001on behalf of the PTA is my pleasure to welcome you to tonight's debate featuring the candidates for our Board of Education my name is Peggy Angelo I'm the president of the PTA and coordinating this discussion with the assistance of the League of Women Voters one of the most important events I think the PTA does I would like to thank the community for actively participating in this debate and for the questions that were submitted I would also like to thank Susan waros for for kindly accepting the role to help organize the event and to keep time this evening I would also like to thank Alice Tenny for sharing her expertise and moderating this discussion for us this evening the Board of Education plays a crucial role in shaping the policies and the direction of our school
002district tonight we have the privilege of hearing from the candidates themselves and to learn about learn a little bit more about each one we have three wonderful candidates for the Board of Education this evening they are Michelle fret Lori Gerald and Alison hollerin so without further Ado I will turn the mic over to Alice does this can you hear me yes okay um well as I was already introduced but very kindly by Peggy um I am Alice Tenny and I'm the moderator for tonight's Forum please note that I am not a voter in this District as the league requires so I'm completely nonpartisan in this contest tonight's Forum will follow the League's traditional format beginning with opening statement from each candidate followed by a question and answer period and finishing up with closing statements from
003each candidate the order of the candidates opening statements has been determined by lot the reverse order will be used for closing statements opening and closing statements are not to exceed one minute responses to the questions will be limited to 90 seconds note that our timekeeper will be visible to the candidates and will alert the panel when 30 seconds of response time are remaining and then again when it's time to stop candidates will be able to finish any sentences they have started the candidates are allowed two rebuttal each over the course of the evening rebuttal time will be 30 seconds and there will be no responses to rebuttal however after Clos statements I reserve the right to Grant a further rebuttal if it is deemed necessary um other rules that candidates will not interrupt each other
004or the moderator during the Forum as moderator I reserve the right to pause or if necessary to Halt the proceedings to enforce the ground rules and format I don't expect to do either of those please note that the candidates have not been provided with any of the questions ahead of time finally accept for time limits the only restriction on candidate statements and answers is respect and civility okay so our candidates before we started had already um chosen their order by lot um and they are um Michelle fret on the left Lori Gerald in the middle and on the right Allison howan so we will start with uh opening statements from Michelle good evening thank you to the community the league of Voters and our PTA for facilitating this evening's candidate Forum my name is Michelle
005fret and I am a 10-year resident of Taho I have two daughters that attend the high school right here in Taho I am a career educator of 31 years and a lifelong learner I am currently the assistant director of special education in a neighboring School District during the last 10 years I have become a visible and vocal advocate for students in tuo because I believe every student matters I have been an active member of the PTA as well as a current member of the Executive Board of task I believe there is a need for parent and student voice in the decision-making process in this District I believe the school board requires a member that it has expertise and experience in the field of Education who can partner with the school district's superintendent and administrators to
006ensure that all of our students are career and college ready and are contributing members to society and the community at large and thank you um now Lori Gerald your opening statement please hi my name is Lori Gerald I'm a former Trustee of the Taho Union Free School District uh Board of Education I'm running to regain a seat on the board this year to continue progress toward ensuring an Innovative quality education program that prepares each of our Learners to interact survive and thrive as 21st century Learners and World citizens my family and I have been members of the school Community for 12 years I've fiercely advocated for Quality education and the importance of early literacy my doctoral work confirmed my belief that early literacy and the development of critical thinking skills are essential to success in
007all aspects of learning as a board member I supported this expansion of the universal prek program and um it was very important to me that we build a very strong literacy program I'm a career educator with over 25 years 30 years I should say of experience and I Look to uh rejoin the board and do all the great things that it does thank you and Allison H hello I'm Allison hallerin as an accountant in the business office at pelum school district I will bring to the board my vast knowledge of school finance and budgeting I am deeply involved in many aspects of what it takes to run an exemplary school district and will bring that experience to tuckaho to continue to build on our success for almost two decades I've been a fierce voice at
008Board of Ed meetings advocating for students and teachers I have focused on school sa safety differentiated learning and professional development through my efforts and volunteering I have already made significant contributions of change in our district along with my husband and our four children I have been part of the takaho schools for the past 20 years my passion for this community is unwavering I have served on the board of task and on many school committees including District safety the coddle principal and superintendent search and PTA president as Board of Ed trustee I will apply my professional expertise in school business my passion for advocacy and my deep historical knowledge of tuo schools to elevate our district to the next level thank you um so moving on to our uh questions um our first question and we
009will again start with Michelle and then we'll be rotating um why are you running for the school board what problem or problems or issue or issues are you most conc concerned about as I said in my opening statement I have become a very visible and vocal voice for students um with varying needs in my expertise as being a special education administrator and working with students both in the general education and special education capacities I've had the opportunity to speak with many families um and learn different processes that students in students learning um what I found is there are many gaps in the learning of Stu students of general education in literacy but there are also many gaps in compliance here in takaho when it comes to special education services the concern is that there is
010not a student voice when we have a child of 5 years old who cannot speak for him or herself and parents are having difficulty reaching out to the administrators and to the directors within the district on how to support their own children with that that is the reason I am running today thank you um and if you need me to repeat the question please just ask um we'll now move to Lori please yes I am also a career educator um I've spent many years as a literacy specialist working both within school districts and and um a whole State Department of Education to improve Literacy for uh students across the state I have received my Doctorate in Education focused on critical thinking skills and learning for young children I'm excited today to be here with you
011um to even let you know that I decided to go back into the classroom that was a choice that I had I decided to go back in because I didn't not want to be an administrator who is out of touch with what is going on re in the classroom Frontline education so I've gone back and I'm enjoying myself with my with my little first graders since I arrived here 12 years ago I've been a fierce advocator for strong literacy services for our students and I'm looking forward to continuing the strides that we have made when I first came here we had elements of strong literacy programming however it was not being implemented well and teachers were poorly trained so it was very disjointed and through my advocacy I've seen lots of changes um and a
012lot of things that I really pushed for come to fruition and I Look to continue to do that work with this board thank you Allison hi um as I mentioned in my opening statement I am hoping to apply my previous advocacy and my passion for the district and my deep historical knowledge of the district I am the type who gets involved right from the get-go I work collaboratively with members of the community and our district when I moved here in 2004 I immediately joined the task board because task was something that I needed in my time of being here I have worked with four of our six superintend attendant four of our six coddle principles four of our four Middle School principles and three of our six special education directors I'm committed to this district
013and one of the things that I'm most concerned about in changing is hoping to bring fiscal Clarity I believe our district is doing a wonderful job but I do believe that there are processes in the budgeting that we can um look closer at and see if we can do a better job I also would like to focus on um C on professional development I have been a large Advocate um speaking about teacher training and um making sure that our teachers are fully prepared to be able to teach all of our students um across the board to make a successful classroom thank you um question number two and we'll start with Lori most candidates campaign on promise is of what they will do if elected what have you already done for the district and I realized
014some of these questions overlap a little bit and they may have some redundancies in them but nothing wrong with reiterating sure so as I stated when I came here 12 years ago there were elements of strong curriculum programming such as Lucy Caulkins um uh writing and reading programs fontis and panel leveled readers but what I saw was that it was not being implemented well and teachers weren't doing it probably I'm thinking because they did not have the support uh that they needed in terms of professional development that was ongoing and also knowledgeable uh administrators that can assist them in their growth and learning to uh Implement and work within these programs with Fidelity so since coming here and you guys can look back over the YouTube videos over the years you will see how hard
015I advocated to beef up the foundation of our learning especially at the uh Elementary level the problem is if we don't students it's like a building I always give this analogy it's like a building if the foundation is weak then the building as it gets taller and grows and develop only crumbles and the building comes tumbling down so I want to make sure that we continue to build a strong Foundation of literacy and learning for our young people so that as they transition and develop up to the middle and high school and out of high school that they are uh ready to compete in This Global and diverse Society thank you can you just read the question one more time yes of course most candidates campaign on Promises of what they will do if they
016are elected what have you already done for the district so as I mentioned I have been um a big part of the district for the past 20 years um in my time I have served on several committees and it with those committees I have made effective policy change for commun for better communication I have advocated for school safety asking for serving on the school safety District committee um asking for better security for our schools advocating for the security vestibules I had a um grots on the bound gr boots on the ground effort for the um 2018 Bond also the 2021 Bond um I um worked with the pplt committee and helped create the differentiation of the fifth grade departmentalization program with which helped bring our um learning of our coddle to um up to the
017Middle School level to make it easier for them I have um implemented programs for social emotional learning bringing in drug program awareness and social anxiety awareness um I have been non-stop advocating at board me at board meetings um asking for change questioning and um digging deep into how we can be better thank you Michelle so during the 10 years that uh my family and I have lived here I right away started to volunteer within the schools um at coddle I was a parent member for um the Halloween parties and any get togethers or meetings that they may have had and then I became um an active member of the PTA and the executive board um on the executive board I have done two years in four separate committees um I've dance committee uh membership committee
018the high school committee and the student support committee I'm sorry only one year on high school so far uh the one committee that I feel I made the most impact on was the student support committee um it allowed me to reach out to many families in the District uh who needed support with students of varying needs on how to get uh Services as well as how to uh utilize their own strengths to build up their education what I did find is uh families that I did not know got my name and phone number from uh others that I helped along the way and I think this that was the Cornerstone of me starting this campaign is really to get to know more families that feel the need uh to get that support and become part
019of the community with the administrators and teachers thank you on to uh question number three are you satisfied with the current Administration if so in what way and if not why we'll start with um Allison please I am satisfied with the current Administration I am happy that we finally have some stability as I mentioned I have worked in my 20 years with six different superintendents and six different principles for the for coddle and four different principles for middle school and six different special ed directors in 20 years that's a lot of turnover and that really hurts our district the instability of not having someone consistently leading the pack leading the rules and striving for better education really hurts us so I am happy with them do I feel that there is room for improvement absolutely
020absolutely and I will work towards that collaboratively with my other board members working towards guiding our superintendent to be the best that she can be and to really focus on what we can do for our district and how she can support her Administration so that they are always thinking about the students and moving forward and doing what's best for them thank you Michelle I'm happy to say I am satisfied with the administration um I do feel that there is work to be done within our administrative staff uh our superintendent is currently working um many many hours in many and having many many hats uh understanding that our superintendent is currently our human resources administrator as well um has me have some pause with how the hiring practices have been put forth in the district um
021as the superintendent has her own business to run and be aasis on with the school board I believe it's very difficult for her to also have such a uh stressful aggressive job post uh with being in Human Resources so that was was a concern to me um our administrators in our Middle School and High School although very strong very aggressive when it comes to supporting our students they are um what I feel specifically the two assistant principles are overworked in the tasks that they are given and there is not equity in the task that they have right now uh one works uh also as our uh athletic director uh and the other works very closely with guidance for master schedules so I'd like to look a little bit deeper at the roles of each one
022of our administrators in the district thank you Lori same question so I'm very pleased with the work of our administrators um and and those that we have in place haven't been here over the years like Allison we got to see a lot of transition from one administrator to the other Dr Goodman has come here uh and really really transformed with the help of the administrators that have been put in place uh and our wonderful teaching staff as well as our school Community to put into the uh the the foundations that we needed across the board from curriculum special education through our sports program and the like um I appreciate how she has um made herself available to hear what parents' concerns are and really move to uh make sure that every student needs are being
023met she has done a tremendous and wonderful job and I think that about our assistant superintendent he's come in he's very knowledgeable he stays on The Cutting Edge of uh curriculum and instruction and I think they're doing a a tremendous job so much better than what we had years prior and so I'm very pleased with what they're doing of course there's always room for improvement and I believe that they demonstrate every day how open they are to addressing our concerns as their school community members so yes I'm very pleased with them and we're work in progress thank you um similarly along similar lines Boards of Education can make a lasting impact on a school district what past efforts if any made by the takaho school board do you particularly value and we will start with
024Michelle the past efforts that I have seen from this the school board um in recent years is really working to be fiscally productive at and supporting the community and the taxpayers um with providing the students with the appropriate supports and and services that they need but also being very fiscally responsible and not um increasing the the taxes for the uh homeowners too much over the years particularly this year i' I've noted um that the budget that is going through is below the increase allowable which I think is probably the first time in a long time so I think we should be very proud as a community that the board works tirelessly along with the superintendent on making these things work thank you Lori can you repeat the question of course Boards of Education can make
025a lasting impact on a school district what past efforts if any made by the tuckaho school board do you particularly value I I think one of the biggest things is having brought in a superintendent and administrative staff who've been consistent because again as Allison and I both said we were here when there was great transition revolving door of Administrators this is the first time and I since Dr Goodman has come that we've it's been consistent and I appreciate the work that they're they're doing they have again brought in teared instruction we've made sure that the professional development and continuing professional development is in place we make sure that even our ad hoc committees are um their application processes for that so that when we bring in these ad hoc committees the people that are serving
026on them will actually have experience in the areas in which they're working um lots of great things have happened I believe we have uh better uh teacher morale than I've seen in previous years here and we have administrators who really really care about the students and their um growth as Learners and that they are propelled in society to work and do really well our ratings have gone improved in the last well even when I was on the board the exponentially I think we went from like 31 or 35 up to like 20 and now we're at 16 so I think the record speaks for itself that we have great administrators in place and a wonderful community that supports their work thank you next question which is creative a former principal oh I'm sorry I'm so
027sorry I did it again okay don't mean to leave you out go right ahead Michelle so one of the um Alison got it um what I feel the board has made a lasting impact on is um really our Capital Improvements um most of the board has been involved in um three capital Improvement plans um which you know some of them we are still in the works but they have put forth the bonds they were thoughtful plans and they really um focused on the needs of our facilities to move forward I do feel that bringing in the superintendent and the super superintendent search that we did was another lasting um effect that they will have um Dr Goodman having the St stability that we have now in the district is absolutely key the way that they
028support the administration um Dr Goodman and her um assistant superintendent and her principles and also the way that they really look at data they ask for work workshops to provide data so that they can see that the programs we have going on that they have put into the budget are um working and how they're working and what needs to be changed thank you now time for the creative question a former School principal reportedly once described the middle school years in terms of an Oreo cookie the best part being the middle the bottom being Elementary School and the top being high school are you in favor of reinstating a principal for our middle school so that this quote unquote best part of our students education gets the attention and Leadership it may need we'll start with
029Lori please Oro cookie okay um I am in support of having a middle school principal but I think that that would depend on what the Comm commun School Community decided through um budget planning as well as has um supports in place we're a very small District we only have two buildings and um and so I think that I I would want to make sure that one our district can support another administrator um financially I would want to make sure that uh it makes sense to our school Community I would really seek to decide what they think and make a decision from there um I know that we did have one in the past but the the feedback was that we were administrator heavy and less money was uh available to attend to staffing needs teacher
030uh development and also student achievement so I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to go back there but we could always canvas and and um survey our school Community to find out if that would be something that they would be interested in going back to thank you Allison I do feel that our current structure does put a lot of stress on um our our high school middle school principal and also our assistant um principal the way that we restructured it um they really have to wear a lot of hats and for example our assistant principal is um not only responsible for the management of um management of our athletic department but it's also he's also responsible for the management of our building level Services he's responsible for um some daa reporting um
031and each of those you know most districts take have just an athletic director most districts have just someone who's responsible for the Dasa we're really asking for our high school middle school principal and our um assistant principles to really take on a lot of work I don't know if it's budgetarily um responsible to hire another principal in the Middle School um because that was one of the reasons why we abolish the position um it may also not legally be possible because of the way that we abolish the position however um I do feel that there's definite restructuring that needs to go on and maybe if we don't rehire someone at a principal level with such a high salary we could certainly maybe use a director with a lower salary but still being able to take
032on some of the weight um that is carried by um that the staff thank you Michelle so I would agree with both of my fellow candidates um when it comes to to our community uh with our middle school and high school being one physical building it is often difficult to have two heads of that building you do see that in um some of the schools in the city where in one building they'll have four separate high schools and I think it's very difficult for uh the administrators to have a common mind that way uh I'm also in agreement to what they've said possibly uh a director or um heads of different departments might be more beneficial to our school community and it could be teachers on stiens for some of these um departments or even
033breaking our assistant principles that are here in the Middle High School down into three separate uh people uh Not all men but three separate people who would have the different jobs again I was concerned that one of our assistant principles is working working directly with the guidance Department doing 504s as the chairperson um taking on health uh nursing uh and PE all under one um one person I think both of our assistant principles are are stressed with the amount of work that they are doing so I think we should look at that a little bit more closely in the coming years thank you question number six what is your position on diversity equity and inclusion specifically do you think there is too much too little or just the right amount of attention paid to this
034issue in our district and we'll start um with Allison please I feel that there is always room for improvement but I do think that we find a good balance in the amount of Dei that we offer um I do see that we could diversity equity and inclusion has a lot of pieces to it um and that is also including um not only a um race piece but there's a special education piece a needs of um different differentiation of individuals and a recognition of that my goal would be to make sure that we create an environment where students feel comfortable and are happy to come to school so that they can focus on their education because that is what is most important um I would like to see acceptance of everyone and everyone to feel like
035this that school is a place where they belong and um and you know it's Dei is a is a Hot Topic it's a rolling evolving um item and I feel that as as the time goes on in the three-year term we can certainly um look at it deeper and see what else we can we can do as a district but I do feel that right now we do have a good balance thank you Michelle I Allison took the words out of my mouth when she said Dei is a Hot Topic I think it in the last five to seven years we've heard more about professional development and uh Dei supports for students and Educators Across the Nation um I think what we need to look at is starting from the top with bringing in a
036more diverse staff as the time comes when uh the when teachers do retire or move on to different places um um I work in a city school district where we have the opportunity to participate in Virtual diversity fairs to attract um staff members teachers administrators Pathologists of all nationalities and races which allows for students um in a community like ours that have that are from multiple backgrounds to look to the role have Role Models um that way I think we have a long way to go um just as we do in technology just as we do in learning The Sciences Etc I think all of the areas we have work to do thank you and Lori yes um there's always room for improvement um in every area of Education it's it's a ever evolving um
037system so with that I think that the district has again made great strides in addressing Dei um for students and staff training we have uh a strategic plan that's in place that addresses the diverse needs of Learners uh we have uh put into effect the rethink which is the social and emotional learning that needs to take place so that you can feel empathy for someone who may not look like you behave like you talk like you whatever it is and so we have put those things in place teachers are and staff are receiving the training that they need and it's being uh funneled down into the classrooms I believe that the um guidance counselors at the elementary school have begun with the rethink um program there and it continues at the high school and middle
038school and I'm really pleased that the some of these things are in place we continue to strive to make sure we're meeting the needs of all of our students by um putting into place a robust um curriculum that institutes three tiers of reading instruction for our littlest ones and making sure that we have AP courses in place and building our sports program so that there's room for everybody every student to to fit in and to grow and to and develop thank you moving on what are your views on how to help kids who are either accelerated Learners and might need additional challenges or kids who may be slow Learners and need more attention we'll start with um Michelle please can you repeat the first part of the question pleas sure what are your views on
039how to help kids who are either accelerated Learners and might need additional challenges or kids who may be slower Learners and need more attention so during my um every day I am working with students of varying needs uh most districts and I think including our own right now don't focus on the accelerated learner as much as we should um it takes a lot of work to uh work with exceptional students that are are above ground when it comes to um their learning abilities um often times students that are gifted are not uh challenged enough and we find that there are behaviors that then follow that um I think we need to really look into that um look at how our students that have uh with not only advanced placement classes or honors classes but really
040looking into um projects based learning for those students to help to move them along uh students that are considered slow Learners uh it is actually a term used by New York State um those are not students necessarily with disabilities but students who have the right to have services within the general education classroom with uh the mtss and the response to intervention and AIS Services I am not sure that this district is providing in enough of that um in the way I I said that teachers had been um aligned to those support programs so we should be looking into both ends of the spectrum with that thank you Lori yes so agree with both everyone um yes so I do think I do believe that the district is starting to pay more attention to those students
041who are working above grade level and I think that they are looking and exploring different programming that the students can take advantage of and be enriched um some of the things that I know that they have in place for example is like the chess we have the debate team there are lots of different things that are already going on and we are also engaging once again in tiered instruction there's a win period so that children are getting what they need and um at that time so whether it is that they need enrichment whether it is that they need um supports in tier 2 and tier three instruction those things are in place and they are being um evaluated constantly now that there is there are data teens now here so I think that there's always
042room for improvement and that is something that I believe the dis district is working on and I I'm I can't wait to see what that looks like um maybe it is that we have them as Michelle was saying uh Project based learning which I know that we do have in place already so that they're working within their gifts and their strengths so I think that there's again always room for improvement but I think that our district knows that and is moving um quickly to try to get something in place for those students who are working above and while supporting those students who need more um supports thank you and Allison my views on um helping the accelerated learner I have been very vocal about for at least 16 years I have advocated strongly for an
043accelerated learning program in the middle school and at coddle and at one point um when I felt that I was not getting what I needed when I was PTA president I went out found a company curious on the Hudson and I brought them into the district so that we could have enriched after school program an enriched after school steam program for our students and that um helped not only the accelerated learner but all Learners I also um know a lot about students who need help with support I have two children who through their education needed help with support I know that when I was watching the um presentation that Mr marash and uh Dr K gave a few weeks ago at the board meeting that I was very impressed with what they are doing regarding
044AIS response intervention using data like Diles to identify students earlier and I thought to myself wow if my daughter had had this we would not be in the situation that we are in now and she is now 25 years old and we are still dealing with her not being identified early enough so I do feel that there is room for improvement we do need to identify students earlier we do need to still um give children who need um enrichment and enhanced support for high level learning and we also cannot forget about the kids who are in the middle thank you uh next question do you envision the board considering a change to intermural or intramural sports teams that that is should these begin in sixth as opposed to seventh grade and at the same time
045would you think about uh introducing foreign languages in sixth instead of seventh grade and we will start with Lori please I'm for all of that if we can start um our younger students finding a place for them within this our sporting our sports program then why not start it early they start playing soccer at kindergarten with the um the various Sports programs that we have in our community so why not bring that to the school so I would love to see that uh happen for sixth graders um and what was the second part foreign languages foreign language yes uh there are many districts Who start for foreign language they call it World Language instruction believe it or not at first grade I'm actually a teacher in a district where foreign language World Language is taught
046at first grade through a special so I think that there's always room to um [Music] to expose our children to other languages other cultures just like they do in many other countries so yes I think that that is something that we could definitely uh look to do in this district and we should it just makes our kids more marketable and it makes them um more sensitive and empathetic to other cultures and ethnicities thank you Allison as far as intermural Sports in the sixth grade um this has been brought up a lot um especially when I was PTA president um you often had Parents coming looking for intermural um Sports I do feel that we would need to look at the budget to see if it would work for our district um and who would run
047those intermural Sports being a small District it's hard to build teams if there was a way that we can get sixth graders into are modified Sports I don't know if that's allowed but if they're away I think that's a fantastic idea um as far as the language um I absolutely would support it starting in sixth grade um like Lori said I even would like to see it happen in cadle there was a time here um that we had an Italian program that was run just by a Community member um at through coddle and it was an after school program and there was a time when the district she needed Insurance in order to be able to run the program in coddle and she came to me and asked if um the PTA would be willing
048to take it on and um we voted on it and we unanimously decided that yes we would take on that program because we valued the um for children to learn about a different culture and a different language at such a young age thank you Michelle um of course I don't think any one of us would say we weren't in favor of the intramural to sixth grade or the foreign language um we we know that our sixth graders somehow miss out on a lot of things just by virtue of their age and being in the middle school but not yet being allowed to um participate in the modified Sports in in uh the the county and in the state um so yes I would definitely be in favor of that um but just like anything else
049we'd have to look to the budget on how to be creative on how to get coaches and voluntary staff insurance as well for for intramurals possibly through mergers with other um other school districts like we do with some of our Varsity Sports even could possibly be um a way to look at it I think it's going to take a little bit of time and research for that but it's very much well worth the the try um foreign language uh just just like Lori said I've been in districts that start foreign language as young as kindergarten first grade um there's not testing but it's that full immersion model um where in some classes there there are bilingual classrooms that allow students to have the opportunity and the exposure so I think as we go forward in
050looking into different ways to make our students more well-rounded these are obviously some things we can look into thank you um and we will um well not end the The Forum but in the question session um with the question what particular expertise would you bring to the board and we will start with Allison please so as I mentioned I have been working in school accounting for over 20 years um previous to working for the pelm school district I worked for a 4201 school that is um New York State supported for blind and multi-handicapped children as a assistant controller I touch on all aspects of school business in my current position I'm responsible for the health insurance budget the running of their um payroll the final review of their payroll the transportation budget the [Music] um
051Bose billing and all of their special education billing um so and I work with our Treasurer on doing a lot of the budget process so I touch on a lot of different aspects of running a school and that is what I would be able to bring to the board the most um I would also be able to bring to the board my vast knowledge and history um I I have been through this District I have been working with um key stakeholders in the district and um Administration and I remember where we came from and um can work towards making us go in the direction that we want to go to thank you Michelle so um as an a career educator I've had the opportunity to also wear many hats although um my current expertise is
052in special education I've been a teacher in general education classrooms I have been a workshop uh facilitator for different professional learning opportunities for teachers I have been part of the hiring process for teachers teaching assistants AIDS Pathologists administrators and um assistant directors uh I've also been an acting assistant principal in a local in a neighboring School District um so I had the taste of being in a school building five days a week when I wasn't a teacher but from behind a different desk and out on a different playground um so having the knowledge of what the daytoday UH responsibilities are with so many different hats I think I bring a different flavor to what the the uh board would need and rounding out all of the professions that we have on this current board I
053think Lor did we hear from yeah that's what I have F Lori your answer I apologize so I am a career educator as well um I have experience with curriculum mapping um the even the development of a strategic plan which this District when I first came here did not have one it was at my urging and press that I got them to move to make a strategic plan and that strategic plan has um been really good in the last four years and we've really worked very hard this district has really worked hard to meet every one of the pillars so I bring that experience I've already been a board member here and so I have a lot of um expertise on how boards are supposed to run how to collaborate with the administration School Community
054teachers um and now that I'm back in the classroom I am on the front lines of Education every day one of the reasons I went back was again because I didn't want to hear anymore I'm out of touch I really don't understand what's going on today it's so different than yesterday maybe when you were in school so now I'm back in the classroom and I can employ all the great things that I've learned in my career and also Implement a lot of the research that I have um done around critical thinking with our kids being exposed to all kind of social media IIA um new news and everything coming from Every Which angle they have to learn this that and the other I think that is important that our children are taught how to synthe
055synthesize information and how to really look deeply at information and see what they can pull out that benefits them so I bring a lot to the table with respect to that thank you thank you to all three of you as we move into um our closing statements and we will start with Allison please I would like to start by thanking all of the district members watching tonight and listening with an open mind additionally I want to give thanks to the PTA and the League of Women Voters it is my hope and would be my honor to serve the entire tuao School District as a dutiful board member I wish to build upon and strengthen the foundation of which we have already established throughout my 20 years as a tuo resident I will work collaboratively and
056diligently with my fellow board members in the interest of excellent education for all students it is my belief that my experience with school finance will help to enrich our district my lengthy knowledge of the district through the varying committees I aided will benefit the students and the faculty as well at this time I would like to request your support for the upcoming election on Tuesday and preemptively give my gratitude to those who do thank you also to Michelle and Lori for caring enough about our district to want to serve good night thank you Lori yes so I'm an experienced educator I'm a teacher who believes that the culture and education program and support services must be informed and sensitive to the student body's social and emotional needs so that each student is fully present and
057engaged in learning further instructional Excellence must be the norm and each instructional team member must be committed to professional Mastery and supported in a way that allows for its development and demonstration since I came here 10 years ago and since my time on the board I've advocated for many of the programing that prog programming that you see in place such as the prek universal program Orton Gillingham special education RTI programming more AP courses vocational programming and many other models of educational best practices most of these things uh most of these initiatives are really now in place and it happened during my tenure on the board I hope to continue to work with the board and the school Community to keep us moving forward and maintain the momentum toward our mission which is Excellence for all
058thank you um and thank you to our candidates and to our audience oh I I do this again I'm so sorry sorry again I would like to thank the PTA the League of Women Voters the community uh residents that are here tonight and those at home that are watching I want to thank both Allison and Laura for being part of this forum tonight um I know we were all a little nervous um I wouldn't like to reach out just one time to request that you have everyone you know come out and vote because the vote is the most important part of this so next Tuesday night if you believe in me as the candidate that should be supporting not only you and your children but this community at large I'd ask you to please come
059out vote for me as the new board trustee thank you apologies again um and now um thank you to our candidates and to our audience a reminder that this forum has been recorded and will be available on your sponsoring League's we website until election day which is next Tuesday May 21st I also want to remind you of the unique and important role played by the League of Women Voters here in the community and across the country the league Works to register voters educate them on issues of the day and to protect their right to vote your local league is made up of volunteers who devote their time and energy your participation and assistance are always welcome thank you and have a wonderful evening thank you to everyone thank you