001Good afternoon everyone. My name is Timothy Priano. I'm the member of the a member of the League of Women Voters of Buffalo, Niagara. Tonight is your opportunity to listen to the candidates for the Wilson Central School Board. Note that we are live streaming this evening's event to an at home audience. It will also be available on the Wilson School YouTube station. Before we begin tonight, I want to remind everyone to turn off their personal electronic equipment. This event is being organized and conducted by the League of Women Voters of Buffalo Niagara. The League is a nonpartisan volunteer political organization dedicated to informing and responsible of participation of government of citizens in the government. The League never supports or opposes any political party or candidates. This has been our policy for 106 years. Membership is open
002to anyone who is 16 years and older, whether male or female. Please consider joining the league. I must insist that the candidates and the audience treat each other with respect. Personal attacks will not be allowed. Please hold your applause until after closing statements by all candidates. I will be asking questions received in writing and screened by Suzanne Thomas to my left. The meeting will be concluded at 7:00 or earlier if questions have been if all questions have been asked. Our ushers who will be collecting your questions are Maline Takowski and Ben. They're in the audience. Um the timekeeper for this evening event is Terry Parks. She's seated in front row. She will hold up paddles for the candidates to see. Green means 1 minute left. Yellow means 30 seconds left. and red means time up.
003Finishing finish the sentence you are speaking when you see the red card. The format for this evening will follow opening statements from the candidates. No more than 2 minutes followed by a question period for questions related to issues facing the Wilson schools. Questions will be directed to candidates in rotation. Close. Closing statements will be no more than 2 minutes each. It is time we hear the opening statements for the candidates of the school board. First, we'll hear from Tim Timothy Coop. >> Well, good evening and I welcome everybody here and I thank the League of Women Voters for having this presentation tonight. So, uh I will begin. I I noticed I mean I have a very big voice. Is it okay if I don't use the mic? >> Okay. >> Camera pick it up. >>
004Yeah, I believe the camera >> for the YouTube. >> All right, I won't use it. I'll be a little bit louder. Uh, a little history of me. I was not raised in Wilson. I was raised in North Tanowanda, but I met a very wonderful woman from Wilson. She was born and raised here and we ended up getting married in 1970 and in 1977 we moved back to Wilson. Uh we've lived there ever since. We had three kids. All attended Wilson. They went all through elementary, middle school, and high school and now are on their own in different parts of the country. Two of them are around here. One of them's in Detroit. I've always been involved with the youth of Wilson. Uh I make it my point to want to help kids. Uh I've been
005a Cub Scout master. I was baseball manager, uh booster club treasurer, Wilson soccer league organizer. Uh I'm in the national academy of science finance and I was appointed to the board of education in 1995. I was president for six years. I have been on the negotiating committees and I served on the Boseis board for 10 years. My my approach to Wilson is basically I want to give the kids in Wilson the best education they can get, but I also want to keep in mind there are regards to the taxpayers. I think we do a very >> I think we do a very good job in Wilson to raise our kids, educate them, and do it at the right price. Thank you. Thank you. Now we'll hear from RJ Seager. >> Uh thank you. Uh first
006of all, I'd like to echo uh Mr. Crop's remarks uh thanking uh the Leewood voters for putting this together in addition to everyone in the district who's uh who advocate for this event. Uh I think this dovetales very nicely with my philosophy and what I would hope is everyone's philosophy about the way we govern public institutions like this. and that's to do everything very transparently. I think that public education is one of our nation's greatest uh treasures really and and more so than that I think it's one of our community's greatest treasures. I think that Wilson Central School District is the most important thing that we the citizens of Wilson School District have control over. It affects the futures of all of our kids. It affects civic life and it serves as an anchor point
007for the community. And with that in mind, I think that having democratically elected leadership to guide the school board to set policies and to make sure that the board is both accountable to the public doing and doing right by our kids is the single most important mission that we really have. I've been on the board since 2022. And I think that in that time I have developed really strong working relationships with other other people on the board and other uh elected officials and uh stakeholders in and out of our community. And I think that that spirit of teamwork and working together has been over that period of time the most important thing that I have found to lead to success in the projects that I've helped out with in that time. uh generally I want
008to continue that effort to make sure that not only do our kids get a high quality education but also serve as a steward of this institution that has benefited me so much having gone through the Wilson school system but also has benefited so many other people in the community. I I think that to put it bluntly, this is the biggest, most expensive thing that we're all in charge of as voters around here and it is worth our while to make sure that it's both doing what needs to be done, but also as uh Mr. K mentioned doing it at uh in a responsible way with uh with regard to our taxpayers. >> Thank you. >> Now we'll hear from Lorett Clark. >> Hope you can hear me. I am brand new to this so I
009have not been on the board. Um, however, I have had a lot of experience with the school. Um, I've been in Wilson for four years. Prior to that, I can't say where I live because you all get upset with new me. But, um, anyway, I had five children in the school system. I was very active with PTA and on all three of the schools and many of the legislative branches throughout the school. um promoted students in the PTSA to get involved and learn government and um legalities for the school. Um there's quite a few young people that um moved on to into those steps after they were doing BT. So that made me feel proud about that. Um I was involved with um scouts. I was committee chairman for scouts for a few years. Um
010I run uh been on a couple different committ We did a five five years. We did a um five town clothing drive. We did it for quite a while and we enacted all the towns in all the different places. As far as my um background for what the school is for, I feel that strong families are uh make strong schools. So to me, the family foundation is very important. Um, I feel that makes for successful children and I believe that Wilson is one of the smaller schools that really has that resonates that uh community-minded um strength that you see and I want to be a part of that. Um, I was years ago and I feel uh it's time for me to come back into the fold. Um, at this point I have some grandkids
011that are coming into the school, so I want to see that continue with what they did for my Thank you. >> Thank you all. It's time for the questions. The questions from the audience will alternate with questions submitted in advance. Candidates are reminded that they have two minutes to answer. A candidate is not required to answer if he does not wish. We will begin with Timothy Crop with the first question and that question will be could you support a board decision you did not vote in favor of? Why or why not? I would support a board decision that I did not vote yes on because I'm only one of seven and sometimes my disagreements are not as great or as not as worthy as theirs. And I've been in this situation before where the board
012voted against my will and I it seemed that it was the right thing to do. So why I would always support what this board does and I think that people know me well enough that I would always say why I'm not supporting the issue that uh uh and I would give a complete statement about why uh again to go along with R.J. transparency is something that's really really needed in all school districts. >> Thank you. Thank you, J. >> Uh without sounding uh too too repetitive to my good friend, Mr. Crop, I also uh would would uh state vehemently that I would support a board decision uh even if I didn't vote yes on it. Uh primarily because that's the nature of uh elected democracy. We're an assembly and the majority vote carries the decision.
013I think that by agreeing to be on the board, we all basically sign on to that idea that in the end the majority vote is going to carry the day. Uh I think that's how uh policy is made. I think that's also how uh you know tough decisions get made. It's the best way we have to do it. And uh I've seen it play out in uh you know more times than not things don't even get to that point. I'll preface it by saying that we do a very good job, I think, as a board in my experience of debating things out in front and resolving those disputes before they get to the point of being a vote. But with that being said, uh I also think that as I mentioned, you have to follow
014the majority in the end. And by signing on to be a part of a democratically elected assembly, you are very much agreeing to the idea that the majority vote is going to carry the day and I'll support the decisions made by majority of the board. Uh I'll leave it there. Thank you, >> Lor. >> I would have to say um I want to mimic them, but um as far as when you have disagreement, it's important to be transparent. Why do you feel the way you do? Because sometimes um it's easy for a group to um not stand by what they feel and they kind of go along with what the majority does. So, it's important to to voice that opinion. But in the long run, when it comes down to voting and working with everybody,
015it's imperative that we all work as one one unit because in the end result, it is for the um the good of the school and students. Um I again like I said, I think it's really important to make sure that we voice how you feel and how you like your facts or whatever that you need to um support your decision. But in the long run, I feel that it's imperative that you all work together as one. >> Thank you. Now we'll go on to the second question for the evening and this will be to R.J. to start. What are your educational priorities for the school district? >> Uh well, first of all, uh I would uh like to voice my displeasure that Mr. prop will be starting all of the answers. No, I I all
016kidding aside, uh I would say that my educational priorities for the district are I think very much in line with the philosophy of the district uh as a whole has sort of acted uh to to uh embody in the way they've been educating uh our kids which number one uh to echo some earlier remarks are to provide the best education possible with the resources that we have access to because we obviously we do have to recognize that everything is fine. finite and that we are being trusted by the taxpayers with their money in addition to their kids and all that always is a balancing act. But with that being said, I think that as far as focusing on getting the best people to educate our kids, doing it in a way that meets uh requirements
017uh set down by the state and uh also preparing our kids for what comes next. I think that we've done a good job of that by focusing on, again, it sounds cliched, but doing what's best for the kids. I also think that the two main thrusts of my own, you know, priorities that I see as being important moving forward are number one, uh, providing a, uh, versatile education for the kids that's going to allow them to do things that aren't just college or aren't just a trade or aren't just, you know, we need to prepare kids for a future where they are going to be well-rounded individuals, able to take those skills that they've accumulated here and go elsewhere. The second of those priorities is the uh availability of the materials and a you know
018opportunity to have a discussion about you know anything that kids want to learn. My my my point being I think that we need to encourage curiosity when it comes to science history. I think that as a scientist raising kids who are able to ask effective questions is as important as raising kids who can ask who can give effective answers. So that would be my forward. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> What are your educational priorities for the school district? >> Well, considering I haven't been on the board and a lot of the intricacies that go into what the policies and such go for. I'm just going to go off what I know. Um, as far as the educational piece, I have a strong feeling that I want all children to succeed and that means
019that there's different levels of the way that they are. I feel that it's imperative and I feel does okay with it, but I think that there is room for improvement in some areas. Um but I feel that the educational piece for um kids that they come from all different sets of life um all different stressors all different things and it's imperative that we remember that and not just go through our typical educational pieces. I feel that we and like I said it's been a while so maybe that some of that has been going on but something that I want that's part of my goal of being here. Um I feel that Wilson is an excellent school. Um so I'm sure that a lot of that has been um addressed and I'm looking forward to see
020how that is and how we can make this a solid school for everyone. >> Thank you. Timothy, do you want me to repeat the question? >> Yeah. Well, please. >> What are your educational priorities for the school district? Uh I'm I'm going to go back on a little bit of history from Wilson. We've progressed through the years and by offering different courses and different uh curriculums, we have actually advanced Wilson to the point where we're producing a very very good product. Uh and if you notice, it's very hard to follow or be behind R.J. He sort of says a lot of things that everybody wants to say, but uh we've in adding staff in different areas like resource rooms and uh the wind room and things that we've done has excelled this district in educating
021our kids. Are we perfect? No. No district is perfect, but we can always strive to be better. we can we can look at what's being offered by the state which is somewhat mind-boggling. Uh we're going into a whole different world now with the career choices and the things that they're promoting through the state. And I'm I'm I'm sure this district can handle it. But I it's not that's not really the board of education. That's the people that work for the district that make our kids what they are. And I think that through the right hiring and the right leadership, we have got a very good faculty and a very good administration which progress our kids through all the things that are being thrown at us every year. Thank you. >> Thank you. Now we'll go
022to our next question with this one. >> Do you support the district proposed school budget >> at this time? Yes. No, I'll go a little bit further. Um, from what I've read and what I see, I I'm for it. Um, at this point, because I don't know the ins and outs of how the budget process goes, and I will learn as time goes on. Um, I enjoy learning, so I'm looking forward to finding out how this works, but this time I feel that they've done a good job and I also support the budget that was being presented to us. Uh I know our increase is about $330ome,000 which is a very nominal increase. We're within the tax cap and uh the one thing that I look at not only the amount of spending but how
023we pay for it. That's uh something. And right now we're in a sort of a crisis because we're formulating a budget of the unknowns because we do not have a state budget. Uh when the state budget finally gets approved, we'll know where we're at. Uh right right now we're looking got fund balance and everything else. And that could all change when the state passes their budget. So, I I mean, I sound a little rude, but I wish the state would get off their butts and pass a budget because this affects every school district in Western in New York State. And like I say, we're dealing with unknowns every time we formulate a budget like that. Uh, and but our budget, I think, is sound. And again, what I'm looking for once we do find out
024what the state gives us, we're go I'm trying to figure we're going to figure out how we're going to pay for it through different fund balances, through state aid, through taxes, but that's what I'm looking at on at the budget. Thank you. >> Thank you, R.J. >> Uh yes, I also support this year's budget. And uh as far as why uh first and foremost uh I had the uh privilege of sitting on the finance committee this year uh for the last few years actually. And so I've gotten to see the process of of budget uh drafting and uh development from a very you know early perspective as it you know starts the committee and makes its way out to the board. Uh second because we have an excellent team of people uh in the business
025office helping to build that out. And third to echo uh Mr. Crops remarks again I think that the uh the overarching philosophy and process by which we create a budget every year seems to come down to the same thing. We are living in uh a period of relative financial uncertainty as a small school district dealing with a lot of very diverse and changing mandates from the state and also very dynamic uh uncomfortably so uh funding environment from the state. uh in addition to uh the federal government and I think that in general we have developed a pretty solid process of being uh of not predicting but being careful about what might be coming next and preparing for the uh uh eventualities that we may need to uh move some money around in the future, things
026like that in order to uh continue to provide the level of service that we have tried to do and I think succeeded in doing for the children of our district while also making as modest an increase in the tax uh increase in taxes as we possibly can. I think that uh numerous people on board have been real advocates for that balance and I think that that is why we've largely managed to avoid some of the larger tax hikes that other districts have seen in the last few years. Um so again to summarize I do indeed support this year's budget. But I think it reflects uh an important uh reconciling of the educational uh and service priorities of the district with the financial environment that we're currently trying to operate in. >> Thank you. Our next
027question will be um directed to Timothy to lead off on this one. What attributes and behaviors are essential for school board members? >> I think you're witnessing the attributes tonight. We have people here. They're very diverse and they all have different ideas, but yet we bring them all together to make this district work. Lorett's new, Lorett's phenomenal. She's going to learn immensely the first year. R.J.'s three six years on the board, you know, and he's looked I've got too many years on the board, but uh uh I I I just think that just the cohesiveness of the board and the amount of intelligence that's on this board, the amount of willing people that are willing to work for the board and work for the kids makes this a very very palatable situation. Thank you. >>
028Uh yeah, as far as attributes as a board member, I think that uh Mr. Crop hit the nail right on the head when it comes to we're seeing a large part of those attributes in action tonight. I think that the ability to not only work together, so collaborate, uh, collaborative spirit, but also the willingness to have difficult conversations with each other, disagree when necessary, but have that debate based on facts, and move forward to a conclusion that's amenable to uh, the group. Uh, going back to the idea that you may not vote yes, but if the group votes yes, there's your answer. I think that all of those things are essential to making this work. I think that when I first joined the board, having heard some horror stories about the way some school boards
029operate in other places, I think that I was extremely uh pleasantly surprised to find that people in Wilson uh have not forgotten that we are still first and foremost friends neighbors. I think that we all accept that we will not agree about everything. But if we approach it from a perspective of doing the right thing for our kids, we're always going to end in a place where maybe not everybody is 100% happy, but everybody is okay with the compromises that we've reached. Um, I really think that those are if you apply that spirit of collaboration and uh civil debate, I think that everything else follows from that. So, I'll leave it right there. >> Excuse it me. >> I How do I follow that? They pretty much said everything that I feel. Um I feel
030that it's important that you have uh people on the board that are community-minded. Um supporting families and bottom line the success, excuse me, the success of the children, students I should say, um is a huge piece and to work with each other and collaboration's huge. um respect, patience, uh and I've seen this right along. I think I've witnessed it, you know, coming to the board meetings and watching the group in um play. I uh I'm excited to be part of it because I feel that I I have that same um camaraderie and I'm looking forward to what's going on and I feel that Wilson's done a really good job about picking the people that will step up now. >> Thank you. Now we'll move on to our next question and this will start with R.J.
031How do you feel about involvement in areas such as shared decision making and volunteering in the classroom? Well, um, as far as, uh, involvement of the, uh, well, I guess I'll start by saying as looking at the community at large, as far as involvement of individuals outside of the board, outside of the, uh, you know, staff essentially in shared decision-m and volunteering in the classroom. I think that as long as these things are done uh in alignment with the policies of the district and the appropriate you know laws governing uh you know who can be involved in what aspects of the educational process I think that these things are tremendously uh helpful where they're applied and important. I think as far as shared decision-m goes uh I've seen that from the standpoint of creating board
032of education policy which again is the you know roadmap by which we we you know drive this bus uh Well, the road map by which we tell Superintendent Carter to drive this bus. Uh I think that uh as a tool to craft policy that works at every level, shared decision-m is a hugely important part of the process because again we are seven people on the board. And while I'd like to think that we represent a pretty good cross-section of the citizens of the district, we are not including a certain, you know, vital parts of the process, whether it be faculty, staff, uh the kids themselves, uh and uh you know, people who aren't fussing. So, uh and same goes for volunteer in the classroom. as long as it's done in a appropriate way that um
033reflects all the relevant policies and uh rules covered and those kinds of things. I think that you know we are we're a board of volunteers so I think that any opportunity where people are eager to get involved and to help do what we're all trying to do here which is to get the kids the best uh education they can have. Uh I think these are all tremendously important. So that that would be kind of my general uh opinion about the classroom and share decision making. All right. >> I had the pleasure of um being on the shared decision making team years ago and it was um actually one of the first times that I felt that I uh had a voice in the school and that kind of sparked a lot of um my community
034um involvement. So I feel as far as I think he makes a good point as far as it's following what we need to for the school as far as policy and such goes. I think it's important to have that diversity and the um wide array of people that will um assist in the areas that we as a board can't or the teachers can't. It's important to have those um uh and above and to the as far as the volunteers in the classroom. I think that's hugely important not only um because it brings the community into the classrooms, it shows uh the students how to work with other people as a volunteer. It's important for children to see volunteerism at their best. Um and so when you see that and it they tend to uh become
035more community-minded um I feel that it's important to have um many voices in the movement of the school and how things pro progress. Um I think it's very important to have all that. >> Thank you. I'll start with involvement first. Through the years, we've had periods of involvement and periods of lack of involvement. And we we have noticed the difference. And being as our well, he's not a new principal, but he's fairly new principal. Mr. Wilkey came on board, the involvement in the elementary school has increased 100%. We see it in our kids. We see it in our faculty. We see it in the janitors. We see it in everything. They're just more supportive of the school because and like Lorett says, the kids learn the with the involvement of the parents. And when the
036kids learn, the parents are also learning what's going on in the school when they're there. You know, a lot of parents have no idea what goes on in the school. They they they stay right away from it. If you can get that involvement in the school, it it just it makes a better rounded situation altogether. And as far as shared decision making, I've never been on a shared shared decision making team, but our board relies on it heavily. They're like an outside organization that tells us some good things that we should be doing. Sometimes they're not perfect, but they do tell us things and we take their recommendations very highly and I think we adopt majority of them. So, uh, shared decision making is something that and I can remember when we didn't have a
037shared decision-m team and the board was really left by what the administrators had had to say. So, uh, it it has helped the district and I think it helps every district in the education of kids. Thank you. >> Thank you. And our next question will start with Loretta. This question is um two parts here. What is a school board's member's role and responsibility and how does it differ from the role of the superintendent or administration? >> Well, considering I'm new, I will do the best I can. Um, as far as the board goes, they are the overseer of how the school runs and the superintendent is the one that handles all the school uh dinners and out out working, excuse me, of the school. Um, we work hand in hand to make sure that there's
038a good balance. Um I feel uh the board themselves you know has to be privy to all the things as much as possible but also trust that the superintendent is doing their job in taking care of the school. Now that's something that along the way I'm going to learn. I'm gonna um take everyone in as much as I can and learn from veterans that have here. Um and I look forward to doing that. >> Thank you, Tiffany. >> The old saying was the board of education's responsibility was to make policy and spend money. And that's exactly what a board of education does, but we do it handinand with our administrators and our faculty. Um, as far as it the role of the board, we are like an overseer, but the superintendent basically handles the day-by-day
039operations of the district. The board doesn't need to micromanage that. We're here in case something goes wrong or in case he needs some more money or something like that. But our our our role is the overseer of everything. Do we get involved in certain areas? Yes, we can. But majority of times, you don't want to get involved with the actual daily runings of the school. Uh that's what you're paying your superintendent and your administrators for to be a a good board member. Yeah. Every once in a while go over in the buildings, walk through, say hello to the kids, things like that. Uh but as far as our micromanaging anything, that's not a responsibility of the board. Thank you. Thank you. >> Well, uh I I don't want to repeat the uh astute observations of
040uh my uh my friends up here at the this far table, but uh I'll I'll analogize it in two different ways. Uh first of all, I I in my mind like to think of the board and the superintendent as the legislative and executive branches of the school government. The board's job is to uh crack the budget and create policy and the superintendent's job is to go put that policy into action, execute on it. Uh the more fun analogy that I hinted at in my previous response involves a uh a school bus. Uh I like to think of the district as a big school bus rolling down the road and our job is to draw up the road map and to make sure there's gas in the tank. and Superintendent Carter's job is to drive it
041as best he can along the route that we've set using that gas in the tank. And uh that would that's a more fun way of putting it, but that's generally the way I envision them. And as as Mr. Crop mentioned, there is of course at times um I I like to think that in a more informal sense, we have a very uh healthy dialogue between administration and board of education. And I think that our perspective uh on a lot of day-to-day issues that might come up is is generally taken into account and valued. Um but I think a lot of that comes down to the working relationship between the board and superintendent because again it really comes down to hiring the right people for the job and making sure that they do that job. We're
042not here to go do that job ourselves. We're here to make sure that the uh administrative leadership of the district is doing it as we have uh planned it. Um, and of course we take their input into account heavily when we're making that plan. I don't want to make it sound like we are uh create uh ruling by fiat here. Uh I think that again it's been a very collaborative environment over the years but generally speaking we help make the plan get the money to do it and Superintendent Carter puts it in action. Thank you. >> Thank you. Now we go on to our next question. Timothy, this is for you to start off. What are some major issues that you believe our school district is currently facing and how would you like the the
043district to deal with those issues? I think the number one issue that we face and we faced it before is the state of New York. Uh it is very hard to establish a budget without all the known factors and every school district New York relies heavily on state aid. Uh most of the parts of the budget are fixed but the foundation aid is what varies and this is where we get our increases. Uh what can we do to stop or to fix this problem? There's not much you can do because you're dealing with a a political establishment that has their own set of rules and their own guidelines. We can lobby all we want to local legislators, but sometimes it doesn't seem to do us any good. Uh we have a board member who is
044goes to Albany and lobbies and we have a board member that's part of NOSA who lobbies for the school districts and uh they both do a very good job but I I think that's one of the biggest problems that every school district faces. Uh, another thing that's going to come up and I elaborated elaborated on it before was the change in curriculum where no more regent exams. Every school district is going to have to tackle that and and I can't think of the name of the course that they're they're outlining for our kids, but it's sort of very new. Nobody really has an idea what it's going to be, but it's going to get thrown at us just like an unfunded mandate. So, we're going to have to we're going to have to tackle that.
045And that's going to be a a a big conquest for every school district in Western New York. >> Thank you. >> Uh thank you. Uh I think that uh while I I wholeheartedly agree with uh the challenges that uh Mr. Proud mentioned, uh to to pivot from that a little bit, I think that the other end of the financial challenges are also really important. That is to say, while we have uncertainty from up top at the state level with regard to the money that we are getting uh and what we're expected to do with that money, I think we also have uncertainty related to the problems that every small district has. We're a small rural district in a state where you have districts ranging in size from little districts like ours all the way up
046to massive city districts. And often there's a kind of one-size cookie cutter approach dictated by some of the mandates and things coming down from the state level. And so it becomes a really creative job on our part to try and meet those mandates uh given the unique realities of our district. uh as far as how we can best meet this challenge. I think one of the areas that I've been really encouraged to uh observe in my time on the board has been the creativity in the use of shared services especially those through um things like Boseis in allowing smaller districts like ours to bring those uh important services to our kids everything from special education services to career to technical education uh at a level that bigger districts can't do. I think that that level
047of creativity in how we approach these problems is going to be hugely important moving forward. And I think that also is going to be important um in approaching another challenge that I think we face is that and this is one that I don't have a quick and easy solution to other than creativity again and that's the changing world, the changing career environment and the changing educational uh needs of our kids. I think that the world is changing faster than it ever has and especially when it comes to meeting new technological developments as they happen like artificial intelligence. It's going to require a careful application of creativity but also an open mind to new tools as they emerge in order to meet this moment. Thank you. as you >> well >> I don't have the insight
048of being on the board in any internal um viewing of how things have gone but from what the way things are going as RJ uh mentioned um the AI boom and technology is um really changing the way everybody works um acts does and schools will have to incorporate I'm sure they are the beginning um into it. Although because they're a smaller school that has got to be a balancing act um to keep competitive amongst all the other schools. I do agree and also uh about the shared serving or shared um services with other small schools to try to um get more of your money as so to speak so that we can be competitive all around. Um and as far as the mandates go that are given to us, it's very difficult to keep up
049with what they have with the monies that we're allowed to utilize for and or what works for our rural school. We're being um compared to other city schools or other areas that we don't work that way per se. So to find that balance is a challenge and uh I I feel that New York does not always um work well with others when it comes to that. That's my own personal opinion. Um as far as the curriculum that are coming along. Um I think that's something that we would tackle as they come along in the same respects with AI and again I'll be learning as we go along and probably have a better answer. >> Thank you. >> Quick question. Is there any uh questions from the audience that needs to be brought up? Anybody that
050we missed so far? Thank you. And now we will go to um RJ for this next question. What is your educational philosophy? >> Uh thank you for that question. I uh would call back to uh one of my previous responses about sort of overall board priorities. I know that was a little bit broader, but as far as my specific educational uh philosophy goes, it goes back to the idea of teaching kids to ask the right questions, not teaching them to memorize the right answers. I think that we have done a good job of that. I think that there are obviously always areas to improve, but I think that having the right teachers in the classroom is is one of the most important ways to achieve that. But in general, I uh in my day-to-day job,
051I work as a research scientist. And so much of my job would be so much easier if everybody I worked with asked questions like a kindergartener does. uh students when they come in the door have this amazing curiosity about the world that I think for a long time American education kind of failed because it didn't necessarily value that piece. I'm not saying it never valued it at all, but I'm saying that I think only recently are we seeing how important it is in a changing world to educate kids, to be curious, and to have the uh skills necessary to not only ask the right questions, but find those answers. So, I guess to sum it up in another way, I think that the best way I would like to describe students coming out the other
052end of Wilson High School, in addition to just being good, well-rounded people, which I think we've always done a good job of, um, but the would be to say lifelong learners. I think that if we can educate our kids to leave this building, looking around the world, asking questions, and having the ability to find the answers that will allow them to do what they want to do and what they think will benefit the world around them, I think we've done our job. So, from kind of 30,000 feet back out of their classroom, I would say that summarizes my educational philosophy. Thank you. equation. >> How do I um my educational philosophy is um I believe that students thrive in in an environment that is comfortable um respectful and um engaging and I feel that um
053Wilson on the overall has done a great job of that. Um I you know that there's areas of, you know, improvement, but there is always um you touched on what I was thinking too as far as teachers, it's imperative to have good teachers, solid teachers that are in tune with the students that they're they're um teaching and along the way from elementary, middle school to high school to have that consistency in that learning environment is makes a strong Um, in that same uh vein, strong families again I I mentioned um about parents being involved, transparency going on. When you have a strong family, you have a strong student and that student will thrive with the teachers that they have and the parents will feel a part of the community within the school and that that
054makes a huge community. So, and Wilson does pretty good about that I got to say. Um there's always room for improvement. So that's what we do. >> Timothy, >> I think my thought on that is find the right path for students. >> Too many times in previous years and the educational process was college, college, college. Every student had to go to college. We pushed colleges till we couldn't push anymore. And I think through the years we've learned that there just are amount of kids that are not going to go to college. So we have to offer them something that they can walk out of Wilson saying, "Well, I can get a good job. I can be an electrician. I can be something like that." And that's where Boseies comes into play. I I think a
055lot of districts don't push the educational process at Boseis enough for these kids that just aren't going to be rocket sciences. More like RJ, very intelligent. Uh look, I I think that's that's something that every district has to accomplish. Uh, I don't want to see kids fail, but if you give them a path that they're happy with and they can learn on, they're not going to fail. They're going to get out of here with a good education and they're going to go somewhere. I mean, I'm not saying give up college. College is there for the right person. But I think this educational path and I think it can start right in the elementary schools where you see kids that that aren't always going to be in their books all the time or something like that.
056They can they can say, "Oh, wait a maybe Johnny would love to do something over here, work with his hands or something like that." We need more of that hands-on education and not as much push to be rocket science scientists. That's that's my philosophy. And I I think Wilson does a pretty good job of it. Uh I'd like to see a little more stress for Boseis, but uh on the other hand, I I think every district has room for improvement and I think Wilson will improve as we go along. Thank you so much. Um since there's no more questions from the audience, this will be our last question and then we'll do our closing statements and we're going to start with Lorett on this last question. What do you feel you can contribute as a
057member of the school board and what was your reason to go for the position? >> I feel that I can contribute um my many years of working with um the community and children. Um I was a Bosey's teachers aid for a while. I was a resource specialist with the um Niger County Health Department, children with special needs. Um I also ran a program, a grant program for resources for early intervention. Um those those have always been a passion of mine even years ago was working children and watching them. Um, I'm going off topic. >> Yes, good. >> Okay, good. As far as um how me being a board, I I feel that I will be able to um work hand in hand. I believe strongly in collaboration. I believe um that many minds comes up
058with good solutions and why I decided to run again um being involved with children. Um years ago I had said that I always wanted to do that but the timing wasn't right. Um and God put it on my heart here not a few months ago. I was thinking about things and talked with my husband about it and he goes, "You know, if you don't take it now, you probably won't." And it's something you always to do. So, I went for it. So, I'm looking forward to this next chapter and helping and being involved in the community again and the school. Um, walking through the school just this evening, getting myself lost. It's been a while since I've been here, but um it it brought back a lot of memories and I'm looking forward to having
059more. >> Thank you. >> Uh why did I run again for the board? I don't know. being as I was appointed in 1995 and I've been on the school board all except for three years when uh I was given a vacation because I supported keeping Stevenson open and uh I was voted down. They closed Stevenson. But I I think I'm more or less like the historian of the board. I sort of remember things that have happened for the last 27 years. And uh some of you say, "Do you remember us?" I said, "Wait a minute." Yeah, I guess I do. And uh I I I do have a lot of knowledge that's stored somewhere back in this massive cranium of mine. And uh that's what I'd offer to the board. Uh I've thought seriously about
060not being on the board. And then I thought, you know, I've been on it for so long and I've wanted to help kids for so long and I feel that my expertise and not on the future but on the past is beneficial to this district and uh that's my main reason for being on the board. >> Thank you. RJ, two heads. Well, as far as what I bring to the board, uh, number one, I think that my perspective is perhaps a little bit unique in that I'm kind of on the other end of the, uh, I think I represent a constituents in our community that is often not on the board. I don't actually have kids who go to Wilson. I have plenty of kids in my family who have or do, but at the
061moment, I'm not parent. I'm a young a younger uh you know professional who's still figuring that part of my life out. But the point is I think that there are plenty of you know non-parent taxpayers in town who nonetheless uh want our kids to do well and deserve a voice. Uh with that being said, I also think that as an analytically minded guy, I think I do a pretty good job getting down into the weeds with policy and with the nuts and bolts of it. And I think that that also uh kind of dubtales with uh my general interest in how those things happen, which has led to a big interest in advocacy and lobbying at the uh level of our local government. Uh, as Tim mentioned, I've been to Albany a number of times
062to talk with our elected officials. And I through my own interest in how all that works, uh, I don't mind devoting that level of, you know, extra time to making, uh, to making sure that our voice is heard at every level. As far as why I'm running for the board, uh, I had the benefit of a wonderful education for Wilson High School. I was raised in a household that really valued education. my uh mother who's actually here in the audience as a teacher for a kindergarten teacher for 30 years and I think that through all of that I have a deep appreciation for what a solid education and more moreover a public school education can do for a kid uh at every level at the academic level at the athletic and you know artistic level
063and at the social level I think that I learned so much about the world and what I wanted my place in to be during my educ education and I think that it continues up to that. So that's why I >> thank you. Um before we hear the closing statements, I wish to thank you all for demonstrating your civic concern by attending this event. And I want to thank the candidates and the audience for the respect you showed throughout this evening. Closing statements are in reverse order. The opening statements. We begin with Lorett Clark. First of all, I want to thank you um the group, I'm sorry, the League of Women Voters for um putting this on so I have an opportunity to um voice my and my thoughts with the veterans here. So, at least
064I feel have a little bit of something here. Um I feel that um my drive to work with the school again and the inner workings of the school. I'm excited to learn more. Um I'm excited to get to know the the board and how they've been progressing and what I can bring to the table. Um my I I've re reiterated this before, but this is something that is very passionate of mine is that I believe in families and I believe in strong families and I believe that to have strong family have strong students and that is something that I feel there's such a diversity of children in the school even though we have a small district but there's a lot of children that are diverse and we at times in the past tried putting them
065through as a cookie cutter thing to push things through and I like the fact that we are changing our uh approach on being more individualized with the students and I feel that my opportunity to be on the board will um help to promote that piece for all the students that are involved to give them all the opportunities that they they truly deserve. Well, I I'd like to start off again by by thanking women voters and all of you for being here tonight. Uh, and everybody watching at home. Uh, I think that this is such an important part of the whole process. Again, going back to transparency and how our public institutions are run. Uh, I think that as far as one thing that, you know, I'm actually going to go kind of off the script
066I had in my head here for this. I think that uh we tonight have seen uh something that really has encouraged me. I uh every time, you know, we have to get up here and answer these, you know, different questions that come up. I think that at first glance you think, oh boy, they're they're all just going to say, you know, what what he said, what she said. But I think tonight I've noticed a lot of really encouraging uh nuance in our answers. I think that this represents what makes this board so strong and what gives me so much uh confidence in how Wilson is going to do moving forward. Every question that was asked tonight, uh, Tim Lorett and I I think gave slightly different answers to or were very different in some cases,
067but I think that that reflected the difference in perspectives and I think that's going to provide the information and uh uh collaborative solutions needed to make all this work moving forward. I think that having, you know, it been I think this goes back to another theme that was touched on a lot tonight was that the same solution doesn't necessarily apply for every kid, every situation. Um, I think that we have come around to the idea that a diversity of perspectives in how we formulate our priorities as a district, but also how we approach educating all our kids is going to be tremendously important moving forward. And overall, I'm just still very very much uh honored to be a part of this uh, you know, grand yet local experiment in democracy that we're working with to
068try and make Wilson the best possible school for our kids. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um, I'm going to go back to a phrase that's been used for years. Uh, and it was asked, "What does WCS stand for?" It stands for where children succeed. These boards through the last 27 years have advanced the educational process in Wilson as much as possible through some of the most tumultuous times we've ever had. Uh we lived through CO, we lived through different environmental changes, we've lived through educational changes, but we've survived and we've made Wilson a better place for it. Uh and and as I said in my opening statement about making giving the kids the best education that we possibly can, I I think this board through the collaboration and previous boards and previous superintendants and
069previous administrators, they've all had that in mind. They're they want Wilson to succeed and and I think on a whole they have. Um, and and again I I go back to respect we also have an obligation to the taxpayers in the town of Wilson. We have to be mindful of how much money they're contributing. We're in a very hard time right now. We we looked at our budget and it it's a good budget and everything else, but as I said before, how are we going to pay for it? That's the thing that that I look at. Can our people afford it? We want to get this education the best we can, but we want to also make it affordable. Uh I I think this board has got more support now than they have in years.
070We used to have meetings where people would come and raise their voice and criticize us and tell us we're doing everything wrong, but we've worked around that and we've made it a very substantial educational process in Wilson. And I'd like to thank all the people in Wilson for supporting me for so many years on this board. And I'd also like to thank the League of Woodland voters and everybody in the audience tonight to come to listen to us. Whether you think we're right or wrong, you listen to us. >> Thank you all. Um, you should give a a round of applause for this. And thank you so much.