001all right we would like to welcome everybody well reconvene our open session and if you can join us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all great thank you I'm not aware of any emergency additions or modifications there are none great we'd like to excuse sighed Jane while who is out of town and then then you unable to be here aye-aye can we get a motion to approve the agenda all in favor hi that's unanimous and I are there any comments that are not related to one of the two items on the agenda so that trustee area or the superintendent any okay why don't we wait for
002the item for the comments that I think that makes sense and the first item I this is the first hearing of it so Andy could you give us some background sure so this is a resolution before you that we are recommending approval that would initiate the process to consider transitioning from a current at-large election system for electing the five board members to a trustee area or a district oh hi the city of Ojai just recently approved this transition and the majority of municipalities and school districts in Ventura County as well as across the state are doing the same thing the rationale for making this transition is that there is a legislative intent fear that with at-large districts or at-large elections that minority voting power is diluted if individual areas within a community that have a
003higher minority population than other areas that by having at large that that that community may not have the same level of representation and so by going to the trustee areas it's an attempt at addressing that concern again it's something that the majority of districts and municipalities are transitioning to in part because two years ago a statutory change granted the ability for law firms to put forward a letter of an accusation of failing to meet the California Voting Rights Act if they if we were to be in receipt of that letter than the ability of that law firm to collect up to $30,000 in legal fees initiates it's up to 30,000 but from what we've heard it always is 30,000 and so the majority of including the city of Ohio when they make this transition often
004it is to avoid both that initial $30,000 fee as well as the potential litigation if if the elected body doesn't move this direction so this is only the first step we will then have two public hearings where we will solicit public feedback on considerations when drawing up a proposal or options for considering district heir or trustee areas will then put forward a proposal if it's continue down that path once that proposal is made public then we'll have two more public hearings before ultimately there's a possibility of asking you guys to approve a change so again this is just the initiating process to have us begin exploring this and begin the process of public hearings on the topic so there are any comments from the board or is there a motion to approve the resolution I
005just want to say that we at this issue and it appears that we're essentially just a sitting duck right now waiting for some law firm to service with a ladder and that that would give rise to thirty thousand dollars of expense which we don't have and we're not aware of anybody any any city or other elected body challenging the creation of district so you understand what we're talking about with district it would be Geographic districts so right now we're all chosen from we have to do is to qualify to be elected we have to be within the boundaries of the Ohio Unified School District and as long as we are we put our name in the ring and our hat in the ring and then we're elected if we're one of the top three depending
006on which election or top two in a two-person election and that's that now it will instead be people will run from particular geographic areas just like they do for Congress or anywhere else so there would be a but a literal map showing different districts for the school district and and we're going to begin the process of looking into that and potentially adopting that which seems to be the you know logical and inevitable thing that we do now in response to the state of the law and just to clarify oh sorry yeah we do I we are aware of my jurisdictions who I have litigated to keep the at-large status we're not aware of any that have litigated in one yeah I'm sorry today finish the yeah that's why they didn't win the trendy thing it
007is based on a presupposition that there are are underrepresented Geographic clusters that are not adequately represented it can't have a sideways effect like fragmenting underrepresented voters across a district if they're not clustered geographically but the presumption and the the bias is in favor of geographic diversity I think we're somewhere in between in the Ojai Valley but what it does guarantee is that all the parts of the community will have representation and I think that's important there there will be more to be said about this and we will have but at least two public hearings and probably four meetings and all right that's right yeah we'll have two public hearings before a proposal becomes public then after that there's two more public hearings so I have a lot more to say about it but for purposes
008of today is there a motion I'll second all in favor aye that's unanimous moving on today but I think the reason why we're all here because you didn't know about this first well you did if you saw it the notice because it was fully notice the public hearing on the community's priorities for the hiring of the next superintendent I just want to update you we we went through quite a long list of what the board has done to date in working on the selection process I just want to update you that since we met last we've come together and we I put together a list of people who we think of representative of the community to represent various groups that represent various interests and invitations will be going out to those people it's it's a
009fairly long list we don't know that everybody will be able to make it we hope that as many who want to can but I'm reluctant to tell everybody who's on the list because if they don't show up then I don't want them to look bad right so my time I think that you would be comfortable that it represents a lot of groups so anyway why don't we I think that's the only update on the process since our last meeting so why don't we open it up for a second well that's wonderful I all in favor all right and that's unanimous all right so why don't we start with Steve weed and if anyone wants to fill out a form feel free to do so good to see you all again today so in with the
010board's indulgence I'd like to recommend that you each get a fifty percent pay raise yeah I I you know I I'm sure you stopped counting the hours and it seems like there's always something else I mean the Templars so again thank you for the community my comments were actually regards to four point one but that's okay I kind of said what I think is appropriate to say regarding superintend this election so in regards to the seemingly imminent approach to selecting board members from districts I have several thoughts I know it's going to be really challenging even though you know we kind of already think where the dividing lines might show up within our school district it's going to be interesting to see how that unfolds so what I would ask is that at some point
011there's mention of how the process is going I know you probably still have a lot to work out that way but I wish you all the best with that thank you I will Rodriguez welcome thank you as mr. Whipple said my name is Roy Rodriguez I'm a member of the committee of Ojai Alliance for education equity I'm have made my home in Ojai since 1972 my career has been in education all 38 years of it I spent five years teaching in Los Angeles and then 33 years teaching counseling coaching tennis football at North High School so I've seen a tremendous several number of superintendents and boards go by so I think I have a pretty decent assessment of what I think it's important in the new superintendent so I like to read some of these
012for you and I will leave a copy for for you folks I think and there's nine items but I had it down I had 20 but I thought that would that would just I would keep you here till midnight so I and these are not necessarily in the order that I would prefer number one I say I think of the the new superintendent should have a should be a person who possesses collaborated style leadership - a person who has been in the classroom I think that's really critical and Dell with diversity and cares deeply about the complete education of each individual student number three a person who will commit to more than three years through a three-year period so that board polity policies kind of community policies the the wishes of the teachers can be
013implemented so many times and I don't know what the contract is for you Andy but I know there's so many they come in they'll sign the 3-year contract and then before you can actually implement anything they're gone and it's been consistent here in the Ohio Unified School District I think Hank was the only one that's that remained for quite a while number four an individual who has had experience with curriculum issues specifically dealing with equity diversity and inclusion of all students by a person who will systematically sustain training the staff of the Ohio defy school district on cultural awareness and I and I think it's really crucial that that person who comes in started from kindergarten and and work its way up rather than start at the high school number six person who is committed
014to cultivating a diverse workforce by making a commitment to support efforts to hire and retain teachers of color number seven an individual who is committed to the social and emotional learning of every student in the Ohio Unified School District number eight an individual who possesses cultural literacy cultural proficiency and provides the most effective tools for the district to respond to the diversity that we have in our Unified School District and then the last one's an individual who is confident and experienced in education and will require the same commitment of all administrators teachers and staff in the Ohio Unified School District and I'm sure you will make for a wise choice and I thank you for your time thank you I'm sorry what was your subject I thought science ESL science biology Spanish typing we're talking
015in the seventies you came in with a multi credential and they used you and and I landed with this because I wanted to say that but those 38 years were the best years of my life I missed the kids but I think when I retired I it was time for me to do something else yeah much appreciated aunt Rita Nancy and I have to apologize everyone was quite good about writing down what they wanted to talk about and I've completely didn't read that I do try to read things though when you came in and got started I am Angie janessa I am here tonight speaking for the Ojai Federation of Teachers we had three areas that we wanted you to keep in consideration in hiring a new superintendent we want somebody who has someone who
016has an ideas or strategies for dealing with one of the greatest issues in our district declining enrollment we would like to have someone who based on our declining enrollment and the fiscal issues that are created because of that we would really like you to think about hiring someone who can articulate a plan for recruiting and retaining quality educators I think that we are coming up to a lot of retirements and I think it's going to be an issue for us getting people to want to work here and then retaining them I mean at this point I'm here and I'm committed to Ojai right but if I was younger I might be looking around to places where I could get more pay and I think that's a consideration in the future I feel like people in
017this district are very aware of that and are certainly the teachers are concerned about the quality of education that we're going to have if we don't retain if we don't recruit quality people we don't retain people here and then third we would really want someone who has a track record of positive labor relations we want to continue in the vein that we have had and make sure that we are collaborating and working together for the betterment of our entire district thank you very much don't go too far okay yeah so Annika do you want a long as you're still standing - scrawled here in the last five minutes I along with Roy hi everybody and seen you in ages nice to see all your faces so with Roy I'm also part of this newly forming
018group in development that we've named ourselves oh hi Alliance for equity and education and as you may be aware our concerns are largely focused on making sure everybody has an opportunity and I think you're all everybody's aligned around making sure that opportunities are present for everyone in our school district and the specific qualities of a superintendent that I would personally love to see and I think our committee our group would love to see and I think would really help our district hit all of our El Cap goals recruitment goals and retention goals and family engagement goals is I hope that our next superintendent is highly culturally competent with the cultures present in our district specifically Spanish language I'd love to see a bilingual bicultural superintendent I'd like to see somebody really championing the cause of
019inclusion of our non-english speaking families championing not just thinking that's a nice idea but somebody who has a track record of experience implementing programs and processes across the district equitably across all schools from elementary to high school that are linguistically inclusive processes down to the PTA PTO parent-teacher conferences school events graduate everything including the boards board meetings um so yeah so they're just their linguistic and cultural competence I think is essential but overall somebody who has a track record of championing the causes of diversity equity and inclusion I would be hoping that you'll be asking behavioral interview questions I know Michael knows all about this I would like to hear their stories of their experience and experiences prior experiences turning things around in districts where we have chronic white supremacy outbursts I would like to
020know that it would be champions I would love to know they have a history of establishing and championing a shift towards restorative justice procedures and policies and practices K to 12 also is where I mentioned the inclusion and establishment and sustenance of a K to 12 diversity awareness cultural awareness curriculum culture to really change the culture in our district to to to bring around much more inclusiveness than what we've been seeing and I'd love to see somebody who has a track record and experience establishing a dual immersion bilingual elementary program because I think that's the ticket to bringing more and moment into our district Thank You Rebecca Chandler I am just speaking on behalf of a parent so I have three sons one of which graduated from Nora off a couple years ago and one
021currently at Miramonte elementary school but I'm also an educator and the director of CTE for Oxford Union High School District and have worked in many different school districts across the county and CTE career technical education is my love and passion so it might be a little biased here but I would love to see we our community of Ohio which I have lived here for about 12 years and has such a rich community of people with so many amazing diverse talents and attributes that should be flooding our schools and right now I can say from even a community member who is not super involved in our local schools because I'm involved in other schools I haven't seen that in my children's schools and I would love to see how we could connect with our local businesses
022how we can bring our community together how we can watch that flow into a beautiful unique school that isn't really offered anywhere else in the county and I have worked all over the county I think we have such an amazing opportunity to make that happen and it's thus far hasn't happened to the fullest extent that I think it could and I think the issues that a lot of other people have discussed as far as cultural inclusion and awareness is is we're currently lacking that in our schools and I would love to see all of our diverse community is truly celebrated in what we do and and I agree like the fiscal element that we are facing as a district and I was looking at the forecast of continued declining enrollment as our district which is
023super scary because that's our money right and so we really need a superintendent who knows how to bring the funds into the schools grant writing is critical and I would love to say that we could hire a superintendent who could hire a grant writer but quite honestly we need a superintendent who has that ability to make that happen and we need more funds coming into our schools from alternative ways because it's not gonna come from our traditional student enrollment it's just not so but I do think that we could attract outside districts if we could really develop and exploit how amazing our community is and people would want to be here and I would also bring more people into our community so I think we have a huge opportunity to build a very unique successful
024school district but I feel like if we keep processing the school district like it's a that was in person 2000 person 3,000 person it will not thrive you have to find anyway thank you do we have any other comments anything from the board well actually the public comment section if there are no further we can close the public hearing all in favor aye aye that's unanimous aye comments from the board well for me I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of all the comment shared tonight I think that there's a lot of truth and value to what's been said and you know honestly it's probably impossible to find one person who has all of the virtues that have been listed I don't know that Mary Poppins is gonna fly in white tie we want to get as
025much as we can and I and finding somebody who I can bring the kind of skills that are going to help our district is absolutely important yeah I have to appreciate people taking the time after a long day for to give us what actually turned out to be I think really significant and relevant feedback I mean you know very often you go to public forums and you start getting blue sky you know things off we had if we had unlimited this but tonight I think you gave us some really good and relevant the guidance and I appreciate you taking the time and thinking so thank you a couple of things one is it's come up twice at least Roy you mentioned it also so I happen also to be a lawyer I'm not an HR
026guy like Michael but there's also a lawyer but you cannot certainly in California you cannot enforce a an employment contract to force somebody to keep working for you if they decide to leave so we're not in a position no matter what we do to compel a person to work for us for X number of years it's impossible legally and I will say you know because I guess under under the there's an undercurrent with respect to our current super superintendent and you know he's obviously leaving sooner than we all had hoped but I really believe you know if you know Andy and if you know his story you know that it really was a you know kind of a once-in-a-lifetime situation that that caused him to to feel the need to to take this other opportunity
027but I really I want to say to you Andy you know I I know what if it would have only been such an opportunity that would have pulled you away because I really do believe that Andy you know was a in the exact right place when he took this job and we're one other thing I wanted to mention because we've talked a little bit about the recruiting and last week at the end a person had said you know hey step up and spend the money on a professional recruiter so we can get the right candidate well in this era of the internet if people who are interested in being superintendents know where to look to see what jobs are open and we are quite confident that we have had the opportunity to really look at
028all comers and you know you may quibble with us about whether our judgment is sufficiently good on the subject that we should have hired professionals to winnow down the candidate pool or to help us see who the right candidate but in terms of of feeling like we really have gotten input from every person out there in the world essentially who's interested in coming to Ojai and being our superintendent we really feel like we've gotten that and and we feel like we have some quality candidates and you know I will say personally as ice' thought about running for office again and taking on this job for another four years really to me the biggest issue is the trying to create which we don't have right now a truly whole School District where everybody is you know
029in it together and feels like they all have just as much access and just as much resources etc and it you know you know it is very hard you know it's it's not all pull and it's not all push but it takes two to tango and and certainly you have to send the right message and you have to have the right programs etc and we're going to keep working on it but I agree that's a big part of what our new superintendent needs to to tackle and and then on the on the enrollment front absolutely agreed you know I think all of us feel like if we can somehow harness this unique environment we have in Ojai to become an oak park or you know a place that people want to come when it comes
030to public school that you know I know Angie we've talked about this in the last several years you know what you know what we can realistically aspire to do and I think we really I aspire to do that I agree that that is because demographics is not something you can change but but you can change you can't bring people today due to a district through innovative offerings I think that bilingual possibility is a fabulous one and to be continued sure I just want to family an opportunity presented itself to not only elevate yourself in terms of your goals but I do want to thank you for the time you spent here in Hawaii because I am so proud of the fact that I was able to get a job here so my kids went through
031the system and I couldn't have been more pleased with the staff they did well so that's a that's a very special part of having kids go through the system and live here in this beautiful place like you said Kemp so if we can get recruit as much of those those requirements that we all say and you know I think this person has to be has to have genes from [Laughter] don't you're walking on this challenging time for you folks so I'm sure you do a great job and I want to thank all of you because I've been in that position of giving to the community but it's a really really who we are because if it wasn't for you folks and folks like this so we thank you perfect thanks should have you on the
032microphone but will will tell people for those watching at home it was really nice Shelley I think you were I just you took me on a different tangent um I was just gonna echo you know what you were saying Kevin about the decision that we made to not go with the firm to hire a firm and I and also with Michael's thinking you all I think part of the firm's job is to sift through and winnow it down for us but one of the things that I valued that this board decided to do was really listen to the community and know the community as we went o it down ourselves and take take our time to hear what you have to say and really look at these candidates and try to match that but your
033time is so valuable and I so appreciate you coming and sharing with us so that we can do our job as well as we can this without you guys we really can't do this job without kids coming to their school without buy-in from you guys then we have no school district by continuing the thought on the search firms as as we were looking at what the offerings were as mentioned before that the two big things they do for you are they take the pool of resumes they review them and they give you what they think would be best for you and then the other thing they do is they organize some community meetings and I think that we've had some great community meetings that there's been great input from you we have heard you know
034through surveys and and through other means other comments that people have made so I think that we've gotten some good input from the community and in terms of the winnowing down process I think there's a lot to be said for not winnowing it down with a board that's willing to look at every single candidate I think there's a value to that and you know we're an outside firm might say well this person you know is not the kind of person you want isn't it better for us to decide what that's the kind of person we want so anyways maybe it's been a little bit more work on our part but I I think that you know I I feel better about not wondering whether there was somebody that an outside firm rejected that we would
035have wanted to talk to okay can you just tell us how where you are kind of in the process sure I'll reiterate some of the points made before we have fine I we've reviewed a lot of resumes we have narrowed that down to a few of the very top candidates we have I selected a panel of community representatives that will be contacted in the next day or two hour I wonder someone I wanted to give us a little a little breathing room there but yeah maybe maybe yeah right soon after we leave at this meeting and and then on they I believe it's a twenty third Saturday we'll be having a very long session that that panel is going to have a chance to meet the three top candidates I to ask questions to interact
036with them and then provide feedback to us I and then we're going to have to do the hard work of taking all of the comments that we've heard here tonight all of the survey responses from the community and the teachers I and I and sift through that and tried to come to a decision so we really think that there will be a selection before the end of the month and I you know hopefully about a week before the end of the month but we're we're hoping that it will be before the end are there other questions or things that you wanted to hear from us tonight sure yeah well if it's agendized we can but what happens a lot is someone will ask us a question in a meeting that's not on the agenda and
037then it's illegal if we answer it which is kind of dumb bye feel free yeah and sometimes I mean sometimes we might be criticized for being a little too informal here but so I just have a just a bunch of questions I a this is my first time so I'll just say my name is Blair brainy I was born and raised here in Ojai which the school system my parents went to the school system and children are not going through system I've got three little kids my oldest in first grade and then I have two that will so I will be in this district for a long time it's okay my questions are do we have any internal candidates we we have all kinds of candidates I don't want here's the here's the other issue
038there are some things we're reluctant to answer because if we do or if we don't and if we identify who those people might be and then we don't select them or whatever it's it's an awkward situation okay so but we do have a lot of variety in our candidates okay so you have three candidates right now or or we have three Kerry document school is the salary competitive to other superintendent positions that's okay thank you it's it's as much as we can afford sure sure but no it's not competitive it's just like our teacher salaries are not good it's I just don't know the ins and outs yeah it's just budget math the way it works when you're in declining enrollment in the situation where we are were we're not small enough for poor enough
039rain and we're not rich enough or have enough students you know we're we're in that area where the map doesn't work for us I was gonna say that's called a doughnut hole in like medical healthcare right or they used to have it okay I do all the candidates have experience in education being an educator I believe that all of the candidates have experience in the classroom is there a plan if you got it question you've got a lot of do is there a plan if because I know there's been I was just talking to another teacher in the district and there's other districts in Ventura and Santa Barbara that didn't use any kind of firms which I'm totally fine with not using firms I don't have an issue with it not that it matters anyway
040if I did but where it didn't work out and they're paying for three superintendents and like is that possible would we have to deal with that because they still have to pay out the contract for the superintendent's that didn't work out for whatever reason and so they're still paying multiple contracts and so do we have a plan if that happens would that ever happen could be afford to do that like that would that situation could that situation happen here and if it did do we have a plan to deal with it so you're probably the best there are essentially what you're describing is we would hire somebody doesn't work out yeah we terminate them and then we have to pay them at some some yeah some yeah so state law allows for no greater than
041a 12-month severance clause so the I'm sorry the lesser of 12 months or the remaining term okay so if a superintendent if they're dismissed without cause sure there is dismissed for cause at six months okay so if they're dismissed without cause and that's saying that a two-year contract and they'd been here a year and a half then the most that could be potentially the district be responsible for be the remaining six months okay so it's no greater than twelve months or the remainder of the term if it's for any reason that board just decides they wanna go a different direction yeah if it was for something that was concerned and breached the contract then it's only six months today at daycare and he's talked about there was a there's a in Ventura I don't know
042what particular district but they're they've hired a third superintendent and they're paying the two others for the one prior but you're correct that they will be paying for the current one and the most recent one is on say on salary until August okay I know so we do board and we get into all aspects of the negotiation and all provisions and we try to have a fair contract but we're totally mindful of that I remember well actually when when we hired Andy I was very aware of that issue and concerned about anything cool good to hear let's see do any of the candidates you know you mentioned it's desirable to have candidates that had experience with districts and declining enrollment do any of them actually have experience I mean cuz since you guys have looked
043at the resumes you can say yes or no that they do have experience with dealing with declining enrollment or is that an identifier so we're not sure yet if those three candidate finalists have experience in declining enrollment I think we could guess but I don't know that we necessarily have a definitive okay do we know if they have experience in improving low-performing schools with Mattel AHA and Miramonte just getting on the list of low-performing schools in the state of California minors Oaks I'm sorry yeah there's oats in Mattel AHA yeah yes so going back to your prior question to do and one does not your prior question being your question that you just asked all three have experience working in or I'm sorry was that's this question was low before yes all three have experience
044with low performing schools and school districts do they have experience in improving low-performing schools how do you how do you imagine it was like a part I forgot into which their leadership accomplished them okay great okay but see how was the list for the panel participants that you will be emailing in an hour determined I'm not I'm not I'm joking or in a day or two 24 hours per day whatever whatever right how is that how were the how did you guys make the decision on who the community members were that would be on the panel to interview the final well what we wanted to do was make sure that all the major constituent groups in the valley they related to schools and some that even don't relate to schools were included and so we
045we started out by looking at what the what the groups are and then I who would best represent those groups so you guys this is kind of like did a brainstorming session and reached out to people who you thought would some represent those oh right you've made your list of who you want to reach out to I got it we generally that's the part we don't want a prejudice if I you know if somebody's not there that they don't care and and there's I will share that there are some groups I that we are reaching out to and that I will say look if you can't be there we want somebody from your group to be there there are other people who it's really more about the person than the group because we feel that
046they can contribute to the dialogue great questions with your experience here the wisdom you've gathered is it does it ever happened where you sit with a board and say you know in my three years here I think we heard all the conversation come in and share qualities that the superintendent should have you ever sit down and say you know I think you direction so can I just quickly say something like give you time to think a little bit more by time I know I mean I really want to say cuz I don't think he was you know he's a humble guy very very smart very qualified but not one to really blow his own horn and I he has provided us amazing input and and thoughts about not not only qualities and traits but I
047you know the the team we have and the team we need to have he I mean he's been in the trenches here and he's provided us some invaluable input and support and throughout the process as you would hope a superintendent would for a board but but he really has I he stepped up to the you know plate now I I feel like he's really hit a homerun and I in providing input and he has done that but I would also add only ever in our request and so the waited you know rather than just saying here's what I think it was do you want my opinion and I think that was an important component to allow the board to decide how we and and the board I mean I think you know from being here
048and listening to us on occasion they sometimes we have opinions and sometimes they're pretty strong opinions and and we you know we we have expressed times where you know we want his opinions and we pur express times when we didn't want his opinions and involvement and and ultimately the decision is up to the board members and we're not shirking that word you know all right we're here and engaged and we're going to work hard to make sure that we make the decision and we're you know we we may where I believe that at the end of the day we're all going to agree on a great candidate but I can guarantee you that we're not necessarily I'm going to agree with each other up to that point lastly he will be he's on the group
049this is your email Thanks I'll block out today I'm not answering we will look at anybody I don't want to identify who we're looking at at this point because I don't think that's fair to the candidate but we're looking everywhere where we're not leaving any stone unturned if the stone is here in Ojai we're gonna turn it over if the stone is somewhere else we're gonna turn it over the unions but just for myself and one thing I'm really feeling we need going into the future is someone who can think outside the box I mean that's one of the things that you have brought to our district where you'll think outside the box ends and then be able to show and explain what that waiver you think is and it's really really helped us and
050I feel like that's something that we really need in terms of recruiting new students and not just thinking outside the box but even willing to think through the solutions that come up and I can think of a million solutions to things but I we always need somebody who can do the steps to get to that point and I just feel like that we need a leader that can help us do that if it's a dual enrollment program or if it's whatever it is we have a we have an issue in our district because there's a lot of small schools that have issues with declining enrollment but they don't have a million you know how many private schools do we have that we compete with which always creates an issue for us and I feel like
051the person that we hire really has to be a person who sees that as not just something to it as an opportunity an opportunity for creativity and an opportunity to bring everybody together and say hey let's do this and then we can draw people into our district you know because we like you know you've said it I think every meeting we have such incredible volunteers here we have amazing parent groups here and they're ready to - they're ready to do whatever needs to be done we just need that leadership to say hey this is what this is what our focus is but we have to have an outside-of-the-box kind of figure I think has other ways we just kind of keep moving and you're outside the box thinking was fiscal and that's where your creativity
052has been which has really really helped us and so now I feel like we're we're on the right path and we have to kind of keep the steam going keep it keep the train moving so and the other thing I hear you saying is being able to communicate that outside the box idea not have the ideas but bring people along with you and it is be able to to articulate a plan see the opportunities and people in our district you know not just and we have incredible teachers who are ready to move something forward we have groups like food for thought and you know with a Bravo program about all these different programs that are ready to keep us filled which is like just to do it we have we have the Ojai Alliance for
053education and equity who's ready to support anything that we can do in terms of equity cultural bias issues we have it here but we need somebody who now now that we're sort of moving along and we're we can at least breathe for now in terms of our finances I think it would that kind of person is we need that person who can say not not just keep us on the same path but like really really pushes forward and grab people from the side and how to make minute I just see Ojai as having such an opportunity for that and we we don't ever throw is struggling and I always see the struggle as an opportunity there's no reason for it not to be because creativity comes out of struggle and you find amazing solutions that
054way so I would like to see somebody who has that kind of creative thinking not just the regularly run in the middle I can do this I can be you know I can be a superintendent I can do all these pieces well we want all those pieces and then we want this other piece and I know I know it's asking one more thing right but that one one thing seems to me to be critical I ain't great I think that's sorry I interrupted you you were gonna answer about how great I mean I think you guys did answer the question largely I'll just reiterate you know Kevin mentioned you know he knows my heart knows you know the thought process that my wife and I went through from three years ago when we accepted the
055superinten say to our decision ultimately to decide to to make this transition we truly love Ojai I mean I it is a I've lived in I think eight towns between my collegiate and professional career every community thinks that they're unique and special Ojai is the only much really is I mean there is something unique it's bad enough it's the vortex or what it is but we love this community I love the staff who I've worked with love this district and so there's no question my number one responsibility between now and July 8th is to help make sure that our district contains on and grows on builds on what we've been trying to do over the past number of years so we have many important things going on the spring but to me the most important
056one I'm working on is supporting this board and identifying the right leader for this district so at the end of the process they Flay desire to know my opinion on each of the three candidates they will certainly know there will be no ambiguity I will not shy away from sharing my full thoughts for those of you watching you missed out to the best garri pounding on the table saying I wish I were there so I could ask question wow you know you should have been here anyway thank you all and I will well the turn for tonight and I push forward