Academy District 20 Board of Education Forum - Oct. 14, 2021

001Good evening and welcome to the second and final, excuse me, second and final Academy District 20 schoolboard candidate forum moderated by the League of Women Voters at the Pikes Peak Region. I'm Shelley Roars, spokesperson for our local league LWVPR and moderating this evening. Thank you for joining us in person at Rampart High School or virtually. Sorry, I'm not sure where we're at, but thank you. The League is a nonpartisan organization with three main goals: citizens education, good government, and voter education and outreach like tonight. And you won't believe this, but we are a member organization made up of women and men and open to anyone 16 and over. Something else you may not have known, it doesn't matter if you're a student at 60 or 16, student memberships are free. So, our goal tonight is

002to present the views of the candidates seeking your vote for school board in a fair, nonpartisan setting. so that you, the voter, can make an informed voting decision. Again, if you're interested in being a league member, we're not paid people. We're all kind of just love this. This is what we do for all our side time when we're away from our families um running forums like this. But if you are interested, please see one of the ladies, get one of our membership brochures, sign up, or go to lwvpppr.org. Thank you to Academy District 20, Tina Matson, the communications department, District 20 Security, the League of Women Voters at the Pikes Peak Region Voter Service Team volunteers that you've seen several places tonight, the Liberty High School AP government students that are collecting your questions and

003checking those cards. And of course, thank you all for just being here tonight and all of you for volunteering. I have a disclaimer. Actually, we've added to our disclaimer since last week's forum. We've got lots of input. Wow. I try to tend to um adapt and and I I welcome challenges. So, I appreciate um the comments. Um unfortunately, the negativity had to we had to stop some things. So, unfortunately, we couldn't act like some adults. So you've seen some repercussions for the last week and this disclaimer and added disclaimer is one of those. So the views expressed this evening will be those of the candidates not of the sponsoring organizations. Some of the positions expressed here should be considered opinions not facts agreed to by experts and we encourage the voters to learn more and

004do your own research to get factual information. Please be aware that the League of Women Voters neither supports nor opposes candidates. We don't care who you vote for, just vote in every election. And being here tonight shows me that you care about every election. Thank you again for attending tonight and being an active, engaged citizen. Let's explain these offices that these people up here are running for tonight. For Academy District 20 School Board, there are 10 candidates running for three open seats for four-year terms. This election is a mailin or drop off ballot only. And ballots have been mailed. Has everyone gotten theirs? Yeah. Awesome. If you don't, if you haven't received yours or your blue book or that Taber notice, I want you to contact the El Paso County Clerk and Recorders Office and

005their phone number is a pretty easy one to remember. It's vote. So again, 5758683. Tonight's format, similar to last week, will be opening remarks by each candidate for two minutes, followed by questions. Um, mainly we're going to be taking ones from the audience tonight. Um, just we only have one prepared question, but after the the my prepared question, handwritten questions that you've been turning in will be addressed as time allows tonight. If you would like to submit a question, index cards are available from the students or from league members. Candidates will also finish up with a one minute closing remark at the end of the forum. They are seated based on alphabetical order starting way down on the end of the stage um down there to closest to me in that order. The ground rules

006have been distributed to the candidates. However, the questions have not um obviously because you guys are here for the second time. Again, we're hoping for audience questions tonight. We are planning to be wrapped up at 8:30 with questions only discussed one at a time. And again, a reminder, for instance, we won't ask three questions about the same subject. Nor will we ask questions of the candidates that aren't relevant to schoolboard. Last week, I said abortion. Tonight, it's like the second amendment has nothing to do with what these people do. That's what our league question sorters will be doing. So, please, if you have a similar question, please submit a different one. And we may have already addressed your question at the first forum. So if we did and I don't ask your questions, I encourage

007you to go to Academy District 20's YouTube page and find it there with a disclaimer reminder. Again, some of the positions expressed there should be considered opinions, not facts, agreed to by experts. And we encourage you, the voters, to learn more and do your own research to get factual information. So again candidates thank you for being here with again this evening. We want to make sure you are all heard. If at any time there is a disruption from the audience or candidates we will pause and remind everyone the reason we are here and hopefully be able to continue on so we don't you know we're not clapping in between. We want to be here as efficiently and your and we are cognitive of your time and out of here in efficient manner. Just a reminder,

008any recording, video, or audio of tonight's event must be approved by the League of Women Voters in Academy District 20. You will be able to view the full recording from tonight's event on the Academyy's District 20's YouTube page soon. Uh, again, sorry, no clapping or yelling after your candidate. If you would like to show your agreement, you can simply nod or use the International Sign Language for applause, right? Um, if you want to show your disagreement, right, I encouraged you last time to just sit there. I didn't think I had to point it out, but I guess I do. If you're going to sit there and be negative and, you know, do your thumbs down and and 100% your first amendment right, I am not going to take that away from you. But these candidates

009are up here and they've taken of their time and they are um they deserve your respect and and that you know if you want to be negative I I think you know there's a time and a place for it. Not necessarily sure if this is the place. Um okay housekeeping items. Silence your phones for me. Any recording again of tonight's event must be approved by the league and academy district 20. Questions for the candidates? get them up to those students for me and they will collect them and then the question sorters the league members will be able to avoid duplication with that restrooms are located directly out the doors immediately to your right look for those restroom signs all right anybody good everybody good we're going to do a little bit different this time I

010mentioned to the candidates so if everyone's ready we're going to get started we're going to begin with candidate opening state I'm sorry we're going to begin by naming all of the candidates in alphabetical order, right? You guys remember last time, right? And then hear from each individually with their opening statements. So, starting in alphabetical order, I'm just going to call your name and then we'll get you um opening statements. Mr. Jason Silva, we're going to start with you. So, Miss Tiana Clark, Mr. Brian Cororum, Mr. Nathan Johnson, Miss Nicole KS, Mr. Thomas Lavali, Miss Jackie Leesh, Miss Lindseay Moore, Mr. Michael Riffle, Mr. Aaron Salt, and Mr. Jason Silva. And again, we're going to work backwards on your opening statements. So, Mr. Silva, you will kick things off with your two-minute introduction. And I'm sorry

011before you start, I forgot my awesome person who's my helper this evening. She is your timekeeper in that front row. You everybody see her? When that red sign comes up, it is not an immediate stop at that very end. That stop sign. That is your my southern hospitality coming out in me and giving you 10 seconds to wrap up your thoughts. It's not an immediate stop. You don't have to shut your mouth, but you know, it's it's a 10-second grace period. So, thank you, Miss Christine, for being our timekeeper this evening. And I'm sorry, Mr. Jason Silva. Thank you everybody. Thanks for everyone for being here. Um I'll start out by saying a little bit about myself for those who have not heard. Uh my name is Jason Silva. Um I am a former Marine

012served in OF1 in the infantry. After that I served uh my community city of Richmond, California where I served as a police officer for a little over 10 years. I moved to Colorado Springs by uh in 2017. I was done with law enforcement and decided to move my family uh to the next mountain range over since I grew up in the Sierra Neadas. I wanted to see what the Colorado Rockies were about and I chose Colorado Springs. And my reason for running for the board is I my values are based on Judeo-Christian values. I'm a Bible Bible believing Christian and I'm not ashamed about that. Uh what really piqued my interest was the introduction of a worldview that I did not agree with. That is what piqued my interest to run for the board. As

013I started exploring and talking to people more, I found that the environment my kids were going to school in within the district, it wasn't wasn't the environment that I expected. And there was teachers and faculty that were coming up to me, seeking me out, coming showing up to my house, wanting to sign my petition to get on. They were explaining to me that they were concerned about uh what was going on. they felt that they could not speak out uh to or their their views uh would not be heard and would not be accepted. And that was a pretty big issue for me. That actually turned into one of the biggest issues why I ran. If teachers are unable to speak out about what is going on in with certain curriculum or the type of

014environment that is in the schools, what are the things are they not speaking out about? And that really concerns me. I have four daughters. uh three right now are currently going uh or go attend school and it just it really I couldn't look at myself in the mirror and not try to make a difference. So that was my main reason for wanting to run is I wanted to be part of the solution and I want to hopefully make the district schools better for everybody and um that's exactly why I'm here. Thank you very much Mr. Aaron Salt. Good evening everyone. Thank you so much for being here. My name is Aaron Salt and I've lived in District 20 for over eight years. I've been married to my beautiful bride for 11 years and we have

015four kids. I have a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in social work. Most of my counseling experience was working in adolescent drug rehabs and it was incredibly rewarding work. One of the key things I learned and continue to use to this day is unconditional respect. As a chair of a charter school for three and a half years, it was my pleasure to deal with the frustrated parents. In other volunteer efforts, I have been met with people of very different views than what I hold. But I treat every one of these individuals the exact same. I give them respect. I give them space to be comfortable. And I listen intently by addressing critics directly, utilizing my social working skills to be present and listen. Those who were opponents a few months ago are

016some of my biggest advocates today. This is who I am. Everyone is met with dignity and respect. Because of this, I stand for parental rights and authority. I don't pretend to know your situation. I've heard it said that if parents don't agree with universal masking, they have the choice to enroll in a charter school or homeschool their students. How does that work for the single mother working two jobs, relying on the district bus to ensure a safe commute to school for her children? What choice does she have? We can't assume that we know the best. We can't assume that our mandate will solve problems without creating new ones. I've helped navigate these turbulent waters at our charter school. And believe me, we haven't made a 100% of people happy. But what we did was we

017listened intently. We developed creative solutions and we created a learning environment suitable for all students. I have fought and I will continue to fight for you, our parents, our students, and our teachers. I will continue to fight for our American freedoms and will do so upholding dignity and respect. I ask for your support and your vote to represent you on the District 20 school board. Thank you, Mr. Michael Riffle. Even everybody. So, there's a choice to be made this November. You need to ask yourself, do I want schoolboard members who are willingly accepting socialistic ideology to be taught in our classrooms and favors enacting irrational mandates on students and teachers without regard to parents choice or personal liberties because they know better than you? Or do you want schoolboard member who values parent and community

018input, is moral, conservative, honest, and utterly against Marxism and its evil tenants? My slogan for this campaign has been education, not politics. Our students and our staff are struggling from the lasting effects of the CO 19 pandemic response. We need to get back to the basics of education and get rid of the Marxist and political garbage being brought into our schools that is negatively consuming the valuable time of our students and the administrators. What makes me qualified? As a 25-y year special forces combat veteran and officer, I've ran current operations for the special operation forces throughout the entire North American continent. I'm proficient in reading, writing, and implementing policy from a strategic and operational level. I understand the need for clear and concise guidance both verbally and in writing. Arguably, this is one of the

019most important qualifications for a member of the board as any unclear verbal or written guidance or mission statements to the district superintendent are one employee opens the door for either deliberate or unintentional misinterpretation. This gives leeway to enact policy against the intended will of the elected board members. Why am I doing this? I will not give another inch to the immoral socialistic ideology being pushed on my children, our children. That stops now. I'm Mike Riffle. You can leave me at mike riffle.org. And I hope to earn your vote. Miss Lindseay Moore. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Lindseay Moore. I'm a native Colorado and I'm a mom, a military wife, and I'm a fierce advocate for our kids. I've spent the last 18 months advocating for our kids and de I apologize. There's

020a bug and he just went in my eye. Um, did you get him? Okay. Sorry, guys. Restart. Do I get a restart? 10 seconds. Okay. I've spent the last 18 months advocating for our kids in D20 and across the front range. On Monday of this week, the D20 board received a letter from my lawyer and from me in their inbox stating this notice. Answer the parents now and remove this mask mandate. I've worked with Dr. Gregory in December of 2020 to achieve a goal of getting 100 substitute teachers in order to get our kids back in the classroom in January of 2021 and avoiding another shutdown. Our goal was met. I'm a leader in our community by bringing together parents and developing community groups across the front range. I'm a leader in our community with

021our military as I'm a family readiness group leader with my husband's unit. And I volunteered in our kids' classrooms with the PTO. And in the spring of 2021, I volunteer coached your third and fourth graders in land sharks. And I want you to know that their biggest request of me was this. Coach Lindsay, please run with me. And I was there because I knew how much trauma those kids had been through. I knew that they were isolated and I knew that this is their first opportunity to get back into sports. And so, Miss, what did Miss Lindsay do? She ran with your third graders and your fourth graders. And I want you to know that if you need to be challenged after the age of 30, I suggest you get on a field and run

022with your third graders and your fourth graders because they're fast. So, our kids are our greatest resource and they should be protected as such. And that's exactly why I'm here. I'm here because of these little guys in this room because they deserve more. So, vote the same, get the same, or vote more and get more. Thank you, Miss Jackie Leash. Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much to those who came tonight in person and thanks to everyone who's logging in tonight online. I really appreciate your valuable time and it shows you want to be an engaged and informed community member. So, thank you. I currently live in district 20 and I have for the last 14 years. My husband and I have three kids in district 20 schools. We currently have a ninth, sixth, and

023third grader. So, yes, we get to hit all the schools this year. Um when we moved to district 20 14 years ago, we didn't really know what schools were like. So this is when we decided we are going to get involved. I joined the PTAs. I joined the school accountability committee, the district accountability committee, the budget subcommittee. I even used my masters in education to be a licensed guest staff. I've taught their preschool summer school programs. I even did my student teaching in district 20. We really love the schools. One thing that I really wanted to talk about is I actually work in Head Start with special needs preschoolers and it's such a joy to see their little faces learning new things every day. And District 20 has some amazing preschool classrooms. And I think

024it's such a valuable thing to help those children start off on the right foot, showing excellence at an early age and providing the tools they need to be successful and as they grow up through our district. It really helps when we meet each child where their educational needs are and really help them build on their own individual strengths. So that is definitely one thing that I'd love to see us continue our awesome preschools and expanding those programs. District 20 has a longstanding of academic excellence and I will continue to be a champion for these educational initiatives um as I get on the board and really fight for our kids, our teachers and our schools. Thank you Mr. Thomas Lavali. Thank you. My name is Tom Lavali and I'm running for reelection. Four years ago at

025this very forum, I said the following quote, "What will I bring to the board? Excellence and accountability. I will expect excellence from the superintendent on down. And the board is accountable to you, the voters, taxpayers, and parents of D20. I will ask the tough questions that need to be asked and hold our district to the highest standards. We are an excellent district, and I want that excellence to continue. I want parents to continue to be able to tailor their child's education to meet their unique learning styles and passions. I will be a board member who can stay within a budget and spend your tax dollars wisely." End quote. I have done what I have promised. I have asked the hard questions. I have held the district accountable, but also complimented them when when deserved. I

026take my role as an elected official very seriously. I ask you to let me continue to serve this great district for another four years. A little bit of my background. I've been married to my wife who is by the way her birthday is today. She's she's 39 years old. Um um she uh we have been actually that's not really true. Um because we've been married for 39 years. Um but uh we have four adult children. Uh I graduated from the US Air Force Academy in 1982 and I also have a master's degree in mechanical engineering. I'm a retired Air Force reservist and I've been a pilot with the United Airlines for 30 years and I've lived in the same house for 29 years. Before being elected to the D20 board, I served on the board

027of the Classical Academy Charter School, the last two, as the board chairman. Co has disrupted everything. Sadly, our district is more divided than I can ever remember. Passions are running very high, and I understand we're talking about our children. I have strong opinions about mass, vaccination, CRT, and the other pressing issues of the day. And I know they've been asked, and they'll probably be asked again tonight. But please know that I have not lost sight of your child's education. The goal of our district is to have all of our children graduate with the knowledge, skills, and character to be productive, successful citizens in this great country. We must not lose sight of the vital importance of math, history, science, music, and other disciplines. If reelected, I promise those will stay my top priorities. Thank you,

028Miss Nicole KS. Every single person in here has unique life experiences, different backgrounds, and their own deeply ingrained value systems. To expect any one of us can govern on a school board without ascribing to our values and worldview is ignorant and impossible. Simply because someone is on one side or the other of the political aisle, which we all are, does not mean that we don't care about other people. It's extremely presumptuous and incorrect to claim say that conservatives don't speak for all children. I speak for historically agreed upon American values of freedom and equality for all. When we don't repair the foundation first, any of our band-aids will break and the whole thing will crumble. An annotation of article 9, section 15 of the Colorado Constitution states, "It is legitimate for the curriculum of the

029school district to reflect the value system and educational emphasis, which are the collective will of those whose children are being educated and who are paying the costs. Conservative values mean we want to act conservatively. We choose to be thoughtful, conscientious and virtuebased in our actions and discussions. It means we want to have less government, less politics precisely because we have hope in the human spirit when it is free. We want every single child and adult to harness their individual power and gifts to create the best life possible for themselves, which in turn creates the best experience for the community. I want the very best for all of our children. That's why I'm opposed to anything distracting from their well-being. Mask and quarantine mandates, fractioning them into groups of victims and special interests so they lose

030focus on their job, of obtaining a robust education. I want the very best for our students. A pervasive attitude of hope in their abilities, a focus on learning how to be a hardworking citizen and a critical thinker. I look forward to expanding all the opportunities our district can to facilitate academic and extracurricular excellence and training for being responsible and wise American adults. Mr. Nathan Johnson. Hello everybody. I'm Nathan Johnson and I start off by telling you a little bit about myself. I was a teacher for eight years, six years in D20, two years in Cherry Creek schools, and coached here in um at Pine Creek High School for 13 years up until this year. So, I've been very involved in the district, and I want my reason for running for school board is to try

031and help the students, try and get the students the best education possible. Part of that is what's been said these last few forums. um keeping inappropriate curriculum out, giving parents choice regarding to mask vaccines, um quarantines, things like that. But there's got to be another well, I guess another way to make it better for students is make it better for teachers. And that's a big thing. So, we need to work on retaining good teachers, which I know we're doing the best we can with what we're given, but there's always ways to improve. And we want to attract. So, when teachers leave or retire, we want to attract the best teachers possible. And I know a lot of that has to do with budget with the district which once again we need to work on and

032figure out the best way to use that money. But I spoke with a parent today and she has a junior at DCC and she was saying her student her students on an IEP but she is not able to get a parah to help her. And the um parent understands that teachers can't give every student that precise one-on-one attention. When I taught health class at Pine Creek, there was no way you could work with every single student one-on-one. It's not possible. So, we need to be able to get more paras into the school to help those students. And another thing we talked about was shifting the block sessions just a little bit. And I have a plan here, but not time to go over it, where you can squeeze out a little bit of a study

033hall. At Pine Creek, it used to be called seminar. There were times where they could go to a teacher for help or they could go to a school club or something along those lines. There has to be a way for students to get help during school because not every student can stay after school or get to school early. So, those are some things I'd want to focus on if I were elected to the board. Thank you. Mr. Brian Cororum. Good evening everyone. Thanks for being here again tonight. Um, my name is Brian Cororm and I'm excited for this opportunity to run for the District 20 School Board. I myself am a product of District 20. I started in Frontier Elementary, went through Timberview Middle School, graduated from Liberty High School, and fun fact, because I

034haven't said it before, and I figured we should change these up some a little bit, I also met my wife in high school, so my high school sweetheart's also here, too. Um, my background has primarily been in mental health and counseling. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology. I have a master's degree in family studies in with an emphasis in youth development and a master's degree in school counseling. my own two students, my children go to Discovery Canyon. Um, they're both in middle school. That's a lot of fun. Um, and it's just been a really great time being here in the district. I intend to serve the children and families of D20 by bringing the concern of emotional well-being to the forefront. Um, recently, one person told me, "I talk about superheroes a lot.

035If you look at my lapel, I've actually got a Black Widow pin on tonight. I wear a different superhero pin every single day." That's true. I do talk about superheroes a lot. The reason why is because I truly believe that superheroes embody the best of humanity. If you look at superhero teams, we we see the best of sheer determination. We see pure innovation. We see that people figure out that the sum is greater than the parts. That's that's what I'm looking for when I talk about superheroes. That's what I aspire to be. That's what I aspire to teach my children. That's what I hope to encourage in all of your children and what I truly believe every parent, teacher, stakeholder, and student is capable of becoming. My goal is simple. I want to ensure that

036I bring a well-measured and well-reasoned voice to the board in order to better support all of our children and to set every student up for success following their time in our schools because every child deserves a superhero. Miss Tiana Clark, give me a place to stand and I will move the earth. Every day for four years, this is how I was greeted walking into Liberty High School. The quote was impactful and a motivation for many personal situations over the years, including this candidacy. The irony is not lost on me that I'm now bringing it to rival Rampart stage. Coming from a family with three generations of District 20 students, four if you include extended family, I know what District 20 has been and I'm excited to help continue the tra tradition of excellence into the

037future. Working toward our full potential is an ongoing process. addressing learning loss, mental health support, teacher staff compensation, curriculum review, assessing sitebased decisionmaking, accommodating learning differences, focusing on safety, security are just some of the issues that we need to address. In the last week, I've heard from teachers who are handling 60 or more students alone in study hall classes. I have heard of significant support need parish shortages in one instance having only three filled of 11 openings. They are currently backfilled by already overworked teachers. I have parents overwhelmed trying to find the right school for their differently aabled child and feeling helpless of where to turn for their child being bullied. Addressing many of these opportunities largely comes with the budget and how it's allocated and so prioritized. I know this because I've been a

038member of the D20 subcommittee for seven years, including two as the co-chair. At a different forum attended last night, one candidate indicated that we should be satisfied with our per people student allocation, knowing it is the lowest allocation of all large schools in Colorado. While our teachers and students cannot be satisfied with this, I'm here to say that I hear you. I am here to get back to the foundation of prioritizing our kids in a nonpartisan manner where we can go toward thriving as a whole. Thank you candidates. And as you all can see from the awesome um sign language applause um that I can see, we we obviously get what we're here for tonight. So, thank you for that audience as well. Um, just a reminder, uh, that some of the positions expressed here

039should be considered opinions, not facts, agreed to by experts. And we encourage you voters to learn more and do your own research to get factual information. We're going to begin with our first question, and I believe Mr. Salt, you will get our first question. This is from the first forum. We saved it for this one from those who were there. Um, so if you submitted it, it it was kind of our prepared one from your last forum. So, Mr. Saul, what innovations for learning would you like to see in the future of district 20? You have um for those of you keeping time, they have one minute response times. Again, the question, what innovations for learning would you like to see in the future of district 20? One minute. So there are many many studies

040out there that show shockingly in-person learning is infinitely better than any sort of a technical interface or non-inperson learning. We've known that for years. Co did nothing but exacerbate that that knowledge base and we know it above and beyond now. Um so when we start talking about innovations, we don't need to get cute. What we need to do is make sure that we innovate towards that which is effective and not innovate towards that which is interesting. We need to stick to the basics and do exactly what we know works. You know when we innovate we need to innovate in areas like uh our career and technical training. For years we have pushed students towards uh college readiness but what we really need to do is focus on post high school readiness and whatever they're going

041to be doing afterwards. Thank you. Mr. Riffle, same question. So, innovation is a tricky word. Um, we've all seen the technology coming into the classrooms has done wonders where we've been able to work through co, but that doesn't answer the bill. Like Mr. Salt said, in-person teaching will always be the best way to teach our children. Um, as I've looked at that, uh, I agree CT& needs to be expanded with within our school. It's a great program. We need to bring concurrent enrollment where kids have an opportunity to graduate out of high school with a college degree. We need to bring in, you know, civilian technology companies to come in and and give forums and teach these kids. Like, we we have huge resources here in Colorado Springs where these companies are here. We need

042to bring that in so the kids can learn from them. We need to allow them opportunities to go out to those companies and sit in for a little bit. that needs to be allowable and credit towards those children and that's my view for that. Miss Moore, thank you. So, we want all of our students to be able to have access to the best programs and we need to start removing the roadblocks from our students education so that they can excel to the greatest of their ability. As you know, we have spent the last 18 months with our kids in trauma. We've got to get them off the devices. We've got to get them back in the classroom. We need to focus on their foundational learning principles, reading, math, and science. And then we can add

043some really fantastic things. We have a school that focuses on STEM learning. And we also need to add back some really fantastic IB programs. We have narrowed down our IB programs to basically poetry. And I feel that if we give our students the chance to shoot for the moon, they will. Thank you. Miss Lesh, innovation in education encourages students and teachers to research, explore, and use all the pedigogy tools available to uncover something new. Innovation involves a different way of looking at problems and solving them. It improves education because it compels students to use a higher level of thinking and solve those complex problems. For this we need to do some restructuring of learning and promote unconventional thinking and fresh approaches to problems across all content areas. Integrating different subjects and giving hands-on experience. Understand

044that every student starts at a different spot and we will tailor these to their individual needs. We have this already in our schools and a lot of our schools they do project-based learning and this is one of these hands-on amazing programs that we offer in a number of schools that help students really work on this innovative education and really take it to that next level. We need to continue to offer these programs and expand on them to really involve that higher level learning that our students need. Mr. Valley. Thank you. I I could be wrong, but my sense of this question is is a presupposition that if we just get that that shiny object, that new thing, then student learning is just going to really take off. And I I don't agree with that. Uh

045in fact, I tend to be more of a back to basics person. I think most of us probably read those um Civil War soldiers letters. They had an eighth grade education and they were so articulate and they had such beautiful vocabulary and and I'm not a lite. I don't think we should should, you know, go back to slate, uh, you know, and in and chalk, but but I do feel like I I tend to be a back to basics person for elementary school. There's nothing wrong with memorization. I memorized a lot of things as a kid, and I still have those things, and I think they're very good. Uh, that being said, we do have to I I think of my friend in uh and colleague Doug Lundberg who taught advanced biology, and he said,

046"There's some really new things out there that we need to be teaching our kids." And I think that's great and I think we need to do that. But I think we need to be careful presupposing that just some new shiny object is going to going to make a difference in our kids' education. I don't believe it will. Thank you, Miss CS. In my mission to return to a focus solely on academic excellence, I'll pursue increasing the frequency for students to participate in annual science fairs, math Olympics, spelling bees, and other scholastic competitions and programs on a school and citywide level. The sky's is the limit when we look at meeting students interests and needs in our district with a well-rounded and challenging curriculum. Primary school students should have yearly study and budgeting and managing checkbooks.

047High school students should expand on these fiscal lessons to include entrepreneurship, job applications, interviewing and preparation, economics, and trade skills. Building upon existing trade programs, different district high schools should implement technical training for the many exciting fields open to graduates. Dual dual credit college courses facilitated by high schools are a wonderful way for students to jump ahead in college courses while saving the family much in tuition costs and these should be offered at all of our schools. Mr. Johnson. I think we almost need to take a step back from technology as a few people here have said because when I was teaching health class, we would have discussions and I'd be one of the only teachers who would go out of their way to have a face-to-face discussion. A lot of times they go do

048discussions on discussion boards and they're not taught how to dis how to disagree with someone politely and face to face. I think that's a lost art that I think we need to teach our students again. And I had once I asked this student a question this like a week and a half ago and and she said she wish she had some more paper textbooks because after a while that screen time with the iPad a lot of those digital textbooks just wears on your eyes differently and she's actually wanted to hold a physical book in her hand. I think another thing that would be good, which is sort of mentioned more techn or with more technical type things, is to have a day you shadow either a plumber or a butician or a garbage truck driver

049or a realer or something just to see what your other options are where you don't have to go to four-year school. And I would love it if every student when they graduate or even get out of eighth grade knows how to do cursive. I think that'd be awesome, too. Mr. Cororum. So, one thing I've been able to experience while working in different positions around the city um is the D20 SWAT program. That's the school to work alliance program. The school to work alliance program helps students with disabilities who are looking to get into the workforce. So, it's actually a really great program because what that does is if you have some form of disability, it allows you to mentor with a career that you might be interested in, allows you to learn more about that

050job. It allows you to maybe get employed in that position with that person that you're mentoring with. All of those are great things for all of our students. So, when we talk about innovation, I would love to see something like the SWAT program being innovated across the entire student body just to help out all students with that. There are a lot of other things we can do. College, our career and technical education is going to be huge. I think that's great that Liberty has opened up that shop. It was not there when we were in Liberty. It's great now. Um, college and career prep is still very important for students who need to do that if that's the path they want to take. I think it's most important to really focus on what's going to

051meet the needs of each individual student and try to find a way to do that. Thank you, Miss Clark. So, district 20 does have extensive um academic and extracurricular options. The innovation opportunity I'd like to explore is how do we expand creating access so that more students can take advantage of what is already offered. Um multiple schools are experiencing declining enrollment numbers. So for example, let's find ways to use the space at our more um established schools in order to attract students uh during those choice windows. Maybe look at SR3 funds uh to eliminate maybe for a few years all course fees for students. um that can be a challenge for some families who don't qualify for Title One assistance. Give teacher incentives to be able to get the required 24 course hours needed so

052that we can offer more UCCCs dual enrollment classes. Team up with programs like Shinrell Middle School did um with soccer right now where they're using Special Olympic coaches to um include all abilities um of children. Um, so I think what we already have a lot of the programming there. It's just how can we get it ac across the district, Mr. Silva. So, I'll go back to the devices. Um, a lot of these devices, it's also the apps that these kids are using. It's creating instant gratification and creating consumers. I would like to see more of a STEM program put in place at a kindergarten level where there's other these programs that are out there that will help these kids build their own programs, build their own apps. They also learn how to build all these

053uh computers and devices and s and such at a very young age. There's a lot of stuff that's out there. That way you're actually not it's giving them instant gratification and a dopamine fix whenever they hear something go out ding on the iPad. You're building these pathways, these neuro neurological pathways that that builds a foundation for these kids to really really expand their thinking and really really, you know, provide them an environment where they can start developing these things on their own rather than relying on becoming consumers with these applications that are just they're in front of all day. [Music] All right, our next question, Mr. Riffle, you're gonna um go first on this one. Everyone has agreed that low test scores need to be addressed, but nobody has said, "How do you plan on

054addressing them?" And again, I'm going to read our disclaimer. I'm sorry. I'm supposed to read it after everyone responds. I apologize. Some of the positions expressed here should be considered opinions, not facts, agreed to by experts. And we encourage you, the voters, to learn more and do their own research to get factual information. You would think I'd have that memorized after the three forums that I've done. Anyway, um your question to Mr. Riffle. Everyone has agreed that low test scores need to be addressed, but nobody has said how to do you plan on addressing them. One minute, please. Thank you. Yay. I'm not going to focus on test scores, right? Education is more important than test scores. Some kids are super smart, just don't test well. We need to educate our kids. What needs to

055happen, and and I've talked about this a couple times, we have to have the extra time. We need to use the co money and if we have to bring in people that do this for a living so the teachers can still teach. We need to have the hour before and the hour after class where kids can volunteer to go and learn where they can catch up on their homework, get their assignments done, catch up from what they lost last year. Look, CO took a toll on our kids. We need to use the money wisely. We need to use our resources wisely. We need to get the kids closer to five on-one, one-on-one with the teachers, which we know is dang near impossible, so that they can have that opportunity to catch up. I've been a

056student and the worst thing in the world is showing up to class thinking that you don't know what's going on. It's a terrible feeling. We need to get them to where they can go to class with confidence, knowing that they know the material, and knowing that they're not going to walking out of there as I'm not the smartest kid. I'm Thank you, Miss Moore. Same question. Thank you. We want every single one of our students to have access to the greatest education. And every kid deserves to reach their maximum education potential and English, math, reading, and science. And our children have had so many roadblocks put in their way in the last 18 months. How can they succeed when you put a mask on their face, distract them with a computer, quarantines, DEI, sex ed,

057and many unnecessary things? Our students will succeed when you remove these roadblocks. When I get elected, it is my mission that I will remove these things so our kids can have the best ability to succeed and give them the time to reach their maximum potential. Miss Leash. So, some things we can do to help improve our test scores would be multi-tiered supports in the classroom, having resource teachers push in, um, trying our best to lower the class sizes as much as we feasibly can, bringing in tutors, which we actually have. A lot of schools do have before and after school tutoring sessions. Pine Creek also offers them on Saturdays with peer tutors. We've also done a great job using our ESSER funds over the last summer to do jumpstart programs and we really tailored it

058to those students. Like these programs were only by um invitation only to those students who we said they really could use that extra help. We did also lower the amount of money it costs for summer school from $250 to $40 a credit using those as her funds. and we've already used those funds and they will be in place from now until summer of 2024 for our students to use these to help with that summer slide. These are just some of the few things that we can do to help improve those scores. Mr. Lavali, thank you. This past summer, I think the district did an excellent job of of doing what we can to remediate um I'll say the CO loss and and it was a legitimate loss. Um, low test scores are are always a

059continual challenge. Um, it is uh there's no easy answers. I'll I'll say this. Uh, the the secret sauce is parental involvement. Yes, we need great teachers and I think we have excellent teachers, but that's I don't know if you I was going to have have you raise your hand if you're over 60, but I I'm not going to do that. But but we passed at the last board meeting and it has been it's been on the books, but I don't think people realize it. If you're over age 60, you can go into our elementary schools or or high schools for that matter and help out and get tax credit up to was it $600 or $800 off your taxes. I don't most people don't know that. I would love to see 20 to 30 over

060age 60. Those aren't old people by the way. They're I think they're they're fairly young, but go into the schools, read the third graders, read the second graders, help out in the classrooms. What a wonderful benefit. I would love to get that get that to be commonplace to where hey if you're over age 60 in district 20 it's just sort of what you do to help out. That's just one little piece that we can do. We need to continue to strive and and again I I think we have done an excellent job in our district. Oh and my time's up. I better stop. Thank you. Miss K. I am a person always open to learning and new ideas. So for all the teachers in the room I do invite you to please email me more

061on this question. But for now, these are some of my ideas. We must actively seek and use parent and community volunteers for one-on-one help in the classrooms. We must remove CRT type staff trainings and instead replace trainings with only teaching skills and techniques to optimize academic success. We need to explore reworking the budget for more intervention specialists and smaller class sizes and be creative in allocating time for before and after school tutoring and support. Parental involvement must be sought constantly and the district must revere and expect the parents support at every level, every grade. It starts with every parent attending conferences and continues with parents being invited into classrooms and into participation with homework and projects. Setting this standard and holding parents responsible helps the teachers and most importantly will increase the students grades and

062proficiency. Mr. Johnson, I think low test scores are a huge issue. Um, I think there's a handful of ways you could start addressing them. One is to give the teachers more resources and usually that comes in with more pair of professionals or just resource teachers coming in and helping because teachers can't give that individual attention to every student who needs help. They need assistance with that. So, I think that's one big part that'll come to it. And I think the Pine Creek pure tutor program is a great program and that could be utilized on Saturdays as was mentioned or perhaps if they're able to get a study hall in the middle of the school day that could be used as well in that way. So I think the best way to improve that is to

063give teachers more resources and give students more opportunities to utilize those resources because after school won't work for every student, before school won't work for every student. For the ones it does, that's great. We have to make it accessible to every student. Mr. Cororum. So to start this off, I I've said this before, but if you think about this in a different context, if you think about what every classroom is going through right now, it's like kindergarten all over again. You've got students who are coming in who are ready to go. You have students that are not at all concerned about anything. You have students that are panicked because they didn't eat breakfast that morning. You have students that are doing everything they can just to not cry because they just need some support. The

064first thing we have to do to get our students back on track is to make sure they're ready to learn. We have to prepare them adequately and that's going to take more resources as all of us have said, maybe adjusting the budget so that we can hire more counselors, hire more pair of professionals, but it's going to be critical to get our students ready to learn before we start teaching them to learn. It's going to be really difficult to do that. if they're not prepared, it won't it won't be as effective. After that, we've talked about some of the very other same things, smaller class sizes, using the esser funds to really devote time to pair professionals and others and making sure that we're hitting the needs of all of our students. Miss Clark. So

065the first thing um wanted to point out regarding some of the test scores is that the last year 2019 where we did have results back of a a more full testing year, academy district 20 is still accredited with distinction which is the highest rating that we can receive. So we really need to look at when we are saying the scores are low what is that actual definition. Last year we did have limited testing and in general we did uh perform above state the rest of the state. So that would be one point. I would also like to look at too that we need to back away a little bit from just looking at the scores. Standardized testing is not necessarily for every child. I have a son with dyslexia and it impacts about one in

066five students and um I'm up on that. Hopefully I can continue on that later. Mr. Silva, we improve the environment in the classrooms. Um test scores are indicative of the process that's occurring in the classrooms. We need to promote more critical thinking. Uh we need to pro promote more problem solving within the classrooms and with the kids. Um that's on to add on that we need to have more parental involvement with the classrooms, volunteering within the classrooms. U and we need to um support more of a process rather than a specific outcome which will hopefully improve the environment the classrooms these kids are have in the classrooms. And that's to come with confidence. As more confidence is built with the with the children, you're going to see uh test scores rise. And maybe at some

067point we have to take a look and see what kind of tests uh reevaluate the tests that are the kids are taking, you know, and come up with a better process to meet the better outcomes. Mr. Salt, the number one predictor of academic success is parental involvement. Aside from that, when we when everything is a priority, nothing's a priority. So we need to be very intentional about how we target the the skills that we're training students on and helping to boost those scores. Uh literacy first is the best approach we can have. Once you boost someone's uh learn reading comprehension levels, everything else will rise. And so that's where we need to be targeted on this. Aside from that, uh I I I was a merit badge counselor at Boy Scout camp. And one of

068the things that I used to do there is we would have kids of all varying levels within the class. And so the kids that were doing really really well and and got it the first time, we would actually help them lead small groups within the class to help teach the kids who were doing a little lower on the skill level to be able to teach that because not only does that help the lower end raise up, but it helps solidify those concepts for the kids that are already doing well. The best way to teach uh the best way to learn something is to teach it. Thank you. Thank you. Some of again reminder some of the positions expressed here should be considered opinions not facts agreed to by experts and we encourage the voters to

069learn more and do their own research to get factual information. Um so I was kind of combining a couple of questions here. Um so I'm going to kind of put this one off but this is a pretty easy one. At least I think it should be. Um I'm hoping you also have one minute to answer. And I believe Miss Moore, you are first to answer on this one. Um, what are your priorities in terms of maintenance? Can you clarify as in maintenance of schools, maintenance of I'm going to say I would assume facilities. If they talk, if you're talking maintenance, I would assume that's facilities. Our number one need right now is for every child to be able to get to school and in the classroom. Our kids are so important and when they are

070in person and they are in front of a teacher, they can succeed. And right now we have a shortage of bus drivers. So Mr. Lavelli was saying, "Folks over 60, we need you. Folks over 60, let's get a CDL. Let's drive a bus. We need you guys. We need you to get our kids in the classroom." Thank you, Miss Leash. So we do currently have a shortage when it comes to maintenance. Um we actually are behind on groundskeepers, custodians, also paras, bus drivers, crossing guards, teachers. We have a lot of shortages in our district. And it's not just us. It's everywhere. We have um my own child's school. I talked to a custodian recently and they normally have three that work the evening night shift and they only have two right now. and she said

071how hard it is for her to try to get all this extra work done, especially with COVID right now. There's a lot of extra cleaning, sanitizing, and just extra work for two of them when there should be three. Now, luckily, the school is actually splitting that third person salary and using it as overtime, so they can still get the work done and be paid for it. So, I think a lot of schools are using this time to give those current employees that we have the extra opportunity to make some extra money, but is not a long-term solution. We do need to go reach out, do what we can to find those extra great staff. Mr. Lavali, thank you. So, I'm going to answer the question, maintenance priorities. We have a great maintenance team. Uh we

072had a $230 million bond issue that was passed in, I believe, December of November of 2016. That has helped a tremendous amount. We have a list that is updated periodically. I don't know how how long it's been since it's been updated, but frankly, I will take that and use that. Uh the maintenance people know better than I do as a board member what maintenance things need to be fixed. I know I maybe I I'm supposed to be involved in all the maintenance, but I'm not. And that's where we defer and we say, "Hey, maintenance folks, what do you recommend?" And we have to vote on anything uh of a large amount. But I I I defer that to to the maintenance folks. And we have done a tremendous amount with with our fairness formula dollars

073uh facilities audit. We have we've really done a lot of upgrading to our schools and and if you haven't seen it, you haven't been looking. So I think we're really doing a pretty good job. But again, there is that that list that we're always uh things float to the top and when they float to the top, they get fixed. Thank you, Miss Cons. I believe that most of us probably our number one priority for facilities is that our kids are safe in our schools. Um, I think of HVAC first, that they have proper heating and cooling while they're in schools for 7 hours a day, proper ventilation. Um, sometimes the portables are a little less than optimal for spacing for the kids, but that's another day and another dollar. Um, bus drivers, as many of

074us have indicated, uh, that's a complaint I hear time and again from coaches and parents that, um, it's a it's a need that needs to be addressed immediately. Um, maintaining the grounds is kind of secondary, but it gives a lot of joy to our kids and our families and a safe place for them to be healthy in our school system. Um on that note, I have been involved with schools and my education that um the families and the students took part in designing inside and outside of the schools. I think it's really exciting to think about students decorating, painting, having murals, taking pride in their school um internally in the walls and externally in the in the grounds and building gardens. And I'm sure some of you have heard the success stories when students themselves

075grow the food in the garden for their own cafeteria. So that's something exciting to look at as well. Mr. Johnson, I think there are a handful of things that could be addressed with maintenance that be high priority. Um, I think security cameras are really important to make sure they're all top working order. Locks on doors because I know you only want one entry point in a school. I think ventilation systems are important especially now and with students in masks it's really important to have the air circulating properly and especially out in the portables when I taught at Pine Creek like was mentioned the portables are either in the summer they're too hot so people bring or too cold so they bring in coats because they're shivering the next time they come in it's not working

076right so they're hot but that was a handful of years ago but so I think having custodians that are at the school for a long period of time is vital when I taught at Pine Creek I was a PE teacher So we one, we had to be on the custodian's good side because there's so much stuff PE teachers need in that regard, but we were friends with them. We knew them by name and we treat them with the utmost respect because they have a super important job and they keep the schools running. I just love that we're all talking about Oh, hi. Sorry, I jumped in early. I got excited and just I love that we're all talking about portables because we all have been in portables and they're pretty terrible regardless of the situation.

077So, that's awesome. But, um I do agree that we have things that we need to work on in the district in terms of maintenance. Everything gets older. Everything needs repair. Everything needs to be fixed up after time. I think the one thing we really need to consider when we're talking about this though is that we do operate on a sitebased model. So, some schools need more resources than other schools. For example, Frontier Elementary had to get their electrical fixed while other elementary schools are completely up and running without that extra maintenance. So, when we talk about prioritizing maintenance, we need to look at what schools need the most important things so that the kids can have a safe environment to learn in and making sure that they're getting done what they need to get done

078throughout the day. Miss Clark. So, there is definitely a list of items um for maintenance and one that is kind of near and dear to my heart is safety and updates. I got my start volunteering as a kissandgo. And anybody who knows who that is, that is the person who opens the doors for you as you go through those school lines. uh especially on those cold days. I know we appreciate them. There is safety that needed to be happening around there and we need to be looking at our parking lots and looking at the roadways around it. We need to be pushing for traffic studies. Uh we need updates in our schools that are ADA compliant so that kids are crossing in safe areas so that they have places to go. My volunteer coordinator has

079been working fiercely because her daughter was ran over in the Rampart parking lot three years ago and is pushing for change across the district. And for me, that is um a top priority for maintenance is getting our kids and keeping them safe. Mr. Silva starts with personal responsibility. You know, we got kids and staff alike need to take pride in their facilities. Uh have a field day. If it doesn't grow, it goes. If it can shine, you make it shine. And um stop promoting this throwaway culture. I mean, it starts again. It goes right back to the foundation of where we're at. Take personal responsibility and take pride in your in your facility. And the kids can participate in this and encourage this. We can also use that as an opportunity for uh tradecraftraft. These

080kids could learn HVAC. Kids could learn certain things. Kids could learn h horiculture. They could learn a bunch of different things. They could learn management. They could learn you name it. You you can have the kids and faculty participate in this together along with the parents, you know, and how much that $230 million can go to other programs. There's solutions out there if you think outside the box. That's all you got to do. It doesn't have to be the same thing over and over again. Throw more money at it. Do more this. Do more that. kids, kids and staff and faculty and parents can take personal responsibility in their schools. Mr. Salt. So when it comes to maintenance and facilities, my role is safety first. If kids are not in a safe environment, then they're

081not going to be able to learn well. They need to be able to feel safe and secure right where they are. Um, with that goes along with the concept of deferred costs. At some point, it's cheaper to replace something than it is to repair it. So, we need to repair things earlier on in in its life cycle so that we don't end up with a higher cost in a couple years. Um, that is something that every homeowner is well aware of. If you let it sit, it's going to continue to to deteriorate and so you need to repair it and get on it sooner than later. But starts with safety and then moves on to to keeping things from as in good of condition as it can. Thank you. And Mr. Riffle, in my career,

082I've learned that if you don't know what you're talking about, you just seek the experts who do. I'm not a maintenance facility guy. I'm not a building guy. But what I do know is that ASD20 does have people who are experts at that. And that's where you sit down and you talk with the experts and you put things out, right? They know what these buildings need. I don't. It's not my job to do that. My job is to look over what they have put together, sit down with other experts, and ensure that we can get the kids to school in a safe environment. The only thing I would like to add to most of the schools if we can with the money from CO is I'd like to get HEPA filters and UV lights throughout

083all the schools. I I understand that's probably the most unconfrontational CO policy that anyone can have right now. And that's it. All right, our next question, again, an audience question. This one came up at your last forum, but we did get a few questions on it tonight. So, I've combined them into one. Starting with I believe Miss Leesh is our first to answer. Um, it's a long one, so um, if you ask me to read it a couple times. Again, um, if you need it read at your time, let me know. Just a reminder, some of the positions expressed here should be considered opinions, not facts, agreed to by our ex agreed to by experts. and we encourage the voters to learn more and do your own research to get factual information. So this question,

084if elected, do you support the inclusive LGBTQ plus language and policies and the hiring or appointment of LGBTQ plus members of our community to teaching, administrative, and support positions? And if you do support it, how do you support it? And if you don't, why? So again, Miss Leash, your first I will read it one more time. If elected, do you support the inclusive LGBTQ plus language and policies and the hiring or appointment of LGBTQ plus members of our community to teaching, administrative, and support positions? If you do support it, how do you support it? And if you don't, why? And Miss Le, you're first. I support all students. I don't care where they come from. I don't care their race. I don't care their social economic backgrounds. I don't care their sexual orientation. I don't

085care if they're special needs or peers. I will support all students. This shouldn't even be a question. You look at a child and that's what they are. They are a child. They are growing. They are finding their way in this world trying to figure out who they are. And it's not our job to tell them. It is our job to support them, to love them, and do everything we can to make sure they have the best education that we can provide. Thank you, Mr. Lavali. Yeah. When it comes to students, we teach all of our students. We teach them the same. We treat them with respect and dignity. When it comes to hiring, which was part of the question, I think to hire someone over someone else because of who they are sexually attracted to

086is outrageous. I'm sorry, but I think it is. I don't think it should matter. Uh why does that even come up? Why does it I don't think that should really be a relevant factor. Are you Tell me about your character. Tell me about your integrity. Tell me about your work ethic. Tell me about your your background in education. That's what matters. I'm tired of this labeling business, okay? because I'm a white male heterosexual. Who cares? Who cares? Okay. We want to hire the best. Thank you, Miss Collins. I am against all discrimination. D20 should welcome qualified teachers and all students should be given this great educational opportunity. Um, we must set a standard where basic respect and being considerate of others is expected. where that's not maintained, the offending person must be disciplined. Um, but

087I do not think we need to make everyone accept every other part of every person. You don't accept everything about me. I don't accept everything about you. always have respect, no discrimination, but I don't agree with removing our free will and our personal integrity and value system when there's an overreach of um discussion about anyone's differences. Mr. Johnson, I think all students should be supported regardless of where they are in their descriptive who they are. So, all students need to be supported. And as far as staff, I think hire the best person for the job. I wouldn't want to be hired just because I'm brown when there's someone better qualified for me. Just I wouldn't want someone who's darker skinned than me to be hired because they're darker skinned than me, even though I might

088be more qualified. And same thing with someone's sexual orientation. I think the best person should be hired for the job regardless of who they are. I I guess yeah, regardless of who they are, they should be hired if they're the better candidate. Mr. Cororum. So, I absolutely support any student um LGBTQIA plus whatever. I support every student. I think that's a critical thing to talk about. I want to talk about our differences because I want to learn from people who are different. And that's the best way to learn from people who are different is by talking about our differences more so that we learn to grow and accept our differences. the Avengers. Remember I brought that up earlier. Everyone's different, but together we can form a better team. Um, in terms of hiring teachers, staff,

089administrator, support people, again, I think we hire the best person for the job. I don't think your sexual orientation has anything to do with that and therefore we just hire the best person for the job. Miss Clark, so I do echo that. Yes. Uh, every child should be included and welcomed and be able to come to school as a safe space. We need to have programs in place such as Rampart's No Place for Hate, which has been a highly effective program um in accepting not just the LGBTQ plus community, but as well as um just different cultures and it is ingrained into the Rampart culture. as an example. As far as hiring, I would not specifically hire for somebody based off of their orientation, but what the schools can do is bring in groups to

090communicate such as Inside Out, which is a phenomenal local uh nonprofit that does work specifically in this area and they are trained in this area. But every child should be coming in to the school and be able to feel loved and protected. Mr. Silva, I just uh I'm tired of labels. I'm just tired of them. It they're they're put there to divide and we just need to start hiring hiring the best qualified folks in whatever position that might be regardless of regardless of labels. It is so nauseating to continue to hear that, have a push in your face. Just hire the best folks for the kids and leave it at that. Mr. Salt, as I said earlier, I started off by saying I treat everyone with dignity and respect. And that when I said everyone,

091I meant everyone. Um, students need a safe place to learn. That's what I've already said. That's what I stand by. As far as hiring goes, um, as everyone else has said, we need to hire the best. It doesn't matter. I work with organizations on employee retention. And what we need to do is focus on who can do the job and who can do it well. We've talked about the learning gap from COVID. What we need to do is focus on teachers who can get the get the job done. We need to focus on our support staff that can get the job done and show up. Like Mr. Lvali said the character of someone, their qualifications, that's what we need to focus on. Thank you, Mr. Riffle. So, I find the question to be a little

092ridiculous because I don't think there's a person up here who doesn't want to support children regardless of where they came from or who they are or their background or their orientation. None of us up here have any hate in our heart for anyone. So, with that being said, I echo a lot of what the other candidates up here have said. You you hire based off can the person do the job and you educate children because kids are the greatest thing in this world. Most parents who have kids truly believe that regardless of what they turn out to be, kids are fantastic. And so this question, I don't even know why it was asked. Miss Moore, thank you. We want all of our kids to be treated with the utmost dignity and respect, and we should

093never seek to exclude or marginalize any of our kids. That being said, no curriculum should ever be taught that goes against parents ethics, morals, and family values. And why would we want to sexualize our children? And then why would we want to politicize the sexualization of our children? It's a parent's job to teach children what they need to know about sexuals behaviors. No school has any business teaching anything of the kind. And as Dr. King said, we should judge not on the color of our skin, but on the content of our character. Thank you candidates. Remember again, just a reminder, some of the positions expressed here should be considered opinions, not facts, agreed to by experts. And we encourage you, the voters, to learn more and do your own research to get factual information. I've

094got um I think enough room for two more comment, two more questions. One is going to be a 30 second. I'm going to use that as my last question. This next one, you do get one minute. Okay. And my first person, I believe, Mr. Lavali. Yes. All right. Earlier this year, Children's Hospital declared a youth mental health state of emergency. El Paso teen suicide suicide rates doubled in two years. One in five youth currently live with a mental health condition. Just like physical health, mental health affects academic performance. And I'm going to kind of add this. You did not put this on your question, but I'm going to add it as your moderator. if you could avoid. I know it's hard, but if you wouldn't mind, let's focus. The pandemic is not going to be

095here forever, but our teen suicide rates specifically, they've been increasing with or without that pandemic. Social media is a problem as well. So, I'm kind of added that myself. I apologize to whoever submitted that question. Um, but just like me, physical health, mental health affects academic performance. What are your views on this and how will you bring this issue to the board's decisions? And again, Mr. Lavali, you're first. One of my uh son's friends, uh they were friends in middle school. He committed suicide. Um this has been a a few years ago, but when he was in high school. So, it has affected us. I still know the family very well. It's devastating. There is a good news story. Um and this is one of those things, you know, when a when a a pitcher

096has a no hitter, you don't you don't talk to them, right? We don't want to talk about this. We went almost two years without any suicides in D20. and and in COVID we we had we had several um I think our sources of strength did an excellent job of reducing slash eliminating uh suicides in our district. They are back but I'll say this in El Paso County um they went way up but but I believe this year I read there was only three there have only been three suicides I think this year. So actually the cases have dropped which is great news. Um the emotional health of our children it has so much to do with social media. It has so much to do with with I think the isolation of COVID. I think that's

097a big part of it. Um and it and it breaks my heart. Oh, I'm out of time. Sorry. Thank you, Miss KS. Suicide is a big topic. Um, I think we've all seen at some level our own children or other children in our lives be depressed and it's heartbreaking and sometimes you feel helpless. Um, there's been other things mentioned. Um, we might all have our own thoughts on what it is. I think the pervasive technology and social media and lack of face-to-face connection in human relationships needs to be addressed. Um, I think the negativity, um, partly because we focus on a lot of our differences and division is paramount in my mind. When we're constantly talking about uh, our faults and our differences and problems, we're going to find it. Mr. Johnson. I think it

098starts with social media. I think that's a huge mental I don't I guess it causes huge mental issues because kids are on there seeking that dopamine hit that was mentioned earlier. They post something and they say, "Oh, who's going to like it? Who's going to like it?" And they're building their self-esteem off of social media responses. And I know with with my kids, they might get a cell phone at some point in life, but I'm going to drag it out as far as possible. They're not going to have internet. And I think a big thing that will help kids is that they need to feel loved. Hopefully, it's from a mom or a dad, if that's the situation they live in, but whatever parent is in the picture, or if it's a grandma, grandpa, whoever,

099they need to feel that love. If they don't get it from home, they're going to try and get it from outside of home. And that's usually social media or I can go on about where they can find love, but it starts at home. They need to feel loved at home so they don't need to get it somewhere else. Have date nights with your kids whe they're 18 or eight. Anything like that will help with the mental issues. Mr. Cororum, I could talk about this for a week. So, um, to start, what I'm going to say is that I actually did a video about this recently. It's posted on my Facebook page for candidacy. I I can't do this in a minute. What I will tell you is that one of the most critical factors that

100we need to build in our students is resilience. I can tell you a story of when we were in COVID lockdown. My son, I told him, "Hey, we're training for a black belt. We're going to do 40 push-ups tonight." He cried. He fought me on it. He did 40 push-ups. And when he was done and crying and I'm holding him in my arms, I said, "Hey, you did it." And he did. Now I say, "Hey Kai, do 40 push-ups." Done. It's not a question because he knows he can do it. We have to build some resilience in our students. We do need to focus on our emotional health. We do need to focus on the lack of support. We do need to focus on all the other factors that are the lack of bacon basic

101needs in our district. Again, this is a much longer topic than I can cover in a minute. But in terms of emotional health, it needs to be brought to the forefront from our student body to make sure they are ready to learn and ready to engage. Miss Clark. So, District 20 has been taking steps with uh mental health and help. Um, one thing that they did bring in was the resource center, which I think was a great use of our co COVID funds. And with that resource center, they are specifically making appointments available in after hours so that our our kids can be serviced. I would like to see that type of programming expanded. Sources of strength is also uh a great program. It builds peer-to-peer support uh for students who may not feel comfortable

102going to adults. My son was actually just selected uh for Shinook Trail Middle School and is excited uh to be that support system and teachers need the support as well for mental health. Um retention supports our kids emotional needs and that needs to be addressed as well. Mr. Silva, start with promoting value. These children need to know how valuable they are. uh we're all created equal endowed by our creator and searching for that value in an app on a device so on so forth that's not the answer that's not that's not where it begins and we need to help our parents the school district maybe need to help support the parents more to promote this value with the kids within the home if that if if the shoe fits and we have to wear it

103we need to address it sometimes it might be difficult um and Yeah, I that's these kids just need to know how valuable they really are. Mr. Salt. So, as Mr. Cororm said, this is uh very lengthy topic to discuss. Uh as a social worker, I recognize that there are internal and external factors that that play a part in this and how we address those are very different. Um from an external standpoint, uh there are several things that we can do. um some things that that don't cost us any extra money. I mean, we know that there are natural remedies for um for boosting morale and um emotional support such as stretching and breathing exercises. Uh sunshine uh these are natural things that don't cost us anything that definitely help out dispositions. Uh increased access to

104counselors um is something that we can do across the district with the caveat that uh we need to have regular updates to the parents of what's going on in those sessions. Um, from an internal standpoint, we also need to look at um, you know, making sure that we understand the role of virtuous character within our schools and how that plays a part in education. When we respect other people, then we are able to to eliminate some of those external factors and some of the bullying issues that end up being causes. Thank you, Mr. Riffle. So, as as a veteran, this this weighs heavy on my heart. We we lose about 22 veterans a day to suicide and I don't know why. Um lost personal friends and this might be a little emotional so I apologize.

105Uh suicide tears me apart, lost members of the church and I don't have an answer to it. I do agree with Mr. Corm over there about resiliency training. I' I've seen that work and and I think that needs to be an absolute resource for these students. Um, but the mental health, it it's hard when when you look at what we've done to the kids. Um, we've ripped God out of schools. Um, we we're dividing the children by race, by sex, by gender, and it needs to stop. We as parents need to stop doing that with our kids and let them grow up as kids. Uh, I don't have an answer to it. I wish I did. Um, but that that's all I'm going to say, Miss Moore. Our students social and emotional health is so

106important for them to learn. We want each and every kid to know that they are loved and cared for. And isolation is the worst thing you can do for any kid. School is the one place where we can have eyes on and ears open. And for many of our children, it's not only a place to learn, but a place where many of our children make friends and they rely on these friends. The last 18 months have taken that away. Let's take away the roadblocks. And we need to keep our kids in the classroom. They need to stay engaged. And there's this thing is called the rule of one. All it takes is one person. All it takes is one person in their life to touch them in a way that nobody has ever touched them.

107Whether that be a teacher, whether that be a parent, whether that be a fellow friend. And when we isolate those children and we take away that power of one, those kids, they feel hopeless. We cannot let them feel hopeless. That one person takes that time to speak into them. And with parent involvement, those two things together, they can work magic on any kid's life. So I encourage you, the power of one, we can make a difference in our kids' life and we can help them succeed to the best of their ability. Miss Leash, a child's mental health is a basic need and we always need to meet our basic needs before we can expect a child to learn. Data shows that a child is less likely to attempt suicide if they have access to mental

108health care. I do feel like District 20 does a good job and they are really working hard to provide as much mental care to our students as we can through programs that have been mentioned like sources of strength which we have in all of our high schools and we are now taking to the middle school level. Ruler any social emotional learning we even use it on the preschool level. We make it basic. We just ask them how are you feeling today? just getting them to express their emotions and their feelings is a big step towards our mental and health mo social and emotional health. Now I feel like children cannot learn if we don't address these issues first. And so when we think about a school and child learning, we really need to make sure

109that all factors involved with a child, whether it's their mental health, their emotional health, social health are covered before we can expect them to be a great student in the classroom. Thank you. Thank you. Again, candidates, again, a reminder, disclaimer, some of the positions, you could all probably recite it with me by now, I think, at this point, but some of the positions expressed here should be considered opinions, not facts, agreed to by experts. And we encourage you, the voters, to learn more and do your own research to get factual information. So, I had a question that I try to learn something new every day. And today, right here with all of you here is my learning thing right here. Um, one of the questions, and this is not to the candidates, this is to

110you the voters. Um, specifically, your answer is to you the voters. Who are the major financial campaign supporters to these candidates? And I wanted to know um where you go to get this information. So, the Secretary of State, SOS.col.gov, has a uh basically a tracking system called Tracer. That's where you go to find out every single dollar that these candidates or in the future whatever specifically these in particular go to tracer at the secretary of states which is tracer.sos.col.gov to find out where they get their contributions. Okay. All right. You got 30 seconds on this one. Okay. Because I think I'm going to I'm trying to get us out of here on time. So 30 seconds. This one should be pretty fairly easy for you to answer anyway. Um, and I'm hoping a teacher submitted

111this, but I'm not sure. But what are your thoughts about actually second time I've learned something new today about faster the faster program in Colorado, which is faculty administrator safety training and emergency response. You have 30 seconds to answer and Miss K, you are first up. I as well look forward to learning something after the forum. Um uh emergency response to me uh encompasses all um natural disasters um gun uh violence, you know, anything infiltrating the schools from within or without. And I I would hope that all of our staff and teachers would um be on board with sorry readiness. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. It is a short time. It's 30 seconds and you know what? You got to be on your toes. But again, you're up here for a reason. I I

112definitely have you. I have high um expectations of you. So, uh Mr. Johnson, 30 seconds. I too am looking forward to learning something new. But I I think a way to make the school safer is to have at least two SRO's walking around the school. Only one entry point into the school when school starts. And this is going to be a controversial one. Is teachers who want to and are properly trained by professionals can conceal carry if they choose to. But if no teachers choose to, then there's still the threat of a teacher possibly concealing. So, a school might have no one concealed carrying, but the threat of that will keep the schools way, way safer. So, thank you, Mr. Gorm. I'm sorry, Mr. Johnson. That was Mr. Johnson, right? Sorry, Mr. Cororm, you're up

113next. Thank you. Sorry, we're starting to meld together. That's how quick we are. All right. Um, I would not be in support of the faster program. I think teachers have enough to worry about rather than having to carry a weapon. I also think about the mental health implications of what if the student who is armed is in your classroom and you now have to defend against one of your own students. I don't believe that with even just thinking about police hit rates in terms of firing their weapons that you can be readily and available to fire a weapon and expect that you're going to hit a target. One thing I've learned by being a gun owner myself is that you need to consider not just what's in front of you, but what's behind your target.

114And I think that's way too dangerous for schools and people who are not readily trained for that. Thank you, Mr. Corn. Miss Clark. So, I think safety should be left to the experts and the professionals so that way you can allow the f the rest of the staff to do their job. We do have on staff CSPD and SRO's in our schools and I have seen them in action when I have worked in the schools and uh they're great at what they do. So, let's leave our teachers being great um at what they're here for and leave the experts uh to keeping us safe. Mr. Silva, 30 seconds. Safety is paramount and as far as I'm concerned, it should be re-evaluated and evaluated on a constant basis. Uh whether it's this program or another program

115that might be better than this one, it's uh you're constantly evaluating it, constantly looking at it, and constantly improving it at all at all uh at all angles. Mr. Salt, I am well acquainted with the faster program and I stand 100% in support of it. Um what's interesting is that it actually has a higher qualification rate of number of shots than what the post training is. So the people who come out of that program are more qualified than the officers that you have that are patrolling the streets u based off of qualification. But aside from that, there's also an immense amount of first responsive uh training that they go through as far as being able to plug wounds and heal stuff. So many casualties happen because ambulances and first responders are not allowed to get

116into the building to take care of wounded. And this program trains that. We sent people from our charter school to this program just for the first responder nature so that they could protect our students and make sure that they were taken care of. I'm sorry. Thank you. I know 30 seconds is very quick. Um I want to try and get as many of these questions in. And by the way, just a heads up, you will be having a couple of questions for homework tonight. So just thanks. Okay. Um, mi I am. I know, right? Get used to it. Um, especially if you're elected. Ms. Moore, you're up. No, I'm sorry, Mr. Riffle. My bad. Mr. Salt took my 30 seconds. I'm sorry, Mr. Riffle. You're up. 30 seconds, Mr. Riffle. Thank you. I don't know

117the FASA program. I've not looked into it. But, uh, from what Mr. Salt has said, there are probably some portions of it that I agree with. Uh, no one ever hurts from medical training. I may or may not have lived a life carrying a weapon. And it's not an easy thing because when you have that, you have to be willing to destroy whatever you pointed at. And I could see the conflict with some teachers having to do that with children. Uh but that may not be for all teachers. So I'd like to research a little bit more and I'll probably put something on my website mikele.org so that uh I can answer that question more fully. Ms. Moore. Fantastic. Our students deserve the safest environment possible. faster is an excellent program and we should allow

118our teachers to take advantage of this program if they so choose. I've lived through Coline. I was in high school when that happened. I know what it's like to feel unsafe. Our kids need to feel safe and we need to empower our SRO's to be able to do that as well. Thank you, Mr. Lavali. Nope. Miss what? Oh, son of a miss. Miss Leash, I'm so sorry. I apologize. I am off my game. Miss Leash, I definitely think it would be great to have extra medical training. I myself have uh trained in CPR and first aid. I do not agree with any teachers that should be carrying guns in our schools. We already have double door entries. Our doors lock during the day from the outside. you have to be buzzed to get in or

119out. We use the Raptor system with our licenses to check for any background knowledge on each person. We do have SRO's. We do have uh license and CP CPCD staff that have guns and I feel like they are the qualified ones to have them, not the teachers. I too am very sorry. I too am very familiar with Faster and I think it's a great program. I loathe the gun-free zone signs. The good guys obey them. The bad guys ignore them. I would love to have signs even if we had just a couple people highly trained. We have FBI agents who are teachers in our district who who are are extremely good with guns and just a couple in the entire district just to say be advised. You may be walking into school where there's an

120somebody who is armed, highly trained. I support it. Thank you candidates. Apologize for my mishaps there. Um, you did great in 30 seconds. Appreciate your patience on that one. Um, so again, it's 8:09. Um, I want to give you a couple of questions because your audience was here gracious enough to give these to you if you wouldn't mind writing these down. We are going to ask you to send them to the league. You should have our phone number or your our email address just because of the vote411.org information that you um, we're hoping you submitted. Um, again, that vote411.org or is our league's portal for candidate information. The candidates fill that out. We do not. Um, so it's very nonpartisan. If you f want to get more information about them, that's where you're going to

121go. But if you wouldn't mind, here's two questions. Not every student is a collegebound student. I think a couple of you have kind of mentioned this tonight. How would you bring increased awareness to other avenues for our children? Those of us who joined the military, the trades, vocational studies, and steam. So specifically on that one again, not every student is a college student. How do you bring increased awareness to other avenues for our children? And this one is specifically if you're elected, what will be your primary metric of success for your tenure on this board? I know as a real estate agent, I just want to make sure I get through the end of the year with all of my hair, but for you guys, how do you measure what is your primary metric of

122success for your tenure on this board? And for those of you um if that was your question, we will make sure we try to get that to the Academy District 20 designated election official. So it's also listed on their website for you. Okay? So you have as much information as you can about your candidates. Um again, just that final disclaimer, some of the positions expressed here should be considered opinions, not facts, agreed to by our experts, agreed to by experts. And we encourage you, the voters, to learn more and do your own research to get factual information. your closing statements. Candidates, you will get one minute. One minute. This is your final forum hopefully for us. Um, we're going to start from the other end. I believe I told Miss Clark that we're going to

123start with her on your closing statements. Again, one minute, please. Thank you. So, District 20 has a lot of strengths, and we're only going to get stronger by continuing to put in the work to address the challenges. We get this done by ensuring there is a nonpartisan board elected to keep the focus on what matters. All of our students, staff, and community stakeholders. I bring the perspective of a district alum, parent, volunteer, invested committee member, paraprofessional, and community liaison. These attributes combined with my extensive hands-on experience means that I have the skills needed to start leading our district 20 community on day one. I will listen to all voices even when there are differences. I will advocate and be the voice for those traditionally not heard. The focus of the board needs to be prioritized

124to go back to supporting kids and staff academically and mental health support. As a board member, I will work to recreate create an environment that is able to educate and inspire all students to thrive. Mr. Silva. Oh, wait. I'm sorry. For those of you that don't know, my usual bedtime is like 8:30 p.m. So, I am I apologize, Mr. Cororum. This is fun. I like this more. It's keeping you on your toes. Um, my heart has always been here in the district. First as a student, then as a parent, and now as a leader, I believe that we can continue our tradition of being a high performing district that puts student first. To that end, I will wholeheartedly support every student and family, seek to find those innovative solutions, to hire and support educators, and

125to look to help every student in their own way, to seek success beyond high school and encourage them to thrive. I'll do that with the knowledge I bring from working with students in various situations in my career. Again, we did swap before. That was a great program, but also with a caring heart and a listening ear for my counseling background. I really look forward to serving all of our students here in District 20. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. So, my main purpose for running for board is to be advocate for parents and the students and advocate for parental rights and parental choice for the common things mass vaccine quarantines opting their student into controversial material being taught in array of classes. But our job is also to advocate for teachers as well. And I was a

126teacher for six years in this district. And I've spent between coaching and teaching about 17,000 hours with teachers and coaches and students. It's a lot of hours. So I'm advocating for the teachers as well. And I heard something, I don't know the validity of this, but they're thinking of trying to make teachers in D20 do an overload without extra pay. I don't have any proof that's actually going to happen or talking about, but someone mentioned that to me. So, I would be opposed to that because when I was a teacher, I would want overload so I get more money, but teachers work so hard already. They don't need to have an extra class and not get paid for it. So, I want to advocate for everyone in district 20. Miss Cons, my life philosophy and

127the way I parent is the way I will conduct myself on the board. I hope my thoughtful and dynamic children are a reflection of my husband and I as parents. I was shouted at last week by a D20 school principal saying,"Well, good for you that you're such a good parent. Not everybody has the same privilege you do." Well, I say to him, "Why wouldn't you want that to be the standard? Why wouldn't you want our community to focus on virtue and speaking of values, of personal responsibility, of integrity at every turn? When we set the bar high, everyone achieves more. I don't want to leave any child wanting. I will constantly seek to understand what all families and teachers are facing so I can make informed and righteous decisions. I want our children to show

128up to school each day greeted with high expectations and a smiling face. How's that principal begin to know the hardships I faced? I've lived life with gratitude and joy and power because I made the choice to face adversity and come out stronger. Choice is everything. It's how we exercise our free will to make conscious decisions for good or evil. Mr. Lavali, I want to thank each of you for taking the time to be here tonight or online. You obviously care about our kids and and that means a lot and I greatly appreciate it. I've been endorsed by the Colorado Springs Gazette, by the Pikes Peak Association of Realators and by the Housing and Building Association. They want strong school districts because they attract people who like to build and buy houses. And I appreciate their

129support in me. I have nearly seven years of board experience serving on the boards of education, both the TCA and here in D20. And I I I really appreciate and and look forward uh if elected, reelected, to have another four years to serve this community. And if you're over 60, sign up and help out in our schools. I'll be looking for you. Thank you, Miss Leash. I am actually endorsed by the Pikes Peak Education Association. I'm also endorsed by five previous and outgoing board members. I feel like I value these endorsements because these people feel like they have the confidence in my abilities to do the jobs that they have done and they support that I can advocate for all students and support the teachers and the staff. I will bring a wealth of knowledge

130and experience and dedication to the board. I am the only currently active licensed educator as one of the 10 candidates. I feel very strongly there should be a licensed educator on our school board. We need to have that teacher voice, that teacher knowledge, that teacher experience. I would really love your vote as a school board member for this fall. I feel like I can fit the bill of having a licensed teacher on the staff. I will do my best to advocate for all and I am dedicated to improving education. Thank you, Miss Moore. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for being here this evening. I just want to say that it's time we demand accountability from our school boards. It's time we restore trust in our school boards, and it's time to put parents and kids

131first. Our founding fathers were willing to sacrifice themselves, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. I will gladly sacrifice all of these for you. and the most precious among us. I will never quit fighting for you or for our kids. If we change what our children are learning, we change their future and we change our country. And I'm here to do just that, to put our kids first. The most important thing that we can have in any elected official is loyalty and honesty. And as Dr. King says, there comes a time when silence becomes betrayal. I will not remain silent and I will fight for you and I will not quit. Vote the same, get the same. Vote more, get more. Mr. Riffle, I'm actually kind of sad I don't get to be up here with

132these five people anymore. It's been a really good experience for me, uh, learning from each one of them. They're they're fantastic people. Uh, I'm going to end with this. I'm running for the school board because we just bought off on an administration that we own for the next three and a half years. My whole goal is to stop that from infiltrating into our schools. I don't think it belongs in our schools. I I've fought for many things and I'm not one that's going to take a kick and roll over and just take it. I want to be on the board because there shouldn't be any emotions when you're writing policy. There shouldn't be any emotions involved. It's whether it's moral and correct or if it isn't. It's very simple. And that's why I'm running for

133the school board. I want to protect the kids from what is going to be coming at them. So go to my website, micro riffle.org. Check me out. Please vote for me. Mr. Salt. Uh, thank you all for being here tonight. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to come here, both here in person and online. want to thank District 20 for helping put this on. You guys did an amazing job. League of Women Voters, thank you so much. Um, I have been endorsed um by state board of education, former D20 school board members, charter board members across the district. I've been endorsed by multiple families and teachers, support staff at both district schools and charter schools. And they know that that's because I focus on the kids. I focus on education.

134And I know that when we have our frontline individuals like our bus drivers and our teachers that if they're not resourced, if they're not equipped, if they don't have what they need, then our district fails. And that I'm going to make sure that they get everything that they need to be able to do their job well. I thank you all again. I appreciate the opportunity to to be here and to serve you all. Have a great night. Thank you so much, Mr. Silva. Thank you everybody. And I want to thank the all the candidate up candidates that are up here right now. I learned something from every single one of you and I appreciate that. Iron sharper is iron. My intention is to remove the division, remove the politics that has infiltrated our school districts.

135In fact, all around the United States, specifically here in uh D20. It needs to be removed, needs to be replaced with more parental choice, needs to be replaced with personal responsibility and ethics. That is something that we are lacking at almost every single level. And it trickles down to our children. Our children learn from us. They're like little sponges. They have We have to We have to uh set the example and right now we're not setting the example with what's been going on and that needs to change. All right. So, let's give them a round of applause. Thank you so much, candidates. Nice job. The League of Women Voters thanks all of you, the candidates, for participating with us these last two times. We commend you, the audience, for your participation, your interest in serving

136the public, whether you're here at Rampart High or with us virtually. Thank you to um thank you to Liberty High School AP Government students. I'm not sure if you're still here or not, but thank you. Appreciate you. Um, and of course for Academy School District 20 for hosting this forum. This is what the league does. So, if you have an organization that needs our services, please find one of our members. Um, we don't talk about ballot issues. I know a lot of there are a lot of ballot issues, so you guys are more focused on candidates here. But we, the league, are hosting a ballot issues forum next Saturday, October 23rd, from 1:30 to 3:30 at the San Creek Library. So, if you have questions on any of those ballot issues, we're going to go

137over all the local ones um except for some of those small funky ones like D11 board, we're going to do those, but local and state. But if you have any questions on your ballot issues, this is um this is the event for you. Go to lwvpppr.org for more information on that. And again, thank you so much for voting. You should have your ballots. Make sure they are received by 700 p.m. on November 2nd. And you can drop them in a ballot box or at the Citizen Center on Garden of the Gods Road. Some of those other dropboxes do open up a little as we get closer. Questions about registration or your ballot? Again, El Paso County Clerk and Recorders Office 575 vote. Questions regarding the candidates and any ballot issues, go to vote411.org. Thank you

138again for being an active and engaged citizen. Have a great night. Heat. Heat. N.