2026-01-26 MTLSD School Board Special Meeting

001All right, good evening everyone. Today is Monday, January 26, 2026, and we are on Zoom today, not in room D205, uh, at 50:02 p.m. for our special meeting for our board candidate interviews. Can I have roll call, please? >> Mrs. Berdick, >> here. >> Dr. Mr. Campanero >> here. >> Mr. Clockardy >> here. >> Mrs. Crrael >> here. >> Miss Flecher >> here. >> Mrs. Gellman >> here. >> Miss Given >> here. >> Mr. Hoffman >> here. >> And Mr. Wyland. We still do need to include him in roll call until um after our next meeting, but Mr. Wland is not present. We have eight members present. >> Thank you. And do we have our first candidate as well? Are we letting them in? >> Yes, they are present in the room. >> Wonderful. Wonderful.

002All right. Well, good evening and thank you for being here. My name is Brena CrarAel and I am the board president. I would actually like to start off by introducing some of our members of the board. So, we have our vice president, Mr. Todd Hoffman. We have Dr. Becky Capanero. We have Ms. Joy Given, Mr. Tim Clockardy. We have Miss Melinda Berdick, Mrs. Eva Gelman, and Ms. Valerie Fleer all present with us today. [snorts] We appreciate your interest in serving the Mount Lebanon School District. We have a total of 10 minutes for this interview to ensure every candidate receives the same opportunity. When we reach 10 minutes, your interview will come to a close. We will be asking eight predetermined questions. Because our time is limited, we may occasionally ask you to wrap up a

003response so we can move to the next item. And I will actually begin with our first question. So, what motivates you to serve on the school board and what do you hope to accomplish? >> Are you able to hear me? Yes. >> Okay. Cool. Um, so hi, this is Arian Ban. Thank you everyone. Um, so there's there's primary sort of two drivers. One is so from a professional standpoint, I've I've been in leadership. I've managed teams and budgets and done a lot of that on the on the um career side of it. But personally in the community, I have three children who goes to the community. uh specifically I have a daughter who's on the spectrum and with autism and while working on our needs with the district I think um it was it was

004an enriching experience for us to understand how to navigate and meet the needs of a of a neurody divergent child and I think eventually over time that gave me an appreciation of what happens in the district to provide such a diverse group of kids that go through the district and given the resources we have how are we sort of allocating them to ensure that all of our students you know get to their fullest. [sighs] So I think being a parent and being invested uh in the community and navigating that by myself with three of my children was a inspiring journey and um I've always um served um I serve in voluntary roles with scout. I'm a already a board member for the local islands council. So I think u that personally gives me a lot

005of satisfaction to be able to give back to the community and which is why I'm here today. Um hoping I get the opportunity to serve the district that my family calls home. >> Thank you. >> All right. uh what unique attributes, professional skills or lived experiences do you possess that will add value to the current board's composition? >> Thank you. Um so that's a good question. Um so obviously um I was not born and brought up um in the states. Um, I studied somewhere else and I think I've been fortunate to travel across three continents and and have a lived experience of a broad spectrum of culture and then once we settled down and we called Mount Lebberon a home I think I have three children one of them is on the gifted IP uh

006one of them is a special needs and on the spectrum and the third is just starting first grade. Um I have worked across teams all over the world and u over the past few years I'm also an entrepreneur. I've started my sort of small business as a small business owner I'm I'm doing things within the community. [sighs] So I have a wide plethora of experiences through personal and professional life and I would say um that in itself is a unique experience in itself and navigating the needs of you know one hand you have a gifted child and the other hand you have a um a special needs child and both have IPS but for different purposes also gave me sort of a balanced perspective of um lived in experience of navigating that for my own

007children. And I think collectively all of these varied experience definitely um enriches me to have a perspective that is isn't necessarily learned but is earned through that sort of living through that life and experience. Okay, next question. Uh please describe your involvement with the Mount Lebanon School District. How has your experience as a stakeholder prepared you to step into a leadership role? >> Thank you. Um, so we came into the district with my oldest son Aan who's now in high school and uh my initial exposure was actually taking part in the Jefferson PTA. Uh, I did um the role as a PTA coordinator for a short while. I've been a classroom uh coordinator when Aan was in Jefferson and I think uh once Alina was ready to move into the public school system. I think

008I stepped a little bit at from the PT role and then became an advocate and we were learning I I think as a family we are trying to learn and understand what it means to have a special needs child and also from the settings of a public school education given I was not born and brought up here. Um it's a it's a journey and a learning experience that that collectively as a family we had to go through and that opportunity of working with the district has and that that's in how uh has been significant uh because we've had IPS we've have disagreements we had to figure things out together to see what best works for Alina. So I think I have a unique livedin experience through the district by participating as a PTA member and

009a classroom coordinator through as a parent advocating on behalf of my child and then also I have continued to volunteer with Hawi um in general. Um recently the we had the hobby fair um and um very actively involved in the in the community and in fact uh Mount Lemon magazine I would say a year year and a half ago they did a feature article on us as a family and how we are actively engaged and how um you know we we are trying to do our best with with um with the opportunities the district presents to us. >> Okay, we have 4 minutes and 26 seconds. My question is next. What is the responsibility of the school board and how does the board support effective district management? >> Okay, so [clears throat] the way again

010um this is from my past experience of serving on other boards and I would and the research that I did on online on what the Mont school board is doing. So I would say the the primary responsibility would obviously be policym and understanding uh as a district what is our vision what goals are we trying to achieve and I think as with anything that you do in life uh be it in corporate be in personal uh the fiscal responsibility is an important aspect you know because at the end of the day you will always have limited resources and limited budget um and that's just the nature of life. So how do you with the policies that you have in place, how do you prioritize and ensure you are optimizing the the budget that is available

011to you to meet the outcomes that eventually serve serve the people we are serving for which is our student community. So I would say policym um understanding the budget and how are we efficiently managing the outcomes that give us the the path that we're trying to take as a district. >> Um hello in your view what are the most significant short-term and long-term challenges facing the district and how would you approach solving them? >> Okay. Um, so I would um I would say probably two things. So one I think um Mount Leon is a growing district. Um and as with any growing community, I think how do you align the outcome with the spending as the needs evolve and and become as divergent as we are as a community. So I think um in the

012longer run we need to probably understand how do we have the right policies in place given the grow and the needs of our divergent district and find a balance where every dollar is actually going towards supporting our student success. Um the other policy that I'm personally very um attached to is because I have a special needs child and I think strengthening of the special education and inclusive support is very important to me personally. Um, I have lived in experience and I I think I'm proud that we are in Mount Lean because I I network a lot with other parents with children with special needs and I I see what the district is doing but always I think advocating that um and ensuring that we don't forget that aspect of the students that we are responsible

013for and ensure we have a program that allows these students to thrive and as a parent and a board member I think if I choose to get one is is something I'll be always be very passionate about um providing that holistic experience for all kids and also our uh children with our special needs. >> Thank you. Um how have you advocated for public education in the past and how do you stay informed about the legislative or financial issues impacting our schools? >> Excellent question. So as I said my my experience has been lived in and I think that's predominantly has happened through Alina and her needs to navigate the system. So one of the things that I think we were impacted by is the the decision that not necessarily the state but the county made

014around not having the access to the IP specialist that we used to have uh prior to the pandemic. So we then I had to kind of learn and figure things out on our own and then advocating on behalf of Fina. Uh I had to do a lot of research to understand what are the rights of special needs child, what is does she have access to, what are the responsibilities from an academic setting, what are the responsibilities from a clinical setting. So I think um from a perspective of a parent and advocating on our behalf has given me a lot of visibility in this specific aspect of education that I probably wouldn't have learned otherwise >> and we are at time. So that concludes our formal questions. On behalf of the board, thank you for your

015time and for your willingness to serve our students and community. Regarding the next steps, the board will deliberate publicly following all of the interviews and vote during the public meeting on Monday, February 9th, 2026. You can expect to hear from the district office by February 9th after the public meeting regarding the final decision. Thank you again and have a great evening. >> Thank you everyone and good luck with the process of finding the right candidate. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Mr. Stangle, is Mr. Wagan available? >> He is. We were just waiting for acceptance for the panelist promotion. >> Okay. It looks like he's available now. You can begin the interview. >> Great. Good evening and thank you for being here. My name is Brena Crrael and I'm the board president. I'd also

016like to introduce the members of the board of directors. We have vice president Mr. Todd Hoffman. We have Mrs. Joy Given. We have Dr. Becky Campaniro. We have Mrs. Eva Gellman. We have Ms. Melinda Berdick. And we have Ms. Valerie Fleer and Mr. Tim Clockardy all with us here today. >> We appreciate your interest in serving the Mount Lebanon School District. We have a total of 10 minutes for this interview to ensure every candidate receives the same opportunity. When we reach 10 minutes, your interview will come to a close. We will be asking eight predetermined questions. Because our time is limited, we may occasionally ask you to wrap up a response so we can move to the next item. We will now begin with our first question. So, what motivates you to serve on the

017school board and what do you hope to accomplish? >> Um, some of you may know me. Um, it's nice to see you all again and thanks for taking the time and mercifully not having to brave the weather. Um, I am a 16 plus year resident of Mount Lebanon. I am a property owner. I have three children in the district. Um, and I have a fairly broad experience uh with my small slice of the district uh uh through those three children and um some of the advocacy work uh that I and my family are involved in. Um, so really what I am uh my reason for applying for the school board is that I think I'd like to think that I bring uh the right kind of temperament to uh the school board at a time

018uh when that's I think what the community really has an appetite for. Um I am a lawyer by training. Um, negotiating, resolving uh uh conflicts is uh my bread and butter along with uh uh reviewing and negotiating contracts. And um by having run for a schoolboard position uh in this uh uh last term, um I feel like I have a pretty good sense of what it is that the community is looking for uh from the school board. And um to be quite honest, the junior most member of the school board, my uh main hope would be to learn from those who are completing their term alongside of the uh uh newly elevated board members and um really kind of understand the work that's um ongoing and hopefully bring it to a closure and be part

019of the initiative of setting a new agenda for the board generally. >> Thank you. Joel, you're on mute. >> Sorry. Uh, thank you, Clemens. What unique attributes, professional skills, or lived experiences do you possess that will add value to the current board's composition? >> Um, [clears throat] I don't think the world is suffering from a lack of lawyers. I would argue we have an overabundance. But um as this is an interview I do have to tout uh as a lawyer uh in a complex regulatory environment I do bring um the ability to um review and negotiate contracts um and provide oversight uh which I hope is a function that I'd be able to bring to the board um obviously not as a solicitor but as a potential sounding board for thoughts to potentially bring to

020the solicitor or just as a general um uh additional background um having a lawyer and losing a lawyer on the a board I think is uh something that has been uh of benefit to the board so far. Um and that would be a skills gap that I would bring. Um I graduated by the time I graduated high school, I'd been to 13 different schools um public, private, um even uh religious. Um and so my own background was very varied. since I've had uh the benefit of exposure to a lot of different kinds of schooling and uh really seen firsthand what makes or breaks a student's um experience within the district. Um I think we try to create um as as positive and uniform uh experience as we can, but understanding where uh I think you

021know people uh can fall between the cracks or where their frustrations are the most likely to show is something that is uh helpful to bring to the board. though I imagine uh all of you who've had children in the district have a a similar experience. Um I'm also the co-chair of the professionals with disability group uh at my uh law firm. Um so I am learning but at least uh somewhat learned in um the challenges and some of the benefits of an inclusive approach uh uh towards in my case professionals but uh in the school district towards uh uh visible and non-visible disabilities um in the district as well. Um um I've also been an advocate for LGBTQ issues as some of you may be familiar with um which is a perspective that I would

022hope also to to leverage the benefit of the school board. >> Okay. Please describe your involvement with the Mount Lebanon School District. How has your experience as a stakeholder prepared you to step into a leadership role? >> [clears throat] >> Um well um I ran for a school board uh position and as I'd said in this this uh last uh uh run of elections and uh did the things that a candidate does. uh spoke to constituents um tried to understand what it is that they were looking for um in the school board and uh hopefully with the uh uh elevated candidates they have it in an abundance but at least um I would be able to supplement that with my own particular brand of of leadership I suppose um I'm a member of the Mount

023Lebanon Democrats committee so I've also been uh substantially involved in the vetting and screening and um sort of learning from many of the political candidates have come through which I think is a skill uh or a a background that is relevant for some of the board functions with regards to um oversight and hopefully we will not be needing to do any hiring in the immediate future. Um but that is um part of it as well. Um, I have, like I said, three children in the district, IEPs, GIPs, um, arts, sports. Um, so I've been able to, uh, have some exposure to, I think, a lot of, uh, what the district has to offer. Um, so I'm not entirely blind as to what those um, parents and constituents might be particularly preoccupied with. >> I would

024like you, we're going to wrap up this question. Uh, Dr. Campanero, >> what is the responsibility of the school board and how does the board support effective district management? >> Uh so on paper uh serving four-year terms, the school board members are responsible for hiring and uh well evaluating, hiring and overseeing the superintendent. Uh they manage the annual budget. Um the school's um curriculum um is overseen and the quality is ensured by the school board. So like there's the the checklist of of their specific functions. Um but in a sort of less um defined way um what I think the school board is really responsible for is uh educational leadership. So that is the sufficiency of the curriculum both with regards to state requirements um meeting where the teachers uh need as far as the

025curriculum goes um and just sort of having a few an understanding of where that is headed I think is a big part of what the board does. Uh the board is the liazison between the community um and uh the district itself. So uh another uh essential not super enumerated function and um a big one for me personally is assessing the uh efficacy of the policies that are implemented and of the hiring decisions made. So it's really not only making them implementing them but going back and ensuring that uh the goals that were set at the outset are being met. >> Two minutes. >> All right. uh in your view what are the most significant challenges uh long and short term facing the district and how would you approach solving them? >> Um the obvious one

026is uh the fiscal issue which of course the board is doing everything it possibly can to address in terms of um uh uh mill rates within the uh set guidelines um taking a hard look at the budget and managing that. So of course the the um uh good stewardship of uh finances I would say is the first and foremost that's certainly reflected in I think a lot of constituents anxieties even though the budget is very accessible to all members of the community at large. Um and then the second part uh I would argue is the long-term uh academic vision for uh the district. Um so the school district is the vital economic engine of this community. It is the reason the vast majority of people move here, live here, why property values are what they

027are. So the health of this school district is critical for the health of the community at large. Um and I think um defining and articulating uh the direction other than ever onward and upward uh that the board has for the future curriculum the uh future vision of the the uh district is really sort of key right it is articulating it communicating it and achieving it. >> Thank you. Okay. So, how have you advocated for public education in the past and how do you stay informed about the legislative or financial issues impacting our schools? >> Um, so, uh, I've attended a smattering of, uh, meetings, not so much that you would always, uh, see me, but enough that hopefully I am a known quantum, um, uh, uh, to the board already. Um uh myself and uh

028my family have been involved um in uh uh empowering students to advocate for their uh for themselves on LGBTQ issues um through uh the uh YAG, the youth advocacy group. Um attending the uh uh planning meetings to uh help provide input for uh what I hope and what my family hopes uh the board will take under advisement for the long-term plan. Um, yep. And taking taking my shot at a seat uh before hopefully not disqualify. >> Okay, we have 20 seconds. >> Melinda, you're on mute. >> Oh gosh. Um, describe a time where you worked in a group setting and disagreed with the majority and how did you handle that professionally? >> Oh god, I'm a lawyer all the time. um uh mainly by [clears throat] uh understanding the viewpoints uh of those with whom

029I disagree. Um I really think that more often than not what is it issue is linguistic and not a values-based issue. uh overwhelmingly even though um there are I think specific policy disagreements there's no question that the people who are involved in the stewardship and uh want to make their voices heard within the school district all want the same thing which is the best outcome for as many students as possible >> that is that is time so that concludes our formal questions on behalf of the board thank you for your time and for your willingness to serve our students and community regarding next steps the board will deliberate publicly following all of the interviews and vote vote during the public meeting on Monday, February 9th, 2026. You can expect to hear from the district office

030by February 9th after public meeting regarding the final decision. Thank you again and have a great evening. >> Our next candidate, Reverend Dr. Strauss, is available and in the room. >> Thank you, Miss Dr. Freeze. And good evening and thank you for being here. My name is Brena CrarAl and I am the board president. I'd like to introduce the members of the school board of directors. So tonight you have with us Mr. Todd Hoffman who is the vice president, Mrs. Joy Gibbons, we have Dr. Becky Campanero, we have Mrs. Melinda Berdick, Mrs. Eva Galman, Mr. Tom or Tim Clocky, sorry Tim, and Ms. Valerie Fleer. We appreciate your interest in serving the Mount Lebanon School District. We have a total of 10 minutes for this interview to ensure every candidate receives the same opportunity. When

031we reach 10 minutes, your interview will come to a close. We will be asking eight predetermined questions and because our time is limited, we may occasionally ask you to wrap up a response so we can move to the next item. We will now begin with the first question. So, what motivates you to serve on the school board and what do you hope to accomplish? Thank you so much. Thank you for your time and um these good questions. I really appreciate this. What motivated me is the way that the school board is the confluence of the work that I do, my personal life, and the place that I call home. I serve as a pastor in this community. I have been serving here for 6 years now and I have lived in Mount Lebanon for 13

032years as a homeowner and I am a parent of an 11-year-old who is a student in Mount Lebanon. And so when I look at our schools, I see kids by name in each of our elementary schools because of the congregation that I serve. And so I am invested not only in Lincoln Elementary where my kiddo goes, but in each of the elementary schools. I know why each of them is valued and important and what is exciting about our middle schools and our high school. And so I wanted to bring that experience, that knowledge of our school system into the school board. >> Thank you. uh what unique attributes, professional skills or lived experiences do you possess that will add value to the current board's composition? >> Sure, thank you. I come at this again as

033a pastor, but also as the co-chair of Bread for the World for Southwestern Pennsylvania. This is a hunger advocacy program that has enabled me to partner with the chaplain of the department of education to look at national goals amongst our legislators regarding childhood hunger and how that impacts academia. And so I bring that experience as well as my advocacy around hunger as well as my experience being trained in such as my doctorate is in ministry but my focus was on neighborhood engagement. And so I bring neighborhood engagement to this. I bring a passion for social justice. I've helped to lead social justice work within my congregation, including Days for Girls, helping to found a chapter here in Pittsburgh to provide reasonable menstrual hygiene kits to girls locally and around the world who are experiencing period

034poverty and missing school for a week out of the year. I also bring to this a non anxious presence. That is just what I do in my work is to help bring down the anxiety in the room. >> Thank you. Um, please describe your involvement with the Mount Lebanon School District. How has your experience as a stakeholder prepared you to step into a leadership role? >> Thank you so much. As a parent, I am involved primarily through Lincoln Elementary's PTA. I have a particular heart for the Scholastic Bookf Fair. I will set up those books all day, every day. That is my work as a parent. As a member of our community, I take great pride in the way that the institution, the nonprofit that I serve partners with, how elementary so that we can

035provide a safe space for kiddos in need of um evacuation. God forbid that should ever happen, but helping partner with how to see what kind of systems need to be in place to keep the kids safe. And so, it's both on a personal and a professional level. And that's just one example. And speaking as a constituent who is gonna move you to the next question. I am sorry. >> No, it's all good. >> What is the responsibility of the schoolboard and how does the board support effective district management? >> Thank you. The purpose of the school board as I understand it is to set the why of the school district and to create the guard rails and systems that support that why. And right now I understand the why of our school district to be

036providing the best education possible for each and every student. In your view, what are the most significant short-term and long-term challenges facing our district and how would you approach solving them? >> The primary short-term views and thank you for this question. the primary short-term problems, challenges that we are facing, the most obvious being the budget balance with rising costs and the way that I have navigated that in the past historically >> is to understand where my gifts lie and where they do not. And there are those in the room who will have a history that I do not have. I need to be asking good questions and listening well in order to be able to proceed forward with the board. Another short-term challenge is finding a way to provide social, emotional, and mental health support

037for students without overloading our teachers. And that is something that I would seek to bring my own um background to to play in those conversations. looking at long-term um struggles. I see the struggle of maintaining academic excellence while addressing workforce realities. Making sure that our students over 90% of them are being committed to to a college. Making sure that they are able to pursue careers and futures that are sustainable. And another challenge I see long term is maintain >> I'm going to move you to the next question. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Eva. >> Excellent. Thank you. Okay, so um how do you add how have you advocated for public education in the past and how do you stay informed about the legislative or financial issues impacting our schools? >> Thank you. how I've advocated in

038the past on a micro level. I've advocated um primarily for making our streets safer in light of our being a walking district, going before the traffic board to advocate for stop signs and the like for safety purposes. on a macro level that has come in the form of going to Harrisburg to and to Washington DC to lobby on behalf of the department of education for hunger ministries to support SNAP wick that sort of deal so that our kids are not distracted from doing their schoolwork because they are hungry. Could you please describe a time you worked in a group setting and disagreed with the majority? How did you handle that disagreement while maintaining a productive working relationship? >> Thank you. There was a time that I chaired a committee to um to do some pretty

039significant work trying to respect confidentiality here for Pittsburgh Presbyter which I am a part and I was very much in the minority in that group in what we were voting on discussing discerning together. It really came down to reminding myself even writing down on paper in front of me just and underlining again and again it is not about me. And when I remember it is not about me that helps to open my ears to others in the room and to see this as group discernment not my discernment. >> Okay. And then the board service requires a significant uncompensated time commitment. Given the current board's schedule, are you prepared for this workload? And do you intend to seek election for a full term in 2027? >> Thank you very much. Yes, I am prepared for this

040workload. I finished up my doctorate and frankly feel led to do more service. Having finished up my doctorate, that was three great years that served me and served my own intellectual curiosities and my ability to serve my community. And now I want to be able to utilize that in actual acts of service. and I would love to consider pursuing a full term. >> Oh, you're on mute. >> Bana, you are on mute. Yeah, thanks, Laura. >> Thank you. All right, let's try that again. That concludes our formal questions. On behalf of the board, thank you for your time and for your willingness to serve our students and community. Regarding next steps, the board will deliberate publicly following all of the interviews and vote during the public meeting on Monday, February 9th, 2026. You can expect

041to hear from the district office by February 9th after the public meeting regarding the final decision. Thank you again and have a great evening. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Our next candidate, Miss Salone, is available for the interview. >> Thank you, Dr. Freeze, and good evening and thank you for being here. My name is Rena Crrael and I'm the board president. I'd also like to introduce the members of the board of directors. So with us today we have Mr. Todd Hoffman who is the vice president. We have Miss Joy Given. We have Dr. Becky Campaniro. We have Ms. Melinda Berdick, Miss Eva Galman, Miss Valerie Fleer, and Mr. Tim Clocky. Hi. Nice to meet you all virtually. I know this isn't how we imagined it. [laughter] >> Yes. No, we appreciate

042your interest in serving the Mount Lebanon School District. We have a total of 10 minutes for this interview to ensure every candidate receives the same opportunity. When we reach 10 minutes, your interview will come to a close. We will be asking eight predetermined questions. And because our time is limited, we may occasionally ask you to wrap up a response so we can move to the next item. We will now begin with our first question. So, what motivates you to serve on the school board and what do you hope to accomplish? First of all, thank you all for hosting this forum. Um, I have always been interested in public service. I'm an educator and a parent in the district. Um, and I think that this school district uh is exceptional and I'd love to be part

043of helping um set that vision uh and keeping the school district best-in-class where it is. I also have a a background in business finance and I feel that I can bring that strength to the board as well um in helping approve a budget um for future growth and long-term growth um both immediate and um I have a I have a everywhere from a third grader to a ninth grader. So I'm I'm invested uh here now. Thank you. >> Thank you. What unique attributes, professional skills, or lived experiences do you possess that will add value to the current board's composition? So, I moved to Pittsburgh as a newspaper reporter 20 years ago. So, my background is in communications, uh, interviewing people, listening to people, finding the lead. And I feel that that that strength has served

044me throughout my career um in being able to really highlight um what is the the key need and the headline around different things. I've also spent the last 15 years in different board leadership positions. Um, I've served on Amaz Pittsburgh both as uh the board secretary and a board director, which is a global service learning platform where they help um organize study abroad for students globally. Um, I've worked on the I'm currently the treasurer of the Little Lake Theater um based here in Candensburg. Um, so I'm very I'm very familiar with board dynamics, um, politics and, um, the the role of a board director, um, and how to support the the day-to-day the people who are in the trenches. >> Please describe your involvement with the Mount Lebanon School District. How has your experience as

045a stakeholder prepared you to step into a leadership role? So currently I'm the reflections chair for the Markham PTA. So this is kind of um the arts side of my brain. So I have both an MBA and an MFA. So I uh love numbers and spreadsheets. And I love um the arts and literature as well. So as uh chair of of reflections, we've grown our entries. Um, this is a program that is outside of school hours. So, being able to support the arts and get kids interested in that and be able to express themselves, um, that's been a really re rewarding uh, program. Um, we did a whole doughnut breakfast last year for all the participants and they were able to bring a friend to try to encourage more entries uh, this fall as well.

046Um, so that's been my main involvement in the school district is through the PTA at the schools where my uh student where my kids are students. What is the responsibility of the school board and how does the board support effective district management? I think the primary responsibility of the school board is to help enact the strategic plan. I know that this is a big um emphasis for our for our district right now um helping to the leading the way vision. So all of the ways that the board can help uh enact this um as well as approving the budget. Um, I know that, you know, I I I know a future question coming up is what are some of the challenges and I know that we've been able to receive some additional state allocations. Um,

047but the common le level ratio still remains a challenge in our district. Um so I think that in in our area, you know, the primary responsibility is ensuring that um our school district maintains its standards um encourages workplace um culture, all the continuing education opportunities that we have um for our teachers. I think that there's been a real um energy around um that kind of workplace culture where where Mount Lebanon is a place that students families want to have their kids go and people that want to work here as well as teachers and educators. >> All right. Well, in your view, what are the most significant short and long-term challenges and what would be your approach to solving them? >> Yes. So, as I started to talk about, I know that the common level ratio

048continues to be a a challenge with the the assessments and how they they can can fluctuate. So, there's a big unknown um year after year um as we try to budget for the different scenarios and how those reassessments could come in. I know we want to keep um our school district affordable. Um long term I think it's just being able to talk through uh growth and [clears throat] vision, right? Because I did not grow up in Pittsburgh. Um, I chose Pittsburgh and I think that that gives me a unique view and I didn't just choose Pittsburgh, I chose Mount Lebanon and I I loved what I saw in this community and school district and but I also um grew up in a different school district and understand you know what are different programs that we

049can always be building. I don't think anytime that we say like uh we're great um we we don't want to cap out, right? What are other programs that we can keep adding? what are other opportunities? How can we look at the curriculum? Are we are we doing best in class? So, I think um my dayto-day is as a a professor of English at Robert Morris University in Carlo. And so, I'm really tapped into um evolving curriculum. Um I think there's a lot of there's ongoing research and I think just keeping that part of the conversation so that we are are discussing you know what uh what do we want to keep building? Um another uh >> wrap you up for this question. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um so how have you advocated for public

050education in the past and how do you stay informed about legislative or financial issues impacting our schools? So, in the past, I was a a reporter. I covered a lot of school board meetings early in my career. Um, so I've I've always been on the um, you know, the public information side. I spent uh, five years running a a startup here in Pittsburgh. It was called P picturebook Publishing. It was um an interactive media company where we adapted picture books for touchscreens. And during that time there was a lot of advocacy um that I worked with the app association and some early childhood education where we even were lobbying in Congress um for rules about how to incorporate and adapt technology for um for the classroom. So, I worked with the Entertainment Technology Center at

051CMU as well as the Carnegie Library and the Children's Museum to do play testing and make sure that the um the content we were developing was was additive um and [clears throat] and meaningful and not just um candy. Could you please describe a time that you worked in a group setting and disagreed with the majority and how did you handle that disagreement while maintaining a productive working relationship? >> Well, the class I teach at RMU is called argument and research. So, that's a foundation of what I do is how to um build a a structure. Um, in all of the nonprofit boards that I've been on, I think there's a unique dynamic of these volunteers who are who are not getting paid, who have a vested interest, um, but want to support the executive director.

052So, an example is at Little Lake Theater. We currently don't have assigned seating. People just uh, we have buy a ticket and it's open seating. And this has been very controversial because it's a 76 year old theater with a history of doing things one way and yet we have a lot of patrons who are asking um they want to know where they're sitting and where they're purchasing. And so we've had um some deep discussions around not only the technology to support it but the volunteers and how to um make everyone feel comfortable with that change without while preserving the legacy of the theater but also modernizing it. Okay. Finally, the board service requires a significant uncompensated time commitment. Given the current board's schedule, are you prepared for the workload? And do you intend to seek

053election for a full term in 2027? >> I do currently have the time. Now that I've left corporate America and I'm teaching part-time at the university, I have time in my schedule to um to serve locally finally. And um I would be interested in running for office um in the future. >> Thank you. And that concludes our formal questions. On behalf of the board, thank you for your time and for your willingness to serve our students and community. Regarding next steps, the board will deliberate publicly following all of the interviews and vote during the public meeting on Monday, February 9th, 2026. You can expect to hear from the district office by February 9th after the public meeting regarding the final decision. Thank you again and have a great evening. >> Thank you, >> Mrs. CrarAel.

054Mr. Lorac is available for his interview. >> Thank you so much and good evening and thank you for being here. My name is Brena Crarabel and I am the board president. I'd like to also introduce the members of the board of school board of the directors. So with us today we have Mr. Todd Hoffman who is our vice president, Mrs. Eva Gellman, Dr. Becky Campaniro, Miss Joy Given, Mrs. Melinda Berdick, Mr. Tim Clockery, and Ms. Valerie Fleer. We appreciate your interest in serving the Mount Lebanon School District. We have a total of 10 minutes for this interview to ensure every candidate receives the same opportunity. When we reach 10 minutes, your interview will come to a close. We will be asking eight predetermined questions and based because our time is limited we may occasionally ask

055you to wrap up a response so we can move to the next item. So we will begin with our first question. So what motivates you to serve on the school board and what do you hope to accomplish? >> Thanks uh Brena for this opportunity and first very briefly I just want to say thank you to Jake Wyland. He served our community for a number of years graciously. Um, and I just I really appreciate it for the opportunity to speak with the board. Um, I love this community. I've been a part of this community multiple times over my life. I have three children in this district. Um, it's been on my mind for some time to participate in a larger way uh with the district. Uh, I serve on multiple boards uh both locally here in

056Mount Lebanon and regionwide. Um, so I just wanted the opportunity to have a bigger impact uh uh on the community. I think my family uh being that we have three children with diverse backgrounds, we would represent the experience many families do have uh in this district. Um and I wanted to model the way for my kids. I tell them all the time to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. And I thought this was a good way to to to to model the way. >> Thank you. Thank you. What unique attributes, professional skills or lived experiences do you possess that will add value to the current board's composition? >> Uh yeah, professionally um I started my own uh financial advisory practice back in 2012. Um it's been I've been incredibly uh fortunate.

057We've had a uh it's been a wonderful experience, great decision. Uh I get to manage people. Uh I get to service clients. I mal manage profit and loss statements. Um I have to deal with communication. Everything that a small business owner would have to experience. Um I've gotten to experience and grow through that process. Uh personally, again, I spent a lot of time in the community, serve on a lot of boards, uh both locally and regionally, uh governance committees, investment committees, um nominating committees. Um I understand how boards work. I understand the process. Uh I understand that is all about trust and communication. uh being open to listening, being a strong listener. Um and I think when you combine those two, um again, if you look at the materials that I submitted, um it's kind

058of the combination of those two uh uh expertise or experience or lived experience uh that have had success in those various organizations. >> Please describe your involvement with the Mount Lebanon School District. How has your experience as a stakeholder prepared you to step into a leadership role? >> How long do you have? Uh, I guess not a lot of time. Uh, I went to school in this district. I graduated from this district. Um, I now have three children here. I have advocated. Um, no place is perfect. We all can get better. Uh, we need a growth mindset. Um, I've had I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I've had wonderful experiences and I've had not so wonderful experiences. I have advocated through teachers, special needs, uh, uh, teachers, principles, uh, assistant superintendent. Um, you know,

059I have advocated and advocated and advocated. Um, I never thought I'd spend that much time doing it, but, um, I have three children in the district. Um, and they are the most important thing to me, and I think every child in this district, um, should have an advocate. So, I've been very fortunate to create great relationships within the district and the staff. Thank you. What is the responsibility of the school board and how does the board support effective district management? >> Um it's a governing board, right? Not a managing board. So we are so lucky to have um new and bold leadership. Um in in my experience, uh I'm going to be frank, the district had become stale. Um and I think the board the existing board executed on its basically its most important responsibility

060which is to find a great leader and they found that great leader and now their job is to support that leader uh provide them support hold them accountable um you know and again we are not a managing board. Uh we are not there to do the job of our wonderful staff. Uh we are there to uh provide discussion, form policy, um um create goodwill in the community, uh and really give our executive, our superintendent, uh the support she needs to execute on our strategic plan. Um which again is a wonderful strategic plan which took a ton of time, which I did participate in multiple times. Um but we need to execute on it and and that's the board's role to help Thank you. And then in your view uh what are the most significant short-term

061and long-term challenges facing the district and how would you approach uh >> um the short short term frankly was leadership and the board again um filled that need. They stepped up. they found the right candidate. Um and and our superintendent has continued to uh hire high quality um motivated um talented staff. Um so that was huge. Um it's no secret that we have budget problems. Um you know, there's lots of things our school district needs to do to become stronger to provide the best possible education for every possible ch child. But if we don't operate from a strong financial position, we will not be able to accomplish all of those things we want to do for those kids. Um, it's going to take a while. We're going to have to make really hard decisions. We're

062going to have to compromise. Um, we're going to have to be realistic. We're going to have to play the long game. But there [clears throat] is no reason once we're in that position that we cannot be the best district in Western Pennsylvania or, you know, if not the state of Pennsylvania. And we should be striving for that. Um, on my list, I think we need to really revisit um, uh, our our elementary reading curriculum, which I know Dr. Freeze has already identified and started to make changes. I think we need to look at early intervention with reading even earlier. I'd love to see kindergarten. Um, but yes, there's there's um, there's always room to to improve. >> Thank you. Um, so how have you advocated for public education in the past and how have you

063stayed informed about the legislative or financial concerns impacting our schools? >> Yes. Locally, um, I I'm almost embarrassed embarrassed to to acknowledge this. I listen to our municipal and our school district board meetings all the time. Um, I I know board members. Um, I I actually enjoy uh listening to the policy. Um and and I've advocated personally um again through the various channels within the district trying to respect the kind of the chain of command. Um I've been on the board of the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh which is an amazing institution for the last 20 years. We have a head start program. Um we basically started the maker movement and brought it national. We we partner with mapmaker space and have really supported them uh which are also in the Mount Lebanon schools. Um, not

064only do we support education at the Children's Museum, we're trying to reinvent it, right? Uh, and that's kind of what the maker space grew out of. So, um, you know, we are, uh, constantly advocating on behalf of kids, um, uh, at the Children's Museum and and again over a 20-year period of time, um, without a lot of exposure in that area. If you would please uh describe a time when you worked in a group setting and disagreed with the majority. How did you handle the disagreement while maintaining a productive working relationship? >> Great question. Um I'll give you frankly at one of our strategic meetings that I attended um we had a great room of people. Uh everybody was very excited there to participate. Uh the first 10 or 15 comments were all very positive

065and I said I love Mount Lebanon. I love my community. I love this district. Uh but when do we get to talk about some of the more negative things, right? So, um you know, kind of soften soften the tone, soften the room, make sure everybody has an opportunity to speak in the room, respect uh everybody's opinions. Um, and and again, frankly, once I started to bring up those points, I think people started to open up and also mention their concerns. It kind of signaled to them it was okay to be honest in that room and that they weren't going to be judged and that everybody's opinion is going to be respected. Um, again, I've served on multiple boards for many years. It is all about trust and communication, not judging each other, uh, having a

066common goal, uh, moving forward together. People get stuck in neutral all the time and you constantly need to be moving forward. Um whether that's >> I'm actually going to stop you right there so we can finish the final question. >> Okay. And if I can get off mute. Um board service requires a significant uncompensated time commitment. Given the board the current board schedule, are you prepared for the workload and do you intend to see election in for a full term? >> Yes. Most importantly, I have my spouse's support. Uh I wouldn't do it without her. Um I do own my own firm. Most of my obligations are actually during the day. My evenings are free. Um this is more important than any anything else I I do. Um and so the short answer is yes.

067I'm a very good delegator. I'm very lucky to be supported by many talented people around me. Um so yes, I would have time. Thank you. >> Is there another question? >> Nope. And that concludes our formal question. So on behalf of the board, thank you for your time and for your willingness to serve our students and community. Regarding next steps, the board will deliberate publicly following all of the interviews and vote during the public meeting on Monday, February 9th, 2026. You can expect to hear from the district office by February 9th. After the public meeting regarding the final decision, thank you again and have a great evening. Thank you all. >> Mrs. Mr. King is available for his interview. >> Thank you, Dr. Freeze. And good evening and thank you for being here. My name

068is Brena CrarAl and I'm the board president. I'd also like to introduce the members of the school board of directors. So, with us today, we have vice president, Mr. Todd Hoffman. We have Dr. Becky Campanero, Ms. Joy Given, Miss Valerie Fleer, Mr. Tim Clocky, Mrs. Melinda Berdick and Mrs. Eva Gilman. We appreciate your interest in serving the Mount Lebanon School District. We have a total of 10 minutes for this interview to ensure every candidate receives the same opportunity. When we reach 10 minutes, your interview will come to a close. We will be asking eight predetermined questions. Because our time is limited, we may occasionally ask you to wrap up a response so we can move to the next item. We will begin now with our first question. So, what motivates you to serve on the

069school board and what do you hope to accomplish? >> Yeah, thank you for being here. I appreciate the time. Mainly, it's an opportunity for me to serve and participate in civic duty in the town and the community which I live. It's you I moved away and came back with my family. So, I live and invest in Mount Lebanon by the nature of of of having our kids go to school here. Um, there's challenges. There's a lots of good there. There's a lot of good. There's a lot of there's a lot of challenges or a lot of opportunities. Um, I also think that there's one thing missing is is a diversity and and representation in Mount Lebanon uh for about half the town. I think that what's missing really in large part is is really critical

070what I call checks and balances. And I think there's there's things that are being missed when we're not having a more diverse opinion and a more more diverse views to be considered, to be discussed, to be debated. Um because I think that's the best way to solve for problems going forward when you have multiple thoughts and multiple uh perspectives on things. And I think that's missing today on the school board respectfully. >> Thank you. What unique attributes, professional skills, or lived experiences do you possess that will add value to the current board's composition? Well, >> I'm a seasoned and qualified business professional and sales re revenue generation, business development. I have experience leading uh complicated projects. Um I have uh organizational strengths. Um sound uh policy uh decisioning. I've budget savvy. Um I've I've led

071a national team and ran a $50 million portfolio and a $50 million P&L statement. So I have hired and fired. I've worked with professionals in finance and risk and security and legal and procurement in HR. I have uh sec I have a background in security and site protection and perimeter protection that I think could be useful. Um, uh, there's a whole myriad of of things that I I think I would be able to bring to the table in a productive manner, uh, to be able to positively impact the the school board and the community at large that um, uh, in the end, I'm we're really trying to serve the kids, the students, and the faculties in the best manner that we can. I think I have a great broad background and experience to do that.

072Please describe your involvement with the Mount Lebanon School District. How has your experience as a stakeholder prepared you to step into a leadership role? >> So, as you know, I have been a faithful and regular attendee of the school board meetings for the last number of years. There is no candidate that I think you're interviewing tonight that has developed and dedicated more personal time than I have uh in following the the business of the Mount Lebanon school board and the school district as a whole. Um I am a current member of the Mount Lebanon parks and wreck advisory board. I'm also the treasur of the Mount Lebanon partnership. Um, so we're we're very actively involved and a very active participant in the community for Mount Lebanon School District. I participated in the uh superintendent um

073focus groups when we were hiring the new superintendent. I I pres uh participated in the parent focus groups last year, the strategic focus groups. I attended the Melissa Freeze business roundts a couple times. Um, I also follow the I attend the Mount Lebanon municipal meetings as well as a schoolboard meeting. So, I'm a very active participant and I take great pride in being informed in the issues and um in knowing where things are and where things stand with the school district. I'm also a youth girls basketball coach in Mount Lebanon. So, I'm a participant in that regard as well. Um, so I'm very actively involved in participating in in issues related to the school district and the community as a whole. >> What is the responsibility of the school support effective district management? >> I

074I think you cut off there, but it was responsibility of the school board. >> What is the responsibility of the school board and how does the board support effective district management? Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Primary roles is a governing body. It's not a managing board. Um the main thing is they they set oversight. They provide financial policy. They set overall direction. They establish budgets. They hire and fire superintendent when necessary. Uh they also are supposed to establish goals of the superintendent. >> Um provide general oversight and accountability. We're not managing the day-to-day uh what I would call the tactical um uh business of running the school district. That's the superintendent and the administration. That's their job to be tactical. The school board needs to be aware of all of those items for sure, but

075also have the ability to think strategically and both short and long-term vision. You have to have the ability to do both. And um but it's it's a governing it's a governing board, not a managing board. And um that that's generally how it's supposed to work. >> Um thank you. And what uh in your view are the most significant short-term and long-term challenges facing the district and how uh would you approach solving them? >> Yeah, great. I have I have a number of them and I'm going to go fast. Uh and I I guess I'll call it shortterm and long term, right? So there's budget sustainability and there structural deficits. The district faces significant structural budget deficits identified in the audited financial reports. Uh the common level ratio tax base instability. The common level ratio litigation

076involving in Alageney County has caused instability in the real estate tax base. Property values declining due to tax appeals making revenue forecasting very difficult. It threatens the district's primary funding source. Add in the fact that health care costs and mand salaries are rising three to five three to seven% this creates ongoing budget pressures substitute teachers personal care assistance reduction of overall number of teachers uh I know you're taking the position of attrition instead of furlows and layoffs um we have to maintain academic excellence amid financial constraints it's not it's not easy but we have to maintain and navigate tight budgets and and strategic decisions about staffing even in tight financial times. We're hiring a new athletic director in the next couple weeks. That's huge. Uh it's a welcome change in leadership, an opportunity to provide

077new vision that's been been lacking. Um uh increased building security measures, site protection and perimeter protection. There's capital infrastructure and crisis needs, deferred maintenance. We have 10 buildings at the >> the I'm gonna actually stop you so we can move on to the next question. Go ahead. >> Go on and on and on on those. So that's I have them all. Don't don't worry >> is going. >> Okay. Yes. Um let's take So how have you advocated for public education in the past and how how do you stay informed about the legislative or financial issues impacting our schools? Yeah. Yeah. Like like I had previously mentioned, I I attend all almost all the schoolboard meetings. It's not all of them, but I would say I attend eight out of eight out of 10. Um >>

078I attend all the municipal buildings. I'm very familiar with the common level ratio pressures uh in Alageney County and the impact it has on our revenue sources. Um I'm following what's going on in other school districts. I actually talked to other school board members. I I've talked to other municipal and burrow board members in other neighboring towns. Um so I'm I'm I'm pretty well verssed on what's happening both within our school district and outside in our neighboring towns in our neighboring communities. Uh I stay pretty well informed on um on the issues that um that we're facing. >> Could you please describe a time when you worked in a group setting and disagreed with the majority? How did you handle that disagreement while maintaining a productive working relationship? >> First of all, you have to

079be respectful to everybody in the room while you may or may not agree. Uh, you know, I have always said we have two ears and one mouth. So, listen more than you speak. Um, so let people have a chance to speak. Say what's on their mind, give their perspective, give their opinion, make their point, give their argument. Um, when it's my turn to speak, I have a wellthoughtout uh comment. Um, and I try to not never never make it personal. It can never be personal and you can never make it personal. And if somebody goes personal, you just got to resist the the uh the attempt to go personal. Always be open to others opinions, perspectives, and um, you know, be open to uh, other ways of doing things that you may not have thought

080of. So when I follow those rules, I I stay out of trouble and it generally well well um they served me well over the years. >> Okay. Board service requires a significant uncompensated time commitment. Given the current board's schedule, are you prepared for the workload and do you intend to seek election for a full term? I'm >> very well aware of the workload. I appreciate the question. Um, I understand the motions of the of the school board, the bi-weekly motions and even even in between those bi-weekly meetings. I understand uh the work it's in front of the board. I would run for school board as a full term. Uh, I guess I would make that decision at the time, but hey, I I I interviewed for this in 2022. I'm interviewing for again now. I

081ran in 2021. You guys all know that. So, you know, I I'm still around. I'm still here. I'm still interested. there's so much more that we can do together and if if given the opportunity. >> Thank you so much. So that concludes our formal questions. On behalf of the board, thank you for your time and for your willingness to serve our students and community. Regarding next steps, the board will deliberate publicly following all of the interviews and vote during the public meeting on Monday, February 9th, 2026. You can expect to hear from the district office by February 9th after the public meeting regarding the final decision. Thank you again and have a great evening. >> You have a good evening. >> Thank you, >> Mrs. CrarAel. Our next candidate, Mrs. Mononttoya, is available and in

082the room. >> Thank you, Dr. Freeze. Good evening, and thank you for being here. My name is Brena Crrael, and I'm the board president. I'd also like to introduce the members of the board of the directors. So, we have with us today uh vice president, Mr. Todd Hoffman, Dr. Becky Campaniro, Mrs. Joy Given, Mr. Tim Clockardy, Mrs. Melinda Berdick, Mrs. Valerie Fleer, and Mrs. Eva Gilman. We [snorts] appreciate your interest in serving the Mount Lebanon School District. We have a total of 10 minutes for this interview to ensure every candidate receives the same opportunity. When we reach 10 minutes, your interview will come to a close. We will be asking eight predetermined questions. Because our time is limited, we may occasionally ask you to wrap up a response so we can move to the next

083item. We will begin now with our first question. What motivates you to serve on the school board and what do you hope to accomplish? >> Um uh again I'm my name is Susanna Montoya and I appreciate the opportunity to be here today. Um I am here because I think the Mount Lebanon School District is really um a a superb asset for this district and the heart of this district in some ways. Um I think the school offers uh an excellent education. Um and that is something that I think that um as a community member we all need to um appreciate and um work towards and support. >> Thank you. What unique attributes, professional skills or lived experiences do you possess that will add value to the current board's composition? >> Um, well, let me tell

084you a little bit about myself. Um, I, uh, am trained as a biomedical scientist. I have a bachelor's degree in biology. Um and then um when we came to Pittsburgh for um education um I uh got a a master's in human genetics and then went on to get a a doctorate in um pharmarmacology. So I've had a lot of education. Um I have um had had the opportunity to work with the school district on several occasions. Um certainly as a parent um and I've seen I have uh two sons um my older son um there's seven years between them so um both of them one has graduated one is nearly graduated so I've pretty much been through the entire um program twice with the school district um but in terms of you know I I

085think that there are many wonderful people who are um involved and committed to the school district here in terms of my own background um I um uh had the opportunity to be particularly involved on two aspects of the school district on special education and on the math curriculum at a a a much more involved level. Um I also um worked in biomedical sciences for a number of years and then took an extended gap and I think that um as I have uh come back to work in a professional setting using my uh PhD degree I um it's been a real eye openener in terms of um preparation and skills that are um needed kind of for lifelong success and skills that change and and and those kind of attributes. >> I'm gonna move you to

086the next statement so we can um get to more questions. Go ahead, Mr. Hoffman. >> Please describe your involvement with the Mount Lebanon School District. How has your experience as a stakeholder prepared you to step into a leadership role? >> Um you know, I think I'm uh wellversed on the curriculum. Um I currently work uh for the University of Pittsburgh and for the um medical science training program. Um I'm involved with grant writing. Uh the process that I just uh went through in terms of um the the grant proposal that we just submitted uh really uh was very it was about a six-month proposal uh and um it was a very detailed program evaluation in terms of objectives and um uh outcomes. um and uh looking at uh the program in a in a forward

087direction in terms of uh preparing students in that program for future careers. And so I think you know professional experience, community experience that I have um and and just commitment and interest in the in the uh school district. [snorts] I guess the last thing I would add is that um I served for um six years with the um uh parks board uh for the municipality. So I am you know familiar with budgeting process and uh meeting process and uh you know working with uh with a team. >> Thank you. What is the responsibility of the schoolboard and how does the board support effective district management? Um the school board is is primarily um involved in two things in terms of uh uh overseeing the superintendent as well as uh its uh fiscal responsibility. Um clearly

088the board does not you know manage the day-to-day on the school district but it does set some tones in terms of um directions and priorities. five minutes. >> And what would you uh say are the most significant short-term and long-term challenges facing the district and how would you approach solving them? >> Um, you know, I think that uh the the district has some fairly significant challenges at the moment. Um you know probably the number one in my mind would would be uh the budget issue. Um and uh you know I think that the process of uh establishing a strategic plan is really important because that's going to uh if you know where you want to go then it's easier to make decisions on how you're going to get there. So, I would say those are

089probably the two um top things, but you know, obviously there's, you know, um it's it's a big district with lots of buildings and it's complicated. And so, there's always going to be lots of different uh underlying concerns, but those would be the top two um issues that I think uh are are facing the school board at this time. >> Thank you. Um, so how have you advocated for public education in the past and how do you stay informed about the legislative or financial issues impacting our schools? Well, I mean, I think that, you know, um the way that you become educated about anything is trying to get as much information as possible and and um you know, talking to various stakeholders and um you know, in terms of the school district, I mean, I I

090certainly make myself um available to the public information that is put forward. Um I uh do occasionally attend schoolboard meetings. Um but I think that you know in terms of the role on the school board I mean I think that there are a lot of stakeholders and I think that part of the responsibility of the school board is to really uh be attentive to all of those that uh the the school the school district impacts. >> Could you please describe a time that you worked in a setting in a group setting and disagreed with the majority? How did you handle that disagreement while maintaining a productive working relationship? >> Um, I think that um [snorts] a constructive team is um often going to have disagreements because that's um how the team becomes productive is by

091um voicing different opinions. Um you know certainly in terms of uh my work on the uh parks advisory board um as well as the nature conservancy I mean that there were certainly um uh sometimes somewhat heated discussions but you know it is it's really a matter of uh listening um and understanding um what what the uh questions are I think um Okay. And lastly, board service requires a significant uncompensated time commitment. Given the current board schedule, are you prepared for the workload? And do you intend to seek a full term in 2027? Um I would not have submitted an application if I didn't feel that I could commit to the workload at this time uh to serve uh in a meaningful way on the board and be informed when I come to meetings. Um I

092have not made a commitment in terms of uh whether I would seek a full-time position. And I I um feel like with um my professional experience um and my experience in the municipality um and my experience with the school board that I could um serve this term in a meaningful way and and contribute to the board. Um like I said, I I uh guess that would that would be a decision for another day whether I would serve for a longer term position. And that concludes our formal questions. On behalf of the board, thank you for your time and for your willingness to serve our students and community. Regarding next steps, the board will deliberate publicly following all the interviews and vote during the public meeting on Monday, February 9th, 2026. You can expect to hear

093from the district office by February 9th after the public meeting regarding the final decision. Thank you again and have a great evening. >> Thank you everybody. Okay, Mrs. CrarAel, our next candidate, Miss Rosengard, is available and in the room. >> Thank you, Dr. Freeze. Good evening and thank you for being here. My name is Brena Crarabel and I'm the board president. I'd also like to introduce the members of the board of directors. So, tonight we have with us vice president, Mr. Todd Hoffman, Dr. Becky Campaniro, Miss Joy Given, Mr. Tim Clockardy, Miss Valerie Fleer, Mrs. Melinda Berdick and Mrs. Eva Gellman. We appreciate your interest in serving the Mount Lebanon School District. We have a total of 10 minutes for this interview to ensure every candidate receives the same opportunity. When we reach 10 minutes,

094your interview will come to a close. We will be asking eight predetermined questions. Because our time is limited, we may occasionally ask you to wrap up a response so we can move to the next item. We will begin now with our first question. What motivates you to serve on the school board? and what do you hope to accomplish? >> Hello everybody. I'm super happy to be with you today. Uh what motivates me uh is pretty straightforward. I have two children. They're in kindergarten and second grade. Uh my family moved here to Mount Lebanon just a year and a half ago. And there were a whole host of reasons, but the top two uh were because we wanted to be closer to family who was here and also we wanted to be able to send our

095kids to an amazing public school. Um, I myself went to public school on the other side of the state of Pennsylvania. And, uh, prior to us moving here, our children or our oldest child attended public school in our neighborhood in Los Angeles. Um, so I just want to make sure that the district that we are here, that we love, continues to stay strong, not just for the 12 years that my kids are going to be a part of it, but for the foreseeable future. And what I want to accomplish is just to use my skills for the benefit of the students, the staff and the administrators. Um I know that I have a lot to offer and um I know I can be a good listener. I can be trusted to amplify the things that

096the community um thinks need to happen in our schools. Um and I just want to be somebody who can bring reason and thoughtfulness uh to something that's so important to really everybody that lives here in Mount Lebanon. >> Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Um, so what unique attributes, professional skills or lived experiences do you possess that will add value to the current board's composition? Yeah. Well, I mean, we all hopefully bring our whole selves to everything we do. And for me, that's my professional experience, um, my community experience and my personal experience. From a professional perspective, um I have had a 20 plus year career uh in consulting and marketing and I've worked at some of the most well-run um and often studied um you know businesses specifically Accenture and Toyota. Um they've really taught

097me how to uh how to work, how to learn, how to document, how to plan um and how to measure, right? So, I think that those skills are something that I can bring to the board. Um, from a community perspective, um, I have been on the PTA both here at JES and at our previous school in Los Angeles. Um, when I was in LA, I served as our fundraising chair. Now, the situation at public school in Los Angeles is quite different than here in Mount Lebanon. Um, we needed a huge amount of money to run the school in a way that really benefited the students. And the year that I was in charge of that, we raised $160,000. Um, and that paid for things like the librarian, um, the gym teacher, uh, and, you know,

098teachers aids in some of the classroom so that we could have a better teacher to student ratio. And then from a personal perspective, you know, you heard me say that I'm a mother to two children and a public school uh, you know, kid myself. Um, and I'm just very invested in the community uh, as a whole. Please describe your involvement with the Mount Lebanon School District. How has your experience as a stakeholder prepared you to step into a leadership role? >> Uh well, I did mention that our family was new to the district uh last year. So, um I've done everything that I could do to really figure out what was going on and uh be a part of the success. So attended the PTA meetings, uh joined the PTA as well, volunteered whenever I

099could at the school. Um in fact, we just ran one of the events um over President's Day. Uh Jes does a skating party every year at the ice rink and my wife and I have done that now for two years in a row. Um so I've also, you know, gotten to know the educators. Um, and I've had only positive experiences both through our parent teacher conferences, um, and also through the extended conversations that I've had with administrators and teachers, uh, through getting my daughter's IEP executed. And at every turn, we've just felt really supported and like our children were getting, you know, everything that they needed. What is the responsibility of the school board and how does the board support effective district management? >> Well, this would be my first time sitting on a board,

100so I only know what I've been able to read about what the board does. But as I understand it, the school board is a governing body, um, not an organization that, you know, manages or executes uh, anything within the district. So we would be setting policies, developing oversight for um things like the budget and um being the voice of the community to make sure that the school was being run in a way that met the community's needs. So that's my understanding of the responsibility. >> And in your view, what are the most significant shortterm and long-term challenges facing our district and how would you approach solving them? >> Five minutes. Um Oh, five minutes. Cool. So, based on the research that I did in preparing for today, I understand that for the last four years,

101um the district has had expenses greater than revenues. So, I think that um budgets um figuring out how we can be more efficient with the money that we have um and also how we consider raising revenues um to get to a place where where we have a balanced budget and can start to put money back into the coffers uh would be, you know, a long-term um issue, but something that would affect us even, you know, in the very next year. And then I also think safety is a huge concern. Uh, I mean physical safety, um, emotional safety. Um, our schools are where we send our children every day and we entrust, um, you know, that the school will take care of them. And I think we just need to continue to make sure that the

102schools are prepared um to do everything that they can from bullying to unforeseen circumstances to make sure that um everybody comes home um and if they're upset it's just because they got a bad grade not because something bad happened. >> Thank you. Okay. Hello. So, how have you advocated for public education in the past and how do you stay informed about the legislative or financial issues impacting our school? >> How have I advocated? Um, well, I mentioned that I spent uh quite a bit of time at my daughter's old school in Los Angeles um on the board and fundraising. So, I think it's interesting, especially in comparison to Mount Lebanon, but just attending the public school was an act of advocacy. Talking to our friends and neighbors about why we were sending our kids there,

103putting a sign in the front yard. Uh, that was advocacy in in my book. Um, and how do I stay up to-date? Um, it's about reading the information that I get our principal send or I don't know if it's actually from our principal. It might just be because I'm on the list serve for the schools, but we get information about um everything that you guys decide and that is relevant um right to my email inbox. So that's how I know. >> If you could please describe a time that you worked in a group setting and disagreed with the majority. How did you handle that disagreement while maintaining a productive working relationship? Um, I wanted hamburgers for dinner tonight, but my kids did not. Um, unfortunately, um, that's what they're having. But, um, I I mean,

104there's always disagreement, right? You you never have everybody walking into a room wanting to do the same thing. So, um, I think I try to honor who has the most information when there's a disagreement between people. um make sure that we can rely on facts and work to get everybody together through consensus building um because we should all walk away from a disagreement with a solution that everyone can be happy with. So what's an example of a time that that happened? Um, in my last role when I was um, EVP of marketing at a media company, one of the things my department was responsible for was um, uh, trade shows and conferences and where we would go every year. And our sales team had a long list of places that they wanted to um, go

105and that list far exceeded my team's budget or our ability to support it from a a people perspective. Um, so after I gathered the list of of everything they wanted to do, um, I set up a meeting and the first thing I did in that meeting was I put up our annual plan and our goals and I grounded everybody in a set of decisions that we had already made, which is what we were trying to achieve for the year. And together we then went through the list of many events that they wanted to attend. And we were able to come to a list that fit within our budget and within our capabilities. and everybody left the room maybe not totally happy because they didn't all get to go everywhere they wanted to, but they understood

106why we had made the decisions that we did. >> Okay. Lastly, board service requires a significant uncompensated time commitment. Given the current board's schedule, are you prepared for the workload and do you intend to seek election for a full term in 2027? >> All right. Well, I say I have 30 seconds. So, the short answer is right now I'm not working outside the home. Uh when my family moved to Mount Lebanon, I did my job remotely for a while, but then I was able to take some time off to make sure that we could all really get ourselves grounded in our community. So right now, I'm not planning to be working outside the home so I would have plenty of time. And whether I would um run for a full term, I think I would

107love to. I mean, nothing, like I said, is more important than what is happening with our kids in our schools. but it's also a nice way to try it out and be able to see, you know, how it goes uh for the next short while. >> And that concludes our formal questions. On behalf of the board, thank you for your time and for your willingness to serve our students and community. Regarding next steps, the board will deliberate publicly following all the interviews and vote during the public meeting on Monday, February 9th, 2026. You can expect to hear from the district office by February 9th after the public meeting regarding the final decision. Thank you again and have a great evening. >> Thank you, >> Mrs. CrarAel. Miss Johnson is in the room and ready for

108her interview. >> Thank you, Dr. Freeze. Good evening and thank you for being here. My name is Brener CrarAl and I'm the board president. I'd like to introduce the members of the board of directors. So, tonight we have with us vice president, Mr. Todd Hoffman, Dr. Becky Campaniro, Miss Joy Given, Mr. Tim Clocky, Mrs. Mrs. Melinda Berdick, Ms. Valerie Flecher, and Mrs. Eva Gilman. We appreciate your interest in serving the Mount Lebanon School District. We have a total of 10 minutes for this interview to ensure every candidate receives the same opportunity. When we reach 10 minutes, your interview will come to a close. We will be asking eight predetermined questions. Because our time is limited, we may occasionally ask you to wrap up a response so we can move to the next item. We will

109begin now with our first question. What motivates you to serve on the school board and what do you hope to accomplish? >> Good evening. Thanks for having me. Um, one of the reasons I originally ran, which still sticks with me today, um, my motivation for being on the school board is ensuring that my daughter and those with our background have representation and promoting, um, all of our students and their postgrad choices for four-year college or the trades or the military. um as well as ensuring the continuous improvement of our district and community especially with our educational opportunities that we offer in Mount Lebanon. >> Thank you. >> What unique attributes, professional skills or lived experiences do you possess that will add value to the current board's composition? >> Thank you. So, I think one of

110the unique skills I have is that I'm a graduate of Mount Lebanon. um as well as the parent of a graduate and having the inst insight of um how significant um a Mount Lebanon education can be and that's not only for our students who are going on to four-year education but our students that are also going into the trades. Um, I think it's really, um, a great ability to promote the district as well as I have a career of over 30 years in Pittsburgh as an executive assistant. Um, and I have strong organizational skills. Um, as well as a long background of committee and volunteer work and I have a lot of tenacity to see projects and different issues through to the end. Please describe your involvement with the Mount Lemon School District. How has

111your experience as a stakeholder prepared you to move into a leadership role? >> Thank you. Well, as I mentioned before, I am a graduate and product of Mount Lebanon Public Schools and I'm a parent of a graduate um as well as obviously a former school director. Um, I was the co-chair of House School Sunny Funny Fair for two years and the chair for the reflections art committee. Um, also serving in different volunteer and activity roles during Laura's pre preK actually all the way through 12th grade experience from all of her school and excuse me and activities through her sporting activities. Um, and it was just a great um, opportunity to be involved in the district and seeing it from that timeline of kindergarten through 12th grade. Forgot that I was next. What is the responsibility

112of the schoolboard and how does the board support effective district management? >> Thank you. So um as a governing board of a nine member team um with our superintendent as the 10th silent person as the head um it's to govern the work of the district through media participation package review voting also doing committee work um including the hiring and review of the superintendent and assistant superintendent as well as review and approval of the budget. setting vision for goals and policy. And we're also stewards for accountability and academic progress and fiscal responsibility to the community. >> Thank you. And in your view, uh what are the biggest short and long-term uh challenges facing the district and how would you approach solving them? >> That's a big question. So longterm I think um going through the significant

113budget crisis that we went through um and coming out of that I would say longterm is maintaining our balanced budget while trying not to tax our residents out of the district. Um as has happened in my family um ensuring that we have funds available for needed capital improvements and rebuilding our fund balance. Um short term I would say maintaining always our academic excellence through um instruction testing standardized testing while ensuring and supporting the mental health needs of all of our students. Also making sure that we are advocates to our government bodies um to ensure that we are receiving the funds that we need from the state and federal bodies that we support. Hello. So, how have you advocated for public education in the past and how do you stay informed about the legislative or financial

114issues impacting our schools? >> Great. Um, thank you. So, as um also a former member of the board, um you know, previous board experience supporting public education K through 12, as well as by promoting non-traditional education opportunities as a member of the joint operating committee of the Parkway Technical School for the Trades. Um, again, um, making sure that I'm providing representation for those students possibly not going on to a 4-year college, but looking at the trades or the military as an option for their postgrad experience. I would also say um, supporting my daughter through K through 12 through her Mount Lebanon experience and deciding to run in 2020 as a board member so she had representation as a Latina student. Um another um example you had mentioned Eva was finding the um information needed as

115a responsible schoolboard member is definitely the work with PSBA for the past four four years and also being part of the voting committee for the past three years. Please describe a time that you worked in a group setting and disagreed with the majority. How did you handle that disagreement while maintaining a productive working relationship? >> I would say I've had that several times um over my career um also as a board member. Um but I think it's a time to think through what the commitment is and to firmly set communication and transparency guidelines and to listen to all sides when making a decision. So it may not be in agreement with a 100% of the group. It may only be four out of five um as in the service of the board, but I would

116definitely say communication and transparency to all people to make sure you're hearing everyone's opinions and their thoughts and what they're bringing to the table. >> Okay. And finally, uh, board service requires a significant uncompensated time commitment. Given the current board's schedule, are you prepared for the workload? And do you intend to seek election for a full term in 2027? >> Thank you. Um, yes, I am aware of the time commitment um, as well as committee commitment outside um, as well as additional meetings that are not on the board calendar for our superintendent review and goal setting. um as well as any additional meetings that are needed. So I am fully aware of the time commitment and at this time I cannot say that I would run in 2027 if I was selected but that's always

117open. Thank you. And this concludes our formal questions. On behalf of the board, thank you for your time and for your willingness to serve our students and community. Regarding next steps, the board will deliberate publicly following all of the interviews and vote during the public meeting on Monday, February 9th, 2026. You can expect to hear from the district office by February 9th after the public meeting regarding the final decision. Thank you again and have a great evening. >> Thank you, >> Mrs. CrarAel. Miss London is available and ready for the interview. >> Thank you, Dr. Freeze. Good evening and thank you for being here. My name is Brena CrarAl and I'm the board president and I'd also like to introduce members of the board school board of directors. So tonight we have with us vice

118president Mr. Todd Hoffman, Dr. Becky Campanero, Mrs. Joy Given, Mr. Tim Clockardy, Mrs. Melinda Berdick, Ms. Valerie Fleer, as well as Mrs. Eva Gellman. We appreciate your interest in serving the Mount Lebanon School District. We have a total of 10 minutes for this interview to ensure every candidate receives the same opportunity. When we reach 10 minutes, your interview will come to a close. We will be asking eight predetermined questions. Because our time is limited, we may occasionally ask you to wrap up a response so we can move to the next item. We'll begin now with our first question. What motivates you to serve on the school board and what do you hope to accomplish? >> Great. Thank you so much for that question and thank you guys all for taking your time to give me

119this interview tonight. So what I my interest is very deep and personal because my daughter Larkin is a middle schooler at Jefferson and has attended public schools here in Mount Lebanon since we moved here for my job. Um, public schooling is something that's very important to my husband and I and it's one of the main reasons why we moved here. I think that I bring so that's my personal I am also a law professor and I have worked in higher education for almost 15 years now and my interest is I see what our students are coming to undergrad with and then on to a grad school and I understand now perhaps more than ever how very important the local school board is and the policies that you set and promote vote in making sure that

120our students are achieving at a high rate, at a competitive rate to both move on to higher education, but also I think as the person that I came in afterward was talking about the trade schools as well because I do understand that higher education and even graduate degrees are not for everyone. So what would I like to accomplish? I would like to be a part of a very important critical function of our society which is helping our students succeed and keeping our school district um in the great position that it is. >> Thank you. What unique attributes, professional skills or lived experiences do you possess that will add value to the current board's composition? >> Thank you for that question. So I am actually a firstg generation college student and a firstg generation lawyer as

121well as law student. So I think I bring that unique perspective of my family was very bluecollar. I was the very first person to uh go on and really kind of grasp hold of what education can mean for every person in this country um when it's done right. Um so I think bringing that kind of sensibility to the board would be very important. I believe an inclusive representation for our students and our community as well. I think also that the demands on our school boards are increasing. I see the consumer mentality going on in higher education. Um, and I see it right now. Parents are consumers and have high expectations of school boards. So, I think that not only my significant experience in higher education also with standardized testing as well as the fact that

122I was a practicing lawyer before coming to teach in a law school. I think I bring kind of a lawyerly sensibility as well to solving problems and thinking creatively. >> Thank you. Please describe your involvement with the Mount Lebanon School District. How has your experience as a stakeholder prepared you to step into a leadership role? >> Thank you. So, I think that my experience has been fantastic as a stakeholder with my daughter taking part um in all of the activities offered first at Lincoln when I was able to be a home room mom and now at Jefferson where I serve um as a writing specialist when they have folks come in to help students with their writing. And you know, I have had nothing but an amazing experience. I think that our teachers and our

123administration are doing a wonderful job. And I would, if I were, you know, so fortunate as to step into a role on the school board, I would definitely make it a number one priority to support those teachers and to support the administration, you know, while also pursuing policies that are going to be beneficial to the system as a whole. Thank you. What is the responsibility? How does the board support effective district management? >> Can you repeat that, Dr. Capanero? >> Thank you. >> What is the responsibility of the school board and how does the board support effective district management? >> So to my mind, the role of the school board is to make policy. We determine what needs to be done. We chart a course um and we help promulgate policies that advance student achievement

124um and help our you know rankings and maintain the steady upward trajectory that they have. So that's what I think the role of the school board is. And then I think, and I hope it's not too simplistic of a way to put this, that it's the administration's job on how they enforce that policy and how they pursue those goals on the day-to-day basis. I guess in other words, what I'm saying is I don't think that the school board should be in the role of micromanaging what the administrators and how they pursue um our policy goals. Thanks. And what in your view are the greatest short and learn short and long-term challenges facing the district and how would you approach solving them? >> Wow, that my friend is a very uh detailed two-part question. Okay. So,

125could you just repeat shortterm and long-term goals? Could you repeat just kind of the beginning part of that question again for me? >> Sorry. um what are the most significant short and long-term challenges facing the district >> and how would you approach solving them? >> Great. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. So, I think a very significant short-term challenge and another reason that has really helped kind of um promote my interest in applying for this position is the impact of technology on student learning. Um I actually you know engage in scholarship on pedagogy um in particular and I feel that I bring a unique understanding to how online uh teaching and learning is affecting our students uh perhaps in a negative way. So I think in the short term I think as a board

126member I would promote um looking into gathering data on how we use our online resources for student learning. Definitely speaking to the teachers on how they feel about how the tools that have been previously adopted are being used in the classroom and the outcomes. Are they promoting the outcomes that we are looking for? So short-term challenges technology how we employ it. long-term challenges, of course, is always going to be the budget um and thinking about money and how we pay for all of these wonderful things. Um and and balancing that in terms of sensible taxation and reasonable um ways in which to save money, right? Not to be pennywise and pound foolish. However, though, some things must be invested in. And frankly, I think public schooling is a number one. Yes. Okay, thank you. >>

127Thank you. Okay, so how have you advocated for public education in the past and how do you stay informed about the legislative or financial issues impacting our schools? >> Okay, thank you. So, you know, I'll be very transparent on this this I am not a longterm advocate on these issues. I became much more personally invested in seeing my daughter coming through the school system. But I think that kind of newness that I have I hopefully would bring a fresh perspective on obviously as a lawyer very familiar with advocacy. Um so I look forward in fact to doing more of that. Um and you know the second part of the question if I if I am remembering it correctly um it I'm sorry could you re repeat the second part for me? >> Yes. How have

128you stayed informed about the legislative or financial issues impacting our schools? >> Okay so thank you. How have I stayed informed? Well I obviously there is the newspaper but also in terms of the writing the legal writing and legal scholarship that I engage in. I am constantly reading and writing about the newest issues with both public education um and also higher education. >> Please describe a time that you worked in a group setting and disagreed with the majority. How did you handle that disagreement while maintaining a productive work relationship? >> I see that I have 20 seconds to respond so I will try to be very brief. As a lawyer, controversy is no and disagreements is very familiar to me. I am very a able to navigate complex, sometimes even prickly relationships in a way

129that is beneficial and uh meets the needs of all parties. I see my time has concluded >> and that concludes our formal questions. On behalf of the board, thank you for your time and for your willingness to serve our students and community. Regarding next steps, the board will deliberate publicly following all of the interviews and vote during the public meeting on Monday, February 9th, 2026. You can expect to hear from the district office by February 9th after the public meeting regarding the final decision. Thank you again and have a great evening. >> Thank you very much. You too, >> Mrs. Crabel. Mr. Rugles is in the room and ready for his interview. >> Thank you, Dr. Freeze. Good evening and thank you for being here. My name is Brena Crrael and I'm the board president.

130I'd also like to introduce other members of the board of directors. So tonight we have with us uh Mr. Todd Hoffman who is our vice president, Dr. Becky Campaniro, Miss Joy Given, Mr. Tim Clocky, Mrs. Melinda Berdick, Miss Valerie Fleer, as well as Mrs. Eva Gailman. We appreciate your >> We appreciate your interest in serving the Mount Lebanon School District. We have a total of 10 minutes for this interview to ensure every candidate receives the same opportunity. When we reach 10 minutes, your interview will come to a close. We'll be asking eight predetermined questions. Because our time is limited, we may occasionally ask you to wrap up a response so we can move to the next item. Will we begin now with our first question? What motivates you to serve on the school board and

131what do you hope to accomplish? >> Uh good evening and thank you for the time. Uh I am uh motivated and interested in this position and and serving uh the the the students of the community uh because I have four of my own. Uh I'm fortunate to have two students at high school uh and two younger boys over at Washington. and uh as a relatively newcomer to uh to Mount Lebanon, just the uh the way that they have been welcomed into the community, the way they've been welcomed into the schools, uh completely different environment from where we came from. Um I I sort of couldn't help but uh become more interested and more involved in the community. Uh I've been fortunate to uh serve on the financial management advisory board uh for the last two

132years. Uh and when I heard about the opening here, I I realized that that was another opportunity to really put my next foot forward uh and take an active role uh in in the future for my own kids and others. >> Thank you. Uh what unique attributes, professional skills, or lived experiences do you possess that will add value to the current board's composition? >> Uh I think it's a couple things. Number one is just uh that that that I have familiarity with a lot of different places. Again, it's my my wife and our our kids moved here in 2023 uh from New Orleans, Louisiana. I've been fortunate to live all over the South and uh several different places in the country. Uh and again, relatively new to Pittsburgh and Mount Lebanon. So, I think just

133a a different perspective uh perhaps than than is just that that is maybe native to Pittsburgh. It certainly served me well and it's been uh part of my opportunity at work. I I I work for UPMC. Um I've been in nonprofit healthc care for almost 20 years now. Uh I think the the way that those types of industries function, the complexity, um the fact that they are uh sort of living on living on pennies despite, you know, despite what what you might think and and the the the the challenges of operating those uh those businesses in today's environment are are not unlike schools and other municipal entities in terms of challenge finances, uh competing priorities. um older ways of doing things, having to try to keep up with modern technology and modern ways of doing

134things. Please describe your involvement with the Mount Lebanon School District. How has your experience as a stakeholder prepared you to step into a leadership role? >> Uh my experience has primarily been is that of a father uh and an engaged father. Uh certainly uh my my kids actually uh grew up in in private uh Catholic school. So this is their first exposure to uh public education. Um I I take that as a a sort of a badge of honor that they that they're now uh having that opportunity. That was actually one of the things that drew us to this particular community as well as Pittsburgh in general was the opportunity to take advantage of a fantastic public school system. uh other than uh helping with homework uh and interacting with the teachers, some of whom

135have become friends just because the community is so close. Obviously, cheering on my our kids, one who's on the golf team, another on the lacrosse team. Uh and then interacting with all of the different parents and and folks, it's uh it it really I don't know how to describe it other than that the school is sort of blended well into the community. It's not it has never appeared to be its own independent thing. It's just something that becomes second nature to all of us and that's been a a certainly a welcome thing for for for our family. >> Thank you. What is the responsibility of the school board and how does the board support effective district management? uh the school board is uh in this particular case and I think in most is that it's

136a it's a a a governing board uh that it sets the priorities the strategic direction for uh the district and then partners with the superintendent the principles and all other stakeholders in the day-to-day you implementation of those strategies uh I've recently learned and again both beforehand but also through this process learning about the the longer term strategic plan that's just been implemented. Uh I was I'm very interested to see that play out. I've certainly was was not part unfortunately not part of the stakeholder engagement, but many of the things that were my own concerns or the things that were would be important to me have been captured in that. So I look forward to seeing that play out. Uh again, I think that in this particular case, sort of financial viability, long-term sustainability, >> five

137minutes. >> Again, >> I'm sorry. >> I'm just telling you five minutes. >> Okay. Yeah, just the the intersection of of past years and the future are are the most important pieces for this board. >> Thank you. And what in your view are the most significant short and long-term challenges facing the district and how would you approach solving them? >> I I think with with most districts, the you know, financial stability is is critical. Um, but when I think about sustainability, it's not just about dollars and cents. It's about the educational curriculum. It's about translating, you know, interactive learning, you know, from the written page into AI, into other technologies. Uh, sort of blending all of those things that got us here, but realizing that that won't get us till tomorrow. Um, I think it's

138continuing to push uh and pull uh to the extent possible all of all of our children forward. We have to obviously make the all the accommodations and and be as inclusive as possible because that's a core and fundamental value. At the same time, continue to elevate the learning experience for the entire school system. >> Thank you. Um, how have you advocated for public education in the past and how do you stay informed about the legislative or financial issues impacting our schools? Admittedly, I I have I don't have a a wealth of experience in in public education. U certainly not not personally. Um that is something that is is new to me, but it's something that I have sort of jumped headirst in along with my family. Uh I I'm aware of several issues, of course,

139you know, whether it be in the newspapers or what you see on the news. uh the challenges of balancing budgets with property tax increases. Uh certainly the emergence of AI and technology. I know that my own kids carrying a a cell phone to school is always a challenge for me. Uh how to balance what people's expectations are versus what the today's realities are. >> Please describe a time you worked in a group setting and disagreed with the majority. How did you handle that disagreement while maintaining a productive working relationship? >> I think that's probably something I encounter very regularly at work. Um, I think the good news there is it's is respectful cander. I think the most important thing, whether it be at work or at home or in in in this setting, is to

140to to to be heard, to be able to respectfully state your position, but also to spend more time listening and understanding. Uh I think there's the uh it's not the golden rule, it's the plat platinum rule to treat other people how they want to be treated. I think those overarching things allow you to sort of take a step back and understand that I've been heard, but more importantly, I've heard what someone else says. And then I can take that and as long as I've participated and done my best, then that's that's satisfaction enough. And finally, board service requires a significant uncompensated time commitment. Given the current board schedule, are you prepared for the workload? And do you intend to seek election to a full term in 2027? >> Uh, that's a great question. I I

141can commit to the workload. I I currently volunteer uh in a number of places both locally and back home back where we came from in New Orleans. Uh I am aware of the obligation uh and and fully expect to uh participate with with all obligations. I I do not currently have a plan to run. That's something I I certainly would like to because I think that's an opportunity to actually play things out. Certainly one year is not enough time to in my mind to make a full [snorts] uh and meaningful um uh commitment to the board or to to see things out. So yes, I would love to seek an opportunity if if the opportunity [snorts] presents itself. >> Thank you. And that concludes our formal questions. On behalf of the board, thank you for

142your time and for your willingness to serve our students and community. Regarding next steps, the board will deliberate publicly following all the interviews and vote during the public meeting on Monday, February 9th, 2026. You can expect to hear from the district office by February 9th after the public meeting regarding the final decision. Thank you again and have a great evening. >> Thank you. You too. Nice to meet you. Bye-bye. >> Bye. >> Mrs. CrarAel, our final candidate, Mr. El Duib is on the call and available to start the interview. >> Thank you, Dr. Freeze and good evening and thank you for being here. My name is Brena Crarabel and I'm the board president. I'd also like to introduce the members of the school board of directors. So tonight we have with us vice president Mr.

143Todd Hoffman, Dr. Becky Campaniro, Mrs. Joy Given, Mr. Tim Clocky, Ms. Valerie Fleer, Mrs. Melinda Berdick, and Mrs. Eva Gelman. We appreciate your interest in serving the Mount Lebanon School District. We have a total of 10 minutes for this interview to ensure every candidate receives the same opportunity. When we reach 10 minutes, your interview will come to a close. We'll be asking eight predetermined questions. Because our time is limited, we may occasionally ask you to wrap up a response so we can move to the next item. We will begin now with our first question. What motivates you to serve on the school board and what do you hope to accomplish? >> Well, good evening. Thank you for giving me this opportunity honestly to be here today. Um I what I want to achieve out of

144this uh opportunity is to add into the community and add into the families and voice out their concerns. Firstly, I come up from like a workforce experience and career development and I want to help like build the student the uh knowledge mindset and uh skills that was in the 25 20 uh vision plan. Also adding to the new families that comes down to M Lebanon. As a resident, I joined my Lebanon or came here like three years ago and the on boarding experience was a bit difficult especially I have a son that comes from like a English for non-speaking uh background. So that was difficult for us to on board. So, I want to add into that experience. Also, I want to add into people with IEPs and 504 plans that have difficulties to really

145mesh and start their school life because I I'm a huge believer if we could help those people that's going to improve the experience of everybody and improve inclusion for most. Thank you. >> Thank you. What unique attributes, professional skills or lived experiences do you possess that will add value to the current board's composition? Thank you for the answer. So my a huge belief that I have different uh value streams that I could provide and with my background I was a teacher in higher education uh specialized in career development. Then I started my own business that deals with financial literacy for young adults. And finally now I serve as a career adviser with the department of labor industry. As you see my stream of experiences lying down from helping people building careers. So that's the kind

146of value I want to bring to the board as a practitioner who's in the field provide that value to people mainly building the mindsets for our younger generation to excel in the current job market knowing that we have a lot of changes. Thank you. >> Please describe your involvement with the Mount Lebanon School District. How has your experience as a stakeholder prepared you to help to step into a leadership role? >> Thank you. So basically when I uh first uh settled down Mibbon 2023 I volunteered within the library within the school itself. I part participated in money events and recently I participated on the Fox group for the vision of 25 to 2031. I get to meet a lot of parents. There was nice engagement and from there I want to continue that that journey

147by not just being an external uh stakeholder. I want to go inside and make that change by listening to people and provide value. That's my value that I'm providing hopefully to this position. >> Thank you. What is the responsibility of how does the board support effective district management? >> All right. So my understanding the board cannot govern does not manage meaning governing is that leads and help with policy and vision. So the first part is by asking question uh engaging with different stakeholders whether internal or external within the school system or parents anybody that within that community. So that's the first part also the second part is about uh the financial uh accountability the school governs in order how the amount like the school system kind of spends their dollar money tax dollar money on

148different activities. I want to be the voice also make parent understand how would you spend those d tax dollars and provide accountability and also help the school district in achieving its mission and vision. Thank you. >> And in your view uh what are the most significant short and long-term challenges facing the district and how would you approach solving them? [clears throat] All right. So the uh shortterm and long term is kind of keeping it consistent consistent with the uh academic excellence that we have here ma lean and that's the value that people come here. I want to like help in keeping that and I know from firsthand when I attended the other board meetings that we have a problem with the tax increase. So when I want to work with different uh board member to

149solve that problem and hopefully bring a solution that's going to make parents understand the value and where their money is spent also on financial on on academic excellence. >> Thank you. How have you advocated for public education in the past and how do you stay informed about the legislative or financial issues impacting our schools? So basically I'm I'm a field practitioner. So I I've uh worked directly with the Pittsburgh Pittsburgh public schools especially with their uh career and technical education uh as a career adviser in the department of labor industry. We provide so many workshops and career readiness programs for the public school system. Before that, I worked in higher ed as a capacity as an instructor and career advisor and I offer that to students graduating and trying to get into the work or

150the uh labor market. I stay informed with the department of education, department of labor, lana uh newsletter they provide and the local news uh newspapers and the school district uh news and newsletters. >> Please describe a time that you worked in a group setting and disagreed with the majority. How did you handle that disagreement while maintaining a productive working relationship? Basically uh a conflict is going to arise no matter what. I try to listen first, understand all the perspectives and then focus on a shared goal so that we could start like kind of communicate with each other and find common grounds and work toward the solution and depending on the problem does it need to be addressed in that meeting or we take it like aside and we work in groups to solve that problem.

151Okay. And finally, board service requires a significant uncompensated time commitment. Given the current board's schedule, are you prepared for the workload? And do you intend to seek election to a full term in 2027? >> Yes, that's why I'm trying to uh join the board now because I see it as a test drive or test run on am I a good fit for the board? Uh do I align, do I have the time? And I believe I have the time. The only thing I want to see am I fully aligned with the requirements and with the work required. So for me those two years going to be deciding factor on what or not to seek but in the future I'm planning to seek definitely. >> Thank you. And that concludes our formal questions. On behalf of

152the board, thank you for your time and for your willingness to serve our students and community. Regarding next steps, the board will deliberate publicly following all of the interviews and vote during the public meeting on Monday, February 9th, 2026. You can expect to hear from the district office by February 9th after the public meeting regarding the final decision. Thank you again and have a great evening. >> Thank you very much, guys. You have a good evening and stay warm. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? Bye >> bye.