or three whatever and then we have a discussion about that but I definitely don't want us to go name by name and see how everyone feels and then >> you know that I don't think that'll work for anybody >> I trust you I want to give trusty demio chance with >> bringing multiple names forward. Okay. >> Trusty Aljami. >> And I just want to clarify I I do want the discussion and I agree with the trustes are um but I just want to make sure that we don't throw one name and then go back and forth. >> So I'm okay with two names, three names. That that's okay with me. But I also
049want to say to our community, we have 38 39 people that um that participated and I appreciate everyone that participated and this is a critical stage. We have a superintendent to replace. We have a president to replace and and sometimes I wonder if we would have had that many people if those situations are not here. I'm going to be really really candid. So it's really really important to pick the right people because we will be impacting our kids for generations. We cannot say because there's an influence from the community to pick this person. We do that. I want to make sure that we pick the right person because those are critical positions that we need to handle and we cannot um sacrifice our kids by picking somebody that we um are influenced by others and
050and and it's a candid discussion. So I ask all the board members to really think of it as impacting our kids for generations. Trusty Pleskov >> and the to just kind of piggyback on that I want to remind everyone this is only a basically a one-year service and come next November there will be four seats. Anybody who participated in this um experience is more than welcome to try again come next November because we will be having uh four seats up for election, a two-year partial term and three full full six-year terms. So, whoever we choose next week will only be serving for a little over a year, making those extremely critical decisions that are going to impact this community, not only with the selection of the college president and the superintendent once he gets his
051contract signed, um, but also, um, infrastructure needs both at the college, which were in the the middle of um making critical decisions on as to how we move that forward with dollars already voted by the community, but also then what to do with the infrastructure needs for the P12. And we need everybody ready to roll immediately because these decisions are coming very very quickly and they need to whoever we select needs to understand and be caught up to speed at the very beginning. This isn't something that we can take months to make a decision on. So this is an important um choice that we are going to have to make but there will be another opportunity come next November. totally agree with that. Um I do believe and I agree with Trusty Zar that we
052did have amazing candidates who stepped forward and um it's it's part of the job that we are the voice of the community. We will receive a lot of community influence. Um a lot of uh people will be reaching out um and saying how strongly they feel about one candidate or the other. Um I I take uh my time I hope you will too in the next few days to study the resumeumés, re-watch the videos which will be um provided um and and reach um you know define that list that you can come with on Monday that we can be prepared to make deliberations on the candidates that you pick. And I'd say we're we're lucky definitely that we have so many qualified people who have applied and I thank them for their time and their
053interest in serving in these two important posts. Trustees are >> first chair Mosa or President Mos, I'd like to thank you for leading us with a steady hand through all of this. It's uh not easy. So thank you for that. And just to remind everybody, so um Monday at 6 p.m. correct right here is a special meeting before our normal normally scheduled meeting. >> And if anybody and there will be a citizen participation for that 6 p.m. meeting. So if anyone >> from the community uh wants to come and say something, that's a time to do it publicly. Um but our goal would be uh to do what we need to do from 6:00 until around 7:00 and then we have our our uh regularly scheduled board meeting. >> That is correct. Trustes are so
054>> are we pl or just are we or will we discuss maybe we'll discuss this Monday at 6. Are we planning to immediately swear in who we appoint to sit for the 7 o'clock meeting? >> So I'd like to sit on that. They will be sworn in the day after because we have three days legally to swear them in. >> Um but I'd like them >> to be at the college meeting. Um so we can give time >> and um >> I don't expect Yeah, correct. And to do the formal swearing in. >> Okay. So we're not expecting them to participate in Monday night's meeting. Okay. All right. Cool. >> All right. >> Okay. So I I feel the consensus that we can bring as many names as possible as your top applicants. I would
055say let's limit it to four up to four. So you could say two or four or three and then we can have the deliberation on each uh candidate you bring forward. I'll keep Joanne will be keeping the tally of the people who have been mentioned as top applicants and um I hope that we reach consensus and and make a make those two decisions on on Monday and we have a full board again to carry out the duties of school board for the city of Dearborn school district uh which as many have pointed out so many important decisions that we have to make in the next few months. There's no more discussion. Thank you everybody. Have a good night. We'll see you on Monday. This meeting is adjourned at 7:55. >> Thank you.