001Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seat. Please take your seat. We're going to go ahead and get started. Uh, good evening and welcome to the Sycamore Community School Board Member Candidate Forum. I am uh Bob Mchuan. I'm a community member. I'm a retired executive from GE Aviation. So, you could say I'm an aviator, too. Okay. Uh the purpose of the forum is to provide an opportunity for voters to learn more about the candidates for school board and their position on important topics within their roles and responsibilities. The questions this evening came from community submissions and were organized by graduate students at the University of Cincinnati under the direction of Professor Kegley who's in the front row there. Raise your hand and her graduate class along with myself. So, what I'd like for you to know
002right now is to give you a little bit of logistics uh for the evening. But first, the questions I will tell you this we did there's five different categories that we've chosen questions from. Um and they will be student and well-being and safety is one, community and family engagement, teacher and staff support, education policy and equity and the last categories governance and accountability. So the questions will come from those different categories. So you want to hear from them. So let's get started. The logistics for the evening are such we will start with each candidate will get three minutes to introduce yourself and tell everyone why you want to be a board member. Uh after that's finished then we will ask the questions and each question you'll have two minutes to answer it and at the
003end prior to about 20 minutes before we finish the two hours you will have three minutes again at the end to summarize you know where you stand what you think. Okay, there, as I said before, two students uh at the University of Blue Ash are here with me are going to be timekeepers. And when you see that little sign, you have 30 seconds to finish up your answer. Okay. Is everyone fine with that? All right. So, I'm just going to start. We're down there at the very end. Mr. Paul, I'll let you go first with the first question. introduce yourself and tell us why you want to be a board member. >> Great. Thank you. Good evening and thank you for attending. Thank you to the PTO's, Mr. Mchuan and the UC Blue Ash team.
004My wife and I moved to this district two decades ago, drawn by its exceptional academic standards, commitment to growth, diversity, and opportunity for all students. We're proud parents of two daughters, Emily, a freshman at Ohio State, and Rachel, a Sycamore sophom sophomore. Professionally, I've spent 33 years at Eolab, where I oversee a global industrial manufacturing segment. My experience encompasses team leadership, negotiation, strategy, networking, talent recruitment, development, and evaluation, as well as financial oversight. Skills vital to serving effectively on our board. I have served our community for more than a decade on the board, including two years as vice president and four years as president. I served on the 2016 and the 2019 levy campaigns, the business advisory council, legislative liaison, audit committee, and as the board representative for the design and construction of our new
005buildings. Financial leadership is essential for our board. Under my leadership, the district has successfully passed two levies and extended our operating levy to 10 years. Achievements rooted in sound financial management, strategic planning, and steadfast dedication. Over my decade of experience with 12 budgets, our average annual operating expenditure growth has been just 3.1%. If reelected, I will continue to advance the district's mission by focusing on three strategic priorities. Strengthening academic excellence. There are great things happening in Sycamore. We have established a strong foundation for achievement and growth. Continuous improvement remains critical. As a destination district, it is vital that we sustain high academic standards to benefit all learners. Strong schools build strong communities. Second, maintain financial stability. Our community expects board members to act as responsible stewards of taxpayer resources. I have limited expenditure growth, capping
006operating growth to less than 3.5% annually for eight of my years on the board, which has allowed us to have competitive tax rates while delivering quality education and supporting student well-being. I am the only board member with a strong proven financial background. Third, fostering trust, transparency, and accountability with our administration, staff, students, and community. Effective teamwork is grounded in mutual trust. I have worked diligently to build collaborative relationships and respectful relationships, always holding the administration accountable while encouraging continued excellence. Experience does matter. Sycamore is a great district with amazing things happening. I have a proven track record of delivering results. With three seats up for election, my continued service is essential to maintaining our board's experience. Otherwise, Sycamore will face its lowest collective board experience in over 30 years. With your support, I am committed
007to continuing to lead and challenge our team toward even greater achievements. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, Miss Victoria. Yes. >> Hello. I'm Victoria Margram and I'd like to thank everybody who has been involved in this event for this evening. Sycamore has been my family's home for generations. I'm running because I love this district and believe deeply in our community's success. My grandparents, my mom, her siblings, my cousin and I all graduated from Sycamore. And now the next generation, my kids, Remington and Cooper, and yes, those are their names, are attending Sycamore and have since preschool. Sycamore isn't just where we live. It's part of who we are. That's why I'm so passionate about giving back and helping our schools continue to thrive for every family, every student, and every generation to come. I'm
008running for the Sycamore Board of Education to ensure every student matters, every child is supported, and every family is heard. I believe in public education. My campaign is about students, teachers, families, and the community. It's about academic excellence, inclusivity, community, character, and collaboration. Those are all values that make Sycamore strong. As a parent of children with disabilities, I know how important it is for students to feel seen, supported, and empowered. I will make sure that all voices are represented on the board. I've been volunteering for over 10 years in Sycamore School. From Blue Ash Elementary through Sycamore High School, I've worked alongside teachers, staff, and administrators. I've chaired committees, fundraisers, events, and programs. I founded the ambassadors program at Blue Ash Elementary to help families feel connected and welcomed. I served for eight straight years
009as a PTO president. I was a member of the district's culturally responsive practices committee and I'm currently in my fifth year as a member of the Sycamore Advisory Commission. Teachers are the heartbeat of our schools. I've witnessed their dedication and I'll be a strong advocate that teachers have the resources, their respects, and the support they deserve. I've built strong relationships through the years and on the board I will work diligently to strengthen those partnerships. I'll bring transparency to the board. I believe in open, honest, and two-way communication. My husband Don drives a truck. As part of a one income family, we live paycheck to paycheck. So, I know what it means to be fiscally responsible. I know what it means to stretch a dollar. I will approach every budget decision with care. When our schools
010thrive, our local businesses thrive, and our neighborhoods grow stronger. Even if you don't have kids in the school, you still feel the benefits. When our schools are strong, everyone wins. One thing that I've learned over this past decade is that when parents, teachers, and community members work together, amazing things can happen. That is the ethic I will carry with me to the Sycamore Board of Education. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Will. >> All right. Thank you. My name is Will Gosnell and I believe everyone deserves a seat at the Sycamore School Board table. It would be my honor to represent that seat. I am a teacher. I began my career in zoos and aquariums, including the Newport Aquarium and Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, teaching environmental education and conservation for over 10 years. Afterwards, I
011transitioned to the University of Cincinnati, where I've taught environmental science, freshman biology, and genetics for the past nine years. I was also recently elected by my peers to serve on the faculty senate. I'm excited to bring that experience and shared governance to the school board. I'm a husband. My wife and I met at the University of South Carolina. We moved to Ohio to pursue her career in pediatric dentistry. Today, she serves as the division director at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. I'm a dad. I have three wonderful kids. Rosie is in first grade at Maple. James will start next year. Kate will start in three years. We've completed our first year in this incredible district. 16 more to go. I'm not a politician. However, the face the challenges facing science, education, and community trust inspired me to
012step up and serve. My platform is simple. Preserve, nurture, and grow. Sycamore. Sycamore is truly special. There's a beacon of hope and a welcoming spirit that invites people in and makes them feel at home. Sycamore offers excellence across academics, athletics, and the arts. It's large enough to provide extensive programs and resources, but still small enough that students are seen, supported, and never just a number. Diversity is not just accepted, it is celebrated. Sycamore embraces what makes each student and family unique. We must preserve that spirit and those values that make Sycamore shine. We need to nurture and heal relationships and rebuild trust within the district. Community members feel their voice is not heard or respected and trust is fading. The school board must be a unifying presence meeting with students, teachers, parents, and community members
013and literally walking alongside them to hear their story. The school board is a true example of servant leadership. That means rolling up sleeves, getting hands dirty, doing the hard work of servants so that we can make better, more informed decisions as leaders. If we preserve our values and nurture our community, Sycamore can grow sustainably. With funding concerns, rising expenses, and a necessary levy ahead, the board must be fiscally responsible and transparent. We owe it to the next generation, mine included, to provide the excellence of Sycamore for years to come and to be a beacon of hope for surrounding school districts. Thank you for the opportunity to serve. >> Thank you, Amy. >> Thank you. Good evening and thank you to Bob and everyone who chose to be here tonight and to listen from home. As
014a mother of two young aviators, a second and a fourth grader, I know how busy life can be, and I'm genuinely honored that you took the time away from your families to prioritize our schools. For those that I haven't yet met, I want you to know that I am someone who commits my time to serve the teachers, the families, and the programs that make Sycamore special. I proudly serve as the current PTO president at Sims Elementary and I am in my third year on the advisory commission. These experiences have given me a close-up understanding of both the incredible incredible strength of our schools and the challenges that come with leading a district that is as diverse and dynamic as Sycamore. I also want to take a moment to thank my fellow PTO presidents for their
015support and their understanding. And I want to give everyone in this room some context to that statement. Earlier this year, I recused myself from all PTO candidate forum planning and any discussion about tonight's event. At the heart of that decision was a very simple goal. I wanted to up to uphold the integrity of both this process and my candidacy. Furthermore, my campaign is powered by kindness, support, hard work, family, friends, and time. I am not accepting direct financial support or seeking endorsements because I believe our school and our communities deserve leaders who answer to all residents in a responsible way. MBA and I chose Sycamore to be our educational partners. We've watched our schools not only teach our children but nurture them to think critically. They've taught them to solve problems and show and lead
016with kindness and take responsibility for their actions. I believe that the leadership of our district must model these same qualities. Professionally, I bring more than two decades of experience in education, operations, and school finance. I have led teams of teachers and educators. I have managed budgets. I have guided accreditation audits and strategic planning as a post-secary director of education and as a post-secary campus president. I understand how policy and funding decisions in a boardroom affect what happens in a classroom. Regardless of whether you have children in our schools, this community will benefit from prioritizing a candidate who understands school finance. Sycamore has given so very much to my family and I'm now willing to give back. I want to ensure that every child can safely learn and grow. And this campaign is guided by the
017good in our schools and my desire to truly help sick more. >> Thank you. >> Aim higher. >> Thank you, Mr. Amy. Okay, Dr. Pasha. >> Uh, good evening, Sycamore families, teachers, and neighbors. My name is Dr. Zan Pasha. I'm a resident of Blue Ash for over a decade. I'm a proud parent of two Sycamore students Shamir a Sycamore graduate and junior at UC and Ishall senior at high school in Sycamore who has broken the record in Sycamore school district history in girls athletic in discus. She represented Sycamore at the national level Jupen this year. So these are not just the personal milestones they pave the way for young women athletes in Sycamore and attract new opportunities and recognition for our kids. I am uh blue s I'm a graduate for blue s citizen academy.
018I am the first male graduate from appointed civic leadership in the history of Cincinnati. I currently serve as a board of zoning and appeals for blue ash. I serve uh currently on the city of Montgomery environmental advisory commission and I have served as a board member on greater Cincinnati Mental and Behavioral Health Board. I have After saying this one, let me go back about my person like I was born to a mother who's a school teacher and help the children with whole child needs. That lead me to pursue my career in healthc care as a physician with a PhD in molecular biology. I also hold master in public health, master in health administration. I'm a fellow of American college of health data management. I'm a fellow of American College of Healthcare Executives and there are
019over less than 9,000 people across the US and across the world who hold these credentials. I have been recognized for leading transformative change in healthcare financial system nationwide. I'm also a lean six sigma black belt trained to tie efficiency directly to measurable outcomes. In addition, as part of my professional life, I teach policies, helping future leader understand how governance, finance and health intersect to serve the communities. With that foundation, let me take you back to the uncertaintity of the co times. At that time, I was working for number one company of Fortune 500 and I was interested with $330 million initiative budget. In the middle of chaho and uncertaintity, I kept operations efficient, frugal, and forward-looking. Ensuring families were safe, business kept operating through sound policies while maintaining strong financials. That experience taught me how
020to lead in crisis, how to forecast and unknowns, and how to protect both people and resources. In my current role, I oversee 22,000 lives and six school-based healthcare programs. And today I wear pink to make sure that our school mission is whole child and just to make sure everyone understand the breast cancer awareness month and how the woman health is associated with the whole child and thank you. >> M sir, >> good evening. Thank you to the Sycamore PTO president's council for holding this candidates forum this evening. Thank you also to Mr. Mchuan and the University of Cincinnati. My name is Sarah Bidder and I'm running for reelection for the Sycamore Board of Education to help ensure that every child in our district receives the best education possible. I grew up in Cincinnati and attended
021public school. I was raised in a family of public servants which shaped my commitment to service and the law. I went to college at the University of Cincinnati and I went to law school in Cleveland at Case Western Reserve University where I met my husband Kai who is also an attorney. We have two children who attend Sycamore schools. We have a ninth grader and a student in our district's post-secary training program, the Launch Program. We have lived abroad and our children have dual nationality. We like many of you moved here for academic excellence, whole child learning and because investing in strong public school district is an investment in our homes and in our future. As a parent in the district, I have volunteered many hours in my children's schools. I've been a room parent, volunteer
022for co-ai on wheels, field days, school plays, walk-athons, flight fests, teacher appreciation days, and after proms. Volunteering keeps me grounded in what families and teachers need and what and that perspective is how I approach policy, budgets, and accountability as a board member. Professionally, I have dedicated many years to advocating on behalf of children and adults with with disabilities, their families, and caregivers. I graduated from the leadership education and neurodedevelopmental disabilities program and worked in outreach at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. I currently work as an attorney at the Children's Law Center where I represent children living in poverty who need legal assistance to access their education. I believe my background as a mom and an attorney and the experience I have had as a board member over the last four years and as president of the last
023two will help me better serve this community and Sycamore schools. I understand how state legislation directly impacts public education and school funding. I will continue to work with our treasurer and our superintendent to advocate for Sycamore and to help anticipate state budget changes so that the district can proactively make adjustments that prevent, minimize, or delay the need for additional tax levies. Finally, my education and experience with disability are the foundation and understanding and for advocating for all students of all backgrounds and diverse needs. That includes gifted students, students with mental health challenges, our LGBTQ students, English language learners, stu students entering into the trades, and students living in poverty. I look forward to answering your questions this evening. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, now we're going to start with the uh questions and
024we'll start with Miss Victoria, you'll be the first one. I'll just move down the line that way. The first question is from the category of student well-being and safety. Okay, it is said there's four pillars of school safety commonly include these categories. physical security prevention and social emotional learning, emergency preparedness and instant response and reporting. How would you as a board member address one or all of these pillars? >> Thank you for the question. Um, I'm going to pick the social emotional learning pillar because I think that is imperative to the whole child. I think teaching social and emotional learning helps a child to be more empathetic, helps them grow as a person, and also helps them connect with their peers. And I think so many times nowadays with social media, kids aren't getting that
025connection with other people. So I think social emotional learning I would highly support. I know we have it in our schools now. And I think it's a wonderful program and we should continue to do it because at the end of the day we're helping these kids to be adults. We're helping them grow. We're helping them to succeed. And with social emotional learning teachings, I think we do that. So I I think social emotional learning is an incredible pillar and I think we should support it and I support it. >> Thank you Mr. Will. So I'll kind of talk about it from a general overview sense. I think that one of the biggest things we need to do in school safety is talk more. We need to have more conversations. We need to talk about if
026there's an incident that happens at Maple's playground, what happened? Why did it happen? What can we do better? We don't want to have militarized campuses. We want to feel like we're still a community. We want people to be able to to come in and experience that warmth and that beacon of hope. And we have to do that by having conversations. And those conversations can be difficult ones. Right? If we're talking about mental health, the worst thing we can do with emotional or mental health needs is not talk about it, we need to talk. And I feel like in in our in our country, we try to talk less and less. But often times, that's how we solve these things. We actually sit down, we have communication, we go to our community members, we go to
027our parents, we go to our local experts, and we say, "What's going on? How can we solve this? What can we do better? Was this an isolated incident? Is this a pattern? Does this pattern need to have a resolution to it? Or do we just need to go sit down and have a cup of coffee and talk about this particular solution? I think a lot of times just I know it sounds simple, but it's communicating and talking. That's how we keep our schools safe as a collective. Okay. Thank you, Miss Amy. >> Thank you. This fall at Sycamore, we did, as Will just mentioned, have an incident at Mabel Elementary School. And though my children do not attend there, I had multiple parents reach out to me, ask me what I knew, what I thought,
028how I felt. The number one thing I try to do in these moments now, particularly as a candidate, is I'm asking people to tell me how they're feeling. And time after time after that situation at Maple, the parents said, "I feel good about what Sycamore did. I feel confident that they did the right thing." The building principal and our superintendent of schools got on a phone conference call at 9:45 at night. That says something and that means something and it definitely meant something to those families in Maple. That being said, as a candidate, I am information seeking. I am curious. And I took the opportunity and I asked for permission. And about 10 days ago, I sat down with both of our districts uh school resource officers and I asked them questions about their policies
029and practice. I met them for the first time because they're at the junior high and at the high school where my children are yet to be. I didn't know what to expect, but I was moved. I felt confident by the time that I left. I saw their character and their personality and the way that they looked carefully and critically, even just listening to the questions that I had for them. I learned that they partner with local authorities, local service centers, and they are seeking professional development like we want and encourage and support our teachers to do. It was impressive. They are seeking out adolescent socioeotional support training to make sure that they're meeting the needs of our schools, our families, and our students. They are doing this above and beyond the training that they are
030asked to do as local law enforcement. >> And they're doing it with a purpose and with heart. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Uh I think is the right question for me uh with a person with a public health background and a person who is a physician who day in day out looking for the well-being. Um and I don't know if you guys have visited my website elect dr.zanpasha.com my my platform says whole child approach and the answer is also there. After that I want to say that health and safety are essential for learning and I support transparent communication with families and evidence-based practices that keep students school and thriving. I respect the role of parents in making health decisions for their children. My priority is to ensure the Sycamore policies are clear, consistent, and
031focused on minimizing disruptions to learning while maintaining safe environment for all. Families deserve confidence that schools are safe, healthy environments. I support transparent communication on health policies, respect for parental involvement, and evidence-based practices that keep students learning without unnecessary disruptions. Thank you. Thank you. Our our board of education annually uh renews a contract with the Montgomery Police Department for uh resource school resource officers um in our district. We also have partnerships with every police jurisdiction in our district. So that's the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, Blue Ash, and Montgomery Police. And as a board member, I'm very I'm very very proud of the partnership that our district our board and our district administration has had in place. We continue to keep in place annually. We are constantly evaluating we have we have constantly evaluated the safety
032needs of our district. That is something that is done. There are safety drills that are practiced annually. um our our SRO's by by contract by by everything that Sycamore stands for within our board policy are trained to work with children and in a school. It's a little bit different. It's it's an add-on to the to the regular, you know, police officer duty. I actually have uh family members who are police officers, several family members who are police officers. Being a school resource officer is very different and I'm very very proud of the work that this board and this administration has done in that regard. As far as social emotional learning goes, it's exceptionally important that our children get mental health um access to mental health services. We have partnerships with Cincinnati Children's Hospital, private practices
033come into the our district um to help children if they need it. We have systems of support, MTSS, multi-tered systems of support, and we follow the positive behavior um intervention plans in multiple schools as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. School violence and school safety across the US is a disturbing and alarming trend. Uh from a safety standpoint and an educational standpoint, we work within the state curriculum of Ohio to educate our children on social topics and all appropriate age-based topics providing them with un unbiased learning. I agree with other candidates that communication is the key with our community. We have been open and vulnerable uh with our community. We have held ask anything sessions and informed parents on many Zoom sessions about incidents that have have occurred. Um I strongly support our school resource
034officers and know the impact on the lives of our students they have at the high school and the junior high. I would support investigating options for an expansion of our school resource officer program in partnership with our local municipalities to expand to additional schools within our district. I believe this is something that we should consider as we discuss and plan for the upcoming levy. From a safety plan, I can assure parents that we are prepared. We have a full comprehensive plan in place for our school security. Our plan has re been reviewed and audited by the Department of Homeland Security and we regularly meet with local law enforcement partners to review, update, and discuss new trends. Our buildings were designed and renovated with today's security needs. I am confident that we are protecting our learners
035and staff. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. So we'll go we'll start Mr. Will. And so the next question is around community and engagement. So the question is this. How do you plan to strengthen opportunities for collaboration between parents, school, and community members to participate in school events and also make sure their voices are heard as we're making more and more decisions? Okay. So, I think the biggest thing that the school board can do is step back into the community, have conversations, coffee talks, park walks, town halls if we want to do that. This is an awkward space for us to all sit down and have a conversation. Maybe Swain Park is better, maybe a coffee shop's better. We can meet at Sleepybe, right, over a blueberry pancake. Um, I I think that's how we
036do it. I think it's genuine conversation. I know that at the district level we can get into the very broad check boxes that we need to make our district excellent and those are important things that we need to do but at the same time we need to hear individual stories. What's going on with our kids with special needs? What's going on with our gifted program? What's going on with the arts and the theater program and the marching band? What's going on? Let's hear those stories and not just allow the person space to say words, but actually open up our ears and listen. Sometimes that's the hardest thing that we can do, right, as parents or as community members is take the time to listen and process that feedback. That's how I think ultimately we get
037back to nurturing the community. That's one of the pillars of my platform. We have to get back out there and shouldertosh shoulder roll your sleeves up, serve the community, and literally shouldertoshoulder walk beside these people. We know that there's been issues on our playgrounds. Let's do a playground tour. Let's do a playd date. Let's walk the playground and see what's going on. Let's actually talk about the problems. And instead of coming up with this grand scheme to overhaul the playground, what's something specific that we could do today to help with that story? Right. I'm trying to get things back to an individual. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Maybe. >> Thank you. One of the things I've learned in short amount of time here at Sycamore is that it thrives because of its people and that
038includes everyone. And this audience is a great example and a snapshot of that. We have families with students in our schools. We have families who attend private schools, grandparents, empty nesters, and neighbors who simply care about our district's success. A great school system will benefit from the entire community. It'll protect property values, attract families, and it will build pride in this place that we all call home. As a board member, I believe communication must also be proactive and two-way. We should meet people where they are and give them clear, accessible ways to connect and contribute. And I believe that I have a few ideas for that. Number one, I think we should publish some plain language summaries after our major board decisions, things that really impact the community. I do believe we should host more
039listening sessions. And if listening sessions aren't accessible to people, we need to build some type of a feedback platform that really works, not just ask for feedback and then disregard it. I believe we should engage our retirees and our alumni by inviting them to mentoring, volunteering, and community celebrations at a much higher rate. I believe that building trust requires consistency. So if we decide to do this, we need to stay at it. When we communicate openly, listen carefully, and we respond transparently, people will feel valued and informed, our strong schools don't just belong to the families inside of them. They belong to this entire community. When everyone has a voice and a seat at the table, we can ensure Sycamore continues to grow, connect, and succeed. >> You Thank you. Uh before I answer this
040question, I think I just want to share with the community that this question is the number four function of the board member. By default, board member has a responsibility to engage the community and bring that transparency and communication. Parents, teachers and students are partners in education. I believe in open communication, transparency and decision making and creating more opportunities for families to be heard. Whether it's through town halls, surveys or advisory committees, I want Sycamore families to feel their voices matters. Strong schools are built on strong community trust and there are several ways that we can achieve it as a community together. I launched that idea that we can bring parents, volunteers, bring so mentor them in our school students so they can have a real life experiences while they are in the school. They can
041shadow them in their own day-to-day life either with small shows, small functions in offices or what they do in day-to-day basis. That's a model that has worked and also put less stress on the students and more engagement from the parents with the students. So they have the good segue when they are out of the school. They are more confident, they are more clear, they are more concise what their career pathway look like for them. And it also give them the opportunity to rotate in different departments and let them choose based on their strengths what they really good at it. So I would like to conclude like community there is a board member is not performing and its peak if they are not engaging the community and not have their voice heard. Thank you sir. The
042board of education governs through policy. And if you look at our board policies, if you really read through them, the entire policy sets forth ways and actually requires us as a district to listen to our community, listen to our teachers, listen to our students, listen to our staff. And as a board member, I take that very, very seriously. I I know that, you know, board meetings are really sometimes challenging to watch. Sometimes, you know, not everyone jumps on a on a at a meeting or comes every, you know, every meeting, but we do quite a bit of a community engagement as a board with our superintendent, with our treasur. We hold business advisory committee breakfast multiple times a year. We do ask us anything. We work constantly with our superintendent to try to build more
043engagement with our community, but at the end of the day, it's going to require parents who go and volunteer in their kids' schools for class parties. It's the cultural celebrations at Sims Elementary. It's the sinnovation lab having Halloween parties. It's the getting invited to go in and see the plays, grandparents in this community. We have to continue to have dialogue, continue to have conversation and it's all there in our board policy. We just have to always always make time for it. And as a board member, I am very committed to that and I understand the value of it and I will continue my very best to increase that even more so if I am reelected. Thank you. >> Thank you. There's no silver bullet or one platform that works for everybody in our district and
044community. Engaging our parents and the 70% of our community without children in our district presents a significant challenge. However, I am proud of the considerable progress we have made. Sycamore has recently introduced community and partnership breakfasts to welcome community members into our schools, enabling them to hear directly from students and participate in discussion forums. Additionally, we have organized ask us anything sessions, financial forums, community open houses, and expanded outreach through mailers and social media channels. We have provided gold cards for senior residents to attend events at no cost. We have conducted bianual surveys to incorporate feedback from our staff, teachers, community members, parents, and students. We must ensure that the data collected from these surveys is used to expand our engagement. Board members are responsible to be advocates for this district, to be present in
045the community, to listen and to tell the great things that are happening at Sycamore. I'm proud of the work of the business advisory committee that I sit on, uh, working with community members and business partners to increase mentors, mentorships, internships, and student experiences to give our students, um, more broad experiences. One area we do need to improve on in communication is financial funding of our district and the headwinds that we face. Um this is a goal of the board and the treasurer and we soon will be publishing a financial perspectives. The best community events and social engagement that I have seen are led by our amazing students. They love to tell the story of the incredible things they're doing. We need to engage our students to be the voice of Sycamore to our community. We've
046recently hired a new communication director and I look forward to working with her on this topic. Our commitment to broad engagement strengthens both our schools and our communities. I'm always willing to chat. I love to talk. I love to listen. If you look at my old report cards, I'm a talker. And so I would love it if people would reach out to me, connect like Will said, meet for coffee, meet at a park. I want to know what's going on. And the only way the board will really know what's happening across the district is if the district lets us know. We need to hear from you. And then we'll be able to kind of engage and figure out. And I have no problem saying, "What do you need from me? How can I help?" But
047please reach out to me and to anybody else on the board because we're here to listen and we're here to see what we can do for you. And I think it's very important for the board to engage, to listen, and to be there and to help the district to help the community. No matter if you have kids in the district, in the schools, or anything, we're all a community. So, please, I'm somebody who would love to engage, listen, reach out to me, talk, and let's see what we can do, and let me see how I can help you and see what I can bring to other board members. And that's what I I really think we need to do as a community. I think a lot of times community members are a little uncomfortable reaching
048out to the board of education members, and I'm saying don't. We're here. We're part of you. and that's part that's our job. You're our constituents. So, please reach out so we can talk, we can listen, and we can figure some things out. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, we're going to move on to education policy and equity. And Miss Amy, you'll be the first one to answer this. With changes in education, especially at the state level, there's a lot going on. Um the question to you as candidates that how will you advocate as curriculums and education policy gets written down from the state? How will you advocate for and support maintaining an evidence-based curriculum? >> Okay. You told me you were going to be giving me a meatball question. >> Yeah, that's right. That's
049not a meatball question. All right. Uh, one of the most special things about Sycamore is our diversity in our schools and our community. And I know that our students come from a lot of different cultures, backgrounds, and experiences. I can't speak directly to the 7 through 12 curriculum, but I know that our district has worked extremely hard to partner with the state policy that's coming down from the Department of Education and Workforce. and that Department of Education and Workforce provides a very uh concise list of the approved curriculums that we're allowed to select from as a district, as a public school. And um the most recent adoptions that our district has gone through and I actually had a child in a class where there was an entire year of um auditing of a a clear
050math text and that ultimately was the curriculum that was selected. It is measurable. It is effective. It is approved from the state. And in those times when I saw that teacher early struggling to demonstrate and to wrap his own mind around that curriculum, there's some teachers in this room who have been doing that this last year in in Sycamore. And it wasn't easy, but it is measurable. It is it is something that is contextually rich and it is benefiting our students. The way that we measure and identify the effect of that is we're looking at our state test results. We are looking at a variety of battery of data and I was at the academic retreat this past Monday and each building went through each metric each data point and they evaluated some of the
051successes that we're seeing and they also shared some of the opportunities. We keep looking at those opportunities. We drill down and we grow and that's how we can affect positive change in our curriculum. Thank you. >> Thank you. Sycamore is a diverse district and that's one of our greatest strengths. I believe in creating an environment where every student feels respected and supported regardless of the background. For me, that means supporting teachers with tools to reach all learners, encouraging respectful dialogue and celebrating the richness of our community while keeping the focus on academic excellence. I know that it's all about the access to the resources and the opportunities we can provide as a community leaders, as a parents, as a teacher, as a administrators to our student. The very existence of this community is that that
052we came to this community for the better education for our children and that belongs here with us and if we don't do our job we are set to fail ourself as a parent as a community leaders and as a teachers as well. Teachers are the backbone to support our students. It requires datadriven decision making, targeted support and listening to the families. I will work to ensure resources are distributed fairly, that discipline is applied equitably, and that every student feels seen and supported. Thank you. >> Our district has a director of curriculum who is updating the board annually, more than annually oftentimes on the curriculum that our children are learning. We recently purchased two new curriculum, science of reading and science of math. And we spent the district, the board committed to funding the the curriculum
053and the funding to train our teachers. It was a very very heavy lift. Uh we choose cur we the board requires that our district choose best practices uh approved set of curriculum from the department of education. We don't allow otherwise. So, I would say as a board member, as any board member in Sycamore, I would I would hope and I believe that every member if there if I'm reelected, I will continue to do that. And I hope that every board member that would be elected to the board would do that as well. Um, our curriculum is top-notch in Sycamore. And if it's not, we as a board need to request that our superintendent, our department, our d u, excuse me, director of curriculum is updating us on what the best practices are for that time.
054So, I would just say that I'm very proud of the updates that our board receives. If you would like to know about our curriculum and our updates, you can watch board meetings. It is open and public. We are very transparent about that. U we're transparent about the costs that we spend on those curriculum curricula, excuse me. And um really it's something that we should always expect in our board. Thank you. >> We have an amazing district office team in our curriculum department. I believe we have one of the best curriculum directors in the state of Ohio. The board uh approves the curriculum in our district and holds our administration accountable. The curriculum is based on state standards and the board's role is not to micromanage the curriculum, but hold our superintendent accountable for achievement and
055growth while providing funding for our staff and teachers. We recently introduced new curriculum in K5 ELA as a result of House Bill 33 to align evidence-based reading practices. Our new resources provide alignment to scope and sequence to give access to grade level standards. Intervention and assessments to support struggling readers to provide access to grade level standards. In math, we're on the leading edge. We adopted new curriculum in kindergarten through algebra 2 that meet requirements for highquality instructional materials as a result of House Bill 96. This provides students to access uh this provides students with access to advanced math learning opportunities. Implementing two new curriculums was a heavy load for our staff. The board, at the advice of our district office team, has provided and approved instructional coaches for two years to assist our education, our
056educators with this implementation, providing tools, learning, professional development, which will immediately impact all of our learners. Experts told the board going into this curriculum change that it was not a question of if we would see a drop in test scores in year 1, but rather how much. However, the long long term, we are confident that the impact of this new curriculum will allow our learners to obtain even a deeper understanding of content and material. As a board being strong fiscal managers, this allows us to have resources to be available when changes in curriculum occur to provide opportunity and support for our teachers. Thank you. >> I'm not an expert on curriculum, so I will have to rely on Becky Tomkins, who is our director of curriculum, who is wonderful. I totally agree with um Mr.
057Balant. And so I would have to talk to her, have her give us the updates, and rely on her expertise of the curriculum. But I'd also like to talk to the teachers about the curriculum, their thoughts, their ideas, how they can see um with the measurement of the curriculum. Plus, they're the front line. The teachers are the front line with our students. They know what's going on and they're going to know the best way to present this curriculum to their students. Plus, they're also going to know the ways because every student learns differently. So they will be able to tell us hey this way we can teach the curriculum this way this is really going to be beneficial to this maybe to the students in this innovation lab to gifted students to special education students.
058So I for me I would rely on the experts which would be Becky Tommpkins and the teachers to really tell me about the curriculum and the best measurements because we are a top-notch and I think our scores show that and prove it and I think we can continue that with the curriculum that we have and if we can rely on the teachers knowledge. Thank you. So the concerns at the state and federal level is really what inspired me to start this journey uh to run for the faculty senate as well as run for the school board. Um because it was a scary time on University of Cincinnati campus um and I found a quote from Nelson Mandela said I learned that courage was not the absence of fear but the triumph over it. The brave
059man is not he who feels afraid, but he who conquers that fear. I'll add an anonymous quote on top of that. I like quotes, I'm sorry. Teachers are those who help find strengths, wipe away tears, overpower demons, and conquer fears. As a teacher, I understand the joys and challenges of the profession. I know the weight that teachers carry, the late nights, the emotional labor, the deep care they give to every student. That is why I've begun building relationships with the Sycamore teachers, the union, listening, learning, and supporting. I'll continue those conversations throughout my board service. Our teachers are the heart of this district. They're the ones who teach our children, protect them, uplift them, and advocate for them when no one else will. The board must work in genuine partnership with our educators and their
060union, engaging in transparent dialogue, perspect respecting the collective bargaining process and recognizing that a wellsupported teacher is the foundation of student success. They're our experts. They're the people that we lean into. We go to when we need our help. >> Thank you Dr. Pasha. This is the next uh group of questions is around governance and accountability. The district faces increasing financial pressures on an annual operational expenditures and will need to make important decisions to continue to balance the budget over the next three years. How will you as a board member approach this task? >> Thank you. That's that's a great and a critical question in the current scenario where we are facing in Sycamore as of today. Sycamore community schools are strong today, but the numbers are very clear. Without action, we face a funding
061cliff within the next 5 years. Our five-year cost forecast shows that while revenues are projected at about 103 million in 2026, expend teachers will exceed at 104 millions. wages and benefits the heart of our investment in teachers and staff make up over 80% of our budget. At the same time, the health insurance costs are rising about 10% annually, and state funding remains uncertain. Right now, our cash reserves are healthy, but by 2028, we will fall below the board's 25% minimum reserve policies. And by 2030, we project a negative balance. That means if we do nothing, we will be forced to cut the program, staff, and opportunities for our students, which we as a community can't tolerate. As a candidate, I believe we must act now. That means managing costs responsibly, planning for the 2026 levy,
062protecting our reserves, prioritizing the students. This is not just about balancing a budget. It's about protecting the quality of education for every child in our community. I am committed to fiscal responsibility, transparency, and proactive leadership. Together we can ensure that Sycamore remains strong not just today but for the next generation of students because there would be a big process that we have to adopt if we need or we have to go to the levy. Uh there is some requirements to the state auditors that we have to file and approve. Thank you. As a board of education, we have prioritized financial responsibility and transparency for this district. In 2016, the board of education, I was not on the board at that time, passed an operating levy. And at that time, the board promised that the board
063would not come back to the community for another tax levy for at least 5 years. The time that I have been on this board, we have doubled that time. In 2019, our community passed a bond levy, a $127 million bond levy, so that we could rebuild several new buildings. And at that time, our job and my job as a board member for the last four years was to make sure that those buildings were complete. And they were they were done on time and they were done on budget. That is a very very important thing to understand. Although our district is managing our funds well, we are in good shape financially. We are ending the near end of a levy cycle. Costs are rising. We have inflation. We still have impacts of COVID. Everything is going
064up. Every price everywhere is going up. I don't need to tell you that. And that impacts schools as well. We just passed the financial parameters at our last board meeting. We've been operating under financial parameters. Our board did create a part private partnership, private, excuse me, public private partnership for new buildings in our district and we created a new transportation facility so that our buses could run on time. I believe our district is spending money in the right places and I will continue to be a strong advocate for our fiscal responsibility to this community. Thank you. >> Financial expertise is critical on our board. State school funding is a concern. While we have increased our per pupil amount from the state, we still receive the state minimum funding in education. Public schools in Ohio are
065un underfunded by over $2 billion according to recent data. Proposed caps on cash reserves, which was passed by the legislature and then vetoed by Governor Dwine, remain a concern as the potential for the legislature to override the veto remains. The 40% cap would penalize districts like Sycamore that have responsible spending, forcing schools to minimize cash reserves, which result in schools being on the ballot more frequently. For eight of my 10 years, we have had expenditure caps to limit expenditures and have responsible spending within the district. I was on the board in 2016 and 2019, and I am proud of the work we've done uh to extend our tax levy. Asking the community to raise taxes is one of the hardest decisions of a school board member. This is not a decision I would ever make
066lightly. The financial facts are without radical change in state funding, we would need additional revenue to continue to do the amazing things we do in this district. This is not because anything is wrong financially in Sycamore. It is simply because we are at the end of our levy cycle. We are a locally funded district with only 12.9% of state funding uh versus an average state funding of over 40%. In Ohio, income tax and property tax are the only mechanisms for funding public schools outside of state money. In 2014, in 2004, our district failed a levy due to high expenditure growth and lack of financial oversight on the board. This is not the case today. Over the course of my 10 years on the board, I have advocated for responsible expenditures caps and as a result,
067we have limited expenditure growth rate to just over 3%. This must continue and I commit to our community to be to to engage in responsible spending. Thank you. >> I think there's a very big challenge right now for Sycamore and for all public schools because we just don't know what's coming down the pike with state legislature and what they're going to be doing with various bills and taking money away from public education for vouchers. So, I think that is something we have to keep a very close eye on because it's going to take money out of our pockets for our students. But like Miss Bitter said, we are good financially. But are we going to be good financially in another year or two depending on what the state legislation does? So, I think we are
068very very lucky to have such an incredibly brilliant treasurer in Jenny Logan and I know she's going to be fiscally responsible. I think a levy is coming. I think it's going to have to be because prices is prices are going up everywhere and money is continually being taken away from our students. So, I think the district we've always been financially responsible and I trust with our district team and the board of education that we're continue to be fiscally responsible. Thank you. So, I will say for the budget, we uh we certainly need to establish expense caps, prioritize core operations, temporarily pause non-essential capital improvements. Those all may be necessary to protect classroom instruction, teacher support, student services. We may need to look at restructuring levies, specifically separating permanent improvement funds from operational funds to increase
069transparency and help the community better understand their tax dollars. Um, at the end of the day, what I want to focus on, so I teach environmental science. We teach a topic called sustainability. You guys have all heard that word. It's been thrown around a lot. But when we talk about sustainability and environmental science, we're talking about the people, the planet, and the profit. Those three have to be held in balance for you to have a sustainable environment ecosystem school district. Right? So yes, we need to make sure that our budget is healthy. We need to keep our eyes on that. But it has to be balanced with the people, the staff, the teachers, the students, and the planet or the community surrounding the neighborhoods. The 70% who do not have children. All of those things
070have to be held in balance. And so we we had a meet and greet session and we had a person ask us, "What is the single most important thing that you could do on the board given these uncertain times?" And I keep going back to the community, but I think that's what it is. The community needs to understand the value of a strong school district outside the narrow lens of educating our children. Public education doesn't just benefit the students. It's the backbone of a strong, thriving community. Great schools support property values, public safety, economic development, and even support our local private schools by raising standards across the board. We need to reinforce the message that when Sycamore schools thrive, everyone benefits. >> Thank you. >> Financial stewardship is the responsibility of the school board. Full
071stop. Last year, the 5-year forecast showed spending rising faster than our revenue and that should have prompted immediate and very strategic action. I heard it at the advisory commission and it is one of the main impetus for me sitting in this chair today. Yet still there is no clear plan. I have attended board meetings since spring where the budget receives very little discussion and almost no public explanation of how we are setting our priorities. It's not on the treasurer. She's fantastic. Money isn't a comfortable topic, but school schoolboard members don't have the luxury to avoid it. We owe it to the taxpayers to come prepared, to study our financial reports, to ask very difficult and hard questions, and collaborate closely with the treasurer to make those priorities known. Fiscal responsibility means making informed choices that
072protect our classrooms, our teachers, and our long-term stability. And yes, I was at the meeting where the board recently approved a 3.5% spending parameter. It is not true that there were spending parameters in place in the most recent years. Those parameters should be set each year by the leadership of the board and should be revisited each year to make sure that it aligns with our needs. I would like to see the board strengthen its financial oversight moving forward. And I would like to see a prompt adoption of a board finance committee. Okay, we have a lot of board committees. This needs to be one of them. And if it's not a committee, it's not being shown as a priority to this community. True stewardship is proactive. It is not reactive. I would like to see
073more transparency, more information provided about our financials. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Thank you. We're uh going to move on to another category, teacher and staff support. And Miss Sarah, you'll be starting with the answer. How do you feel is your role as a board member in supporting teachers and staff? What steps would you take to ensure that teachers and staff are supported with funding for professional development, training, and successful classroom management of students with all needs. I ran for the Sycamore Board of Education for teachers because I want kids in our district to have a good education. That is my priority. I have a very strong relationship with many, many teachers, therapists, nurses, administrators, probably because my kids both have a disability and they've been in early intervention preschool when they were three
074and they go all the way up probably until they're 21 years old. I see the work that teachers do. I know that they have very difficult jobs and I know it's very very important and I have strong relationships with them. As a parent and as a board member, I believe that we have to invest in our teachers. We need to keep our teachers. We need to retain our teachers. We need to retain our administrators. Our educators are why our children are getting this great education. So as a board member, we work very hard to make sure our our teachers are getting professional development. We work with our our treasurer and our superintendent. We invest in our professional development for our teachers. Um I am proud that I have the support of I have had the
075support in past years and I believe I have support now from many teachers because I understand the value of educators impact on the success of academic achievement and learning for our kids and as board members that is our number one priority. That should be our number one priority. when you become a board member and you get training with the Ohio school school board association 101 student achievement for all students and we live in a diverse community and that means everyone. So I will continue if I'm reelected I will continue on that path to support teachers, educators, bus drivers, janitors, administrators, everyone in our district. Thank you. One of the strengths in our district is clearly our people and this is more than teachers. This is our staff members. It is our district office and our
076administration as well. It is everybody that touches our students each and every single day. Our people make the dis difference in our district. Our student centered learning approach by our teachers promotes individual growth and achievement for all students. Teachers and staff members consistently deliver tailored instruction designed to meet the needs of each and every student within the classroom, optimizing student outcomes. At Sycamore, all truly means all. Our teachers do amazing work and some of the ways that um the board can continue to support our teachers is through responsible spending. because through responsible spending we have the ability to be to fairly compensate our teachers and ensure that we retain and attract uh quality educators. Another avenue is through our strategic plan. We're very clear in our mission and vision that we want to empower all
077learners to reach their full potential in a globally competitive world. Another another way is through accountability with our administration to academic performance. We need to hold our administration accountable and the boards have done that. Our performance index has increased over 12% in the last three years, which is an amazing accomplishment thanks to our teachers and district office staff. Through uh professional development, the board has allowed more professional development days and worked with the Sycamore Education Association to to design those professional development days uh providing high quality instruction for our teachers. Thank you. I support teachers 100%. Um throughout the years I've been a witness to the wonders that are the Sycamore teaching staff. They're the backbone of our district and I want to make sure that their needs are met because they are right there
078with our students every day with our children and I want to sit down and I want to listen. I want to make sure that teachers know that I value them. People are leaving the teaching profession at a high rate and a lot of right now not a lot of people are majoring in education in schools. So right now teachers don't feel supported and they don't feel respected and I will support teachers and I will respect them because they deserve our respect and I think it's important that we talk to the teachers to see what they need. We can have all of our ideas about classroom management, what goes on, what they need, but if we don't sit down with the teachers and listen to them and to see what they have to say and what
079they actually need regarding curriculum, professional development, supplies, etc., then we haven't really done our job, I think, as a board if I'm elected. So I think right now our number one priority is to support respect our staff and to listen to them to sit down and listen to what they actually need and what will help them in the classroom. Thank you. >> Um I I started off talking about how I've been a teacher for about 19 years. And so when I began this quest, speaking with the teachers was my very first avenue that I wanted to pursue. Um, President Obama told us, "Become a teacher. Your country needs you." And I wanted to add to that. Support your teachers. Your community depends on them. Um, I'll pull back the curtain for you guys just a
080little bit here. Um, I got a lot of quiet teachers, a lot of a lot of teachers who don't really want to get involved in this process for a lot of reasons. You guys know all the reasons, but what bothered me was that the teachers didn't feel comfortable talking. I'm not okay with that. I feel like every teacher should be able to come to any community member and be able to have open dialogue. So, it bothers me that there is that I talked about this this lack of trust, this not not understanding. Victoria just said that we they need to know that they have our support. That can only happen in that open communication. They need to be able to ask hard questions. They need to be able to push back. They need to be
081able to ask for individual solutions to individual problems. So many of our students are on IEPs, individual, right? That takes a specific set of skills, a specific set of equipment, a specific set of solutions. We need to be able to address those. We do an excellent job of handling all of our policies. I completely agree with that. I won't I won't argue with that at all. But we do need to be able to go to those teachers, have them feel confident talking to us so that we can address those critical needs that they need. >> Can you repeat the question, please? >> Yes. How how do you feel your role is as a board member in supporting teachers and staff and what steps would you take to ensure that teachers and staff are supported with
082funding for professional de development training successful classroom manage students with all needs. >> Thank you. So we I think it goes without saying our educators are the backbone of Sycamore success. I have a lot of friendships, neighbors and relationships with teachers and I have been a classroom teacher myself. I have led teachers. I understand the work that goes into the professional development of the teachers. Professional development of educators has really taken a turn and has improved. There is a new concept where it's newer called professional learning communities. Professional learning and professional development are the old age. It's the old uh regime. Professional learning communities are intense, dedicated, cross-teamed individuals, professionals where content matter experts come in, coach, train, model and deliver the information to another colleague or another teacher to provide support and give instruction
083to them so that they can become a better educator. At the academic retreat, that was the number one sentiment that came out of that moment. In all of those moments with each building principal, every assistant principal and every discussion was how do we take the concept of a professional learning committee community and build it across all of our existing and previous silos? How do we make sure that our fifth grade teachers are working um with our fourth grade teachers to understand those gap and grade bands and those those transitions? That's what we really can do to improve and support our teachers. Now, the systems in place, we've got a wonderful relationship with Hamilton County ESC, the Educational Services Center, and they are partnering with us, and that's a part of that contract that we've been
084working through. We have coaches, we have mentors, and we have trainers. I I definitely would encourage as a schoolboard member that we continue to look at that contract and see where and how it can best be extended to give our teachers the support they need. Uh I would like to say that I have been a teacher for almost now 28 to 30 years. Uh my mother is a school teacher. I have taught undergrad, grad and currently I teach MD, PhD students. I'm an international doctoral thesis reviewer where I have several students uh who graduate and go in public to teach the younger students. These are the committed people and they they have the skill sets to do their job and I think they are really good at their job and they enjoy what they do
085at that one. Uh but I would like to emphasize that um academic excellence is one of the top strengths of our Sycamore school district and teachers play a strong role to make that happen. So teachers are the backbone of our district. Supporting them means more than a pay. It means giving them the resources, professional development and respect they deserve. I will advocate for policies that reduces the unnecessary burdens, provide modern tools and ensure they feel valued. When teachers thrive, students succeed. The other thing I would like to also emphasize which has not been discussed and I'm the last one to answer this question. Teachers also face mental stress. I have presented dialectical behavioral therapy education policy night back in January with other teachers of the CPS school system where they suffer and they are the
086are suffering from the mental health disease and how much struggle they face under the stress. So my heart goes to them as well to support like what type of support we can provide to them as a human being as a community as a father as a mother as a friend means we have the mutual mutual responsibility to support each other in this school district and I think we all should do regardless what our beliefs are what what people's have in their mind we should uh I think lend a hand to help them. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Um the next category and last is is actually the last category is it's a question on innovation. It's hard to we haven't come up with this yet but Paul will be deferring to you. School boards
087play a crucial role in balancing AI benefits, artificial intelligence like efficiency and personalized learning with its potential risk such as bias and data security issues. How will you approach this very important topic? I'll read it one more time. School boards play a critical role in balancing AI's benefits like efficiency and personalized training of students and aid to teachers, but it has its potential risk and bias and data security issues as well. How would you approach this if you haven't already as a board member? Interesting question. Um, so for starters, um, you know, AI is is is a fact of life now. It's in everything that we do. Um, you know, several years ago in the in my profession, uh, you know, the use of chat GPT or AI was a bad word. Now I'm being
088trained on how to effectively use AI to be a better, uh, to be a better uh, person for my company, to succeed higher um, and and do a better job. My daughter at Ohio State is taking classes on how to use AI in her education, which I think is phenomenal. So, you know, we need to embrace AI. We need to embrace chat GPT. Um, we need to educate our professional teachers on how to utilize AI to help our students learn and achieve even more. I'm not an expert in education. Um, I there's plenty of experts uh in our district uh and within our teaching staff that can that can look at this and work on this. Uh, but I believe we need to embrace it and we need to look at how those benefits can
089increase our personal learning opportunities for every one of our students. Thank you. >> That is an interesting question. um fundamentals are important and I think with the teachers if we can get the fundamentals taught to the students as they grow as they go through the schooling hopefully they won't feel the need to use AI or chat GBT but it is here and they're going to use it. So I think it is important to train our teachers, train the administrators, train all the staff and to properly use it, teach how to properly use AI because kids are going to it's going to come up in college. It's going to continue through their professional life. And I think if they can use it to the best advantage and not use it to, you know, kind of skirt
090issues, I think that's what we need to do. We need to teach properly how to use AI and what's the best way to do it in the right manner. >> So AI is a tool, right? A hammer is a tool. A hammer can be used to build. A hammer can be used to harm. I think AI is a very similar wild west, if you will. And we can apply that to chat GTP. We can apply that to social media. Um, it can create a lot of innovation. It can also create bullying, misinformation, addiction, can create a lot of problems. So, we have to have a sustainable stewardship of understanding how do we use this hammer? Are you ready to hold this hammer? My children are not ready to hold a hammer. I can tell you
091that. my children are not ready to handle AI. I'm not ready to handle AI on some days. I will tell you that at the college level, there's also a little bit of a push back. We we are in this technology revolution and it's great and we're learning all this innovation, but we're going so fast that we're starting to run before we learned how to crawl and we are starting to lose some of those fundamentals. So when we realized we were teaching a biology lab for 3 hours and all we did was sit on a computer, that's a problem. We need to close the computers. We're going to go outside and touch grass, right? We're going to look under a microscope. And so we're actually a little bit starting to try to pull back because we
092still need to remember doesn't matter what age your kids are. There there's five senses. We still learn the best when we tactally touch and hold things. And so, yes, it's amazing technology, but let's make sure that we know it's a tool in the tool box that we use when we're ready to use it. >> So, the question implies that that the district is currently not doing something to address these issues. Not intentionally, but I'm just saying it has somewhat of that implication. Last for all as a member of the advisory commission, I actually sat in when Christian Long, our director of technology at our school district, shared some of those challenges that our district is facing and how that's being impacted, especially in particularly in our English and language arts classes at the 7 through
09312 levels because students were finding it fun to write their essays with AI. As a former English teacher, I immediately went to in my mind, how do we make sure that we protect academic integrity? And I know that there are discussions happening on how we protect our students data information that's happening every single day. You know, Christian and his team are very clear about the policies for that. Those are in place and he's looking and reviewing and we just did a um uh a contract review of all of our systems that are touching our student data over the summer. That being said, IT data security policies should be reviewed regularly because technology is lightning fast and it moves quick. It changes quickly. But then in regards to how we're handling it in the classroom, I
094think we do need to look at adopting a policy. I don't know if this will shock some of you, but my little girl who is 8 years old learned how to use AIG GPT in her first grade class. She came home last year and she was so proud. And I remember thinking, "Oh my gosh, she knows how to use it better than I do. I need to catch up." But these children learn so quickly and fast. And we do need to protect that experience. But I believe in her teacher that she had last year, and I believe that she was doing it responsibly. But I do think it would benefit us as a district if our school board gives the teachers those supports and encouragement to do so wisely and safely. Thank you. I think
095innovation is something all of our sycamore school need. Um our students the innovations how you how we are going to use AI it depends like what what is the basic purpose and what we are going to achieve out of that one. In our in my previous roles, we have developed the open chat uh AI models for our internal employees at our organizations with the same reason that we cannot share the PHI information across different organizations. In our current healthcare system, we utilize several applications which are AI dependent. It is all dependent on the data inputs. All about the algorithms that we develop and how it integrate with other open APIs, other applications, how they communicate with each other. There are several tools and now it is going more in towards the learning, how we are
096training our teachers, how we are making sure that they are responsibly using AI and also training to the students in in the teaching. Even today or in my class which I'm teaching currently on Canva, we also have the AI built in. So it can detect the AI text right away. So it can help you to see that if there is someone or some student has utilized the AI to generate their their test or generate their assignment. So there are several ways that we can utilize the AI but I think it is important that we prepare our children what is out there in the field. Maybe they would be really good in prompt engineers. Maybe they would be really good to come up with can be used as a as a software in the G ultrasound
097machine on MRI which can be utilized and can be bought. So we will see more sycamore uh students going in that lane as well. Thank you. Uh, as I've said in the past, boards of education govern through policy and I'm very proud of Sycamore school districts. We passed board policy on AI last year, one year ago, and it is it is the board recognizes that we have a need to prepare our students and our staff for increasing increasingly technological future that we have ahead of us. And part of our board policy, I actually have it right here in front of me because I was thinking this might come up. Um, and I also know that not many people read or read every policy that we do a first read on and our second read on.
098Our board oversees the administration of this district. We do not run the day-to-day of this district. We have excellent excellent administrators. We have an excellent technology department. We have an excellent treasurer. We have an excellent superintendent. We have an excellent director of u curriculum as well. And this policy has to be reviewed annually. Teachers need to be trained under this policy and students need to be trained under this policy. And it prohibits the use of inconsistent with expectations and conduct. It it prohibits uh sharing data, private data. There are a lot of there we are at the forefront of school districts who are passing policies on this. This board follows the law. We follow rules and we stay with the best practices in education and I'm very very proud of our board but this will
099require vigilance clearly every child in my opinion every child must have the foundation they must have the fundamentals and they must learn the technology so we have to do both but kids have to learn all of the things that they're supposed to learn in math and science and language arts everything but AI is the future it's here and we will be using it they will be using it in their careers ahead so as a district we will continue to evolve with that and as a board we take our advice from Niola or from Ohio schoolboard association and from our professional administrators and that's the role of the board and I'm very very proud that we have done that in Sycamore. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um we um we have about 30 minutes remaining and
100you all will get three minutes each at the end here to summarize but if I may I might just squeeze another question in if you don't mind. Um we might go over a little bit. So, Miss Victoria, here's a question. Is what what do you think is the single biggest challenge facing our district over the next three years during your term? So, go ahead. I think a really big challenge right now is simply, like I had stated before, what's coming from the state and the federal government. It seems like public schools are being attacked. We are losing funds considerably. And I think that is a challenge that Sycamore and every public school in Ohio has to worry about. And I think that's going to be our biggest challenge because right now public schools are getting
101hard. Schools in rural counties are getting decimated because they simply don't have the funds to properly educate the students. So, I think Sycamore is going to have to really look and be careful about and advocate. Go up to the state legislature. We all need to contact our representatives and tell them how we feel about public schools and let them know our thoughts because that's going to be the biggest challenge right now is really not knowing. It's the unknown, but also knowing that something's going to come and it's going to hit sycamore hard. And I also think another challenge is simply the growth in the district. Yes, we've had two new buildings, but some of the elementarymentaries are already busting at the seam. So I think space is going to be an issue and Sycamore is
102going to have to look at if we're going to have to build some new elementarymentaries, expand onto the elementaryaries, and that's also going to tie into the fiscal responsibility. So I think those are the challenges that we're going to face. Public education has increasingly become a political battleground, often driven by agendas that do not reflect the needs or values of our local community. From federal actions that undermine institutions of education and diversity to state level legislation that adds unnecessary bureaucracy or threatens funding, these external forces create instability. Although Governor Dwine has vetoed some of the more extreme measures, uncertainty remains. Our school board must be prepared to act as a guardrail, upholding our district's values, defending local control, and keeping the focus on student success, not political ideology. It's critical that decision makers in Columbus
103and Washington understand what's at stake for districts like Sycamore. Ultimately, we should be proactive, not reactive. With careful stewardship, strong community ties, strategic advocacy, we can weather this storm and keep Sycamore strong. And I would add, be a beacon for surrounding school districts as well. >> Thank you. You know, Sycamore has a lot to be proud of, but even high-erforming schools have to keep striving to grow and remain innovative. I believe we have three priorities, but since I have to narrow it down to one and opportunities, I will. And it has to be our financial financial stewardship. Our district is just plain spending more than we're bringing in and that deficit spending is reducing our reserves faster than the new revenue arrives. fiscal responsibility. Responsibility means setting clear priorities, being transparent, and protecting those resources.
104And where I think we're going to have the biggest challenge is balancing the financial choices we have to make, keeping our academics really high and really strong because with strong academics comes that need for that professional learning development and those communities for our teachers. And so I think we kind of have a trifecta of things that we have to balance and make sure that we're supporting each of them and we have to understand that one decision affects the other and that one affects the third and we have to figure out how to balance those very delicately, carefully and intentionally. Thank you. >> Uh I think that's really important question. Um so too often financial and policy decisions are not clearly explained to families. I have already raised funding concern at the board meetings in April
1052025 and shared them publicly. As a board member, I will ensure the open dialogue, clear reporting and accountability so that the trust between the district and community remains strong. One of the biggest challenges are also a legislative risk. Um we are heavily heavily reliance on property taxes about 85% of local. I don't know how many of you know there are uh state level push for property tax relief millage caps and cash balance limits could reduce those flexibilities. So understanding our budget where we have some challenges ahead since our budgets are there are structural deficit. We are have expenditure outpaced revenue by uh fiscal year 26. Cash balance crisis below policy threshold by fiscal year 28 deficit by fiscal year 30. Ley timings November 2026 ballot is critical resolution due by July August 2026. And then
106the community trust I think that's the biggest biggest thing that we need to make sure that uh there is a there need to justify levy or income tax with transparency and clear return on investments and also one other thing which I would like to say as a board member we have to work as a team not an individual member I think that's that's very critical that we represent we as a board member should lead by example as a model that the community look up to us not seem like we are working in our own silo space. So I stop here. Thank you. >> There are a few but I'll I'll just >> stick with one. >> Our biggest challenges will be funding public education cuts to public education. the uncertainty that's coming from our state
107legislature on a regular basis. Our legislature passed on the last bud budget um bills that would eliminate our ability to have a cash reserve. A district like Sycamore, when we pass a levy, we the way we don't have to pass bring levies to the to the district to the taxpayer every one or two years like other districts is we have a we have a cash reserve. We have a policy that guarantees that the board maintained a a a bare minimum in our cash reserve and our legislature passed a bill to lower that to remove that. Um our v our governor vetoed that. We have legislation. We have legislation that is potentially going to change on a regular basis and our treasurer has to account for that at almost every board meeting at this point. So
108when we are looking at our financial statements which we review every single board meeting we are in constant flux and that's going to become a challenge because as board members we are the liaison to you and as we just discussed it's very very hard for us to get communication to you on all the possible changes that are coming and they are coming. The US Department of Education is cutting staff, cutting funding potentially and that will also impact schools. So at every level of the government, our district and every other school district in the state of Ohio and really in the country is facing uncertainty and that I believe that will be the top challenge for Sycamore um in the next one to three years. >> Glad we all agree. By state law, public schools can
109only be funded through property taxes or income taxes. Rising home values, slow economic growth, and 20 years of state tax policy have intensified local school funding challenges. Cuts and eliminations of state taxes have reduced state support, forcing schools and local governments to raise property taxes. Ohio now ranks eighth in the nation in highest property tax, while our overall tax burden is 46th. This is clearly out of balance. We're a locally funded district with 85% of our funds coming uh from property taxes. Property tax reform is a hot topic and there is a drive to obtain signatures to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot to eliminate property taxes in Ohio. This would destroy public education in our state and raise income tax by a whopping 10%. Property tax reform is needed in Ohio, but not
110at the expense of public schools. Sycamore remains committed to advocating and working with our state legislators. And just last week, our administration met with several legislators to discuss this topic. From a tax revenue standpoint, our residents, we ranked fifth lowest in Hamilton County and surrounding districts on the amount of property tax millage we collect. This is phenomenal. Our administration recently implemented a staffing dashboard to help optimize staffing at the high school, which saved us over a million a half dollars. Almost 75% of our spending occurs in the classroom. This ranks fourth highest in Hamilton County. This is an incredible achievement. We must continue to advocate funding to ensure that we continue the great things that are happening in the district. I'm also concerned about the cost of capital projects to upkeep our district. We cannot
111stop doing permanent improvement in our district. We have roofing and paving and busing and HVAC systems which need to continually be replaced and repaired. Our capital improvement projects show a need of 5.4 million versus a versus a budgeted 4.1 million. We are headed into uncharted territory and it'll be vital for the new board to have strong financial leadership and to have responsible spending. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. So now we'll start with you will you each will have three minutes to summarize this evening your thoughts whatever you want to say and then then it will conclude the evening so we'll get three minutes go ahead I'd like to begin by thanking everyone who made this event possible the PTO's Mr. Mchuan, student helpers, those in attendance tonight, and those who may watch later online.
112Today, we today we heard incredible answers and learned valuable information about the candidates before you. And I'm sure new questions have evolved from this event. I invite you all to lean into those questions, continue those conversations, learn more about this amazing school district. I encourage you to lead with empathy, joy, and hope as you engage in political discussion. Maya Angelou said, "Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud." Our community needs more of that. Throughout this campaign, I've met so many incredible people living in this district. Those connections will be a blessing to my family in the future, come what may. My wife and I had a conversation a few years ago. We were at First Watch celebrating our anniversary. Is this all the time we had? And we talked about our goals as a
113family. We talked about wanting to be a pillar in our community, a place where people felt welcome and knew that help was always available. We consider you all part of our Ohana. Ohana means family. So, in a few days, you're going to walk into that voting booth, pick up your ballot at home. You get to decide. That is the beauty of our democracy. As you make your decisions, I invite you to think about your choice. Consider who will be there for your kids when they need help. Who will be there for the teachers that will help shape those kids into the future leaders we need? Who will be there for the elderly neighbors you see at the grocery store or church or temple? The next four years of Sycamore will be full of challenges. Who
114do you want sitting at the table representing you and yours? Personally, I'm just a teacher, a husband, a dad, and a servant. But even an ordinary secretary or housewife or a teenager can within their own small ways turn on a small light in a dark room. Meep keys. I'll leave you with a final quote from John Wesley that I heard at a community event on equity and progress. I will go will do all the good that I can by all the means that I can in all the ways that I can in all the places that I can in all the times that I can for all the people I can as long as ever I can. Thank you. Serving on the Sycamore Board of Education will be a natural extension of my existing commitment
115to this community and to the schools that have become such an important part of my family. I will continue to serve you in this role. When I decided to run for board of education, it was not a quick or an easy choice. It came after almost a year of evaluation filled with meetings with both current and previous schoolboard members. It came after a year filled with lots of long conversations with school leaders and teacher friends. I attended board meetings and I began to really listen to this community and learn about their priorities. Our community has very high expectations of its leaders and we deserve to have a schoolboard team that works cohesively and can get past differences of opinions for the common good. Our community deserves a school board that we can trust to be
116stewards of our tax dollars. And our community deserves leadership that clearly understands that their role is to govern, not shy away from conflict or challenges. School finance, state mandates, and policy change. You heard it here today. It's going to be very complex. These are going to require steady and informed leadership. I will bring you over 20 years of professional experience in education and school finance. And I'm also going to bring you the perspective of a current parent of young children who understands what these decisions mean for our future and for the future of our aviators. For me, this opportunity is not political. It is deeply, deeply personal. It's about protecting those school partnerships that shape my children. making sure that Sycamore remains a district that aims high every single year and works to get higher
117and higher. You deserve honesty and respect from those who serve as schoolboard members and I'm committed to providing governance that you can trust. At the end of the day, public education is both a service and a promise. We serve our students through teaching and learning. And the promise is that we deliver a graduate who is ready to take on the world with confidence and purpose. Tomorrow's Sycamore deserves leaders who show up today who listen and do what's right, even when it's difficult. That's the Sycamore that I'm committed to building, where decisions reflect the heart of this community and a hope of a better tomorrow. I ask for your support and your support of these priorities by voting for me on November 4th. Thank you. >> Good evening and thank you to the moderator, my fellow
118candidates and everyone here tonight for showing up for the future of Sycamore School District and especially the UC students. You have wonderful teacher who compiled the questions. The questions were wonderful and I was glad to answer those ones. So really appreciate the time and commitment you put it for those questions. I am Dr. Zan Pasha, a physician, a community volunteer, a proud dash resident, and most importantly, a f father who wants every child in our district to have the same chance to dream big and achieve more. The role of a school board is not ceremonial. It's a serious responsibility. We set the vision and goals for the district. We adopt budgets that reflects our values. We establish policies that guide our schools. We hire and evaluate the superintendent. And we hold ourselves accountable for student
119achievement and the wise use of taxpayer dollars. I don't just show up during election time. I serve my cities on a day-to-day basis. I am running because I believe we can and must excel in all of these areas. My priorities are very clear. Pasha cares. First, academic excellence. That means setting higher expectations, supporting our teachers with the tools and training they need, and ensuring every classroom is a place where curiosity is sparked and achievement is celebrated. Second is the student success. Success is more than grades. It's about preparing young people for life. Not think about they are graduated in school but prepare them for life. Every student has unique strengths and our job is to help them discover and develop those strengths whether in academics, art, athletics or leadership. Third is a financial transparency and
120accountability. As a physician, I have managed complex multi-million dollar budgets where efficiency in integrity were non-negotiable. I will bring that same discipline to the board, making sure every dollar spent wisely, openly, and with a direct connection to the student outcomes. I believe in leadership that listen, engage, and build the trust. I believe in decisions grounded in data, guided by values, and made in the open. And I believe that when the board, educators, families, and the community work together, there's no limit to what our students can achieve. This election is about trust. Trust that your school board will protect the quality of education while safeguarding the financial health of our district. I am ready to serve with integrity, discipline, and a rentless focus on our f children's future. When you vote for me, you are voting
121for a parent who understand your concern. A leader who has managed complex budget with integrity. a communitywise who will fight for what matter most which is our children's future. So vote for Dr. Pasha. Thank you. Thank you again to the Sycamore PTO, Mr. Mchuan and the University of Cincinnati for holding this candidates event this evening. Thank you for everyone here and thank you for everyone watching online. I appreciate this opportunity. We built one of the strongest, most inclusive school districts in Ohio. Our kids are thriving and our community is attracting talent from around the world and our shared values are making a real difference. If reelected, I will continue to work to ensure that every child in our district receives the best education possible. I'll continue to be a community liaison between our school and
122district community. I will continue to be a board member who listens and learns about the ner the needs and concerns of the diverse population in our district. I will continue to ensure better transparency and increased participation by our community. And I will continue to advocate for and empower our wonderful and hardworking teachers, staff, and administrators. I will continue to be a collaborative team builder who works to increase public support for and understanding of our public education system. Whether or not you have children in Sycamore School District who sits on your board affects you. Strong public schools protect home values, strengthen our local economy and workforce, and keep our community welcoming and competitive. I hope that when you heard my answers tonight, you recognize me as someone who brings a thoughtful, measured, and reasonable approach to
123the board. Our progress is real. Sycamore continues to be in the top 5% of districts statewide in Ohio. We have an updated curriculum and we have improved facilities. We have finalized labor agreements and they were done in a professional and collaborative manner. And we have practiced careful financial management that has stretched the 2016 operating levy for more than eight years and kept us within our cash balance policy. We completed and updated our facilities from the 2019 bond levy on time and on budget. We have built a public private partnership with donors for construction of many new facilities including our new pool, our baseball, and our softball fields. Our district has also benefited greatly from our new transportation building, helping ensure our buses run on time and our children get to school and back home each
124day reliably. In the days ahead, I hope that everyone in our community will remember that as adults, we are role models. So, let's act in a way that shows our children and our community what professionalism, dignity, respect, and healthy dialogue and democracy look like. That includes modeling respect in our meetings. Our board's job is to set goals, policy, and accountability so that our administrators can manage the day-to-day operations. I respectfully ask for your vote to protect what we built and to keep Sycamore school strong for every family. Thank you. >> Thank you. Decision-M in our district should be remain free from political influence. Over the past decade, my choices have consistently prioritized the interests of our students, staff, and broader community. I urge you to assess candidates in this nonpartisan election based on their experience
125and qualifications rather than party endorsements. Sycamore is an amazing district and there is so much to be proud of. Our teachers, staff, and administration continue to do great things academically for all of our students. It is important to maintain measurable academic achievement and growth for all learners so they can reach their full potential. The board's role is to ensure accountability and that resources are available without engaging in micromanagement. The district's academic results influence property values and strong schools make strong communities. Strong relationships among the board, administration, community, and teachers are vital, and I commit that trust and transparency will be a priority. The Sycamore Board of Education oversees over $400 million in physical assets and has a yearly operating budget of around $106 million. Over the 4-year term, collectively, total assets and expenditures will surpass
126$1 billion. Your vote will decide who manages $1 billion of our community's funds. And please ask yourself this question, who has the experience and skills to manage this investment? Effective financial oversight is critical for our district. Individuals with demonstrated expertise in expenditure control, proficiency in resolving complex fiscal challenges and a solid professional background in financial management are essential skills. My qualifications align with these requirements. Financially, Sycamore is in a great place and I am proud of the work we have done. However, we face strong headwinds. State funding and property tax reform will directly affect our district. We're preparing for an upcoming operating levy. I am the only candidate with a proven track record, having successfully led and passed two levies. There is a big difference between campaign promises and real experience. I have demonstrated proven
127results over the last decade. Over the past four years, we have increased our academic achievement and financially my 10 years of experience have contributed to maintaining responsible spending. My record reflects actions over words. In summary, with most of the board up for election and significant headwinds ahead, it's important to select leaders with proven academic results and a solid financial experience along with a track record of oversight. I ask for your vote for proven leadership, for experience, for accountable academic performance and growth for all, for financial knowledge and background, for trust, transparency, and strong communication to our community staff and administration, for someone who's dedicated to our district, and for a candidate that has not accepted financial donations and will not be influenced by outside interests. This district is an amazing place with incredible staff and
128I humbly ask for your vote to keep it soaring high. Thank you. >> Thank you to all the PTO presidents, Mr. Mchuan, UC students, and everybody who's been involved in this amazing evening. Thank you to everyone in the audience here and who are watching at home. I bring experience, heart, and transparency to the Sycamore Board of Education. Running for the Sycamore Board of Education is about people. It's about kids, families, teachers, and a community I love. I know our schools from the inside out through the eyes of a student, through service, through collaboration with administrators and staff, and through the eyes of a parent. I'm ready to keep our schools strong, inclusive, and thriving for every student. I'm ready to listen, to lead, to serve, to work hard for every student, teacher, staff member, family,
129and community member. I'm ready to go to work for all of Sycamore, and I have been for the past 10 years. I am a proud product of Sycamore, and I'm deeply passionate about supporting public schools. I've worked diligently to make sure Sycamore is the very best it can be. I've managed a variety of budgets and I have bring a track record of being open-minded, hard-working, strategic, and a true dream team player. Most importantly, I understand the real needs of both students and staff in Sycamore. I'm running for the Sycamore Board of Education because every student matters. Let's build a strong future together. I'm represent I'm ready to represent all families and students. I'm ready to strengthen the community. Whether it's families meeting for the first time at a PTO event or volunteers teaming together to
130make something special happen. That sense of connection is what makes Sycamore shine. As a member of the board of education, I'll carry that same commitment to the community, making sure everyone in our district feels heard, every family feels welcome, and every student knows they belong. My family has called this area home since the mid 1800s. and four generations of us have graduated for Sycamore from Sycamore. For me, being elected to the board of education is about continuing a legacy of community service and a love for Sycamore schools. I hope I have your support and your vote on November 4th. Thank you. >> Well, that concludes our evening and and maybe before I leave, I would like to thank everyone. It was an honor for me to oversee this event and I appreciate it. I enjoyed
131it. Uh I think that uh perhaps we should give the candidates a round of applause. I know that some of you wanted to clap in the middle of their answers, but anyway, I'd also like to thank the community for showing up uh also submitting questions. So, your engagement is so important and it's a big thank you to you as well for being here and supporting this. and also like to thank the PTO organizations for pulling this whole thing together and making it a very very productive event forum this evening. So um thanks again you know and this is why Sycamore is topnotch because of things like this. So we should leave on a positive note and I'll say the same thing. Don't forget to vote on November the 4th. All right. >> Can I thank
132you very much. >> Can I request one thing? Yeah, >> I think the board candidates should applause for the community who came here too, right? >> So, we >> Thank you all. >> Thank you.