001Good evening and welcome to the 25th Annual Student Union's Board of Education Candidates Forum. My name is Elizabeth Kamrowski and I am the 2022-23 President of Lancaster High School's Student Union. To my right is Student Union President-Elect for the 2023-24 school year, Jenna Kuklinski. Jenna will be serving as timekeeper for tonight's question and answer session. The purpose of tonight's program is to allow each candidate running for trustee of the Lancaster School District Board of Education the opportunity to express his or her personal opinion in response to questions being submitted by members of the Lancaster School District voting community. As you enter the auditorium tonight, several student union representatives had question cards that you were asked to complete if you wanted to pose a question to the candidates. Additionally, we offer the same opportunity to the
002student body of the high school, and we've included both sets of questions in this container. I will randomly select these questions for tonight's program. There are six candidates running for three positions on the Lancaster Board of Education. Board members are elected at large and will serve a three-year term from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2026. Each candidate will now have approximately 30 seconds to introduce themselves, and then we'll begin the question and answer session. Our first candidate, in alphabetical order, is Mr. Glenn Jackson. Hello, thank you everyone for being here tonight. My name is Colin Jackson. I have been on the board the last six years. It has been an absolute privilege to be working with the district and representing many of you well beyond this room. So looking forward to having the privilege
003to serve for another term and really looking forward to answering your questions tonight. So thank you for having me. Thank you, Mr. Jackson. Our next candidate is Mr. Dan Roeming. Thank you for having me. So my name is Dan Rovig. I have two daughters. Emily, who is in the Arts Academy. She loves it, and I think it's a great program along with all the arts and other academies. I have a younger daughter that's Pepper. That's my nickname for her. She's going into the Harkness next year. I have a BS in EE, an MS in Engineering Management. I moved to Lancaster 15 years ago, and I think we need to give transparency back to the public. I think we need to represent students, parents, and taxpayers so they can have a voice. And I think we
004need to build communication with the teachers, the custodial staff, the cafeteria staff, and the community at large that I believe personally has been lacking with the school board currently. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Romig. Our next candidate is Tara Romig. Hi, my name is Tara Romig, and I have four kids in Lancaster School District. I have Ethan, who is 10, Abby, who is 12. Isabella who is 14 and Emily who is 17 and they're both in the high school. I served four positions in the Moms Club of Lancaster and Depew as Administrative Vice President, Events Planner, as well as... another important position as well. I look forward to getting the questions from you and seeing what we can do. I want to increase the transparency. I want to lend a voice to the parents who
005feel unheard, dismissed, and brushed aside. So thank you for this beautiful opportunity, and I look forward to the questions. Thank you, Ms. Roeg. Our next candidate is Mr. Michael Sage. Good evening everyone. Thank you so much for coming out this evening. Congratulations, Jenna, on your election to president of the student union. Look forward to seeing you next year. I've been on the school board for nine years now, 30 years now as the president of the board. I absolutely love everything Lancaster. Our school district is absolutely amazing. I want to continue that. And I really, again, thank you all for coming out to see me. Thank you, Mr. Sage. Our next candidate is Laura Sproul. Hi, my name is Laura Sproul, and I have four children in the Lancaster District, ages 1, 6, 11, and 13.
006We love Lancaster and how our children are enrolled in Shoeley, William Street, and Lancaster Middle School. Right out of college, I worked in sales and marketing at WGRC-TV and WDCX-FM Radio. But I'm married to a teacher, and I saw his love for teaching, and he inspired me to get my master's degree in education. I love teaching middle school and high school English in the Williamsville School District. Teaching has given me tons of insight into the challenges that the educational system is facing. My gut is telling me it's time to get back to common sense. Let's get back to the basics, teaching math, English, science, social studies, and the arts. Let's focus on better opportunities for our kids. Let's assign money in the budget for needed improvements. Let's instill discipline back in the school. Let's support
007our teachers and give them the resources they need. My number one goal is to increase communication between the community and the Board of Education. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Sproul. Our next candidate is Mr. Timothy Talbot. So my name is Tim Salvat. I appreciate everyone having me here as well. So I actually live in Lancaster with my wife, Jamie, and our two kids. Oliver was five and currently in Carousel Academy halftime to ease my wife into sending a full-time to kindergarten. And then my daughter was two, Eleanor. So a big thing for me is I wanted to be more involved in the Lancaster School District. So I'm originally from Attica, so a big thing for me was... just participating in my kids and education and things like that and a big reason I chose Lancaster
008is because I always heard how good the school district was. It's a big reason I came here. I currently own my own business in Depew. I specialize in planning and finance. I have my degree in business administration and I own multiple professional licenses in the finance industry. So my main goal with coming here is to run for the board is to essentially work with the board, work with the parents, teachers, students, and try to make good decisions that are educated and sound decisions to make it whatever is best for them. So, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Talbot. And now we will begin our question and answer session. We will proceed as follows. Attendees of tonight's program who wish to raise a question or comment were asked to submit their question or comment on the cards
009provided at the tables outside of our auditorium and then handed them to one of our representatives. I have those cards with me now, and we will ask the questions or state the comments in random order. We will pose as many questions and comments as time allows, giving the candidates the opportunity to respond to each. Please be respectful of this process as we try to create the most productive opportunity for everyone here to listen to the candidates' positions. Please refrain from raising questions or making comments from your seats. Again, if you have not heard your question or comment addressed, you may of course contact any of the candidates directly. If your question is selected, when your name and address is read, please stand so the candidates can address you with their answers. Question one is from
010Ted Morton on 11 Calloway. The question is, do you support males that think they are female to be in female sports and locker rooms? We will begin with Mr. Glenn Jackson. Ted, how are you? Thank you for the question. And thank you, Elizabeth, for doing this. I know this is a hard job, so thank you. Here's what I focus on when I think about experiences of our students at school. I think about beliefs. I think about how hard it can be a student that doesn't feel like they belong. We create inclusive spaces where students can see themselves and be themselves so they can aspire to be something that they truly want to be in life. So whatever we can do to create the spaces where kids can have experiences where their voices are heard is
011something that I focus on. So that's what I would tell you when I think about creating those experiences for students at this school, at any district, it would be number one, first and foremost, how do they feel like they belong and build that inclusive space. Thank you, Mr. Jackson. Mr. Roebuck. Thank you for the question, Ted. So I believe that... People born as boys should be in boys' sports. People born as girls should be in girls' sports. I believe that there's an unfair advantage for... boys, those that are born as boys to participate in girls sports. I don't think it's fair. I think it takes away from the opportunities of the girls that work so hard to try to accomplish goals and stuff like that and for somebody else to be able to take that
012away from them in my opinion is unfair. I believe the school board should be focused on all the kids including half the population of the kids which are the girls. Thank you. Mr. Owek, thanks so much for the question. I also believe that if you are genetically born a male, then you have to be in the male sports. And if you're genetically born a female, you should be in the female sports. Whenever you become 18 years of age and you are an adult and you can make that decision, well then you are more than welcome to do however you wish and feel to do at that point in time. I just feel that adolescence is such a variable time in someone's development that you are experiencing so many hormones, so many physical changes, so many
013emotional changes. It just ebbs and flows. And so I feel I agree with Mr. Jackson, the fact that bullying should not be tolerated. However, I feel that there's an unfair advantage. If a male who identifies himself as a female is in a female's court, then it takes away from the hard work that all the females have done. And that's how I feel. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Romig. Mr. Sage. Ted, good to see you, and thank you for the question. So I think the most important thing that a school district has to think about is the well-being of our students. So that is going to mean a lot of things. So each individual kid is going to need a lot of different support depending on what their needs are. So first and foremost, that's number
014one. And then, of course, kids are going to be involved in sports and competitions. Those are very important to keep kids engaged. So lots of kids absolutely need those things to... thrive at school. Some may need bands, some may need athletics. And if our young female athletes are good enough to play on the boys' teams, then I think they should wholeheartedly be able to do that. When it comes to... transgender females right there can be some competition issues right the school board really does not get involved with those state does right the state level takes care of those policies the school board really can't have a policy that supersedes the the state policy and i'm out of time thank you mr sage mr roll I went to school to be an English teacher because I
015love children. It was my goal at the beginning of every school year to make connections with each and every student, regardless of their religion, gender, or color of their skin. Making connections demonstrated to each kid that I genuinely cared about them as a person. Of course, this includes kids who identify as trans. But that does not mean that I believe that boys should be on girls' teams and girls should be on boys'. Biological boys should be on boys teams. My daughter is now on the track team. I do not want boys changing with my daughter in the locker room. I can't back down. I'm feeling like that. As a mom, I love children and our goal is to protect children, all children. All children need their safe place. Girls who have to change with boys
016in the locker room have lost their safe place. Boys and boys locker rooms, girls and girls locker rooms. That's how it should be. Thank you, Ms. Frohl. Mr. Talbot. I appreciate the question. I think for me it's a little different because I'm going at the end so I get to hear what everyone else says before I get to answer. But, you know, I think it's a very difficult conversation to have because, like Mike has said, there's a lot of stuff already in place by New York State that dictates a lot of this stuff. And I think it's a very difficult conversation because there are going to be people out there that rely their whole lives on sports. And I think that... it'd be very difficult for me to tell someone their perspective on it. Hey,
017you can't do something. But that being said, in some situations, it could offer an unfair competitive advantage. So I think as far as I'm looking at it, I think just making a safe space for those people and having the conversations that need to be had. But it's also important to understand that the world is always changing and that sometimes you need to adapt and understand that, hey, we're going to make these changes, but we're going to do it in a certain way that's best for everyone. So thank you. Thank you, Mr. Telden. Question two is from Dean Miller on 267 Lake. The question is, how much have you received in donations to your campaign? What was the largest donation and what state was it from? Mr. Romig. So I don't have the exact number, but
018I think it was about $1,000 or so. I got most of that from my family in Pennsylvania, mainly because I just sent out an email request. My biggest donation was my mom, a big supporter, Go Mom. She's in Pennsylvania. The second biggest contribution would be from my brother. He's in Colorado. It was for $200. Speaking of finances, I think, you know, me giving these finances here, I have no problem because I think that's transparency. I wish the board would be as transparent in their financial endeavors that I am here giving you and telling you what my financial statements are. The school district is overfunded by, you know, by 50, 60 million dollars. There's a couple comments that were in these findings, that they overestimated budgetary appropriations by an annual average of $13 million. These practices
019resulted in real property tax levies that were higher than necessary. And until this year, for the last 13 years, they've tried to tax us as much as they possibly could. Thank you, Mr. Romig. Ms. Romig? Thank you so much, Dave, for the question. I have also received a $1,000 donation from family. The rest of the donations have come from Lancaster residents and surrounding areas as well that are passionate about what we're running on, which is transparency, giving the parents a voice. And we just want to increase that transparency from the board. I've learned a ton, so much, just in the last couple months of running. I knew a lot before, but I know so much more now. And there's a lot of people in this community that feel slightly different than the current board does.
020So that's where my donations come from, and I hope that I can do everything that I can to use those funds wisely. And I hope that the current board does that, too, with the budget. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Romig. Mr. Sage? Thank you for the question, Dee. I have not received any campaign donations at all. I'll leave that time for everyone else. Thank you, Mr. Sage. Ms. Sproul? Hi, thanks for the question. I hope the question was asked in the spirit of fundraising and hopefully we can get our PTOs to raise money and whether they bet because there's certainly a lot of projects that they raise. I don't have the exact numbers. I wish I had brought my sheet where I account for them and I don't want to misquote myself and say something
021wrong. I know on this last sheet I wrote down a couple hundred dollars. What I would do is foil it and you can find out exactly what I donated and that will give you the exact dollar amount so I'm not misinterpreting what I was saying because I don't have those exact numbers with me and I did not bring them tonight. I'm more concerned though not so much about the little bit of I might have raised for this campaign. I'm more worried about the $50 million in reserves that is said that we have unaccounted for that we want to know how we should spend in this district because that's the root of the problem, misinformation. And I don't want to be part of the misinformation process if I misquote exactly how much was donated to me.
022I want to be part of transparency. I want to be part of the honest process. We have all these reserves. How do we want to spend them as a community? Where do we want them to go? Do we want these funds to go to sports fields? Do we want these funds to go to a playground at Lane Street? Do we want to look into getting bathrooms, better parking? Those are the things that I think we should be worried about, not the little bit of money that we might have raised for a campaign, the $50 million. And I'm sorry, my apologies, I didn't bring my sheet with me. And again, my apologies. Thank you, Ms. Rowe. Mr. Talbot? I also have not received any money in donations. Just my personal perspective on it, I try to
023do as much as I can to give back to places that need it, and I'd rather people donate that money to places like that. I'd rather fund this myself if this is a goal that I have. So, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Talbot. Mr. Jackson. My parents are outside watching the lacrosse game, and I was not as lucky as you, Dan, to receive anything from them. But no, I have not had any campaign contributions just to support the community. Thank you, Mr. Jackson. Our next question is from Jennifer Vergoly on 204 Central Ave. And the question is, Lancaster is known as a destination district. What's your plan in ensuring our district policies are welcoming to trans and gender-expansive children? Ms. Robing. Thank you so much, Jennifer, for the question. I truly appreciate it. I believe
024that everybody should be included. If somebody feels like they are trans... Okay, it says especially those who want to play a sport. Okay, I've already answered the sports question, so I'm going to go ahead. Lancaster is known as a destination district. What's your plan in ensuring our district policies are welcoming to trans and gender expansive children, especially those who want to play a sport? Okay, again, I've already answered the question about how I feel about playing sports, so I'll go ahead and answer the first part of the question since the other part's already been answered. How I feel that Lancaster can be welcoming for the trans community and the LBGTQ is to be all-inclusive. Just because I might feel that somebody who identifies as trans should use their genetic sports locker room that they were
025born to, doesn't mean that I'm against LBGTQ. It doesn't mean that I'm against trans people. It's just that... We should be all-inclusive to everybody who feels as they do, and that goes across the gamut. I don't think that we should isolate LGBTQ, trans, and all that. I want to be all-inclusive and a voice for everyone, and to respond to the parents' needs and cater to the students accordingly. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Romick. Mr. Sage. Thank you so much for the question, Jennifer. I think it's really, really, really important that not only do we support kids, especially our LGBTQ kids, right? They need a lot of support. They need not just support, though, not just inclusion, but they need to be celebrated, right? They need to feel that from their friends. They need to feel
026it from their family. They need to feel it from the community. So that's really going to be the step forward. um you know just to feel included is is great right but you know celebrate as well thank you thank you mr sage miss fro so we all play various roles and one role that i cherish the most is the role of the mom i love kids i love all kids i love kids who identify as whatever they may be I recognize how unique and special each child is. I answered the trans question before. I believe boys belong on boys' teams and should not be in girls' locker rooms. So I'm very clear on that. But I would use the same skill set that I use as a mom, that we love all, to serve the
027children in Lancaster. We play to our children's strengths, not their weaknesses. We focus on positive motivation. Each child is a puzzle. And we are all the pieces to that puzzle. The parents, the teachers, the counselors. We all work together to help that child. I had the privilege of teaching students in the city of Buffalo where I met students with very unique backgrounds. And I learned that we need to meet the needs of our kids. So the end goal is that every student graduates from Lancaster High School with the skills they need to be successful. happy, and motivated to be a good citizen who contributes to society. That's the goal. Thank you, Ms. Sproul. Mr. Talbot? I appreciate the question. I think maybe I have a little bit different of a perspective. Just being a little
028younger, I think that I put a big priority on mental health, and I feel like that's a big struggling point for those individuals. And I think that the biggest thing a school district can do is make a safe place for those people, whether it's just to feel included or be understood. And I think there's a lot of sometimes confusion on that stuff, and there's not always an easy place for someone like that to go. And I think having a school that can make it okay for someone to be diverse or be different, just because when they leave the school, they're going to run into people that are different than they are. So having people feel okay and comfortable, I think, is another one priority there, and just making sure that they're okay talking about, you
029know, how they're feeling. So, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Talbot. Mr. Jackson? Thank you for the question. One of the experiences we just had recently the last few years was the district creating CCI, Culture, Climate, and Inclusivity. And what I appreciated around the district, the administrators, the teachers, as well as the students, is they started from within. So they didn't go and have somebody give them a speech on how to do this, which is a hard thing to do and actually doesn't work. Instead, they started where they were. So they asked their students, they asked their administrators, they asked their teachers, where do we start? And they created these groups in every one of the schools where kids could have a safe space to have hard conversations. So I would look to that to say,
030start in those spaces, those safe spaces you've already created. Inject in perspectives maybe you do not have. Seek it out as times change. And make sure that you continue to learn and grow with the folks that you already have here in Lancaster and the district. So that would be my answer. Thank you for the question. Thank you, Mr. Jackson. Mr. Romig. Thank you for the question. That's actually a great one. I think all kids should be treated equally and fairly. I think all kids should be free from bullying, including those kids that are on the wrestling team. I think all the kids should be treated and actually be given the opportunity to succeed, including the kids on the softball team, including the kids on the baseball team that don't have the equipment that they want,
031including the kids in William Street School that don't have a playground. I think by treating kids fairly and with honesty, integrity, and being able to actually bring them in and have conversations with them, I think you're a welcoming community. I don't believe that you have to segregate any group of any kids. to say that they're any more special than any other kids. I think all kids are special. I know my two daughters are the greatest things that ever happened to me, and I would do anything for my daughters. And I believe that that should be the way that you treat every kid, no matter what color, creed, nationality, origin, if they're LGBT or not, anything. They should be treated fairly, equally, and with respect. Thank you, Mr. Roman. Oh, that's all the time? Oh, thank
032you. Question four is from Owen Curl, a senior at Lancaster High School. The question is, what is your opinion on the recent trend of book banning in public schools, especially when it comes to books that some people claim have to do with critical race theory and sexually explicit content? Mr. Sage? This is a really great question, and of course, thank the senior for me for asking that question. So it's really important that, one, we understand that school boards do not get involved in individual books. So we have educators, librarians that look at those books. I think it's super important, though, that everyone be able to see themselves in representative books. So if you grow up your whole life and you think, man, I've never read a book that describes me or that has me in
033it or someone like me. So I really, really discourage any talk about banning books or even limiting books. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Sage. Ms. Sproul? Before I speak, I'd like to ask any children to please leave the audience or close their ears before I speak. For any parents who would like to do that. Thank you, sir. I'm going to read you an excerpt from a book. You can't tell anybody, okay, you said. You promised that you're not going to tell anyone. I promised. You then grabbed my hand and made me touch it. It was the first time I had ever touched a penis that wasn't my own. I knew that was happening, wasn't supposed to happen. Cousins weren't supposed to do these things with cousins. But my body didn't react that way.
034My body on the inside was doing something too. Skipping down, there was so much excitement running through my body. This was much more than losing my virginity. For once, I was consenting to the sexual satisfaction of my body. This moment also confirmed that sex could look how I wanted it to look, and that it could be passionate and kind, but most importantly, fun and satisfying. His body felt great in my mouth. This is a book on high school shelves for our children. You be the judge if children should have access to this content without parents at least being made aware. Parent consent forms. This is cousins having this sexual relationship. This is incest. Mr. Sage says students need to see themselves represented in literature. Do our students need to see themselves represented having an incestuous
035relationship, which is illegal, with their cousin in literature? That is what I question. Am I so wrong for questioning that? Because I spoke at a board meeting asking that very question. I questioned books. I didn't advocate for any solution. I didn't even use the word book. Thank you, Ms. Sproul. That's all the time we have. Thank you. Mr. Talbot. I think this is going to be a topic that's going to be brought up from every board meeting, regardless of what happens from this point on. And I think it's important to have the conversations on this stuff because it's going to happen again. I'm not a fan of banning books from any school library, but what I am a fan of is having conversations with... with your kids, with the board members, to talk about this
036stuff because, again, this stuff isn't going away. It's important to have the conversations about it. And it's very difficult to take from a small paragraph out of a book what other book the value provides. I'm not saying that that book should be in there. What I am saying is that we have the conversations about that and get this stuff in place to decide, hey, should this be here, should it not be here? I haven't read the full book, but it's my take on it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Talbot. Mr. Jackson. I'm going to get my daughter to see the library. That was a joke. Let me just say this. I agree with Mr. Sage that people have to be able to see themselves. And the other thing I believe in deeply is it's a
037slippery slope. Who gets to choose what to ban? So I don't believe that's us as a board. I've got to put trust in the district and trust in the teachers and trust in the librarians to do their jobs the way they see fit. We're here to trust and build that trust and keep that communication and pipeline open. That's what we will do. But it is not for me to decide what your kids get to believe and read. Thank you, Mr. Jackson. Mr. Roeming? Thanks again for the question. This is another one I was anticipating, actually. So it's interesting that the other candidates have said that they don't want to ban books because this is a quote directly from their website. That being said, there are plenty of books that don't make the cut to be
038included in a school library for many different reasons. We have a committee of teachers and librarians that approve or deny books, and many do get denied. So a lot of people would say, that's banning books. All I'm saying is there needs to be a process in place to make sure that sexually explicit material is not in the libraries for our children. Fifth graders and sixth graders should not be reading those types of books that are on the shelves. If they want to get it, they can get it from Amazon, Walmart, Target, the local library, or anywhere else. They do not have to get it from the school library. So I am 100% opposed to having sexually explicit material in our school library. It doesn't belong there, and it should never be there. Thank you. Thank
039you, Mr. Romig. Ms. Romig. Emma, thank you so much for the question. I totally commend you for being a senior and standing up and to have a question as brave as this. That means a lot. As far as the whole book banning thing, I'm not advocating to ban books. I'm advocating to increase the communication between the school, teachers, librarians, and parents. I will be honest. Until two months ago, I didn't know that these types of books existed in the middle school or the high school. And I'm shocked. Even the middle school has a book called Later Gator that talks about blowjob, talks about sex, you know, oh, I can go on the pill, or I'm on the pill and tomorrow it's going to be okay to have sex. You know, loving 13-year-olds. You know, and
040I've also heard the argument about context. Oh, we've got to know the context of the book. There's got to be a lesson there. I'm sorry, there's not enough rainbows and butterflies in the beginning of the book or at the end of the book to make that okay, in my opinion. As far as, like I said, I don't want to ban books, and I'm very supportive of the librarians and the teachers and the administration and everybody involved. I feel that we can work together to get this done. We can provide a form, very simple to do at the beginning of the school year, just as they do. You can use pictures and photos of your kids in public location, like the Lancaster BNC. Why can't we have a form that says, oh, you know. Thank you,
041Mr. O'Neill. That's all the time we have. Thank you. I appreciate it. Our next question is from Amelia Molnar, a junior at Lancaster High School. The question is, what makes you different or stand out from the other candidates? Ms. Sproul. Lucky number one. Well, I think what makes me different is that I am the only certified teacher who is writing for the board this year, and I think that is... given me so much insight into the challenges that teachers face daily. What are the struggles? What are the highs and lows of teaching? I think that I can be a voice for them. My background in education, I've spent a lot of time in the classroom. I know what it's like to discipline kids. I know what it's like to be under the gun for lesson
042plans. I know how many hours you spend working outside the classroom. But I'm also a mom with four kids. We're heavily involved in the district. and I could be a voice for parents. I'm a taxpayer. I pay high taxes, but I expect to get what I pay for. We're not seeing that right now. We have this humongous surplus that is unaccounted for. I want to see more money spent on our students. I want to see things come to fruition while my children are on the track team, while other children play on sports teams. I want to see changes happen in Lancaster, which will not happen in the future. Thank you, Ms. Rowe. That's all the time we have. Mr. Talbot. So I think the biggest thing that sets me apart from some of the candidates
043is just my position where I am with the kids in the school district. So my son is in the Carousel Academy. He'll be attending kindergarten next year. And the biggest thing for me is having kids that are currently going up the school district. The biggest thing that I want to see with the school is to continue to grow. My big take on everything in life is that the moment you settle for, you think that something's as good as it will ever be is when you've given up. My main goal is to always keep improving. If you think you're doing it, you can always improve. So, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Talbot. Mr. Jackson. Where's Amelia? Love the question. So I won't tell you that I'm better than anyone else and that it separates me necessarily,
044but I think my superpower is I tend to listen very well and meet people where they're at. And it's something that early on as a kid I had to do that. And then it became something that I realized was really beneficial. How do you get into a room and have some really hard conversations with people? Agree to disagree and continue to move forth as friends as family so something again I think the great pride in is having really hard conversations with people And then continue to learn and grow and evolve as a human being Thank You mr. Jackson mr. Rowling Thank you for the question again. So I think we actually probably have a lot more similarities than differences I think a lot, you know, everybody on this here is willing to give a lot
045of time. This is an unbeaten position. So I congratulate everybody that's even running for the board as well as Mr. Sage and Mr. Jackson that's actually been on the board for a long time. I think that takes a lot of time and effort. I think for this question here is more the differences of opinions that I think. So for me, it's the transparency and actually giving the information back out to the public as to where, how, and why the budget is spent. And I understand that there's a budget form and there's budget meetings, but a lot of times I've been looking at those and they're more very high level. They don't give the rationale, the reasoning of why they actually do a lot of the things that are done. i think another thing that i
046would do is i would give a lot more power to the taxpayers to spend the money that they want to i would put a vote or a request for a vote for the william street school playground as well as better fields the first time i was there i put a motion whether or not it gets passed is another matter but i believe the taxpayers have a right to spend their money Thanks so much for the question. What I feel that I can bring to the table, and I didn't say this in my intro, but I'll say it now. I have a bachelor's degree from Penn State. I'm in psychology. My favorite class was adolescent psychology. That's 11 to 18 years old, so you learn about the brain development, the physical development, as far as everything
047that goes into that. It's a big time period. It's a big change. One of the biggest changes that you can experience in your entire life. With that being said, I feel that the parents need a voice, and I feel that I'm a great peacemaker as far as listening on both sides of the aisle. Regardless of whether I agree with you or I'm not, I will listen to you. I will hear your argument. I will advocate. If there's any sort of common ground that we have, I will definitely be there in support of that. I've been talking to people for months now. And a lot of parents feel dismissed, push aside, you know, just put to the side. Thank you, Mr. Romero. Thank you. Mr. Sage. Thank you so much, Amelia, for this amazing question. I
048think the most important piece is I get where I kind of stand in the district. So we are the least important people in this district. So Elizabeth and Jenna are here as leaders of the student union. They're the real leaders of this school. They're the most important piece of this whole process, all of the students. Then you've got the teachers and the administration and the rest of the staff. The Board of Education is really down at the bottom. And the most important thing we can do is celebrate the students, celebrate the teachers and the administrators and the staff. And we've had a lot of mentions of interesting comments so far this evening, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that we have the number one district in western New York, in New York, in
049the country, and I'm really proud of that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Sage. Our next question is from Sarah Mariman on 6 Ravenwood Drive. The question is, since some candidates believe in medical freedom, if elected, how will you protect kids like my son, who has an autoimmune disorder, should another pandemic occur? Mr. Talbot. So, I appreciate the question. I think the biggest thing that we have to account for in any type of public school is the perspective of everyone. And the biggest thing I kind of stick by is, you know, just because someone's perspective is different than someone else doesn't make it wrong. You know, but it may not be right for someone else. So the biggest thing I would say with any type of thing, if something like that does happen again, I hope
050it doesn't, but if that does happen, just making sure we're making a decision that's right for everyone, for all the students, because there may be someone who... is not in a position to get a cold because it could be life-threatening and just making sure that we're making the decisions for that as well. So, you know, I think that ends up falling on the state when it does the board, but just supporting whatever the kids need to make a safe environment. Thank you, Mr. Talbot. Mr. Jackson? It's a little bit of an extension of what Tim said. I'm a type 1 diabetic, and there aren't many of us. It sounded weird. But here's what I would hope. I would hope that something affected, or we were affected by something differently, that that perspective was in the
051room, so we can make sure that we're keeping a space where folks can affect and make sure that we're capturing what's best for all. So it goes back to CCI. Do you have a room and a space for someone that can gather those perspectives and seek out perspectives that aren't the same as yours? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jackson. Mr. Robick. Thank you much for the question. I appreciate it. It's actually a topic that I'd like to cover here as well. So first of all, the New York State actually does have a lot of the legal parameters for what a school district has to abide by, and obviously the school board is beholden to what the state mandates or directs. So that and the palm card that we hand out for the medical freedom is
052if it was up to the individual students or parents for how to proceed, a lot of the like for the maskings or different things like that. then I would say it would be up to the parents if the state does not mandate things. I would think for, and I'm no expert on immunodeficient kids, so I would look to see what the experts would say and how to arrange a program in order to make sure that your child or children are safe in that environment. I would like to say that when we say medical freedom, we're not saying that they shouldn't get polio vaccines or measles vaccines or anything that's been around for 50, 60, 70 years. I still believe in all those. I believe they prevent and stop the diseases from spreading and stuff like
053that. My concern more is future things that are more the newer types that are untested at this point. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Roebuck. Mr. Roebuck. Thank you so much for the question. I, like Dan, also was looking forward to this type of question. We have been labeled as anti-vaxxers. You know, oh, get rid of the vaccine, get rid of the polio and measles and all of that stuff. And that is just not the case. Those have been tried and true. What we're looking for, and we understand that, you know, New York State does dictate a whole lot of policy in this area, and we totally respect that. What we're advocating, well, what I'm advocating for is for if there is, a parental choice on whether you know if they are able to mask or
054not mask or you know whatever is further down the line for that schooling options then i'm 100 on board with a parent's choice if that is possible thank you thank you miss robic mr sage all right uh sarah thank you so much for the question uh i i am not a doctor i know nothing about medical sciences anything like that So, when you come and you're a board member, the state does mandate certain things. The decision really for the school board is how do we make sure that we have kids in school learning. So that to me is the number one thing. I just want to make sure that kids are in school learning. I'm going to always go to the experts when it comes to whether or not we should wear masks or if
055vaccines are appropriate. I can't make those decisions. I don't think the school board should. And we don't really. So in the last pandemic, we didn't make any of those decisions. Our decision was, can we get kids back in school and have them learning again? Thank you so much for the question. Thank you, Mr. Sage. Ms. Sproul? Hello. So I believe that we want to be inclusive of all students, especially with kids who might have compromised immune systems. If another COVID situation should arise, I would advocate working with parents on a case-by-case situation. Every situation is unique. Every child's situation is unique. So maybe that means working with a parent and the doctors and deciding, okay, the child can come to school, but they have to wear a mask every day. Maybe we continue to explore
056options of remote learning for the parents who would want that option because we might also have teachers or pregnant teachers who would prefer to teach in a remote situation. So maybe we can still have classes of remote learning for students who have a compromised immune system and it would truly be unsafe for them to come to school. But the hope is that that will never happen again, but if it does, that we do work with the parents. and we try to make a safe place for those students. Thank you, Ms. Frohl. Our next question is from David Zielinski, address 17 West Lake Forest. The question is, do any of you currently have any affiliation with persons in any of the district bargaining units? If so, when the time comes, will you abstain your vote for
057acceptance of proposed contents? Mr. Jackson. Can you repeat the question again? Do any of you currently have any affiliation with persons in any of the district's bargaining units? If so, when the time comes, will you abstain your vote for acceptance of proposed contacts? No, I do not. Mr. Romick? What was the word you were saying? Bargaining units? Is that correct? Yes. I assume that means like the union and stuff like that? I have absolutely no contact with anybody that has any votes in the union whatsoever. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Roeming. Ms. Roeming? I also have no contacts. Thank you. Mr. Sage? Yeah, I have no relationships or affiliations with anyone on any of our arguments. Thank you for the question. Thank you. Ms. Rohl? I, too, have no relationship or affiliation. Mr. Talbot? Well,
058I think it's only right that the last person here I feel like this directed me at no problem answering yes my I've relative in the district and I have no problem at all abstaining from that I think that a big reason I chose to come to school district was because of her so you know I wouldn't I would hope that Me being a parent just like everyone else here up here as a parent for as long as she's in the district whether that be a short term if she decides to retire or not but but yes, so thank you Thank you The students have also prepared some questions in case that we need some. So the question is, what is your stance on mental health awareness in Lancaster and how would you take extra steps
059to improve the social-emotional education for Lancaster students? Mr. Romig. So just like my answer from last year, I believe this was a very similar question. I'm very supportive of having support networks for anybody that is having issues, social, emotional types of issues. I know that the pandemic that we just came out of because of the masks and the distancing and not having the same kind of school district feel, meaning they're not at school, so they're not around their friends, they're not around their teachers that they love and stuff like that. that it definitely has impacted them and i believe that any child that needs additional support to help them through these difficult times after the pandemic is totally warranted and we should make resources available to them thank you thank you mr roman mr Thank
060you so much for the question. I feel that the school should always be a safe place and that we should definitely contribute to the mental health and nurturing that as much as possible on an individual basis. I love our guidance counselors, and so I want the students to feel welcome to go and talk to them if they need me, say that they're having issues at home or something, then they can totally... go and speak with them as a safe space. As far as like the social environment, I think that we need to have more social gatherings. As far as like more field trips, more let's get outdoors, let's go, let's start going to Darien Lake like we used to with the field trips and everything. So the more that we can get in that, you
061know, group environment, social environment and engage in that, foster that, I think that's only going to nurture the students. especially coming through this pandemic that we just came through, where it kind of deprived that social environment away from the students. And so I really want to nurture that in Foster. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Roderick. Mr. Sage? Yeah, this is a really great question and such an important topic, right? Mental health is the most important thing. I mean, maybe physical health is number one, right? But mental health is right there at the top, right? One thing that I'm really proud of is this district has continued to, I mean, we've hired social workers and psychologists and continue to need even more of that. We're seeing more and more mental health issues. So this is a
062very important topic to me and something that I want to see continue with additional social workers and additional psychologists so that everyone is taken care of. That might even be a hard task. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Sage. Ms. Frohl? So I think we need to clearly communicate to our students that their voice matters, that they matter as an individual. It seems like more and more students are struggling with anxiety and depression. And one of the reasons for this should not be because they are getting bullied at school. We need to protect our students. We need to put our students and their needs first. As a teacher, I always felt that it was important for every student to feel safe at school. It's our responsibility as teachers to show the students how to demonstrate love
063and respect to all. And as a teacher, I know that I could always learn from my students. They taught me just as much as I could have ever taught them. I want every student in Lancaster to feel cherished, to feel respected, to feel like we care about them as individuals. And that means addressing concerns. for the district that needs working in collaboration with lots of people and it's bringing in the right groups. It needs informing parents what's going on. It needs touching base on connecting all those dots between the parents and the teachers and the counselor and the students. Thank you, Ms. Sproul. Mr. Talbot. So again, just being a little younger, I think I bring a little bit different of a perspective because when I was in high school, I could start to see
064stuff changing a little more than it has in the past. And I'm a very big proponent of mental health. I think there's a big stigma around it where you can't talk about your feelings, which my brother-in-law got married on Saturday and I grew up with a baby. You know, I think it's very important to understand that each person's different and that it's okay to talk about it. And I think the biggest thing that every student struggles with now is if you have mental health problems or you're getting bullied, there's no escape. You go home, there's social media, there's... You know, you can't escape from a lot of this stuff. So I think the biggest thing that I would love to see is having support resources that people can access outside of school hours for people
065that need it. So, you know, again, haven't done a ton of research on what Lancaster has done for that so far, but I think it's important to have the conversations with students and understand that each student's different and that, you know, you can talk to someone about it. Thank you, Mr. Talbot. Mr. Jackson. Listen, I would go further than Mr. Sage and say I think it's probably one of the biggest threats to society when I say that. I mean, around the world now, post-COVID. We have to be able to talk about it. And as it pertains to supporting the students, as the resources continue to move in that direction, we've got to continue to make sure we increase the skills to do that. And then I'd take a step further and say it wasn't just
066the students that were traumatized throughout COVID. And before that and prior as we're building towards mental health as a challenge, I think we've got to make sure our teachers and administrators also have the care that they need as it pertains to mental health. Thank you, Mr. Jackson. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions to our candidates. At this time, we will begin to close our forum with each candidate having a one-minute closing statement. We will begin with Mr. Jackson. So listen, I want to thank each and every one of you. Elizabeth, I want to thank you. John, I want to thank you. The Student Union, you guys did a fantastic job, not just today, but also last week. So actually, let's give them a round of applause for all the work you've done. Thank you.
067Thank you. as close to adults as we could. So great job. Thank you. I want to thank you for allowing me to have the privilege to represent all of you and beyond this room with the district. I would be privileged and honored to continue that privilege. But again, you'll have to come out and vote next Tuesday. And thank you for all your questions. Thank you, Mr. Jackson. And next we have Mr. Romick. Thank you. I'd like to appreciate everybody that showed up here and asked questions. Hopefully this was very enlightening to everybody. I think there's a pretty clear divide, relatively speaking, on a number of the issues that are probably what's brought a lot of people here. It was definitely a lot more packed than it was last year. So the big items that I
068would like to see changed is the transparency of the board, more details on where these funds are being spent, give the taxpayers some rationale as to where their money is going, and give them some input as to where they want to spend their money. Do they want a William Street playground? Do they want softball fields? Do they need mental health? Just giving them the ability to actually have a better say in their funds. I would actually also allow... Keep sexually explicit material out of the books. We've already covered that one, so I won't go into that one. And also make sure that the bullying doesn't happen, because it doesn't happen to just one group of people. It happens to everybody across the board. Every school experiences a lot of bullying, and I think it's wrong.
069I would say that I was bullied when I was a kid. I'm a white guy, so it can happen to anybody, and I think it's wrong for anybody to be bullied. If it's a kid in a school, or it's a teacher or anything like that, they should not be bullied. And I also don't believe that you should tax at the highest possible level unless you're actually having those funds go somewhere instead of a big slush fund. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Romick. And next we have Ms. Romick. Thank you so much, Elizabeth and Jenna. You are excellent hosts, by the way. I'm very impressed. I just want to let you know that times are changing. I mean, as we've seen in the past five years, just five years, look at how much the world has
070changed. It's time for change. I mean, there's a lot of people that are hurt from the community that are ready for additional transparency and You know, a better use of the budgetary funds, you know, and a little bit more communication between the teachers and the students and just getting back to even where we were like 10 years ago. 10 years ago was an amazing time in Lancaster School District, and it still is. Don't get me wrong. I'm just thinking that... we can do even better. I love Lancaster with a passion in my soul. That's why I'm sitting here on this board doing something I never knew that I thought that I would be doing. So I just really ask for your vote on May 16th and hope to see you then. Thank you. Thank you,
071Ms. Roelig. And next we have Mr. Sage. Elizabeth, Jenna, thank you for hosting this evening. All of you, thank you so much for coming out and asking questions. So, like a few people have mentioned, May 16th from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. right here at the high school in the Joplin Gym is our vote. I would love your vote. I am also supporting Mr. Jackson and Mr. Talbot. I want to see the districts, the highlights that our teachers, our students, and our administrators have done over the last nine years has just been amazing, and I want to see that continue to go. Anyone interested in the budget, we're having a hearing just like we do every year right after this, so 7 p.m. to whatever. You'll hear a lot about our budget, which is $1.6
072million under what? we could have gone out with, right? So I really, really think that Lancaster is amazing, right? And I want to see it continue to go in the direction that it's going. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Sage. And next we have Ms. Sproul. I spoke at a board meeting in November. I asked the board members to please just anyone call me back. Zero out of seven called me back when I specifically asked me to. As a parent, I found this profoundly disappointing. So my number one goal is to increase communication between the Board of Education and the community. The community has lost trust in the district. They have lost trust in their Board of Education, who is supposed to represent the voice of the people. Let's rebuild the trust with the community. Let's
073give the taxpayers, let's give the parents, let's give the teachers, let's give the students their voice back. Let's let the people speak for this community. Let's let the people decide how the $50 million in reserves will be spent. Let's put that money into sports, teachers, Harkness, the academies. Let's continue our awesome music programs. Let's give more and excellent opportunities. for our children. These are our tax dollars. Let's spend it on our kids. Thank you, Ms. Roll. And finally, we have Mr. Talbot. I appreciate you guys hosting this whole thing. It's been awesome. It's been an experience for me. I just want to give credit to everyone that's come out here today, regardless of what your beliefs are and all the other candidates, because we all care enough to be here. And I think that's, you
074know, saying itself, it's one of the big reasons I chose Lancaster is because the fact that everyone's so involved shows that we care. So for me, I'm a big proponent of, you know, putting in the work. I've been attending all the board meetings. I've been, you know, doing whatever research I can to learn as much as I can. That way, if I am elected. that I can do the best job that I can. So I appreciate everyone taking the time to be here. I encourage you to go vote, vote, vote, you can't talk today, I guess. Go vote to make your voice heard in whatever your beliefs are. And, you know, I appreciate everyone coming. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Talbot. On behalf of the Lancaster High School Student Union, I would like to thank
075the candidates and the attendees for their interest in our schools and their future. Our hope is that this evening's forum was informative and helpful. Good luck to all the candidates, and please remember to vote on Tuesday, May 16th, right here at Lancaster High School in the Joppa Gym, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. This concludes our program. Thank you, and have a good night.