001good evening and Welcome to our meet the candidates night that's sponsored by the West senica Central School District my name is Elena kala and I'm the district's Communications coordinator as well as the MC for tonight's event on behalf of our district and our Board of Education I'd like i' like to welcome our candidates and everyone in attendance whether here in the auditorium tonight or watching on our live stream we appreciate your interest in getting to know our candidates and making an informed vote on May 21st as a side note in regard to voting know that the West sen West sen has approximately 37,000 eligible voters but we generally only bring about 2,000 give or take 500 so we need we need to to see you at the polls we'd love to see you every parent
002of every child in our district vote at the polls this year before I introduce the candidates uh allow me to explain to you the structure of tonight's event and we will try to wrap up by 8:00 each of our segments will be timed uh tamy suu seated in front over here we'll be operating our timer and gently cue our candidates when their time is up each candidate will have 3 minutes to provide an opening statement and 3 minutes to provide a closing statement in between uh they will be given a question everyone will get the same question they're given two minutes each to answer uh we'll start at the front of the line with the first question and the second question will go to the second person and so on so that we're revolving that
003order if time allows we'll take some live questions from our audience we have a few microphones set up for that purpose and um again still with a two-minute time limit on that uh now we have we have six candidates for this election one is with us um virtually and one unfortunately was Ill tonight and could not make it Molly Dana will not be with us tonight um they are seated in the order that they will appear on the ballot and um we're we're happy to have everyone here we have Elizabeth Gates we have Justin Smith Molly Dana will be third on the on the ballot but she's not with us tonight uh Jeremy Maloney after that Marla Greenberg is on the Monitor and then we have lorine barich so um without any further Ado I'd
004like you all to introduce yourselves let me start please L okay so I understand tamy will give me the not okay thank you um thank you to everyone for joining us this evening in person and remotely I think the best way to introduce myself is to tell you more about who I am as a person how I grew up and the part of me that I often don't get to speak about on the board and as a community member so what you don't know about me or some of you may not is that Liz Gates is the daughter of immigrant parents my parents came to this country from Lebanon 2 years before I was born they came here legally as immigrants not refuges my father's Armenian my mother's Lebanese my parents came to America with
005$15 in their pocket they rented a house on Ryan Street in South Buffalo and my father immediately began work at Bethlehem Steel my father was an educated man in Lebanon math teacher who speaks three languages fluently and r the elections in his small country um for reference Lebanon is about the size of Rhode Island however in America his education was not acknowledged and deemed useless nevertheless he was thankful for the work offered to him as a laborer and later as a truck truck driver after a decade of working and saving my my family moved from South Buffalo to W Sona in the very home my mother my mother still lives in today and the home my father recently passed away on December mber 26th I graduated from Northwood Elementary West medle and West Senior I
006am proud to be a lifelong resident of West sonaka I have three boys in the school district I have a bachelor's of Science degree from the University of Buffalo in finance and it I was also a certified business and CTE teacher I have professional experience in finance marketing and Technology I am a current board member with 3 years of service to the board board the past 2 years as board president I share all of this tonight to help people see the person behind the board member and to hopefully help you all understand why I love West Sona and why I sit on the board of education and why I'm seeking another term this town allowed an immigrant immigrant family to feel welcomed and accepted we were never ostracized or bullied in fact my friends neighbors
007and community members were interested in my culture and history this is why I chose to raise my three KS kids here um to know me is to know that I was raised by dedicated respectful strong ethical people people who know the true value of freedom and the value of free education so that is who I am at my core and that is who I hope you see tonight and um I feel that my work on the board St speaks for itself and um I hope you'll get to learn more about me tonight and I think I'm done right 30 seconds I'm done thank you I had more but I'll let it go Justin she gave some my time if she uh hi everybody thanks for coming out uh my name is Justin Smith uh sorry
008about that um I have lived in West senica since 2000 I have to say that I have uh it's a great town a great community and uh so far my daughter is a sophomore over at West go west um and right and it has been a fantastic experience um that is a a tough intro to follow although I can say I have been to Lebanon uh I uh so a little bit about me I've uh I served in the Marine Corps honorably where I went to Lebanon uh after the Marine Corps I I got out and I got into uh it basically uh kind of like a engineer and then worked my way up to management so from there uh uh I I dipped my toes and into uh International Management went over to Paris
009lived there for about 4 years and came back to the States uh all the while my wife stayed here in west senica of course so she's the real trooper uh I am running for the uh for the board seats here because I think that uh what I've experienced the last uh couple years is just generally a lack of transparency and the lack of um you know just insight into how things are done uh I think I can bring some uh uh insight into that and hopefully turn that around a little bit uh in my professional career uh budgets and reorganizations and shifting of Labor and resources is something that I do all the time um you know my current budget is well into the100 million I think right now so uh managing a budget very
010similar to the West cica School District is is not you know anything I haven't done uh as far as experience working with school districts my uh daughter previously to going to West senica actually went to Queen of Heaven which is also in West Sena and uh I was part of the hsg um which is kind of like the PTO so as president of the PTO and under my supervision I think we had one of the most profitable years during covid um and really was able to bring the kids into school quicker than a lot of the other uh districts in the area and uh generally I'm I'm just I'm I'm running to try to like I said improve transparency visibility hopefully make the environment strong for our children faculty and staff I don't need those
01130 seconds I'm good I'll take them see you can sh the back very good Mr Maloney oh good good evening everyone uh thank you for having us tonight uh for those of you that are present and watching online that didn't have an opportunity to read my bio I'm Jeremy Maloney I've lived in West senica for the majority of my life uh my wife and I are both graduates of West Sena West my son graduated from here at East uh after graduating from high school I served two years in the United States Army uh Upon returning home I worked full-time and went to College full-time I've been employed by the West Sonica police department since 2013 uh currently I hold the position of PBA president I've also held the roles of president and the Health and
012Welfare secretary uh from 2005 to 2016 I volunteered as a head coach assistant coach and team manager for the Southtown Stars hockey organization uh for the past three years I've volunteered and helped out with the Unified sports in the west Ana School District uh if I'm elected I'm committed to serving the school Community bringing all stakeholders to the table and making decisions that will create new opportunities for students without putting a bigger burden on taxpayers thank you next on our monitor we have Marlo Greenberg good evening can everybody hear me MH yeah great thank you so much um so so thank you so much for um everybody who came out today and for everybody who's watching online I wish I could be there with you in person um I had a work trip that was
013scheduled before I decided to run but um thanks to the great IT staff at West senica um including Jessica and Pacer I'm able to be here virtually with you and I really really appreciate this opportunity um so for those of you who don't know my name is Mara Greenberg and I live in the district with my husband and our son who is an elementary uh school age uh CH sorry student um and I um I currently work for a Fortune 100 financial institution um I've worked in the financial sector for most of my career which um spans about 20 years I've worked in both the public and private sector um I worked in both houses of Congress uh both in the um the house and um in the United States Senate both in Washington DC
014and actually in uh in Buffalo New York um leading uh where I led constituent services for four counties across Western New York um I've also served on boards before and um if elected I am ready to hit the ground running so um I'm running uh for a variety of reasons one uh and first and foremost public education uh made me who I am today and um my son is in public education my um my husband was uh went through public education and uh public education is uh super important to everybody um in the district and so making sure that our schools are the most that they can be um is the most important thing um additionally I'm also running to U bring some additional transparency to uh to the board and its operations um there
015I've as I mentioned I've been working in the financial services industry for about uh in variety of capacities for about 20 years years and as part of my daily job um I am responsible for distilling very complex subject matters into easily understandable um storylines for various audiences and I think that is something that's really important to the board um and I would work to bring that um we have a great opportunity now as a you know as a board and as a district we have a new superintendent and um hitting the um I what I would do is I would hit the ground running uh to help bring uh not just transparency but to help bring uh to build a new relationship a very strong relationship with Dr Krueger and um if elected I look
016forward to uh to serving in that capacity thank you Mrs Greenberg luran barlet thank you Frederick duglas once said it is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men as a mom a nurse a girl scout leader and a friend of the community I have seen firsthand the challenges that our students and the families of West Sonica face last year I felt called to run for the board to be a voice for the voiceless and to stand for the health and safety of all students those reasons continue to pour into this race as we the parents the students the taxpayers the faculty and the staff have been muted by the actions of the current board voiceless I think there were opportunities available that could have helped support our teachers faculty and staff in
017better ways that they can help our kids grow and dream while learning foundational skills cutting funding doesn't address the real issues that our schools are faced with and that's increased fighting bullying issues with racism and mental health as a nurse and as a mom and as a leader and a caregiver for my daughters friends we can't sit back silently and watch this happen we are losing additional eyes that could care for them and bring things to light that is why I'm running that's why I'm here I'm a strong advocate for public education I'm probably the only one who is not originally from West senica and therefore I'm not married to buildings I believe that restructuring needs to happen for our students my daughter and her friends were among the last of those who before they
018got to middle school went to four different schools because of shortsightedness as a nurse I don't believe in Band-Aid Solutions and I think that's what's been happening ever since I moved here I'm originally from Erie Pennsylvania I went to Harbor Creek High School just down the lake and as a graduate my award at graduation was for allaround activities that is something that West senica is at stake for losing all of the extra additional activities that our students come to school for sadly it's not arithmetic in reading and writing it's those things that build their core and that create them to be the citizens that we want them to be thank you thank you because the first question tonight and these questions uh for your information came in on our website through a survey that we
019sent out they're not all exactly the questions if if they started with a long statement I win note that down and some of the questions are Consolidated but because the first one involves the the board's role in working with the superintendent I would like to take this moment to introduce to Dr Lisa Krueger who is the superintendent that this board will be working with Dr Krueger will be sworn in on July 1st she'll be sworn in on July 1st but she's going to spend a lot of time in the next few weeks in our schools getting to know people before they leave for the summer which is wonderful so question number one that's you first Mrs Gates okay understanding that the board is a governance body and also policy makers who hire but one person
020that being the superintendent what experience do you have in recognizing the right candidate for high level roles because you will need to approve recommendations that you that come from the superintendent what experience do I have in high level roles repeat the second part what experience no well do you have in recognizing the right candidate for high level roles so the superintendent will posee different people to you okay all right well I can speak to my experience on the board I can speak to my experience in the private sector and um those two you know I've been working I I was a teacher I did not have the opportunity to interview then but you do connect with kids and you do get um a gut instinct about people which I've always found to be something that
021I'm born with I've had the opportunity to interview people in my um in my field in marketing and IT mostly and then once again in my husband software company so and also interviewing the superintendent candidates a lot of it I think is is not just the right answers but also in an interview just getting that gut feeling that this person is right for the district and seeing their interactions with members of an interview committee is also extremely important how they answer the questions is it just a Verbatim response or is it you know is it well thought out are they listening to learn are they are they listening to One Minute answer a question so I would say I have experience but sitting on this board and getting the recommendations from our superintendent to approved
022Personnel if I trust in our superintendent then I know that he or she has done the job and they have already done the work for us and the recommendation to the board should come with maybe a few questions but we should have that trust trusting relationship with our super intendent that they are picking the right people for our district so I I delegate that authority to the superintendent but because of the trusting relationship but you know I have had experience in the past I think I I hope that answers the question it was kind of complex it it was a it was a well-rounded answer thank you and um anyone who would like the question repeated before I get to them please just let me know so Mr Smith uh okay um so so I
023I have a lot of experience interviewing and hiring candidates directly um I also have a lot of experience with working with my staff and my managers and or directors I've had that has recommended to me um folks I should hire um I do believe in trust but I also believe in trust with verify so uh I do apologize but I will not be somebody that just simply accepts um everything at face value I probably will be asking additional questions into how the process went what did the other candidates look like look like well I mean like their qualifications in in particular um what other options do we have um is this person really the best person um and then you know have more of a conversation around uh around that process um and then over
024time hopefully that can develop into more of a you know a faster process but that's that's my approach to it very good Mr Maloney uh the majority of my interviewing would not be uh people that we would be looking to hire um however it would make things interesting uh through my training and experience uh I mean that's something we do all the time we interview people and we got to kind of read be between the lines and see if they're being truthful um and that's something we pick up you know different cues people give us and it's easy for anybody to give you the right answer but you have to be able to see between that and make sure they're being honest and it is the correct person you want very good Mrs barel oh
025I'm sorry Mrs Greenberg thank you um so I actually have a good amount of experience in hiring teams and I actually lead a team right now of about 15 people so I have um you know interviewed a variety of different candidates I know the types of questions to ask and um how to understand um how to De how they've demonstrated results so um I also should mention I'm an attorney so I listen very closely to what people say um I understand what questions to ask of them and in this particular situation um I think the most important thing is to sit down with Dr Krueger and to understand what is her vision um what type of people do does she want to hire for what positions and um what is her vision for the for
026the district and what type of um candidates is she looking for um and then in discussing the candidates with her I would uh ask questions not just about their qualifications but um and not just how they've answered questions but what results have they been able to demonstrate and how have they been able to demonstrate those results in the past to um be an indicator of future success thank you very good thank you Mrs barich thank you so I do have some experience with interviewing I do serve on a leadership team in my current role I lead a team of nurse case managers and and trainers and my present company were really big on Hy performing teams and it's not just a concept but it's really a truth of transparency accountability um there's 10 tenants and
027I think all of those play highly to this role and to hiring anyone so you can't have trust first um without like you said trust and validate um on areas that you need to but you need to listen to what they're saying and what they're not is saying that I think is key here um core values are super important when you're looking at what is West Sonica what is our mission our vision and what are we looking to move forward to uh to not repeat the past very good this next question comes from a parent of three children in the district um it it borders on the um philosophical more than operational because they're policy makers but um so the the parent asked how will we address student problems in terms of today's morals and
028values and three key points that he mentioned were uh depression identity issues and bullying and we'll start with you Mr Smith oh man I yeah it's a big one mix it all up yeah so let me tell you if you're online you're missing these lights they are just cooking us alive but anyways um that is that is a great question and I can say as a parent and uh a father to a daughter that's actually been through all three of those um they are kind of near and dear to my uh um to to my art here so I I absolutely think when we hear PA and you know I I for folks that attend the school board meetings I'm usually there um if not I watch them online and I you know the the
029public comment section when folks get up and talk uh at least this last board meeting was kind of a a tearjerker if you will there was at least two of them uh where they absolutely uh um you know concerns with um you know bullying and transgender and um um and and just a slew of other topics that that that popped up and I I think that as policy makers th those are items that we should be working with the superintendent with that take the voice of the community Community the student body and the faculty to say hey how can we do better here what are some other options that we can be looking at as well as a lot of uh you know in you know I I I work in in in Corporate America
030so I I am exposed to a lot of diversity inclusion training um and sensitivity training so I think a lot of those elements are are items that could be brought into and I do see some of them um in the student body but I think there are items that we could build a little bit more upon very good Mr Maloney oh you want just read that one sure so how will you address student problems in terms of today's morals and values and the three bullets that were given were um depression identity issues and bullying so I believe on most of these are there's already policies in place uh as well as laws that regulate many of them um but it it has to be almost like a fluid thing so as we see changes as
031we're having concerns in the schools we have to be willing to readdress policies and bring multiple uh people to the table to address these issues and hear voices of everybody you can't just make a decision as a few people in a room you have to have the people that are affected by this on a daily basis part of that discussion and that's how I feel the board should address the policies thank you Mrs Greenberg same question thank you um so I should also mention I'm I'm an attorney and I'm actually a privacy attorney by trade so I work with technology on a daily basis and technology has um an unimaginable amount of you know positive uh impacts that it can have on our society and on our children we think back to the pandemic uh
032we were able to continue um learning through Zoom there are obviously downsides to it which is what the question is getting at um but there were also really great benefits um my son takes guitar lessons actually virtually um which is is great from a a guitar teacher located in uh in Silver Spring Maryland so there are really great um aspects to technology but um you know with great power comes great responsibility to quote Spider-Man um and it really is an important conversation that we need to have as parents um to be able to um address some of the isolation that comes with the use of Technology um and I think that uh to Justin's point Point um that you know at the last board meeting it was very difficult to listen to um some of
033the bullying that had taken place um leveraging technology and um the one of the parents um had actually asked the board to be able to address this through policies um and that is something that uh is really important to do to make sure that the board is looking at policies making sure that they're updated to reflect um technology and uh and that they're keeping Pace with the the problems in issues that parents and students are actually facing so as a board member um that's something that I would look very closely at and I would also work with uh Dr Krueger and the rest of the administration to make sure that we got that right wonderful Mrs barich thank you that's actually a really great question which ties into many things I've already said tonight I
034said it last year I'll say it numerous times forever it takes a village to raise these kids and I stand by that and so first and foremost I challenge every single one of you in this room if you're not part of a group or an organization or if your minivan isn't full of children that you can pour into them that's where it starts as a nurse in my current field I work in the self-funded insurance field and um in the role that I have I'm speaking with many districts and we're talking about where their high costs come from and what is the drivers of their costs it is mental health it is depression and his anxiety in their dependence which is our children identity issues play into that my first career is in theater I
035didn't realize until I was out of it that that was a safe haven for many of my friends who otherwise would not be here to this day that's because we had extracurricular activities we had those extras we had those safe spaces we had those teachers we had the faculty that could do that and that could pour into us so again if you eliminate those things it's affecting the children it's AFF affecting their livelihood bullying again where's the eyes in the hallway where are the teachers and the faculty it could be a cafeteria worker it could be a custodian are we giving them the authority and the autonomy and thank you as an SRO thank you for your service and everything that you're seeing right now I cannot even begin to imagine so yes policies need
036to be worked on and supported and thank you thank you Mrs Gates would you like the question again um no I I wrote down notes so I understand um so I think that addressing the issues the student values and the identity depression social emotional anxiety um I think that's all about how do you support diversity you know let's start with hiring employees who are from the same background race and religion of the growing population of students who we have review our policies our code of conduct um review disaggregated data to identify Trends in student performance and suspensions and absences and and those who need social emotional supports that's where we begin find ways to engage with the families I think we've made great progress this year but I um I think there's more to do
037for example it was brought up our board meeting I would like um the members on the people sitting at this table and also the members members of this community to know that I participated in the New York state school board's artificial intelligence webinar and through that webinar I received two I have one minute two um updated policies for our student code of conduct and for artificial intelligence in addition we have looked into our transgender bathroom policies and have SE policies from other districts to compare them to ours to update them to make them fair and equitable for everybody so what you hear people saying about at the board the board does take action on that so I would like everyone to be aware that I spent my time learning about it and um I've invited
038those parents to come sit at the table with me and the superintendent to um to go over the policies for artificial intelligence and transgender so thank you very good thank you we'll start this next question with Mr Maloney now we're getting into dollars and a little bit explain your understanding of public school funding and say what you believe spe specifically caused this year's deficit what might you have done differently to manage balancing this year's budget well I I feel this year's budget deficit didn't just happen overnight um it was something a long time coming and I would have held accountable the individuals that said they had a plan in place and the on that are in control of the budget uh because this like I said is not something that occurred overnight and those actions
039needed to be taken instead of starting at the bottom it should have started at the top okay thank you Mrs Greenberg yeah thank you um similarly this I agree that this isn't something um That Came Upon Us uh that in a way that we weren't aware of um I think that most importantly um you have to take a look at the numbers but you have to engage in Creative problem solving and you have to make sure that you bring all key stakeholders to the table that includes um teachers it includes other school workers it includes parents um and other community members as well uh to make sure that you're taking a very close look at um what where the deficits are and making sure that you're making the right type of tradeoffs um and having
040those discussions early on and being as transparent as possible to make sure that um there are no surprises at the end of the day um and so I that is something that is really important to me and I would bring uh bring to the board very good Mrs barich yeah I agree this was not an overnight surprise as it was to the community to the board it's been happening year after year transparency is going to be key and the biggest piece was bringing all of the stakeholders to the table so the fact that efficiency weren't able to be identified by the stakeholders whose very livelihoods depended on those decisions is what I would bring to the board thank you Mrs Gates yeah can you ask the question again I believe there were two parts it
041it's explain your understanding of public school funding okay first of all and say what you believe specifically created this year's deficit and what might you have done differently to manage this year's budget okay so I don't think anybody explained what public school funding is so I'm going to take advantage of that how schools are funded 50% through taxes 50 well approximately I don't want to say 50 47% through taxes 47% through state aid we also get money through federal government about 3% okay Erie Erie County gives us some money through sales tax so that is how public school is funded by raising the tax levy and counting on the state to provide us with full Foundation Aid which they did and then they scaled back so we didn't get $600,000 that we were supposed to
042get from the state this year okay nobody addressed that also yes this did not happen overnight there was over hiring done we were aware of that Co funding came in for 3 years all that money was spent to hire to put CH put put faces in front of children why probably because we were remote for 6 months we were the longest School District to stay remote so maybe it was to make sure we had a lot of students in front of I don't know the reasoning behind it that that was my first year on the board did we sound the alarm over and over and over again if you watched our meetings you will see that we sounded the alarm over and over again and frankly we put in directives to make sure that the
043hiring stopped or was sustainable we were told it was supposed to be absorbed into the budget it was not special education costs soared Transportation cost sword and we were left with a little bit of money that we needed from the state so was this something that we enjoyed doing absolutely not it was gut-wrenching but we had to make the hard decision for the long-term Financial stability of the district thanks thank you Mr Smith geez so much stuff is already covered uh so that is absolutely how uh the school is funded so I don't really have to revisit that um but as far as uh how we got here and and where we're at right now um I do absolutely agree that you know and I I have heard it at some of the other school
044boards specifically last year where they you know questions were coming up you know these new new positions can we absorve these can can we not and there was a lot of yes but on the flip side I think that's where that trust and verify kind of comes in is uh is going back to the superintendent and saying hey show me show me how this works show me how we can make this you know these positions um applicable to the budget and you know for longevity I I also think you know that that was a great point that uh that was been touched on in regards to covid funding that that was huge but at what point did the board say hey you know what we're back in school maybe we should be looking at those
045positions that were added specifically for that need to try to scale those back or use them for a different purpose to try to absorb some of that um you know I I can say in my job I have a set amount of money I get to work with and I usually have to plan what happens if that money doesn't occur so I always have a contingency and another contingency to that budget and I think going back to the superintendent to say hey you know what I'm not just going to accept this contingency budget I want to see another couple ways that this will work and how we can make this fit and and and how is this all appliable as well as we heard the unions um Representatives stand up at the school board meeting
046saying that they had a lot of ideas of of how they can adjust the budget and stuff and there was never anything else that we heard back from the the current superintendent on how is that even appable so just overall just kind of disappointed in in the state that we're at right now okay very good we're on to our next question uh and it it plays into the same idea but looking forward so West Sonica has one of the highest school taxes in Western New York how would you mitigate raising taxes while maintaining good rankings for our school how do we go forward that's a question for me to start I'm sorry Mrs Greenberg that is you thank you so much yeah it's a great question so first we are stewards of the taxpayers money
047well the school board is stewards of the taxpayers money uh in part at least for a certain portion of it and um you know you have to balance the need for Quality education making sure that the district is keeping Pace with other districts and being able to Pro provide high quality services with uh you know having the lowest cost right and so that is something that I would look very closely at and I think in part one of the most important components is explainability and making sure that um you know it goes back to what we're talking about with transparency problem solving communication understanding you know what the what the issues are what the tradeoffs are making sure you have the right stakeholders in the room challenging people to make sure that you have the
048right information um and looking at it from all angles and um and then also making sure that you're balancing that and uh and also being able to explain it in easily understandable terms to a variety of different stakeholders and groups um and at the end of the day that's something that um you know you have to be able to balance those two things high high education high quality education with um return on investment and lower costs very good Mrs barich same question thank you it's an interesting challenge to raise or maintain the rankings of students I think we have some of the best teachers here in the district and they're often met with apathy from parents and from the students so the ranking is a very difficult one to answer when it's out of their
049control as far as keeping taxes down communication transparency understanding what that is used for but namely from the top from the top down from Administration everything that has come out on the budget that talks about Administration and if the um vote doesn't pass for the budget that Administration Cuts will happen they're not talking about Administration in the office they're talking about programming so transparency needs to be had about what that cut actually means and again I encourage everyone who's watching and listening to be the village because again unless we are pouring into the children of our community the teachers can have the perfect plan the perfect curriculum but we're asking them to be every everything we're asking them to be teachers we're asking them to now be the print shop we're asking them to be
050counselors we're asking them to be everything and it's time for us to step up Mrs Gates can you repeat the question I believe it was two parts again sure uh we have one of the highest school taxes in Western New York so that's a statement okay how would you mitigate raising taxes while maintaining rankings for our students good rankings for students maintaining good rankings so they're saying that there's there's we're doing our the kids are great okay I feel like that's a too far question so let's see if my three minutes will be up all right so I would like to note that oh two minutes okay a minute away I did um I would like to note that I pay very high taxes on my home so I agree with the sentiment about having
051high taxes I have publicly stated that I would like to give the taxpayers a break how we do that without cutting program programming is the hard work okay our next leader will have have to work with the business office but she will need the support of the board and all the staff to make that happen as a board member I hope to have time to Advocate with our local legislators to fully fund Foundation Aid so that we don't have to take so much money from the taxpayers our current governor is cutting more aid from us this year rather rather than re-evaluating the formula to account for inflation and special education costs and transportation costs she's going to reeval re-evaluate the formula based on enr rment so our enrollment has gone down um if that happens
052if she takes more money back away from the school district and Foundation Aid we will have to raise taxes again or we will have to cut programming now I want to address a comment made by somebody here on this Pro we did not cut programming through this budget we did not the learning Labs was a covid funded initiative that was there for 3 years we did not cut any programming all the um all the AIS supports are there all the music programming there all the art programs are there so none of that was caught I would just like to address that regarding rankings do I have time to talk about rankings I have 30 seconds I mean rankings are a whole different world and this question keeps coming up and I appreciate the opportunity to
053talk about this but um folks don't realize that rankings are directly tied to um gross income wealth so we are a first ring suburb 10 seconds all right I'm I'm going to leave it at there because I can really go on this one I hope there's another one for me well we'll catch up with you okay maybe it'll be my closing State Mr Smith can I hear the question again sure West Sonic has one of the highest school taxes in Western New York how would you mitigate raising taxes while maintaining good rankings for our school sure I guess do we um I can think of at least six other towns that surpass our taxes from what we pay but I'm that's not to say they're cheap uh uh actually I haven't uh always lived in
054the district or west senica uh like I said I moved here in 2000 um and I can say pretty much every year I I've lived here I think we' approved the school budget and pretty much every year it's been a rate so death in taxes uh and I'm a realist I do understand that you know for the cost of everything it keeps going up so that means taxes do have to also kind of go up too but how much they go up and and why are they going up I think absolutely is is key I think uh some of the some of the comments were raised earlier around transparency why we're doing things um what are the other options engaging in those discussions to say Hey you know is there ways we can mitigate this
055with grants or or other opportunities out there for some of the the you know co-oping with with other districts or or or whatnot so yeah I taxes are absolutely a concern for me uh cuz I pay them uh I I would love to try to try to keep them more moderate if there's ever a way to you know try to keep them flat or or or try to control raising them but I think keeping the programs keeping our students engaged and providing the best education is probably one of the primary concerns for the board so thank you Mr Maloney I would say you first have to start out with going through the budget line by line uh and then Consulting with so to speak department heads to get their ideas on where we could trim
056certain expenditures uh and then from there you need to bring the unions to the table because obviously we don't want to violate a contract which is going to then create more money through Grievances and it's kind of a negative effect but there are some people out there that think unions are the things costing us all this money but believe it or not I'm a union HUD and I've been to the table with the town and the chief and solutions we came up with may have been beneficial for us in the moment but long term it's beneficial for the taxpayers so there's no reason why the school district can't do the same thank you Mrs Greenberg you started with that question right yeah okay thank you I fell asleep for a minute um so this this
057next question we need a little levity this is heavy guys I'm trying here I'm trying yeah this next question kind of brings some of the last two questions home but it is simply what is your vision regarding redistricting and we'll start with you Mrs barich that's a great one for me so because I'm not from West Sona originally I'm not married to the buildings I have seen my daughter go from Northwood to from kindergarten to Winchester to home to Winchester Potters of which there wasn't trans a lot of transparency with a lot of that and I knew from the day we bought our house this doesn't make any sense why aren't we redistricting I was told at that time it was a four-letter word it's time to say it it needs to happen there are
058students that's my understanding that don't fit in classrooms so just because there's less teachers and we're going to say bigger classrooms do the walls magically change I don't know where that fell off of the agenda I've been watching meetings been attending them all of a sudden it's no longer on the agenda and the community is not aware of what's happening with redistricting after kind of the eruption of what happened with the original idea I've sat on the informational committees on what to do with that it has to happen and you have to bring the constituents to the table so that the children are not hopping around my daughter was the group where at least they kept the same kids that would go to the same school together so that they weren't missing their friends the
059year after that they did not so if we are taking into account the students and development of the youngest of our children they cannot handle that again and that is what I'm fighting for I am not the enemy of anyone on this table right here I'm fighting for our children and the anxiety that was created in those kids by Band-Aid Solutions being shortsighted cannot happen again this needs to be thoughtfully done and it needs to happen thank you Mrs Gates yeah so the question was what is my what's your vision regarding redistricting so um I don't have a specific vision for redistricting because I do believe it to to be a um a process that needs to bring in all stakeholders we have had three redistricting committees in this District starting in 2014 with the
06021st century commission they brought um solutions to the board Bo those Solutions were rejected another redistricting committee was put together by two former board members that group was in isolation it was just in community members they presented to the board we formed another redistricting committee under Matt berek's leadership um that committee was excellent it involved 40 there were 40 people they were all West Sonica residents there were principls they rep uh teachers CA members people from every bargaining unit and parents that committee put together um some suggestions one of those was presented to the board just one of many many different configuration options redistricting has not disappeared it has been tabled and we did state that at a at a board meeting it's been tabled because we had the the work to of the board
061had the work to do of finding the next superintendent and we could not take on another humongous task like that so the work needs to be picked up by the the board moving forward and this next superintendent so my vision is that everyone's back at the table coming up with various options and uh presenting it to the community thank you Mr Smith yeah I think that's a a great Keystone for transparency I can say that you know I've said in the school board meetings for the review of I think it was was a single plan and they did talk about all the other plans but they never really went in any detail about one of the pros and cons or anything else along those lines and I think one of the big missing bodies um
062as part of that which I was really moved when they stood up and talked was the students nobody asked the students what they thought um and and they're the ones going to school and I think uh earlier on we were asked about you know the impact of bullying and and some of the philosophical uh uh impacts affecting our students I think abs absolutely suddenly being you know redistrict into another you know another building another group of uh you know students and and faculty and everything else can be can be very traumatic on on uh children so I think you know my vision for that uh you know one of the findings and stuff that came out of there was about how our uh student population is decreasing um you know I think there are a
063lot of opportunities we can do you know interm trailers um you know I I I've been at plenty of colleges or or other learning institutions where where they have temporary um education facilities brought in to you know when there's a population wrap up and then when there's a decrease they pull them out uh so I I think there's a lot of opportunities we can look at for that uh I think that that redistricting should absolutely be fired back up and uh and and beook at so okay Mr Maloney I would say uh my vision would be I would pick up where we left off but I think what we should do is in Reverse so I think it should have started with that Forum as far as input from students the community and then from
064there decide where we go with a committee and how large it should be uh and also reach out to other districts that have redistrict and see what has worked what hasn't worked and the end goal though needs to be the future it can't be okay it's going to fix us for three five seven years it's something that has to be long term so that's my vision for redistricting thank you Mrs Greenberg thank you well first and foremost you have to think about what's right for the students and and the children in the district um education needs to be fair and it needs to be Equitable um and that me every child deserves that it's it's table Stakes for our district and so we need to look at what is what to do Best by our
065students and our children um and to do that um you know this is not we are not unique we are not the only District that has faced red the possibility of redistricting um and so you need to have again goes back to transparency um creative problem solving making sure you're involving the right stakeholders you're looking at all available options and evaluating them objectively and asking the right questions of all of the stakeholders of our of our students our teachers others who work in the schools the taxpayers you know our other other community members um to understand what is the best option um which I would imagine would probably result in somewhat of a phased approach um even if it is done uh as a permanent solution um it's something that you want to make sure
066that it's done right and that it is done um you know in in a fair and Equitable manner very good [Music] so what order are we did you started you started it yes so I'm sorry this verich did you I already pardon started that one you did start that one I you know I'm I should stop looking at these things and just pay attention um so then the next question and we start with you this time we're back to the front of the line again how will you acknowledge and support cultural and religious diversity among our community okay so I think I addressed this in the other question where we talked about student values um how do we support diversity I will say it again we bring in people we hire people in the district
067who look like the children in front of them and um our our body of students is growing in the in the um in that area you know I think last I checked the percentage is 80% white and then the um the rest were from very diverse but you have to remember I'm Middle Eastern we're considered white so I think that number is a little bit skewed um I would say check your policies your code of conduct keep an eye on the data keep an eye on um suspension data and see if there's any bias there and adjust your code of conduct and you know build cultural build little communities within your schools which I've seen happen you know in the in the elementary schools I've seen just such beautiful things where they're celebrating diversity they're
068celebrating a different group every month I I think to continue on that work and um yeah I think also like I said about hiring I think it's important to bring diverse people in even as speakers you know if you can't find the staff because staff is hard to find and we are you know we had to lay off a bunch of people so we certainly aren't going to start hiring so I feel like that's um an important area turn it over to you Jus sure good thank you yeah I uh diversity is abs something that we celebrated um I can say you know most people's heard of The Golden Rule and you know I always tell my daughter think about the Platinum Rule and that's you know not necessarily treating people how you want to
069be treated but treat them how they want to be treated and I I think um awareness programs uh there's a lot of great uh cultural programs that are already happening in the school district that that I love to see I think opportunities to build upon those are are fantastic uh I like the idea of bringing in outside speakers speakers uh not necessarily liking the idea of of the hiring I think we should always hire the best person so I I don't I don't think race or anything else should fit into that I think it's you you hire the person that that does the job the best way and that's what I support um but as far as the children I think we look for those opportunities probably and I think there's already student focus groups
070in a lot of these areas maybe capitalize on them to try to get some of the voices of how they'd like to see change and try to build programs around on that um but that's fine okay Mr Maloney as far as supporting it I honestly if you spend any time in any of the schools I would just say just push them to continue what they're doing every day because there's always something going on in the schools they're always recognizing different groups having different functions uh and it's actually great to see and as far as that aspect I would say just continue what we're doing and we're doing a great job at that uh as far as hiring process yeah I would agree with Justin I would say you got to hire the best candidate very
071good Mrs Greenberg yeah thank you um I think diversity inclusion belonging is uh extremely important um diversity enriches education and learning about different subject matters and from different perspectives and from people who look different from you um enriches all of us and so I would look across our programs comprehensively to understand where we can have enhancements and I will say um at the last board meeting I think there was um there was a student uh report that went into the cultural diversity fair and it was really a a great program and it was really great to see um diversity celebrated in such a a real and Wholesome Way in the in the schools um and so I would look comprehensively across our program to see where we can enhance those um opportunities very good Mrs
072barich thank thank you so how do we support cultural diversity and religious diversity it's by celebrating and showing up for the kids but most important how do we support it is by we listen to what they say unfortunately I mentioned earlier that racism is a problem in this District so if you're not aware of it speak to your kids they'll tell you stories they'll tell you words listen to them it needs to be addressed code of conduct policies need to be addressed an Administration needs to be given the Authority the autonomy to carry that out again thank you to the sro's you're the front lines of it I think the current temperature of our community is going to be concerned when it comes to hiring a diverse population we have to build trust first of
073all to recruit from the labor pool let alone from a diverse labor pool knowing that West sonaka has cut so many positions so in a few years years when retirement increases and when those jobs need to come back if we want them to be the ones that are applying for these roles we have to build trust very good thank you so we're on to our next question now we're to start with Mr Smith this time um some candidates this is a statement and then a question some candidates were endorsed by wsta and the ca unions in our district how would it impa impact your objectivity when negotiating contracts or developing a budget I tried um so I I I I met with both the unions and I can say that um great leadership bodies I
074was really impressed with both of the meetings and I I can say that uh and it's exactly why I told them that I would love their endorsement but if I didn't get it that's not going to change how I plan to interact with them I think that there's a lot of missed opportunities to bring um those collective bargaining uh teams to the table to understand you know how they'd like to see things done or create committees with them and the school board uh so as far as how that's going to impact me for policies or anything else it doesn't I mean I plan to work with them if I'm elected just the same if I'm not same question Mr Maloney uh well I'll come out and say I was endorsed by both uh CSEA and
075westa uh but I was very upfront said it was no quit Pro quote so uh and they kind of echoed the same thing to me whether they endorse me or not uh and it's obvious you know uh coming to the table sometimes hard decisions are going to have to be made however I will always offer a seat at the table to anybody before a decision is made very good Mrs Greenberg endorsed or not how would it impact your negotiating and and developing a budget thank you for repeating the question um I am very happy to have received the endorsement of both CCA and westa um and in our discussions of course we talked about you know no uh quid pro quo however it's really important um to make sure that we consider issues from all
076different stakeholders positions um and I as a you know in my daily life I listen to people regularly I make sure I bring key stakeholders to the table and look at problems um from variety of different perspectives and it helps me uh to make sure I understand what the facts are as objectively as I put as I possibly can um and try to look at uh issues from diverse perspectives um you know teachers uh custodial workers before after school uh workers um you know lots of different folks who work in the school B spend more time with my child during the day than I do often and so their their perspective on what is happening in the school is really important and I very much value it and um if elected to the school board
077I would make sure that um I listen to their perspective as I would listen to others perspectives as well very good Mrs barich thank you I am also very humbly endorsed by both of the unions um they've made it very clear and I fully agree this is a matter of bring BR all the parties to the table and having all the constituents there to have their voice I have learned so much through the interview process for the past two years when I um was running last year as well I was able to Advocate just to my friends and to the community who may not have known and I it was just such a fun experience to learn so much about what they go through each and every day that I think the community is not
078aware of so yeah it's not going to object or it will not affect my objectivity uh when making decisions Mrs Gates whether you were endorsed or not would it affect your negotiating contracts or developing a budget it would not affect my negotiating tactics whether I was endorsed or not I always um you know vote with integrity and with everybody's opinion in my the back of my mind uh my door is always open to speaking to all different constituents and I have during this budget process um I was not endorsed by either Union um I was informed by the West Anica Teachers Association that I would not get their endorsement if I voted to approve the budget of the superintendent and therefore I did not ask for their endorsement um as far as csca they did
079reach out but um I felt that it wasn't in the best interest of both of us to seek an endorsement through them I it had been a very contentious um upsetting budget process and I felt it was best to run on my own accord and let the will of the community vote but um I will say that you know all constituents were invited to meetings whether their view of being brought to the table is the same as mine um or the same as our um our district office that is um a matter of opinion and that's a matter of what you view as transparency which seems to be in the eye of the older so um I think that answers your question but no it would never it would never um affect my decision making
080I vote with integrity and ethics and I will remain that way thank you I started writing down who was next so I know now um so this is a question that happens all across the country and it came in we're going to ask it and you're going to start with it Jeremy Maloney what is your view on book bands unbook bands uh I would say as long as it's appropriate for the classroom and appropriate for the age level I would be okay with the books but obviously over the past few years it's been a Hot Topic uh and sometimes something inappropriate does sneak in and if that's the case I think it needs to be addressed thank thank you Mrs Greenberg Banning books or not um I'm categorically opposed to Banning any book um these
081are we UST our teachers with our students and we respect their judgment and this is their professional judgment on a daily basis to uphold the state's curriculum and to um make sure that they're having age appropriate conversations that may have you know be difficult conversations with children and um you know this is something that I entrust to the teachers to determine what books are appropriate what books are not appropriate um at you know from an age appropriate perspective I also think that it's important for parents to be involved in their um students curriculum and their education and to make sure that they are having those difficult conversations with students um and then finally I would also say that um you know it's it's really important to make sure that you know when when you start
082Banning books you start uh silencing certain narratives and that gets to be a really slippery slope uh pretty quickly so it's important to make sure that you know we our students have um a diverse uh variety of material that they can uh that that's available sorry available to them in the libraries very good Mrs verich I agree with Miss Greenberg it's actually what I said last year it's a very slippery slope if you ban a single book you open the door to ban any of them and probably the ones that the people who banned that first one never meant to be banned we have to trust our Librarians this is their profession they are doing what's best for the children at age appropriate levels we spoke earlier about issues with students with depression identity issues
083and bullying again I'll say it as a nurse as a girl scout leader as a volunteer in many organizations that works with children not everyone has parents that they can speak to and sometimes those books that we may think are a little iffy are their only way to have an open door to their identity issues to what's happening to their questions because they don't have a safe place at home so no book Banning very good thank you Mrs Gates yes I am also against Banning books I feel that it is um you know if you want to start Banning B books that it it's a slippery slope and you know you're going against the American College of libraries and State education department so I encourage parents to be involved in their in their students lives
084if you're concerned about the books they are reading that's a conversation you should have with your parents I mean you should have with your child and I I also think that they can see worse things on their phone so that's where I stand on that thank you Justin some my thunder was stol in there um but I I I I absolutely agree that uh uh it's funny this is actually a topic that was on John Oliver not too long ago so I really enjoyed that segement on it but I don't think any book should be banned I I do believe in in age limits put being put on books and maybe special sections where you have a you know a teen tween adult section um and I know that's not 100% uh accurate but I
085don't think uh any book anywhere should ever be banned um I also think that we as parents you know if we are active in our our our children's development has responsibility I'm always asking my daughter what she's reading my wife's always asking her what she's reading so and if it's something that seems kind of H that's a odd topic tell me a little bit about it and you know let's try to understand why um but I think we touched on is any anybody walking around one of these little babies is reading or seeing doing things far worse than you ever going to see in a book so I I think Banning books is the least of our concerns thank you that brings us to the end of our questions that were sent in we do
086have I see a microphone up there and I I might see one over here except the lights in my eyes so I don't know if there is one but if you would care to there is one over there too if you would care to just move in into the aisle and um maybe line up if there's somebody before you but go ahead and take the mic introduce yourself and let us know what you're wondering about only only this mic right here on the ground that's the one you would talk if you could go there hi thank you guys for coming today and I'm really excited to ask my question um I'm Grace vanderlip I've been a resident of West naica my entire life um proud daughter of Vincent vanderlip who is the current board member
087um so my question today is about how our district invests heavily in remedial programs so what would you guys as board members do to enhance enrichment programs and enrichment opportunities for students who are in elementary schools and I can repeat that if you need yes can you repeat it yep so our District invests heavily in remedial programming um what would you do to enhance enrichment opportunities for students who are in our elementary schools and I don't know if we continue to go in order but um if we would then I I think that it's Mrs Greenberg sure happy to start with that um thank you for the question I think I heard the question is about what would you do to enrich opportunities in elementary schools is that accurate yeah great thank you um and
088so one of the things I would do is start by talking to the teachers about what's successful and um you know what the the students have enjoyed and also um what has been successful in terms of uh programs that the teachers have led I would speak to the administration um to understand uh what opportunities are available and I would also look outside to different school districts and different program to see what was successful at other similarly situated elementary schools thank you m bar would you like to answer that question yes absolutely so I was a former PTA member at Winchester potters and I got to work with Administration and the teachers very closely there and it's important first and foremost to speak to the teachers they know those kids better than anyone and what the
089needs are and that might change from year to year and grade to grade so it's going to start with speaking with the teachers and the principes and to see what is most needed in that building as each of our elementary schools does have um a different population based on their location and I think we're very lucky that two of our schools are quite diverse so those enrichment programs may look vastly different from some of the other schools thank you Mrs Gates y so um I really like this question because enrichment is something that you know I have been passionate about and tried to advocate for my my oldest son riched missed out on the enrichment opportunities because there was an enrichment program at West Elementary and then it had to be um eliminated the the
090year before he became a fifth grader I believe so bringing that back would be a board goal and and we have actually stated it as one of our board goals and one of our um questions and presentations to our curriculum director we would love to bring back enrichment opportunities because we often talk about you know um remediation and like catching kids up but we also have these pockets of students who are so intelligent that they're you know bored in a class and they're kind of left to work on their own so having those opportunities is so important and so I know we have math club but you're just having I think um you know we used to have a um one of the teachers run the enrichment program at the elementary school so bringing that
091back but honestly that all revolves around funding do we have the funding for that right now and that will be a question for you know the future board and the future superintendent but I personally would love to see it happen thank you Mr Smith I love and Rich too um I you know uh so a few things around it um in particular I don't think it has to cost a lot of money and I think that we have a lot of the answers right in the school and that's using the student body um all the clubs that we mentioned math and everything else like that why not create you know create these curriculums within the student body where they can take that to the elementary school one of the coolest things I have to say
092that happened at Queen of Heaven when my daughter attended it was they had had what they called a buddy program and that was a middle school like an eighth grader was paired with a kindergarten and it's so you know as you moved up you know seventh grader with first grader so it was it was really cool that they had these buddies they really enjoyed it they got to you know and you know the older kids enjoyed working with the younger kids and younger kids enjoyed you know having these buddies and it gave them more exposure to uh you know different topics and tutoring and and capability so I think one of the things I would look for is how can we you know that there's all these Academy programs for for arts for business for
093um for computers but you know there isn't one for teaching so I mean there's a great opportunity right there to expand you know get the student body involved in in mentoring and and building the the future student body up so very good Mr Maloney that's going to sound like I'm echoing everybody else but I agree it it starts with the teachers they're what you know we refer to is boots on the ground so they're the ones that know what's best for all of the students uh so that's where I would start uh and then obviously if you know you hit a roadblock you may have to look outside the district to get ideas from other areas but it starts in house and it starts with our teachers all right that was Full Circle um if
094we don't oh we have another audience question maybe one more after this and we'll get to the closing statements hi I'm Jennifer cuss um a lot of people recognize me but um I am um questioning the new um candidates how would you um Implement new change in regards to bullying and fighting because our code of conduct does um does not help the situation you have kids and students fighting every time they get suspended or detention and then go back to the school and repeat the situation over and over again so what is your question so how would you implement a new change or policy to impact um the students um for bullying or fighting in the schools this may go back to a question that you've already answered but I'm I'm going to ask you
095to address Mrs cus directly so starting with you Mrs barich I think it starts with the policies because we do know that it's an is issue in the schools um but we have to listen to to the kids listen to what they're saying and what they're not saying um I know that there's been students who have gone to their trusted adults and have not been listened to and then they're the ones who are getting in trouble when they take the matter into their own hands to end what's happening so policies do need to be looked at Mrs Gates yeah so um I think that obviously looking at our policy comparing them to other districts but I think what's really important to note is the implementation of the polic policy you know we have to ensure
096we are a big District so we have to ensure the implementation of the policy the regulations that follow that policy are put into practice consistently so you know maybe it's Prov you know another you know review of the policy and you know a meeting with of the superintendent with the administration I mean there are Avenues through this I don't think it's done out of like up I think it's done not done out of ill intention I think it's just you know being consistent and following the rules and regulations of the policy you know takes a lot of work and time and consideration so I think that would be where I would start is just reviewing it comparing it to other districts and making sure we're following it to the te Mr Smith I me if
097policy doesn't work I I always say just replace it so uh I don't know um I I do know that there are a lot of different flavors of what bullying looks like like I said my know you know firsthand my my daughter went through it I think training um you know not only the teachers but you know students on on what it is and I know there are some programs already going on around that um I'm big on accountability buddies so you know having some of those areas and programs in place where you know if you see something say something you know we always we always hear that all the time in in any kind of ethical uh you know presentation but I think that's that's the truth truth and and folks that do report
098that should be celebrated um but yeah I I think I think work probably does need to be done there you know I have heard stories as well um and you know that is one of the areas I think the board should focus on in in the coming year thank you Mr Maloney I I think what a lot of parents don't understand is a lot of times the stuff they're coming home and the information they're giving to them is not the information that they bring forward to the school um and it's very hard then for the school to investigate it I think there are pretty decent policies in in place but policies you know need to change from time to time but that's where it's got to start the conversation has to be that the the
099students need to bring it forward to to us because most of the times there are instances where something comes out uh it's something that we found out oh this started a month ago it started weeks ago and now it's to the boiling point and something worse has happened so kind of starts at home where we need to tell these kids hey what you're telling me you have to go in and you have to relay to the you know the school so thank you Mrs Greenberg yeah um I'll be brief because I agree with everything that's already been said I think policies are definitely the starting point but to the extent that there are policies already in place it goes to the implementation and making sure that students have a safe and confidential way of coming
100forward to speak to a staff member and to bring their concerns forward and that they're listened to and that they understand that they won't be retaliated against or that their concerns will be taken seriously and will be um you know they will get um you know the attention and and the relief that they're seeking thank you and now I believe we have trusty vanderlip with a Mr brandstein go pardon oh Mr brandenstein Sure hi good evening Bob brightenstein lifelong West Sonica resident retired career educator first uh thank you to all of the candidates for your courage and putting your name forward on the ballot um I understand the impact that that has on you personally and your families and I applaud your willingness to get involved and help solve uh some complicated problems in the
101community my question revolves around Capital Project work which hasn't been addressed tonight and this will be millions of dollars of investment in our facilities in our plant our art centers and our a atics uh what is your plan to work with the superintendent and the community to put forward a successful Capital project campaign to begin to address some of these issues without burdening the community too much thank you thank you that starts with you Mrs Gates it does okay so um the long and short answer is marketing that's what I think so the right kind of marketing the right kind of um information being presented to the community we were heartbroken that the December Capital project was not passed however only 1,800 voters showed up so um I think learning from that um sometimes the
102worst things that happen you learn the most from and I think what we learned was how important it is to spread the word to Market it to have public forums and to Garner support from the entire Community you know not just the student body but the entire community and yes you know without a tax burden would be ideal for everybody so I hope I answered your question but yes we we we should do better Mr Smith yeah I I think you know for me it's understanding how the the these Capital uh projects are funded uh in particular because I know some comes in comes in through grants uh others come in through the tax revenue um and trying to understand how we prioritize those um I mean Heck if anybody goes to school board meeting
103and you use the uh the facilities there you can uh you can actually see that the schools definitely need some revitalization uh um to say the least um but I I think once you understand that I absolutely agree I think it's a marketing Road show that you you take it out there at the school board you you you show the pictures you show the challenges um but I also think it's it's holding uh some of the folks to account too you know if you have students damaging property or or being destructive then they should be financially accountable for fixing that or the parents so I I think it's a a two-way street on a lot of that stuff that uh you know it's one thing military always taught me and and you know being a
104homeowner has taught me is you you take care of what's yours so uh I think that's a two-way streak um from the students faculty and and and the folks in those buildings thank you Mr Maloney uh I agree with the marketing aspect as we'll call it I I feel there should be numerous public forums when there's going to be that much money spent um and give everyone the information that we have at hand as far as conditions of the buildings the reason why those choices are being made at that particular time for the uh Capital Improvements as well explaining the entire bu budget process for the capital Improvement okay Mrs Greenberg thank you don't have much to add um I think it goes to the explainability making sure that you're right making the right trade-offs
105you're understanding um where the money is coming from what it's going to um and if there are any trade-offs that would need to be made as a result making sure you're bringing the right stakeholders in and then of course explaining it um and as my colleague said uh you know marketing it which is a great term but making sure that um that that you explain it to people and that they understand uh you know what the benefits are thank you Mrs bar G so as a supporter and advocate of the Arts we're the creatives who are used to fighting for every dollar fighting to be seen um we were forced to become the critical thinkers the dreamers the outside the box uh thinkers the um all the solutions that no one else thought of Grants
106we had to learn how to write grants um honestly my vision would be special events that bring in Revenue other things that b bring in Revenue I know it was brought up about the auxiliary gym over at West that there was a potential opportunity to put Turf in there of which we would be a standout in Western New York that could bring money in so I don't understand why capital projects wouldn't look at from the flip side to be a revenue bring uh a revenue uh razor if you will rather than just an expense on our community all right well it looks like we've uh gotten to the end of our program unless y do you have a question there trusty Vander you want to B clean up tonight okay here it comes first of
107all I just want to Echo uh Mr Bronstein's uh Applause to each of you for entering this forum putting your name in there and being involved you're all very great people and quality people and I look forward to working with any one of you who uh come on to the board um and especially sitting in that hot seat tonight but I do warn you that that seat will feel like a comfy old recliner compared to sitting on the board um cuz the decisions that we make are are Monumental and lifechanging and I'm sure you've given that every bit of thought and entering this um so my question is this um it comes to decision- making and it comes too I heard the word transparency and accountability so what I would like you to do is
108actually Define what that means to you and how you believe that you're going to be able to um illustrate those qualities as board members that starts with you Mr Smith that's a great one um so transparency um say what you do and do what you say um that is I think the most simplistic way to look at that I also think it's um key and this is how I arrived you know sharing with everybody this is how I arrived at the decision and what I took into consideration and you may not like it hopefully you do if you don't well I mean this is this is how I got there um and I you know I I said it on my bio earlier I'm I'm not just a a yes vote if it's something that
109doesn't feel right um I have no problem being a no in a room full of yes um I'm just hoping that I maybe persuade a few more of those uh uh yes votes to say hey you know what this probably does need a little bit more research um and then take it from there but okay that's what I got Mr Maloney so transparency to me is giving out all the information to all the stakeholders I understand at times there will be confidential information that can't be given out but everyone that a decision is going to affect should have a voice uh and regardless if it's a 3 or 4H hour meeting you got to sit through or 300 phone calls you got to take you need to allow everyone to have a voice uh as
110far as accountability I kind of stand behind a statement I made earlier if somebody brings to the table that what they're giving to the board is something that they already have a plan in place for and it's not going to affect the budget and then the day comes and it does affect the budget that's where we hold people accountable or you know uh department heads are making decisions which then cause grievances for the union and it costs the district more money we need to hold those department heads accountable for what the decisions they're making because at the end of the day all it's doing is costing us more money thank you Mrs Greenberg thank you so transparency to me means active listening and um making sure that you're meeting with the right folks you're looking
111at um problems and issues from a diverse a lot a lot of diverse perspectives um you're asking the right questions and trying to arrive at an objective conclusion at the end of the day and then uh showing your work um you know being uh clear and being able to explain how you arrived at that conclusion um to the extent possible holding those meetings in public um and making sure that the public has an opportunity to see behind the curtains of how the decisions are made the board meetings are public um and so to me that's what transparency means and then accountability is uh leading with integrity and doing the right thing and standing by the decisions she've made thank you Mrs barich thank you to go back to Art and my teachers that taught me
112in elementary school transparency are my glasses I can see through them I know what's happening as a leader I know that I cannot be transparent about everything but transparency through high performing teams has really taught me and with my work what can be said needs to be said and shared it needs to be shared so that input can happen and feedback but obviously there's going to be confidential items that cannot be shared but transparency is not through the eyee of the beholder um it it's a fact it's what you can see um accountability is as she as she mentioned it's Integrity it's leading with that Integrity saying what doing what you say you're going to do um and and really bringing everyone to the table so that the decisions that are being made that you
113are taking into consideration the upstream and downstream effects of them and being accountable to all constituents the taxpayers the students the teachers parents everyone thank you Mrs Gates okay so accountability um accountability the it starts with holding yourself accountable that's what I believe um making decisions um with Integrity as was mentioned several times um without special interest groups you know coming into your ear I feel like making inform form decisions asking the right questions holding yourself accountable and then holding all those around you accountable the board has one employee the superintendent hold the superintendent accountable and then their responsibility is to hold their administrative staff accountable so that is how I view accountability and um transparency you you know you have to share as much information as you can and make it in a digestible
114format which we try to in our Board of Education newsletters because Schoolboard budgets are extremely complicated so share as much information as you can over and over and over I mean there is a like we do get feedback there's a bit of information overload from people so we do try our best but you know bring everyone to the table listen to various voices and um make decisions that with you know with the best with the the information that you have make the best decision and that's what I think transparency is all right we've reached the portion of the evening where our candidates will make their closing statement and because we started at this end of the table with Mrs Gates we will now start at the far end with Mrs barich thank you I've been
115at the past few board meetings as I think many of you have and certainly those watching from home and it's been said a few times that they hope the new superintendent is able to restore trust uh in the district and in The Faculty the staff the teachers and the students but hope is not a policy it's really important that we stand up as I've said numerous times that it takes a village to raise the kids it's our neighbors it's our friends they are the ones working in these schools selection is it just about money or is it about an insulting part that you can put a price on having your kids to feel safe seen and secure while they're in school to learn so I just ask everyone to please come out and vote next
116Tuesday to act to restore leadership to the board and set an example for our cute for our kids because they're our future thank you okay Mrs Greenberg thank you I just want to thank everybody for coming out tonight and for those of you who listened online I really appreciate all of the time and energy you spent listening to the candidates to make an informed decision um I am ready to hit the ground running working on day one um I am uh ready to be an active listener to make sure that I'm listening to all of the stakeholders and to uh make sure that I am asking the right questions and challenging the status quo to make sure that we uh collectively as a board arrive at the right conclusion um so again I would like
117to thank everybody for uh for your time and I encourage everybody to come out and vote next Tuesday thank you Mr Maloney uh service to my community is something I've done my entire adult life uh first in the military then Youth Sports now as a police officer so if elected I will continue this service by serving on the school board uh my goal of elected is to increase transparency accountability and get the budget under control uh I believe we all want to improve our students educations and create or bring back clubs programs however none of this is possible if we don't have the funds uh when making fin financial decisions we need to look at the long-term impact and not just the impact today we must ensure that the decisions made don't create an undue
118burden on our taxpayers in closing I feel on service transparency is a huge Factor so I'm going to be completely transparent to everyone here and everyone watching uh being a police officer I had an additional hurdle to get over in order to run for the seat I had to request permission from the town board which I did and it was approved unanimously can't even speak however since then there's been a select individuals who behind the scenes have tried to get me to remove my name from the ballot and have even has gone as far as threatening the srl program so if you're watching I just want to make it clear that if I'm elected my term will not begin until July 1st and as of June 27th my assignment goes from SRO back to patrol
119officer very good well that's horrible Mr Smith yes this is it it's your closer yeah I know that's a tough one to to follow nobody should be threatened like that um especially especially srr program I think that's uh very important to the the the schools um my closing simple uh really vote for change is kind of what I I I think you've heard four four new folks talk about how they would approach the school board I think they're all uh fresh fantastic points of view and something that should be considered uh you know I I ran this this this year um you know basically cuz I was disheartened what happened with the layoffs I was disheartened you know we started talking about redistricting and that just stopped um you know I I think that we
120can do better uh as a community for our students our our teachers and faculty um so yeah I you know get out and vote um you know I you know I'm not going to say the the school budget's a great option but I can tell you that there's a far worst option if it's not approved so I would definitely encourage folks to to consider that when they're voting um um and then uh you know for the school board you know look for fresh ideas thank you Mrs Gates your closing statement please thank you you said I have two minutes for this you get three minutes oh I do excellent um so thank you for everyone for coming out tonight thank you for the questions and I hope you've gathered some important information here tonight to
121solidify your um vote on May 21st I I just wanted to point out that I've sat on this board for 3 years and um a lot of talk uh you know tonight has been on the budget but I just ask you not to forget the body of work that this board has done for 3 years and especially under mine and Molly's term you know we we ran on the um on the initiative to make sure our kids were back in school full-time and we made sure that happened you know we um we valued transparency because we saw you know back door closed door meetings happen you know where consensus was garnered via phone call and not in an open transparent Manner and we've worked so hard to make sure that all board members have a
122voice whether we agree or we disagree all board members have the same amount of information and make to are allowed to make an informed decision so I just ask you to please look back at the body of work we've done how hard we've worked for this this District how many hours we've put in and to just see that the end was always in mind I mean the vision was always in mind every decision we made was with the long-term vision of this District so I'm going to speak to the vision because nobody asked that question which I hope they were going to but um our vision was and still is providing a worldclass education while remaining fiscally responsible um a challenging task but it can be achieved with great leadership um I would love to
123support Dr Krueger in making West sonaka a destination District a phrase she used in her interview with the board that has stayed with us that's the dream I hope I can be a part of that reality I do think it's possible we have amazing people in this District amazing leaders staff PE parents community members we just all need to come together and work as a team so that would be you know my closing statement I just hope you come out vote please we need our numbers to get higher and we all I also want to Echo Justin state statement that you know I hope you support this budget because the contingent budget is um is another heartbreaking would be heartbreaking for us as a board and for as a community so please come out and
124vote and thank you for the opportunity thank you with that I would like to on behalf of the district thank everyone who's here and everyone watching Online for being with us tonight this is important work in a school district thank you to our candidates both for agreeing to run for the board and for being with us tonight for this important conversation thank you sure [Applause]