001e e e good evening everybody and to those of you out there on YouTube and welcome to this special meeting of the appoc clinic School Board tonight we're having a candidate Forum there are three candidates running and so we're going to have a little bit of a review of the ground rules we're going to have allow each candidate to speak and then there'll be some questions uh and hopefully voters will find this forum helpful we've been doing it for a number of years now and I think people do uh we will start as we always start our meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all right
002we've got a let just I don't necessarily always like them we've got a short PowerPoint that we're going to run through Steve if you can call that up all right next slide okay so tonight's our forum and just to uh remind people the election is Tuesday May 13th voting starts at 700 a. and runs till 8:00 pm there are seven locations listed there on the screen essentially spread out through the district uh you've got uh Old State Elementary at the Fairview campus um you've got voting here um you've got voting at Middletown High School you've got voting at bun Hill you've got voting at towns End Elementary Olive be lost to the north and Cedar Lane Elementary kind of center of the district so it's only those seven locations uh where there will be voting
003uh we had four candidates my understanding is that Brady siglin dropped out yesterday or today so uh he seemed like a nice guy uh but made the decision he made that leaves us with three candidates uh listed here we have Chuck Boyce we have I'm going to apologize if I don't pronounce it yeah senia celesten Brown and Tim Higgins so those are our three uh candidates um and then just to review some things about the district um you know always good to kind of review our vision statement and mission statement the vision of the appin school district is to provide a worldclass education so that our students will contribute as leaders in a global society and our mission is to create an educational system where each student is engaged supported and successful I think if
004you've seen our particularly our high school course catalog um it's just amazing the classes uh and the opportunities that kids have before they graduate um our core values and you know the first value on this list there's a lot of values but the first one is the one that we are always talking about here whenever we're making a board decision um we always do what is best for every student so students first uh and then our other core values we hold an expectation of Excellence um we work to inspire trust in our stakeholders we communicate with transparency I think we really try hard to be transparent we just had a uh state-of the district meeting last week for people to show up and Matt gave I thought a nice presentation um it was recorded because
005we didn't have a lot of people there live but the point is we are out there in the community trying to make sure that people know what's going on and and trying to act answer questions we act in a fiscally responsible way um you know if those of you who watch our meetings um uh our construction is always on time and on budget I we ask that all the time um we Foster leadership at every level I I you know I've now been doing this for a number of years and it's been um gratifying and fun to watch um some of our administrators who started as teachers and then have moved up um the uh the ladder and grown and so yeah now that's even scarier um we we do actively engage our community this
006is being broadcast on YouTube we did have that community meeting uh last week that I mentioned uh we recognize others for their contributions to success and you know I think one of the favorite parts of every Schoolboard meeting for me is that we uh always have recognitions at the start of the meeting whether it's students whether it's teachers administrators um it's always uh we're always recognizing people and then last we uh cultivate mutual respect I think for everyone and that starts I think with us on the board even though there are times when we don't universally agree on something um I think we still have a very respectful and open and honest debate that does not devolve into recriminations and and I think that's important to set that example especially for our students um if
007we can go to the next slide our motto the world is our camp campus and so when you see the hands surrounding the Apple that is planet Earth uh it's an emphasis on the world District beats we believe in engagement collaboration creativity critical thinking and communication um so that's about that's kind of our core values and and our belief system for the school district um there are certain qualifications to run for School Board the three of you presumably are aware of this but for the viewing uh public you have to be a citizen and uh be a resident of app quinic district school district you have to be 18 years of age or older at the time of the election which is May 13th so if you're only 17 now but you'll turn 18 before
008then that's fine um you have to live in the district not only be a citizen uh and but you do have to live in the district um some school districts incidentally have smaller nominating districts um in Appo it's all at large so all five of us could live in the same Community or neighborhood if we wanted other districts you have to be spread out in subdistricts if you will um an important one is you can't be a paid employee of the district it certainly wouldn't make sense you can't have the fox guarding the hen house and then um you must never have been convicted of embezzlement and there is a background check that all candidates have to go through obviously that one seems fairly obvious uh in its reasoning I know that as part of
009filing to be a candidate now you have to go undergo a criminal background check and a child Pro protection registry check um again for obvious reasons um moving forward you know as you all are campaigning and I encourage you to campaign and get out and talk to people cuz every election is always about voter turnout um if you don't turn out the voters you're not going to win um so a couple of ground rules campaigning in schools um during the day ordinarily there's no campaigning in schools and you know we don't allow you to ask students or teachers or other employees to campaign I'm going to say during the school day right so no campaign activities during the school day at any of our schools um I think it's the next slide um you can
010uh maybe so the other slide further on you can have campaign meetings I mean you can rent or use space in school buildings just just like any other out outside organization can do that there's a process to go through and if you were having a team meeting or something here you could do that but that would have to be after hours and you'd have to remove all your mat materials when you left um one thing that you know again we need to be clear about um you can't post your signs or other campaign paraphernalia on school property except for the starting the night before the election after the schools close so the uh election is May 13 but you know you can't start putting signs out on school property uh you know tomorrow or in
011April or May 1 2 third fourth all the way through the 12th after schools close on the 12th though you can put out campaign signs for the election the next day when the election's over that night gather up your uh your U signs and whatever else is out under state law um you can't be campaigning within 50 feet of the entrance to the polling place so you have to be standing away from the polling place um that can be a little bit problematic when it's raining um and I you know it by the way this rule is the same for general elections and primary elections I mean it just applies to all elections and so um you know I've been out on Election Day at the polls for a candidate and it's been raining and
012you want to stand under the entrance right in front of the door and the pole workers will come out and chase you away if you try to do that um we used to give people 50 feet of string so that you know you could have one person stand at the door and then roll out the other 50 feet to make sure you were far enough away um so anyway rule is can't be within 50 feet of the entrance to the polling place so here that's going to be the door that we all came in to get into this building that's the entrance it can't be within 50 feet of that um the next slide talks about what I already said um campaign materials you can have them in if you're in the school for a
013campaign meeting but otherwise no teachers can use them if they're having a civics class you know this is what a campaign button looks like or or something like that um but it's not for any partisan discussion um there's there's again to be no campaigning uh during the school day um the final bullet point on this side slide says municipalities have their own rules regarding signage including their size and placement generally Middletown follows Del do and it's Del Do's rule that matters the most which is to say you can't put signs in a Del do RightWay along a Del do road until 30 days before the election so let's see April's got 30 days so starting uh April 14th I guess it is and they have to be 10 ft from the edge of the pavement
014so if you want to put a sign up along 13 if you want to put a sign up along Route One you've got to be 10t from the edge of the uh pavement now there's often gravel outside the where the pavement stops it's 10 feet from the pavement not 10 feet from the gravel and D do can be fairly ruthless um they will come and pull your signs and the first sign is free and after that they charge you I think it's $25 a sign um it may have gone up but uh and they'll send you a notice and say you know we took your signs you can come here and by the way it's $100 to get them out of jail um and as the candidate you're responsible for those fines if if it
015happens um Michelle being someone who's run for school board twice um I just would recommend keeping track of your signs if you're able to um this may or may not help you we went ahead and numbered all of our signs on the back and we kept a spreadsheet of where we put them based on their number so if they went missing we knew which ones were gone and we needed to collect them we could send volunteers out to certain spots and we knew how many we were responsible for so when dild do told me like which ones were wrong like I was able to question or missing you know find out why um if that's helpful to you it helped with collection it also helped with knowing where they were and um I know Schoolboard
016is a volunteer role and so running for Schoolboard is on you raising your own money um that's not always easy um um so I try to keep the cost down it also helped when we wanted to move signs from the various public locations to those polling locations the night before after 5:00 p.m it was easier to tell your list of volunteers here's these 20 addresses can you pull these signs for me and put them at the various schools where the polling places were and then we also had the volunteers be responsible for cleaning those 20 signs up because it's a big lift as an individual to run for Schoolboard I'm here to provide tips and guidance so and the other thing to keep in mind about signs is there is no prohibition on your neighbors
017so you know um if you've got friends in different communities no they can put a sign out in their front yard whenever they want um some deed restrictions will prohibit putting up signs and so sometimes homeowners associations get a little uh Ramy about doing that I've always taken the view that it's a First Amendment right but that's a very complicated area you don't want to make people unhappy is the bottom line and you know it's always easier to take your sign down of someone's complaining rather than leave it up and then have them Grumble um but ordinarily people aren't going to question it and so if you got friends in different neighborhoods you know there's nothing like having a sign in you know whatever the community is Parks side Lakeside um Dove Run um and
018hopefully then somebody sees that else in that neighborhood sees the sign and sees their neighbors supporting you and then they decide to support you as well um but signs don't vote right I mean it people vote not signs you have all the signs out in the world and if you haven't talked to voters and haven't gotten people out to vote signs aren't going to vote for you um so those are kind of basic campaign rules when you do have uh signs printed or other materials printed you know has to say paid for by and that be either you personally or if you form a Campaign Committee to receive donations uh by that committee but you do have to say paid for by on um on science and and other things not t-shirts though I've never
019seen that on t-shirts um so the next part of the slide show is what is the function of a school board what do we do we come to meetings and sit up here and listen to people but you know that's a very small fraction of what we do I mean we pay a lot of attention to what's going on in the district we go to schools we go to sporting events we go to plays um we talk to parents a lot we get emails from parents we get phone calls from parents um more often than not they're complaining about something or they want help on something it's very rare to get somebody to call you and say you're doing a good job but that's okay right I mean you know my theory is when people
020aren't calling you it's because they don't have anything to complain about and they're just busy in other parts of their lives um there are five of us Mr Abrams isn't here yet but uh there are five of us um we are elected to fouryear terms now it used to be five years uh that was recently shortened to four and the next slide kind of lists what our primary responsibilities are sitting up here as a school board um we have a strategic plan that sets forth our vision and goals and we went over the mission statement and the vision statement earlier um there are policies that we review and update as necessary there are kind of the guidelines or the rules for um student Behavior teacher behavior um we're going to adopt I think some uh
021policies on Parental Behavior soon um we hire and evaluate this guy here uh Matt burrow who is our superintendent um and uh you know he reports to us and and updates us on uh information um there's a budget for the school district and we monitor the budget and we make sure it's on track and we adopt it at the start of the school year and we follow its progress through the school year with the uh obvious goal of we're not going to run into red we have a budget we stick to it um now the way our financing system works if people were paying attention during the last round referendum initially you go out to referendum you've got so many students and you set a tax rate and in the early years you'll run a
022surplus and then as we grow more students and have more expenses and inflation kicks in that Surplus dwindles down and then when it dwindles down to nothing we're back out for another referendum um we have been uh fortunate to have really I'll say topnotch people in our finance department who do an excellent job of keeping us informed we also have a Citizens advisory committee a finance committee that meets once a month to go over all the numbers before they get sent to us for review I think they are some of the unsung heroes of the district um and they do a great job as well um the last uh B bullet point here says manage the collective bargaining process for employees of the district so again one of the things that we do as a
023school board is approve the contracts for our teachers and for our other uh positions Michelle be your pardon oh um so the next uh slide what makes an effective Schoolboard member um you know I'm going to give unless you don't want to I'm going to give each of us like two minutes although I'm not going to time you to just say what you think makes an effective Schoolboard member or what makes uh why what you do that you think is particularly effective as a school board member and I'll start just by way of example and item number one is pay attention and read everything um that you get we get emails from uh our superintendent Dr burough on a regular basis with all sorts of information um you do need to go I think to
024school events to kind of keep your finger on the pulse um you do need to be available when parents email or call you and they sometimes call me at work and I'm happy to talk to them I tell people they can do it when they do I'll talk to them um you know you just more than anything have to pay attention and and be willing to put in the time because it is far more than just a couple of hours the second Tuesday of every month um in some ways that's the easiest part of the job is coming to the Schoolboard meeting um but but that those are my thoughts Michelle do you w to add anything or say anything about what you think an effective Schoolboard member is or what makes for an effective
025Schoolboard member I think um being transparent um being the Community member like being active in the community um honest um have integrity um but also be a change a a change agent in that you know just because things were done one way you know be Innovative you know see what process improvements you can make um so just don't come expecting to do the same thing like we've always done okay tashiba I mean I Echo all of the sentiments that have been shared I think the one thing that I would probably expound on um is just the time commitment um I think you know what Richard said around sometimes coming on Tuesday is the relief of it all and I think also um to underpin what Michelle was saying I think it's just accessibility as well
026like people come out and they vote for you and they want to feel like they can interact with you you know or you can resolve their concern and so I would say just being accessible to them but also recognizing that there has to be boundaries because you know the more you give the more people will also take so I think it's a it's a balance right because now you're representing um school and you're you're representing the community um in this SE and so you're engaging with the school and I think just at the core of it is just relationship building because not only are you working along you know Dr Burrows but you're working along his cabinet you know and like all of his direct reports there's key leaders you our district Key leaders are
027sitting here to my right so I think it's you know what's important and is the relationship building because you're engaging with everyone pretty regularly and so um that's what I would add thank you Michelle um let's see I would say that you have to be approachable and accessible um and I would also say it isn't the time commitment is large it's not just the second Tuesday of the month it's all the time you're a representative of the district at all times whether you're at the grocery store whether you're at the YMCA because that's when parents see you and that's when they ask you things so you no longer you have to because it is such a time commitment you have to decide when you're on and off for Schoolboard but if you're out in public
028then you're on is pretty much the way it works someone once told me when I was running the first time that you need to set time aside for yourself and your family that people sort of don't know about because it's really easy to say yes to absolutely everything so like for me I don't do Schoolboard stuff Sunday nights I only check my Schoolboard email first thing in the morning and um in the evening because we get emails all day long and it could become your full-time job which all of us have those as well in addition to family responsibilities and things like that but I would say those things I would say it's really important when you're running for this role to realize that you sit up here as one of five this isn't running
029for a State Rep seat this isn't running for a state senate seat this is your 105 and to be effective in change you need to to build relationships because you need to do things together as a group um that's not saying we always all agree but you have to remember that you are 105 and then I would Echo what was said in the slideshow we are really driven in this District by what's best for kids and somebody jokingly said like the best way to remember that at all times is to kind of write it on the back of your name plate when you sit up here so when we're looking out at all of you or when you're making a decision it's not really written on mine I don't think it is but to imagine
030that it's there whenever you're making a decision because that is who you're representing and the role it's very much a Community Connector role is how I often explain it to people between all of the district's interests between the district between the public but we're here for kids and that's where we hold the line here at this table so that's kind of how I would explain it and then the last thing I would add is it's like any other volunteer role you can sign your name to it and you can that can be the amount you can put into it or you can say you know I'm committed to this and a a community elected me to serve in this position so you're going to get my heart and soul and I can tell you that's
031what I've tried to do for the last 10 years so good luck um it is an honor to serve on this board because it is driven by what's best for kids okay well said uh now the next slide says what makes an effective Schoolboard member but really these bullet points are really also what makes an effective School Board period um and it gets back to the fact that as Michelle just said you're one of five but I'm also a believer that collaboration makes things better and you are just one of five you're not always going to get your way but I mean that's true in life generally speaking um but you have to remember we're all up here and you have to remember your other four board members are all driven by the same thing
032you are which is we're trying to make the district better so these bullet points talk about a Clear Vision for the district that's why we have our um strategic plan communicating actions to the community sometimes it's at the grocery store sometimes it's in Walmart um sometimes it's at a football game wherever it is um but you know just like I think it's true for teachers as well I mean and parents I mean we're role models for our students and so you always have to remember that no matter where you are working as a team I really think that that's something this board in particular does really really well um sometimes we read or hear stories about some of the other districts in the state and I don't think it's as much the case that uh
033that they work as closely as a team as we do um adopt a fiscally sound District budget we've already talked about finances and for the record and folks probably get tired of hearing me say this but I mean we're the third largest District of the five in Newcastle County we have the lowest tax assessment Base by a considerable margin even with reassessment we're going to have the lowest tax base uh we also have the lowest operational tax rate so we have the lowest tax base the lowest tax rate and so we're spending less per student than uh some of our sister districts to the north although and I am biased I mean I think we're getting uh the best results uh of any of the districts uh in the state um as as we've said
034many times focus on what is best for all students it's the students are why we do this it's not the parents not the teachers not the administrators not even Schoolboard members it's all about the kids and um the last bullet point Advocate at the local and state level for public education um I I think we're constantly doing that um and even if you don't necessarily know your local politicians when you get on the school board you'll get the opportunity to get to know them and um you know it's just a constant uh job a constant interest that we have to pursue again when you're talking with local politicians when you're talking with voters um you know I do believe in public education and I think I think our public education system is very underrated it's
035really the conventional wisdom is oh it's horrible and all this other sort of stuff but that's just the conventional wisdom and people don't dig deeper and they should because I think they'd really uh be surprised by what they find and part of that is on us we need to do a better job of uh of bragging about how good our public education is um so we're down to just some short follow-up uh calls uh slides again we said it twice or three times already the primary goal of the app quinic board of education is the success of all students we're focused on our students um the next slide just we're going to give you each four minutes to speak here in a moment and the last slide again is just a reminder of uh it's
036Tuesday May 13th 7 AM to 8:00 pm with those seven locations sure um just so you know if you guys are new to this or people tuning in that is something important to know we are always televised so you have to sort of be camera ready because you'll get comments from people who only have watched who weren't here in the room so just be prepared for that um but this Tuesday May 13th is also a regular Schoolboard meeting so we'll be having our meeting um our meeting start at 7M and so the polls will still be open we will get the results partway through the meeting usually and we'll make an announcement um about who has won the election if you've never run for office before or if you have and have a experience with
037it you can select people from your campaign team to be what's called a poll Challenger and you can send someone from your team to each of these locations to ask to be to get the polling results the polling results from the Department of election take a while longer than your person standing at Bunker Hill to report back to somebody so as like a little tip or a helpful thing to people who are running for the first time have somebody at each polling place to collect the data for your team because then you'll have a better idea of if you came out on top or not rather than waiting for one of us to say it from here and that's how you get the news um that's just just if you've never done it before and
038it is a nerve-wracking feeling I I mean I know Richard will say it and we all say it but we commend everybody who's you know willing to put your name in the ring but School Board is often I think a position that's hard to run for because there aren't always the supports that are in in place when you run for another office so we will always try to be as helpful as possible but that's a small tip in terms of how you feel that day and how you kind of information gather so you need as many people as there are polling places and then someone in a central location to collect the data who will report back to you and just kind of say hey this is where it is before they say it one
039of the things that you should have received when you uh filed to run and if you didn't if you call the Department of Elections they'll get it for you but you're supposed to get these little slips of paper that you sign to authorize somebody to go into the polling place for you and as Michelle just said during the election day that person can sit there and you know check off people who vote if you're keeping track of people who are voting uh and alternatively if they see someone voting who doesn't live in the district or isn't uh 18 and trying to vote anyway um they can challenge that person and um say you know wait a minute I challenge so and so and then at that point the the polling judges and there are typically
040two they will you know figure out what your objection is and then they'll rule on it um I've done a lot of Checker challenging over the years and I have never I think I've only ever challenged two people and in both times it wasn't uh neither challenge was granted I didn't think the people who were voting were lived in the area where they were in that polling place was the basis for my challenge my point was they needed to go somewhere else but um but that's how the process works and then at the end of the night once the polling place closes as Michelle said you you can have somebody actually in the room while they take the the uh machines apart and and get the vote tallies and and have someone ready now if
041you don't have someone in the room what they're also supposed to do is for each machine that's there they they will print out a list that shows the N each candidate and the number of votes each candidate got um so if you're if for some reason you don't have somebody with a slip or you didn't get a slip um somebody can wait at the door and then they'll put those results out on the door um you know on Election nights everybody like goes to the Department of Elections website and you keep hitting refresh refresh refresh refresh waiting for you know some update you know hitting it every six seconds really isn't going to make a difference but um the the votes don't get put on the Department of Elections website until someone takes the information
042from the machine and actually takes it to the Department of Elections website where they then double check everything and then they load it onto the system system and then it comes out on the internet so if you want to know sooner rather than later you have somebody at each of the uh seven polling places and as soon as the numbers come up they they'll write them down they'll add them up if they have to they'll call you and then you'll know how you did at that particular polling place the good news is there's only seven in some years there's been more everybody oh wait did I miscount there's eight okay sorry there's eight polling places see you need eight volunteers where yourself and seven others um so with that uh we do get we you
043do each get uh four minutes and uh there'll be a timer that on the screen and we are going to hold you to uh four minutes now if you're mid sentence and you go to 404 or 405 that's probably okay but if you go to you know if you're still Haven wrapped it up at 405 or 406 I might have to bang the gavl so so don't make me uh bang the gavl and um we'll just go in alphabetical order um do we have a microphone that we want okay and then Steve are you gonna then have a camera on them or okay yeah don't look I I see myself on the camera now and I'm like is that really how I look my goodness um so with that we will start start with Chuck
044Boyce you have four minutes and you are on the clock well first thank you for inviting me this forum and had the opportunity to learn more about the work that the AOC school district has been doing um I moved into the district in 2000 um shortly after moving to the state of Delaware and when I was looking at where I wanted to to live um one of the the key factors to that was um when where could I see myself potentially enrolling a future um future child and so moving to the appin MC District at that time we moved to uh Brenan Estates um just as it was being built uh the olive be law school had just uh recently opened um and so that was the first place that I settled here um in
045Delaware I now live in uh Parkside um I have a 21-year-old daughter who is a recent graduate of full sale University University um in uh Florida and like any parent in in with a student or in our district um I want to make sure that they have that our students have access to the opportunities um and support that they need to succeed in the future now professionally for the last 30 years I've spent my career building businesses managing budgets and solving some really complex uh problems for for both um local companies as as well as some some International companies and I've been able to lead teams find Common Ground build consensus uh for those Solutions um and and get those projects across the Finish Line um as as a business owner I've Had The Good
046Fortune of actually hiring a fair number of uh local students and was able to kind of Mentor them and kind of watch as they grow like you mentioned uh uh earlier having seen students now become teachers I was able to to watch students you know as early as as recent high school graduates go through um and build their life start buy their first house buy their first car start a family uh and continue to grow on in their career um some of those students have gone to work for some top consulting firms in the US and uh my one of my favorites is now currently working with the CIA can't tell you his name though so um I really do believe in veloping the the Next Generation and I've seen firsthand um what strong schools
047uh can do so I'm running because I really believe our districts are at a crossroad I I agree with Mr foron I think that our schools get underrated and I think a big piece of that is the the data that comes out that's available to the public um provides only a very limited view into what's actually going on and the results that are actually being achieved in this District you know that the state uh data comes out once a year so there's really no good opportunity for us to be able to point to the data for the results of the programs that we're getting and get that out um and and like Mr foron said earlier as well kind of toot our own horn and show really highlight um the students and the uh achievements
048that we've made spending the least per student with teachers that are the lowest paid um uh in the state so a as we continue to kind of build the the foundation for these students to succeed it's important to remember that we're supporting all students and and I think our district does a really good job of that regardless of their path forward you know we want to make sure that they're prepared for that life after graduation and that might mean college for some but we must also remember that there's a good portion of our students that will go on into the trades the military they make choose entrepreneurship become the next Generation business owners or they may be jumping straight into the workforce so we want to make sure that we're continuing to expand the curriculum
049and we've created a space that regardless of their path forward after graduation they have we have done everything that we can to equally support them uh as they've come through the system now I I also know a little bit what it's like to rely on the system um as a uh back when I was uh in elementary school my dad was laid up with I'm sorry but your four minutes are up oh there's no way for me to see the timer so I'm sorry yeah it's actually over there I should have pointed it out to okay yeah so but thank you again for the opportunity all right hopefully I'll say it right this time but senia sensia okay trying iate that thank you so good evening and thank you all U for hosting tonight candidate
050Forum it is truly an honor if I can say um to be here right uh I I am officially as I want as we've already um understood I'm running for a seat on the appic School District board a little bit about myself I am a woman of Faith a wife a parental figure a first generation American and a proud product of the public school system a social worker by occupation clinical therapist by trade working with children adolescence and adults an experienced Adjunct professor by Passion and a dance teacher for fun and the fitness given these experiences I've had the opportunity of being surrounded by students from a variety of angles the idea of power placed on education has always been emphasized for me growing up the investment place in my education is the sole result
051of my mother's push and reminder of how powerful it is to be knowledgeable similar to your District's motto the district's motto the world is your campus my mother would encourage me by saying the world is yours and especially when you're standing on the foundation of understanding and knowledge so for every time I was curious about something I pursued understanding of it I am running for a multitude of reasons growing up in the suburbs of New Jersey as a student who fell in the minority I didn't have many teachers Educators um principles administrators within the school that looked like me or had a similar background culturally and that made it hard to feel seen and often heard right people in these roles I believe strongly should help shape students learn and grow so it's important that
052they reflect the students that they serve I want to be a representation of that and make all students have a fair and Equitable experience in the classroom whatever that may look like for them individually as a therapist I have seen how struggles with mental health like anxiety stress or trauma can show up in the classroom at one point in my career as a behavioral interventionist I worked collectively with teachers and support students sometimes what may look like bad behavior or a learning problem was actually something deeper without the right support these students risk being misunderstood or misdiagnosed with my mental health background I can bring that unique perspective to the many crucial conversations that are already being had discussing and keeping Children First being part of conversations where we can take a creative approach to
053meeting the needs of our students is what I hope to bring to the table if elected if elected I do not wish to take away and please hear me when I say I don't wish to take away what is already being done because it's clear that is effective within this District I only simply want to contribute to enhancing it critically thinking of ways with fellow constituents or and or board members to enhance opportunities where students can have the freedom to learn while emphasizing parent and family engagement within the educational journey I want to bring my experience to the school board to help support students their families and the community at a larger scale if granted that opportunity and I believe that I can be a strong voice and make a real difference within this um
054platform if afforded that thank you again for this time and I really want to say I would be remiss if I didn't take the time to say thank you for all of the pointed advice that you all provided today from the experience that you've had and I hope that I can count on your support come that day if I can throw out a shout out there thank you all right thank you Steve you want to reset the clock all right Tim you're up all right so uh my name is Tim Higgins um I'm married to my wife Lori for over uh 30 years um didn't have notes on that so uh um we have three great kids um all three of them went through the School District um for the last 20 years I've had
055a shark an owl and um a Jaguar through um three different uh levels of school um we've had kids on the honor rooll um and honors classes uh We've have kids with IEPs and um struggling with um uh accommodations so uh we run a gamut of up school district and for the most part school district has been great to my family um I get a little emotional sometimes because we had personal history with one of our children um he was diagnosed with leukemia and um the school district was fantastic with our son um I'm sorry so I just want to give back um to the school district I was great to my family um over those years in the past 30 years um I have owned a business um uh it's a um a small
056business with uh you know I'm the I'm the accountant I'm the I'm the dishwasher I'm the Personnel guy I we've employed hundreds of high school kids over the last 30 years at our store um it's a passion for me to um not only obviously raise my family but um connect with the kids in the store um through my personal history I grew up um the son of a of a of a widowed mother uh she was pregnant with me when she passed away she had six kids um she did all she could to raise us um she did a great job but obviously you know her her priorities being elsewhere to uh just feed us feed the kids and um when my I was nine we had a a brother of mine passed away um
057which had my whole family kind of looking inward so I really reached out and needed our community and our teachers really my teachers really got me through a lot of tough times and really directed me to where to where I am today so um so uh working uh working with the kids at the store um and also uh giving my time volunteering at um Canal Little League which is um a local Little League down down south over near the canal um I was on that board for seven years where I served as president uh for several years um I was a member of the local church there St Margaret of Scotland where I was on the finance committee and also ran the Ministers of hospitality which we all know as the ushers um doing these
058things um gave me the ability to work with a non-compensated non-compensated um board um striking a line between realizing everybody's there to help the community U not getting paid but also realizing the importance of the job at hand such as running a School Board um so I'm running to give back to the community uh that really gave a lot to me and my family um and I I do believe that the community could use my help and my skill set uh to do the things I've done um if I'm elected I would uh focused on helping the classroom environment um and make it a conducive learning experience by listening to the teachers um and their concerns assuring the codes of conduct are not only implemented but um but but the students are also um excuse
059me uh directed to resources um so anyway yeah so I apologize it's lost by my spot but I appreciate all your time and um looks like everybody here's pretty good people so I don't think you go wrong but um I have the time to do it and I love to do it so thank you so much all right well thank you um the board has a number of questions we've kind of put together and so we're going to uh just kind of ask them and we'll rotate the order that people answer in and yeah I'm going to give people um 60 seconds on the clock to give an answer so it's not quite the shot clock in March Madness but um one okay there we go one minute okay so I'm going to start this
060time on the far right and then we'll work our way left and so the first question in looking at these is there a specific issue that has motivated you to run for a position on the school board a specific issue and Tim why don't you start um I would say if there was one uh specific issue is um really the potential I see and have seen um through the app School District how how great it has been for my kids and um I think after the pandemic I think we'd all admit that uh We've we've stumbled and um we're we're struggling a little bit um I think though kids during uh the pandemic uh really lost all sense of organization and and socialization and um learning how to act in different um in in environments
061I think we really need to to get back to um the point where these kids are are really learning to to how to be in a community and um act accordingly and um just um have a conducive learning environment where where all kids can learn I'm sorry all all kids can learn and uh learn responsibility and consequences okay fair enough let me see if I can pronounce it correctly this time Senza yep senia senia okay off the tongue Mr for S you know I keep trying to write it fanatically sen okay you're up you got one minute is there a specific issue that has motivated you to run for a position on the school board thank you while there's not one specific issue that comes to mind I believe that the district does offer many
062great opportunities and again as I mentioned um in my introduction I just want to enhance them or be a part of contributing towards adding um different elements and or perspectives towards it one thing that would come to mind is is I would be remiss if I didn't bring up mental health again the awareness that trauma informed practices within the pedagogical um environment how that would be helpful and or um you know demonstrate a level of Assistance or support for our students who may have emotional and or mental well-beings that may be disturbed or or interrupted in the classroom setting um so I would say that yes okay perfectly good answer um Steve you're going to reset the clock and Chuck you're up is there a specific issue that has motivated you to run for a
063position on the school board uh yeah so we are certainly a very fast growing district and and have some experience and managing and working with very fast growing organizations I think some of my background and experiences in that could certainly lend um some experience to the board as we continue to manage through you know we just barely got through a a referendum um this past uh April and as we witnessed at the um state of the district meeting last week we're we still have a great opportunity to kind of meet parents weather at and get the information um to the parents in a way that they are finding more engaging so that when it comes time again um to look at what those future budgets are they feel like they've been more involved uh in
064the process and we've been able to kind of show them our good results okay thank you some of these questions are going to be kind of related to each other um but the re I started with that one because that was a specific issues the next question and we'll start with senia uh it's important for every board member to have a clear purpose and vision what are your top three reasons for learning so you mentioned mental health but there are another two um thank you so my other two would be um funding and or fiscal responsibility funding transparency um and then I would also add uh the I the process of assimilation as a first generation American the that component of like transitioning into the classroom setting when English may not be your first language
065or English is not your parents's first language uh I would would want to place a level of discussion and emphasis on those two areas as well okay thank you um why don't we go uh right uh Tim uh it is important for every board member to have a clear purpose and vision what are your top three reasons for running um well as a as as earlier stated uh one of my my top reasons is to to get um you you know the kids backed into a conducive learning environment um uh number two I would say that um really supporting our teachers um speaking to teachers that I know uh they they have become they seem to be a little more frustrated now than they have been um with with support and and just their days
066just getting harder and harder um I'd really like to look into that and find out the wise and talk to you guys to see what you guys think um I really do believe that um as I know from from my own experience that a healthy work environment is great for everybody so I think if the if the teachers uh can get into a healthier work environment and um and really get our support or your support or your support um it would be better for everybody it better for the kids it would be better for the school um so that would be my second and then uh my third would be just fiscally respon fiscal responsibility um like Chuck I do want to own a business and the importance of fisal responsibility I think is that
067is is the lifeblood of of any business or school okay Chuck you're up um so so obviously you know making sure that we're engaging with the community that we're doing a better job of getting the the good news about appic out to the district um managing and making sure that we're remaining uh financially responsible and that we don't end up in a position where some districts have found themselves many years ago where they have overbuilt or we have overshot um the place that we need to be to support the community here uh and then making sure that we are getting the the data that we need so that we're making databased decisions that teachers can use um and that as curriculum is being chosen that we're that we're evaluating each with on its own merits
068and making sure that the the systems the programs the processes that we're putting in are actually the best for the children and the best that we can do given the current environment okay great thank you all right next question um and you heard us all talk about this and it was in the slideshow but let's hear your take on it there will be times where the board is not unanimous in their vote on specific agenda items would you be able to support a decision made by the board even if you did not vote in favor of it why or why not I'll repeat that one more time to give you a little more time to think there will be times where the board is not unanimous to they vote on specific agenda items would you
069be able to support a decision made by the board even if you did not vote in favor of it why or why not and so um this time why don't we start with Tim okay um great so I have run into this um multiple times uh being the president of uh our little league um for other reasons maybe not as important uh families are very passionate about child children's Sports and um when things don't go their way they do get heated um and they will go to the president and um at that time even if I don't agree with the board um I always consider the fact that everybody on the board is a volunteer we all have our own opinions um I've always repeated it to my board that whatever the board decides um
070respectfully if you would like to respectfully disagree you can respect dis disagree but always speak as if the other person is standing right next to you I feel that's a really good um really good uh tip on speaking of anybody but especially on a volunteer board where you're not always going to agree and I guarantee you I wouldn't always agree with everybody but um when it's out in public I think it should be handled with respect and like the person that you're speaking of is standing right next to you in the room okay thank you Chuck why don't you go second sure um it unrealistic to think that any group of adults on any one sub subject in any one area could could reach a consensus 100% of the time but uh by by working
071with the board in a um inclusive uh environment where everyone makes sure that they have felt heard at the end everyone should be able to support the decision um if they if their position has been heard um and as representatives of the board to the community it is our responsibility to help constituents understand how the board got to that that decision okay Steve you want to reset the clock there uh senia thank you H great question um or another great question I should say it's funny because what I think about is when it comes to disagreements it's about crucial conversations uh relationship building I think communication my husband who's here in the room with me I immediately think that you know with any relationship as you all have mentioned that you have and that's Paramount
072for the the the collectivity of the board you're never there's not going to be always that that that equilibrium in a way and so you're constantly trying to navigate or play that dance that as I would tell my students there's a dance in communicating there's a dance and there's a respectability and crucial conversations that are required and so it's all about relationship and understanding from that person's perspective perspective an understanding or coming to an understanding of why they're they feel the way they do and why you feel the way that you do that perspective is really important okay great thank you all right um I'll go to what I think is a short answer question so don't feel that you have to take a full minute to answer this how many Schoolboard meetings have you
073attended in the past and we'll start with Chuck um I generally uh riew them online um and I've pretty much caught up with all of the uh for for the last year um since I moved back I was living in Florida for a few years and I moved back to Delaware uh March of last year hey senia I am a geek I have attended quite a few read the Strategic board and all and so don't my husband would say I don't have a life but yes when I'm passionate about something something I think you should invest into it so um I've been to quite a few if you do you want me give some dates or you're seconds okay I just wasn't sure how okay thank you thank you uh Tim how many school board
074meetings have you attended in the past so I've been been to a few um personally uh my wife and I watch most of them boring as they are online maybe not always live and actually sometimes they're not boring by the way sometimes they're they're quite un boring but lately they've been but um so we watch most of online but I have into a few um in first it makes them boring no that's not one well my look just just like I often say right for my money the fact that they're mainly boring means we must be doing a good job because um they're not contentious and there's not a lot of acrimony or drama at our board meetings I'm hoping to happens to the back room so I'm I'm perfectly content for people to say
075uh our meetings are boring um Although our board comments I think are often riveting but that's a different subject um okay next question and we're going to start with Tim this time as a Schoolboard member how would you work to strike a balance between ensuring high quality education and managing the financial burden on local taxpayers I'll repeat it as a Schoolboard member how would you manage to strike a balance between ensuring high quality education and managing the financial burden on local taxpayers got one minute so that's a great question and I'd like to spend a minute telling you that it was a great question but I'll try to answer um I really do believe that um the key is an again I would say in in just a a a a good work environment for
076our teachers um teachers don't become teachers to to become rich they become teachers because they have a passion to help children so I don't think throwing money at teachers is always going to be the the best way of getting them I think giving them an environment where they can do what they've went to school to do and help children what they' wanted to do is the best way to um to to create a a high uh a high level uh education alir um while trying to keep um the the the books balance um I if that was a question I think question um but I also believe there's other things on a budget that we can look at other priorities that we can set to uh make sure we uh we we we keep the
077general focus on just educa kids okay uh thank you um Chuck why don't you go second as a Schoolboard member how would you work to strike a balance between ensuring high quality education and managing the financial burden on local taxpayers well we we certainly start with a a budget every year and during that process it's really looking at the the programs uh the systems that are continually uh continuously developing our students into being the best that that they can be um and that then requires us to really look hard at the metrics of specific programs and determine which ones um are delivering the results that we we need and when we do find those programs where you know we are we have um uh where we're excelling uh we definitely want to look at the
078opportunities to continue to expand those programs so that we can impact the the greatest variety of of uh students uh but it it it comes down to you know making hard choices um and again doing what's best for the uh for most of the children students rather senia as a school board I'm sorry yeah as a school board member how would you work to strike a balance between ensuring high quality education and managing the financial burden on local taxpayers um you know I if I'm transparent it's challenging to find a balance when it comes to anything money and trying to um make sure that that all parties are happy because they're I don't know if you you'll ever find that um or or if if that is you know realistic but what it comes down
079to is that or at least what matters is that the needs of the children are met our students um so the the financial decisions have to have to be based on what is what is going to allow our students to succeed and that should be Paramount that should be what comes first and foremost okay thank you uh next question how would you approach resolving conflicts with other board members so I'll say that again it's a little related to an earlier question but it's different how would you approach resolving conflicts with other board members and we'll start with senia uh thank thank you so conflict I again think crucial conversations um if what matters is that partnership is there and it's important that if we're not if the if there's a decision that's being made and
080there's a different there's an understanding it's about having a just maybe there's that sitdown that's required without crucial conversations there's not a development of of relationships but without a relationship tested then there's really the foundation of that relationship may be necessary conflict there I used to say with some of my students without conflict there is no change and so sometimes it may also be required but as long as we're pushing through and conversing through them that's all that matters okay thank you uh Tim how would you approach resolving conflicts with other board members so again I hearken back to um being the president of the little um there's always there's always argument um there's always going to be conflict uh everybody's going to have an opinion um I would say to just you know hammer
081things out with your own fact-based opinion uh knowing that it's not a personal argument um try to get your point across and and have that listen to their point and uh know at the end of the day that it's it's it's it's not a personal matter it's for the same common good um had a lot of knockout dryout fights with people on on boards and you know went over to mcin and shared a beer after the board meet meeting and just you know friends are friends you're you have a relationship with with people and this is a four-year term and maybe some people in and out one or two years um and I think that there has to be that that that that balance where you know you're all you know there as volunteers but
082if you have a if you are passionate about something you're you're going to be passionate about it and so are your your colleagues and I think we need to understand it's not a personal thing and uh just go about our day afterwards okay thank you Chuck how would you approach resolving conflicts with other board members well one of my core principles has always been uh no surprises that through open and honest communication we can find some some common ground uh generally no one's going to be a happy 100% of the time and and as Tim mentioned you know we're all very passionate about the success of our students and during that that those passionate discussions we hopefully as a board have established that this is a safe space that everybody can have their turn um
083and let their ideas be expressed and then we can kind of come together and figure out what that decision is that's going to be uh best for the majority of our students okay um these questions came from different school board members we and then I just got one sheet of all of them I think I know who gave us this question although I'm not going to identify that board member but here's the question as a new board member you may encounter situations where a peer says well this is how we've always done it how would you respond to this mindset and what approach would you take to ensure decisions are made in the best interest of students district and the community rather than just following precedent so that was a little long so I'm going
084to repeat it as a new board member you may encounter situations where a peer says well this is how we've always done it how would you respond to this mindset and what approach would you take to ensure decisions are made in the best interest of students the district and the community rather than just following presedent and why don't we start with senia thank you uh great questions everyone very thematic I see so I think of Beats um or at least that's what comes to mind it's being Innovative critically thinking um and that comes to problem solving or or problem-based resolution Styles in in approaches and and creativity um leadership um there's so many facets when it comes to leadership and demonstration of that and as role models we have to emulate what we expect and
085or would like to see within our our students right because this is that platform that they're that they're paying attention to and so if there are decisions again or if there was a way of doing something and the culture may may appreciate a shift to some degree let's talk about it and let's go back to the foundation which is the Beats right the creativity the innovation we want to be Innovative leaders we want to demonstrate what that looks like and if it means that we're shifting a culture let's be open to that and I would be that if elected on this board okay thank you um Chuck why don't you go second as a new board member you may encounter situations where Pier says well this is how we've always done it how would you
086respond to this mindset and what approach would you take to ensure decisions are made in the best interest of students the district and the community rather than just following precedent certainly and and since change is inevitable you know none of us could see the the pandemic coming and that forced us into changing a lot of things the way things had been done in the past I would take that as a as a signal to ask question is this still the best way and is this um does this still serve us you know just because it's the way we've always done it it may still be the right way but let's let's explore that let's look at it let's do a survey of kind of what the other options are uh and from there having all
087of the information let's pick the best path forward okay thank you Tim as a new board member you may encounter situations where a pier says well this is how we've always done it how would you respond to this mindset and what approach would you take to ensure decisions are made in the best interests of students the district and the community rather than just following precedents so yeah thanks for the question so um right you'll hear oh well let's not try to reinvent wheel or you know oh here we go again a new guy asking why we're doing things I I've seen it I've been there um I think that the number one thing that we need to do is to find the why why do we do this um why are what what what are
088we trying to get out of it um let's take a fresh look um but I do appreciate uh people working hard year after year to do something and create a system that works um but I also see that fresh eyes and and fresh ideas uh in a system that works implemented with not not not against but with that system uh can make it better so I would always ask well why do we do that um just give me time to not just let me understand because being a new board member you're going to have that learning curve and I think you should be appreciated to have that and and and be able to um to to to get it okay great thank you um all right next question serving on the school board requires a
089significant time commitment how do you plan to manage your schedule to stay dedicated informed about School District Operations and up todate with the evolving landscape of public education we'll start with chuck on this one I'll read it again serving on the school board requires a significant time commitment how do you plan to manage your schedule to stay dedicated informed about School District Operations and up to-date with the evolving landscape of public education so fortunately professionally my um uh working as an independent business consultant my uh that and working for myself allows me some flexibility in my scheduling so um my the clients that I serve are pretty much in five different time zones uh and it allows me um blocks of time where I can focus on U other things outside of uh my work
090you know as uh Miss Walt uh mentioned earlier it's always make it's important to make sure that we keep the those personal times uh sacred but where I'm at my career right now and the my professional life um I do believe that I have uh blocks of time to make sure that I can be a well-informed addition to the school board all right thank you um Tim serving on the school board requires a significant time commitment how do you plan to manage your schedule to stay dedicated informed about School District Operations and up to dat with the evolving Landscapes landscape of public education so yeah so owning uh a business for 30 years um we have had and have a uh a great staff um great managers great assistant managers and um being 58 I
091kind of get in the way a little bit uh in in a revolving restaurant so uh I'm there a lot less um I uh I have you know spending my time um you know doing things and I my wife actually said look you need to get a hobby so so as much as I've given it into our community in the past I haven't over the last few years um and um wanting to give back to the school board I feel that that that that that idle time that I do have is a perfect uh fit for the time I would need to be on the school okay great as senia serving on the school board requires a significant time commitment how do you plan to manage your schedule to stay dedicated informed about School District
092Operations and up to date with the evolving landscape of public education thank you um I think with any new opportunity it's about learning how to manage your time and developing um cability with whatever new encounters or Endeavors that you are adopting um just as you know Miss Miss wall and Dr Graham mentioned having that availability with boundaries is always going to be that caveat but then also identifying the priorities and then managing your time accordingly with that but you know I this is an unknown territory for me and and I would be lying if I didn't say I'm going to dive in first you know and hit the ground running if elected but also again it's just about you know with anything new you're going to eventually figure out how to manage the time and
093then balance it accordingly so thank you all right thank you we're we're down to our final two questions here um and we will start with the senia on this I know that you all did this a little bit in say your openings but can you describe your experience working with parents community members local businesses Public Service organizations Andor volunteering within the districts so I'll say that again can you describe your experience working with parents community members local businesses Public Service organizations Andor volunteering within the district the last piece was within the within the district the school district this District okay thank you uh so my experience with volunteering is extensive I've volunteered at with teaching dance volunteered at the senior center volunteering and and dedicating time to local soup kitchens volunteering and dedicating time to
094developing and or um supporting with youth um programs it specifically to the district it's myself I don't have much experience with volunteering within the district um outside of the senior center um but different opportunities as they come up I'm uh I have taken on in terms of outside of within the state I've collectively been going up and down um to assist with church um Services where I can um within SM um Kent County district and or Kent County area um but I'm looking forward with en in my um volunteer opportunities and or servitude within this District if afforded that opportunity okay great thank you um Chuck can you describe your experience working with parents community members local businesses Public Service organizations Andor volunteering within the district sure um because of my um flexible schedule I
095was able to uh chaperone many trips um of my daughter's classes as she went through um Elementary School serving on um a Athletics board uh for a number of years uh working with with parents uh in that context um I work with local business owners on a regular basis um through my work uh with the um Middletown area Chamber of Commerce um and uh uh and I've serve on the uh board of directors of several uh professional organizations uh on off for the last 30 years okay great thank you uh Tim um can you describe your experience working with parents community members local businesses Public Service organizations Andor volunteering within the district so I'll start from the last to the first so um Mrs Broomall over in OB uh recruited me as a recepts coordinator
096for a few years when my kids were going to school so I would organize kickball um um you know hor Square all those other things with the kids um which was great um being on the the board of the L League obviously dealing with parents um all the time uh as as as as you do and then um through our store I actually have the other end of being a business that deals with uh the school and and and trying to help out that Community um as well so yeah I have a you know full array of experience in and all that stuff and it's it's really I love doing it all but um it just comes down okay great thank you um one final question and I will preface this by saying that sometimes
097members of the general public think the school board has a lot more power than it does uh as has been said we're each only one of five and it takes at least three votes but ordinarily we're unanimous on our decisions to really get anything moving or done um so with that by way of a little bit of background the question is what are the key goals that you hope to achieve if elected and so we will go in reverse alphabetical order for this final question Tim what are the key goals that you hope to achieve if elected um I'd say my first goal would be um to to allow and to get our our teachers a little more time uh to to connect with their students um on an individual level uh I think uh
098that's a key element uh to to kids learning is is is learning finding that their teachers believe in them and um they understand them um that would be that would be one one goal I would have um and to that I'd love to see um our reading scores just take a little bit um by teachers engaging and giving teachers support um especially with the reading um I I really would love to see after a year or two and I know you guys probably feel the same exact way is to see things just math is going the other way which is awesome to see but do see our reading our reading scores go go the other way as as a district as a whole okay thank you um senia what are the key goals that you
099hope to achieve if elected thank you um so a few so many things come to mind and um I think when it comes down to the Crux of it enhancing teacher voice um that so they feel empowered and when they feel empowered or more empowered I should say then they're pouring and investing in our children and our students and our future adults right um or future contributing to Society members um enhancing family and Community engagement the district hases a wonderful wonderful job with that already and I would love to see that grow and Blossom for for families like myself who are coming into the district because as um Mr Boyce mentioned the district's um reputation they can feel that upon um you know transition um uh looking at fair and Equitable experiences for that P
100that student who's coming into this community and and again not originally from here looking at it from a diversified perspective or just the identity of feeling that they are they have that sense of belonging in the classroom with their their fellow um classmates let's what can inclusion look and feel like for our students thank you all right thank you Chuck what are the three what are the key goals that you hope to achieve if elected well certainly I'd like to continue the the board's work and being an advocate for our district IND over and getting the school funding formula fixed and modernized you know that we need to get off the unit funding um methodology it's clear it's been proven time and time that simply doesn't work on top of that looking for opportunities where
101we can expand public access to data again so that we can Engage The the community and we can show the good news of the progress that that's being made um and continuing the the community outreach um if I was to join the boards uh Miss wall has a fantastic program that I would love to pick up which is the bagels with a board member I think that is a great way to continue uh the Outreach out into the community all right thank you uh before we well it's been about 90 minutes and I want to thank the three of you for being here tonight I think you've done a good job answering our questions um and in particular I just want to thank you for being here period because as Michelle hinted at earlier it
102does take a fair amount of courage to step forward and put your name on the ballot obviously we've all been through it uh other people have been through it but it it is just a very courageous thing and and it's all to do a job that you don't get paid for and you get a lot of complaints about but it's important work and the fact that all three of you want to do it um I think speaks a lot of your character and uh commitment to public service so thank you uh for that um we're going to end our meeting now but I know I speak for all the board members when I say that we are all available uh to you as a resource just like we're available to anybody who's watching who lives
103in the district uh to talk about uh all of these issues and so again thank you all for being here tonight um we are we do have a school board meeting I should be remiss in in uh if I didn't mention we do have a school board meeting coming up the second Tuesday in April so that's um April uh 8th it'll be here in this room and next Tuesday April 1st I mentioned them earlier our financial advisory committee is meeting down in the Tony martio building I was going to say it so before we quit does anybody else have anything they want to say Miss wall you're jumping in um I just want to Echo Mr for's comments we available uh all five of us I know Mr Abram didn't join us this evening but
104for um tips on running the actual election I mean the actual race and also what it means to serve in this seat we've done a pretty good job giving you guys an overview but if you have specific questions don't hesitate to reach out to us I mean we all have different perspectives we all ran at different times different situations my first time was a six-way race for an open seat um my second time was during covid so lots of different experiences in between um Mr forson did say it's an unpaid position I hope you all knew that before you sat down but I will tell you that when you win a a Schoolboard seat there is actually a payment and it's graduation day because there's this special thing that happens on stage that you get
105a front row seat to um we do believe that the motto of our school district is truly the world is our campus and for me that happens for each of those kids that crosses that stage because that's when the magic happens I really wish we could get every single parent on the stage with us because kids take those first steps onto the stage and they are nervous and they are scared and they're trying to remember all of the directions that have been given to them who whose hand do I shake and how do I picked up the diploma and I'm wearing all of these things that I would never wear and I always try to encourage girls about shoes choices but only about half lessen um but they're nervous and they're scared and as soon
106as that diploma hits their hand there's this magic that happens and you get a front row seat to that so where the position isn't paid that is the payment and that is truly the Fulfillment of our district motto the world is campus it's my two cents all right SE I wanted to um one say hello congratulations for the board lot of courage to do so um also apologize for being late but sometimes as a board member you just can't be here on time because of the Family Matters and emergencies so my apologies for um being late but I do wanted to um I did want to point out some things we did things a little differently than in the past I wasn't for question so um what I wanted to state was um Michelle has
107made a lasting impact on the board and our district um one of her most notable achievements is um pushing for a second unit account for this District which now ensures additional funding for um our district as well as other districts across the state who enroll after September 30th you have a second one January or beginning of February can't remember which one but it just happened um so I would like to encourage you um as future board members to um as you prepare for this goal I urge you to um think about the responsibility ahead being a board member requires open mindness and the willingness to change the status quo when necessary and um a strong commitment to serving our students and community so Mr for did state that um he knew what question someone um
108asked which was myself which is the one about status quo um I am a change agent in any role that I do I I provide um process improvements so as um you get on the board whichever one that is I want to highlight some of the initiatives that I brought to the board that you can also think about doing which is when before I came um um I pushed evaluation tool to assess the superintendent um which has not been in place for almost 13 years um I have also um before I came we did not notice our financial action committee meetings so they're now properly noticed uh additionally we used we still kind of use the word public comment on the agenda which or excuse me we use the word delegations which is very confusing
109for some of the uh the the the community when they came specifically me when I first came back in 2022 um I remember showing up at the board and I was like oh they're asking about delegations what does that mean what does that mean I'm calling people what does that mean and no one really knew so since then we have started using the word public comment and people knows what that means on the agenda so again while things still um can remain the same sometimes making small changes um it's good for for everyone another change will be um something happened um with um you know a student that we talked about at the board um since then we have ad advocated for an anti-hazing policy which we had not had before um and which was
110um created and supported by the District of doct um lastly as um miss m C Brown um St Dr celest excuse me thank you for Dr Stine Brown um you mentioned you know we do have a strategic plan and it is important that you you know what that is but even having us creating um spaces for us to connect with the district was also another um idea which uh Dr BOS was happy to include his district in with each one of us taking on um a strategic goal and discussing it with the district um so having ideas whether they're big or small can drive real change right so as you're going about your business and you're knocking on doors and you're listening to people community businesses understand that um being a new board member will
111will have that learning curve but also remember who you are and just be genuine be you know authentic in who you are so if you are that person that knows that you know sometimes like putting up your hand say hey why why are we doing it this way can we do it this way or why aren't we doing it and for me I'm always comparing because why you're in this role you are um going to be talking to other board members and other districts and they do things differently not right or good or indifferent or it could be however they do it may not be the same way that you do it which is which is fine but um just having those those conversations you can bring it back and say oh well what about
112this and how come this and and you have a better understanding so I just wanted to leave you with um when you when you you come to this um just be openminded and I'm willing to um to make change if need it thank you thank you she did you have any parting shots as they say sports wrers um no I think you all well I guess yes um but I think you all said a lot of what I was going to say the only component I did just want to highlight um I forget who commented on the learning curve um and that is very serious um I like to think that I'm strong in many ways um but I know when I join the board uh Dr Dr Bros can attest I really struggled with
113just trying to make sure that I'm understanding some of the processes more so around school funding so I would just say you know give yourself some Grace recognize that the learning curves are going to happen you're not going to come into this knowing everything and we all come to this board with different professional backgrounds um and it serves us well in different areas as I said earlier about relationship building but I did just want to highlight that because I think it's important um that as you're running want to be as um Nichelle said a change agent and then you get on the board and you're learning the kind of ins and outs of it and you really recognize what you can impact and what you what you have to give a little bit more time
114so give yourself some Grace I hope you guys enjoy the campaign Trail if you will and um as Michelle mentioned we're certainly here as a resource if you need us so I wish you all well thank you I mean I'm gonna keep thinking of things but just because you got 30 seconds we're gonna put 30 seconds time me um we we've alluded to it's more than Tuesday nights so I want to just expand on that a little bit Tuesday night second Tuesday of the month is our regular Schoolboard meeting we normally hold space for the fourth Tuesday of the month as well for a board Workshop um it's good to have it on your calendar as held because then when you need it it's available those are only two things we all also serve on
115various District committees um and we also serve on other committees outside of our district because there's the Delaware Schoolboard Association that has two representatives from our district there's the Newcastle combined school boards that has two members from our district so there are lots of other committee responsibilities that take your time and then we have 20 schools that have activ 21 sorry that new whenever year it feels like wait true yeah that have these amazing opportunities for you to see Kids In Action um at all times so there is you could have something literally every day multiple things a day um but you do have specific District responsibilities as a board member apart from that meeting and we can expound on any of those things but there's um two of us are on the district finance
116committee um there are Representatives on the school calendar committee on the transportation committee the building utilization committee there's all kinds of wonderful committees that have for yeah Safety and Security um so we try to spread out our time and we do try to work together to make sure the board is represented at different things we all do attend as key um events the three graduations and all three senior Awards nights um and the opening day for the district which is the first day where we gather all the teachers and staff so those are some of the big ones to be thinking about and being a part of but those are some of the why for um time my last thing and then I'll give the mic back to Mr forston is don't make anybody any
117promises when you're running for office like that's real important because being one of five you can't make any promises um as an individual and you you'll have a board meeting it'll be contentious at times or not contentious or sometimes even boring but when you go home at night it's only you going home at night with whatever you said or however you voted and you have to wrestle with where you came down on something so no matter who supported you during the campaign or um even you know talk to you in advance of a vote it's really only you at the end of the day so just keep that in mind is you you are it's you and your conscience and your heart and the timer research that you put in to making your decision that's
118all thank you all right so now I'm goingon to everybody's made me think of one or two additional things to say but I'll be extremely brief Pete Dupont was the greatest governor in Delaware history I was a kid when he was governor but I I knew him in later years and I remember seeing him say on several occasions if you want to make a difference in your community run for Schoolboard and you all are doing that uh it's not a paid position but as Michelle just alluded to there's nothing better than being up on stage for the high school graduations and like last year's graduation and the year before that I you know I don't post on Facebook all that often but I took a picture from the stage looking out at the graduates for
119each of the three high schools and posted them on Facebook it is a really really impressive site and we graduate just some really tremendous kids every year it it is an honor to serve them and their parents and as I said uh just a few seconds ago I mean thank you all for being here tonight thank you for being willing to serve I think you've all said some really terrific things and it seems to me that any one of you would be a a really good school board member up here with us um and you know we look forward to seeing what the voters decide on uh May 13th so with that I'm going to gab us to a close but as we said we're all available if you have questions uh or want some
120perspectives thank you