001so good evening my name is sha Barry I'm the superintendent of schools here in Tremont want to welcome you tonight to our meet the candidates event we have five candidates this year um running for three open spots on the board uh before we get into the question and answer session I wanted to go over the format for the evening I've kind of explained it already but there will be an opportunity to ask questions of these candidates um you you can do it via the the the question card and then we will try to get your questions addressed that way um I want to thank the PTO for sponsoring the event tonight there are some snacks in the back if you if you would like a snack or some water feel free to get up and
002do what you need to do during the event this shouldn't be too formal of an evening um to start off the night we are going to have some questions from a group of students and these students will be coming up to ask their question this is part of our student student ambassadors group who is led by our counselor Mrs whitel we have five members of the student ambassadors group and since we are here for the students ultimately we want to make sure we give them an opportunity to to have their questions answered as well it's also good for them to stand in front of a crowd and have to present their question publicly I know they're all thrilled to be coming up here to do that so without further Ado I would like to well
003let let me introduce each of the candidates first so you should have picked up hopefully on the way in and if you don't you can get on the way out there's a handout that has a little bio about each of the candidates so why don't you say why don't you introduce yourselves briefly just real quickly your name and and that way they can put a face to the name on the paper all right I I'll go first um I'm Josh jucks okay Dan wagenbach Rene Kaiser Brent saer I'm Cody beer so there's your five candidates I have also on the handout in case you're wondering when you go to vote the ballot up in the top right hand corner that's the that's what you'll see on the ballot so you'll know exactly what order their
004names are in and how it's going to look but each of their bios includes some personal characteristics the reasons they want to be on the school board and then uh why voters should elect them we are streaming this tonight online it will also be available for as a recording if anybody misses it um and that link is on our website you can either find it on the news section on the front page of the district website or you can click on the board of education link and you'll find a link to the video and the BIOS right there so people can access that information if they couldn't be here this evening or if you want to go back and review anything so without further Ado I'm going to invite our student ambassadors to come ask
005their questions so I'll start start off with Nora come on up hi I'm Nora B um my question actually relates to um us as the students um student ambassadors are all about giving a voice to the students what what role do you see students having in decision making within the school and how do you plan to ensure that we continue to have a voice thank you I go first oh man that's why this seat wasn't taken should have walked up sooner um uh well I think it depends you know and so like I have little kids and so my my kids are in kindergarten in first grade and and I don't think that they probably should have much input um you know and so so so so it depends but uh but man certainly upper
006classmen and even probably freshman and sophomores um uh you know they should should I guess should have some input um I suppose the board has the final say um and I don't know if there are mechanics in place for that uh currently but hopefully um we can remain if elected I hope hope I can be accessible you know to students and maybe get to know some certainly as my kids get older anyway um and and you guys would feel comfortable approaching any one of us or or you know a teacher or Sean on to to come and talk to us um or I don't know that you guys probably come to meetings too if you want to feel strongly about something and and I would think or certainly I would be um I I would
007take it very seriously if you know a 16 or 17 year-old took took time out of a whatever night of the week to come to a board meeting you know kids aren't doing that a whole lot so if you got something you're really concerned about then then I I I would certainly take that seriously yeah I think it is important you students have voice because why are we doing this for for you this isn't about um us it's about you guys so I think it's important um that you would have a voice um now is that voice always going to be uh heard and followed through with U no probably not but for you to be able to speak and voice your opinion I think is very important and remember when I was in high
008school um I had the same opportunity and and I feel it it should continue as well um yeah absolutely students should have a voice and I was really excited when Mrs whel started the ambassador program a couple years ago because I've been to a um Board conference in Chicago and had gone to a session about it and was really you know wanting our school to have something like that so um and and she got it going right after that honestly and um so uh I know there's other avenues uh both just talking you know informally to teachers and administrators and then they also send out surveys um now and then to students um so you can voice your concerns or your opinions that way as well so I hope that we can keep doing things
009to make sure that your voices are heard and that we're meeting your needs I'll Echo I'll Echo some of the same same sentiments but um you know one of the starting points is the relationship that you guys have as students with your teachers I've been impressed with um the examples that I see of teachers who care about you and are communicating with you and as you communicate with them um that's a great start um but certainly we as uh board members um like like been mentioned our role here is to serve the community at large and you're a key piece of the community now and as future uh community members that are going to be contributing in in very big ways so um yeah absolutely keep those lines of communication open with your teachers with
010us and um at the end of the day the board has uh the responsibility to make decisions but we can all learn from each other so hopefully we can do that kind of the tag off of what Brent was saying I mean um I'm not originally from Tremont I grew up in a town in I grew up in Phoenix Arizona I went to a high school that had more enrollment than the population of this town so my my graduating class was 535 kids there was 2500 kids in my school and growing up in a large District like that you feel kind of distant I didn't have the um uh I didn't feel as close to my teachers we didn't have that voice uh and then living in Tremont for the last 14 years and serving
011on the Tremont Education Foundation I've been able to be involved in some meetings and see how students are uh working with teachers to come up with grants and scholarship ideas um on that Foundation we allocate the funds for the grants uh for the school we allocate the funds for the scholarships for the students um it's been a good opportunity to hear uh what students are interested in what they're working on uh and just to be able to do that as as a board member would be awesome I'm I'm involved with the educ ation foundation and able to do uh that kind of on the periphery just with funds but uh being part of the school board to have you guys come uh like Josh was saying come to a meeting um so we can hear
012you out I think that would be amazing so I the smaller District like tront uh is so close-knit that uh it just gives I feel like students have a better opportunity to have more of a voice uh something that I didn't have when I was in high school so uh I want to I embrace that I want to encourage that for you guys I won't introduce each one but I will say that we will not make Josh go first every time so we'll rotate it so the next question Dan can answer first and then we'll just go down the line so come on up Izzy hi I'm Izzy wagenbach and my question is what is one thing you would change about the school district and why big on change myself but you know I really
013can't think of too much that I'd like to change I love this uh I love this community this school the way it is it isn't much different from when I was in high school it's it's a good atmosphere there's good teachers staff and I'm just really thankful do have a community like this and a school like this be a part of I probably am more in preserving rather than changing certainly want to preserve what we have and have it there not only for you guys now but for also um my grandkids as well um so a year ago what I would have said is um that we would have more funds to be able to pay teachers better and to have more options for the school and we put that on the ballot a year
014ago and this community said yes and so uh the change that some of the changes that we wanted to see for years are now going to become a reality and so that's what I thought of as far as what I would change is just being able to offer more options and um better pay and and more opportunities I think uh as far as change goes you know I'm I tend to to think along the same lines as as Dan I'm appreciative for where we're at as a community um but we can always incrementally change like small change and small ways to take something that's good and make it a little bit better so um you know even more uh of a broad uh array of uh educational opportunities not just focused in one area like
015for students who are going to college or not just focused on um maybe those who are interested in a both of those are great things and we've made a lot of progress since I've been in school in offering uh offerings for uh those who are looking to go to college and getting a head start on that and in the same breath we've made a lot of progress in offering great um uh vocational type education agricultural education that wasn't around when I was here at school 20 some years ago so we've been making incremental changes we can continue to do that in small ways and see this uh this District continue to improve yeah I Echo that Brent I mean that's all the the small changes are good big changes are good too um and kind
016of what Rene was saying that referendum was so big um just with funds for the school I mean the community supporting that was amazing that's allowing so many upgrades to facilities like the big white roof on the elementary schools coming off um just things like that just to make tront look real good um the the education here is is phenomenal there's not much that I would actually want to change in uh the what the students are learning I mean as a district the operating expense per pupil for students in Tremont is one of the lowest in the state however they the outcomes for these students are are some of the highest so we're spending less money on students and they're succeeding like tront high school got voted uh exemplary which is top 10% in the
017state of Illinois in Tremont Illinois and that that is amazing just a testament to how well the schools run right now so change in in the school um right now Trea is is very well-run um and uh the referendums is is bringing some much needed change facility upgrades teachers need paid more uh I'm I'll support of that um teachers are very well very underpaid and uh they need to be paid more I mean they're they're raising our our future so uh the referendum is hopefully going to allow for that and that's uh that's where I stand um so uh one of the motivating forces for me being interested in in running for Schoolboard and like I say I got little kids and so this isn't hyper relevant to me now but but I've got pretty
018strong feelings about cell phones in school and um my understanding is that in the last 12 months that there there's been some change to policy and some restrictions about that um but that's something I feel strongly about and and you know I I don't know if it's it's realistic or if there's public appetite um to get you know cell phones completely out of school but but you know to whatever degree I can limit that um I'm interested in doing that I've I've I've you know several acquaintances friends who have had kids exposed to pornography at school or on the bus and you know I I'm I'm a little bit aware I've read some of Jonathan Height's work about the effect of social media on girls and that's a concern for me and um you know
019to a degree we live in the world we live in and you know we can't um uh we can't turn back time but but we can keep stuff like that out of schools or we can try to anyway my name is Lillian Kelch my question is how would you address the need of students who ensure all students feel safe seen and supportive at school that's a great question um in the last year to we have really beefed up our counseling um staff we were kind of bare bones for a while um partially because of financial Straits and uh partially they're they're hard to find and um so coming out of covid um students were I mean before covid they were also you know had problems but coming out of covid was students needed support they
020needed more support than ever um social media all of that combined um and so I think we have a uh like a Joint Task Force of like students and staff that work on on um emotional social emotional learning and health um and we're always looking for ways to improve on that because it is not easy being a teenager today never has been but it's harder than ever so I am fully in support of whatever we can put in place to help our students feel safe and feel heard and seen thank you Josh already referenced a book uh that I've had a chance to start reading talking about the importance of um of um real and physical reality is one of the pieces of this book and it talks about the challenges of uh just mental
021health issues among youth depression anxiety so um as Rene's already said the the need for us to be attentive and to be concerned about uh the challenges that that us students are facing is really real it's something we need to uh to really make a priority to to to be attentive to and to look for ways in which we can can uh address them whether that's through um additional programming some of the great work work that teachers are already doing uh but it's something we certainly need to uh to make an effort to to prioritize yeah I agree with all that I mean it high school age is is a is a rough time just developmentally U mentally there's a lot of anxiety being in the medical field I see patients come into me on
022a daily basis with um mental health needs anxiety depression stress um and a lot of times it's I don't want to just throw a pill at them I want to get to the root of it and be like okay what's going on uh so I get an opportunity to talk to these kids uh a lot of them being teenagers in high school and uh I just get to hear their stories and um uh just blows my mind sometimes just how hard it how even from when I graduated how the difference it is now what these kids are having to put up with um but I think tront is doing a good job uh they they like Rene said they have the um counseling uh they have the resource officer now here in school so uh
023we have somewhat of a police presence uh in the district uh and I and I think that promotes a um a feeling of more security too so uh there's the the mental aspect uh making kids Fe feel welcome making them feel heard uh but also making them feel physically safe I mean if you guys watch the news um we live in scary times um so having a resource officer is a is an important thing uh here as well to uh uh essentially bump up Security in the school as well uh yeah it's uh it's a hard thing and it's it's a big job and so I I think in my mind or at least looking back on on my experience in high school it's got to be and and it certainly felt like it to
024me when I was in school that it's got to be kind of in the water and and in the culture um um you know because there there's only so much budget for and and it's it's great to hear that they've beefed up the uh some of the counseling services um but when I was in school you know I was connected with teachers you know I had teachers that I was close to and coaches and and um and so I hope that that's you know I I don't know um you know how much how much influence the board has has that way but but I would hope that that um being supportive of students that are you know experiencing some kind of mental health problem or crisis or or anxiety or all the normal stuff that
025people feel when they're when they're teenagers um that that they've got a we've got a strong culture uh among among all the staff the the teachers and the counselors and principles of um you know of having open doors for students to come talk no no one person or one program can you know there's too many of you yeah I think it's a it's important to have those programs and I'm glad um as Rene said that tront does have some of those programs and I hope in the future that um it could be even more because those of us who have kids we know sometimes it's not as easy for them to talk to their parents sometimes they need another Avenue for somebody to talk to and confide in um in order to find that help
026they need I know some of us when we were growing up it was kind of a thing well you're too tough for that that wasn't evident in our in our day but I think it was just we didn't have the resources like they do today and I'm glad they do here in Tremont and certainly support that hi my name is Elizabeth King Kade and my question for you today is what role if any should our schools play in supporting social emotional and learning our students maybe some overlap into some of the comments that have already been made um again I go back to to um some of these ideas that I've been thinking about lately in terms of uh the importance of um just the emotional state of of young people and um and um
027you know in the time we live in it is uh increasingly tempting to Res to resort to to Virtual spaces to uh to socialize and what a great opportunity we have here in school in a public school with a lot of a lot of students to to sort of work out and and try out um socializing face Toof face with with uh other students with that though comes some risks right of of um of hurt and pain and struggling through challenges um so we need to be able to to support you as a school in that and and provide resources some of which have already been been talked about so yeah it's uh back to the the emotional support in mental health in general um if you're struggling speak up silence is going to be
028what's going to harm you um and as a board member I want to be transparent and listen come to the board meeting speak to your teachers when I was in college we had uh they had an open door policy so when the when you were out of class and your professors were in their office their office door was open and if you needed to talk about whatever and you could go in there and and and talk to your uh Professor uh and I think uh tront I I believe being a smaller District like I said earlier is just it's so valuable that you can build these relationships you don't go like when I grew up I grew up and when to five different schools by the time I graduated high school so you meet some
029teachers and boom they kick you off to the next school and here my kindergartener is going to grow up and maybe move two blocks down the road and get to see her kindergarten teacher in the hallways in passing and at school events all the way through high school it's it's an amazing opportunity for these kids and the opportunity they have in this small District to develop these relationships and the relationships are key um when it comes to mental health and emotional health you guys speak your minds be open if you're struggling tell somebody speak to your teachers speak to your friends come to the board meetings we'll be there to support you yeah I I think I guess to not to repeat everything that I said for the last question but but it's uh emotional
030health of students or or or students feeling support is uh it's a heavy burden and it's got to be got to be carried by everybody and so like I say I hope I hope it can be in the water with with the teachers because um you know as as good as as good as programs are and as good as having counselors and people on staff to do specifically that um you know you can only do so much of that you know if if everyone's not willing all the staff aren't willing to be to be a part of the solution you know the the primary job of the board and the primary you know use of of the preponderance of our funding should be you know toward education and and you know there's only so much
031money to go around and so that hopefully that um emotionally supporting the students is something that we can um that we can all be a part of um yeah I definitely think it's important um for the students to have a good relationship with their not only their teachers but really all the staff to have that opportunity to if they have a problem they have emotional problem or even just a social problem that he can have somebody to talk to I mean I recall when I was in high school able to talk to Mr Workman how he helped me through a lot of things and I really appreciate it um taught me a lot for today even that I still use in my relationships and the big part of relationships is is communication your teachers don't
032know if you have a problem if you don't talk to and I'm probably 100% sure most of them would make take the time to get to know you talk to you yeah I don't have much to add to what I said before but for the record um I thought the comments about the cell phone um we have changed our policies this year and uh possibly could could even tighten that up next year I don't know how students feel about that um but I have yet to talk to a parent who is not supportive of that idea and I think students there's not that many of you here but um if you were honest you know going without your cell phone for a while it actually feels kind of good and you're actually talking to each
033other instead of looking at your phones and um that just really helps with emotional well-being I think hi my name is Kaye Johnson and my question is education and school policies can be controversial what skills do you have for constructive responses to controversy thanks Kaylee um the uh the Board of Education it's a hierarchy their job is to hire or fire the superintendent Sean you're awesome and to implement school policy if there is an issue it needs to start at the source so if a student has an issue it starts with the teacher if a parent has an issue it starts with the teacher there's a hierarchy here so if the if the teacher and the student or the parent can't resolve it uh then that goes to the principal if the principal can't resolve
034it it goes to the superintendent and ultimately if it's unresolved then it meets the board uh comes to the board's table um and uh you know though there's seven members of the board um any type of policy needs to be passed by a majority vote um I feel like I have uh good communication skills uh being a healthcare provider uh with Dr suer coming off of the board I feel like it's important to have another healthcare provider on the board for a health care issue maybe another pandemic uh to have that level of expertise to um help make decisions because a lot of decisions made uh during the past pandemic we're obviously controversial right uh it was good to have Dr suer on the board to give that me medical expertise so I I have
035a strength there to provide uh and uh if any healthcare issue were to arise but just open communication uh if there if an issue is brought to the board um obviously we would all discuss it and come to a conclusion take a vote and uh the majority would would would rule on that um but uh every every issue would be taken seriously uh but like I said it it should follow that that hierarchy there the structure of the the school system yeah not a lot to add to that um I I I guess if if controversial issues arise in in the board meeting then then my my platform will be to vote my conscience and and I I don't um uh I don't think it'd be right it wouldn't be you know good service to
036the public to to to let you know an issue maybe being touchy or controversial um uh let that motivate me to vote or um or Advocate uh for something that'd be a violation to conscience yeah certainly as a as a board we have to work together and not only in in the whole school everybody's got to be doing their part there's nothing I've learned in the last um 30 years I'm helping run on our business is that you have to learn to work with people I remember my dad saying time after time um you got to learn to work with these guys because in my line of work sometimes we don't get uh most motivated people and you got to learn to work with them and you learn patience and you learn how to um
037teach them and I think that's very important on this board especially when there's controversial stuff that does come up and far as my conscience I would probably always lean on the biblical principles that my life has founded yeah um do controversial things come up sometimes uh we have controversy um but we've always gotten along we've always been respectful of each other and sometimes we don't all vote the same and that's okay the majority takes you know takes it and by far the most things we talk about are not controversial most of the time it's the budget money money money but um but yeah there's sometimes controversy and we work together and we respect each other and that's that's how we do it here in the public school and um there's all different kinds of people
038and we find a way to work together to make the school the best it can be before I forget if I don't have a chance to thank you for coming students thank you for coming and sharing um it's great to to see your involvement here um as far as controversy you know Renee touched on respect and I think that's that's the key to working through uh issues right is just first and foremost having a mutual respect for the people that you're you're working through an issue with even if you don't see exactly the same differences of opinion are good it's how we learn and strengthen our Viewpoint and and maybe change and get to the right answer on something um as is in my bio I'm in a I'm in the accounting and finance world
039and so I at work I work with different departments and and different people throughout our company we all have sort of different perspectives and come at problems from little different angle but we respect each other we have that Foundation of mutual respect uh from what I've seen of the board attending meetings it's a group that's highly competent respects each other and uh and and tries to work together despite their their different viewpoints from time to time on things and um I think that's a great characteristic of our board if I were to join it uh it be a piece of of that experience that I would look forward to okay thank you very much to our student ambassadors group for leading us off tonight with the first round of questions um from this point now
040I'm going to introduce our moderator for the evening uh Tim Barrow has been the voice of the Minutemen or Minutemen see I'm still I can't I came all right let me fix that I came from Lexington and we had a guy whose name was Tim who was the voice of the Minutemen so I I I do this all the time so he's been the voice of the Turks for nine years he has um been the PA announcer at football games I can hear him at my house during when when he's doing games out there um he's also done basketball games for us as well uh he is good with a microphone he's um good with people he's been a strong supporter of the district for years his kids came through the district um he he
041was on T the TEF board as well so he's very familiar with how the district operates and all the things that go along with it so we thought he'd be a great moderator this evening um we are going to try to get to all the questions that were uh submitted but there are a lot so we've tried to combine some that kind of cover the same topics um if we don't get to your question specifically we we're GNA we're going to stop at 8:30 regardless of where we're at at 8:30 if your question hasn't been asked the the candidates will still be around they'll hang out afterwards you can have more of an informal chat with them if you'd like to get the answers that you want but if we were going to ask every
042single question that's back there we might be here till midnight so we want to make sure we keep moving and Tim's going to try his best to keep it moving and I would encourage the candidates as well to try to keep it concise and keep it moving so I'd like to introduce Tim Barrow the voice of the Turks it's okay Sean growing up at metamor I was always a red bird so it's not a problem all right um so yes I'm Tim Barrow I am married to an stuber Barrow so Kon Pauline stuber's daughter so nice to be here with you this evening uh and I'm going to jump into the questions okay we'll start Josh and I'll kind of we've got some questions that will be specific for a candidate and others most of
043these are all C Cates so just to let you know so we're going to start off with the first one and it's around topic of faculty and staff so what is your plan to attract and retain high quality teachers Josh I don't I don't know if I have one um we it seems like we've had good talent in the past we had good teachers when I went through and um so what they're doing seems to be working okay okay Dan um I think faculty and staff is obviously the most important thing especially like in my line of work if we don't have employees we don't have a business so um I think it's important we have to be competitive in wages benefits and um and have a good work um atmosphere I think that's very
044important I know around our place sometimes that's what causes people to leave do not have a good atmosphere to work in so to focus on those things for me is is very important thank you yeah I would Echo it Dan said the trying to be competitive with wages and benefits is going to be key um there's the years that I've been on the board we used to you know the early years we used to get a stack of resumés for a position especially for tront I mean people wanted to come here and teach they still do but there is a teacher shortage um quite quite a a dire one so there's not sometimes maybe five for a position maybe three depending on the the type of position it is um so being competitive is going
045to be key and and now we have some extra funds to work with which is we're so grateful for that thank you you when you think about the things that that are attractive to to any employee in any any line of work right it's already been touched on the environment is key one thing about a school district is there's always a community behind it right I think Tremont as a community does a great job of having you know supportive parents uh communitive communicative parents parents that feel like they can be on the same side as teachers pulling for the same things um uh so that's important but those sort of intangible things they only go so far right at the end of the day we want our teachers to to have a a the view
046of a career that they can have fulfilling career and and a lot of that comes down to to their paycheck and as has been mentioned um hopefully we have some some extra wiggle room and funds to to get the budget uh where it needs to be to to Prov provide financially for teachers so yeah the wages are are a huge thing I mean we got to have competitive pay for these teachers uh tront is a very sought after town as you know I move from Scottsdale Arizona to God's country I love this place so I mean tront like like Renee was saying there's a there's a um there's a teacher shortage and that's that's killing the Staffing uh as she was saying about the applications there's less and less applications as you know or may
047may know that the we at tront had so much trouble getting a a Spanish teacher and in a couple years that's going to be a requirement for all these students is to have some years of uh uh foreign language but if you don't have any teacher how are you going to teach these kids foreign language so there's other there's things that are in the work so being part of the Trea Education Foundation I've actually been the president of that foundation for the last three years uh still serving in that role uh we we Supply grants so we first off getting the teachers here with the pay uh and like Renee also said that people want to come to Tron a house goes for sale boom it's sold um tremon is a sought after place in
048the in the in the region um so getting the getting the teachers to tront is important and then providing them with the resources they need so on the tront Education Foundation like I said earlier we allocate the funds for some of the grants so uh these teachers have ideas of what they want to implement in their classrooms they present it to us as a board we vote and uh I don't know that we ever well I'm not sure that we've ever in at least in the last five years that I've been on the board actually declined a a grant that a teacher we we're lucky enough to have funds to um provide these teachers with the resources they want to do so uh yeah getting them here and then giving them the resources to develop
049a good curriculum and teach these kids it's just very important great thank you okay this next question is for all of you except for Renee but I got a follow-up question for you Rene so um how many school board meetings have you attended in the past six months and what are the pros and or cons do you see in the current board and Dan I'll start with you so how many school board meetings have you attended and Pros Andor cons that you see in the current board I'd say in the last six months I've attended well ever since I decided to run I've been attended before that I'm ashamed to say I was only at one um but what I have witnessed and is how well the board works together did they always agree no
050but they have always been respectful with each other and have worked together and I really appreciate that and I think you know for our community we should be very thankful for the board that we do have and also for all of us um that are running I think any combination of the three of us up here would be a win for our community and for our district very good um I'm trying to do math up here on stage under pressure as an accountant that seems kind of but uh I consider I was considering starting to run at the beginning of of the 2024 school year and so uh I've attended meetings since September I guess so I think that's six board meetings basically um and what I've noticed I guess from from witnessing the board
051in action is uh I mean I'm impressed I'm impressed with the sort of the the professionalism and the respect that they show each other but I've also noticed the the diversity of of viewpoint and and opinion and there's diverse skills and diverse uh um you know professional backgrounds and that seems to to work well right um Cody mentioned the importance of you know having having a medical voice on the board and there's there's a lot of different um backgrounds represented and uh that's been impressive to see in action yeah I believe I've been to um at least five maybe six of the last meetings and just echoing what they said I mean the board work the the current board works very well together um I mean we're sad to be losing Todd kilgus and Dr
052suer they've been just complete awesome assets to the board and thank you guys to your many years of service um so uh and then just being in the in those meetings like they were saying they all work together there's been some contention contentious moments um and there has been some disagreements that's why there's a board okay it's not one person making a decision for the whole school school system the whole District there's seven so it's majority um and there is going to be um issues that some of us don't agree on um and again the majority rules so uh but in the whole process they've been completely professional uh it's just been it's been a good experience to learn that and then working with Dr suer myself I mean he was president of the board
053for many many years um and just talking with him over the past few years of kind of what do you do what's involved uh he's been kind of a good Mentor to me uh in the whole process okay thank you and Renee this one's for you you've been on the school board for many years list three major two or three major things you have accomplished so far and why are you running for re-election now accomplished personally myself or as a board I hope you mean as a board I would think accomplished as as a board rather than yourself because you are working as a Bo part of the bo it's it's a part of a board right right yes um okay I tell you the the down the economic downturn of was was terrible for
054the board and that we felt that repercussion for years um and so one major thing of of course was last year's referendum that was like a huge sigh of relief for us um that we could finally you know finally have some funds to work with for some things that we had been wanting to do for a long time um let's see one other major thing I guess I would say just getting through covid without losing our minds it was so hard um you talk about controversy there was a lot of controversy around how we were handling things um we were doing the best that we could that dovetailed with um a really bad financial year for us um so I I worried for Sean's Health on The Daily uh he was under so much pressure
055we all were so we got through it uh we had the least amount of learning loss I think possible um because we chose to go back to school have the students come back to school of course it was optional they could still learn at home if they wanted to but most of them came back um even though they had to wear masks and that was that was key that was huge because the schools that did that next year from home the learning loss was they probably still aren't caught up from that so um I I was I was just really grateful to get through that and get back to kind of normal school again why am I still why am I running again um it's it's kind of in the bio but uh I think
056it's important to have a woman on the board and I think it's important to have experience thank you thank you okay this will be a question for all of you when was the last time you reviewed tremont's District isbe I believe that's the Illinois State Board of Education report card when was the last time you reviewed it and did anything stand out to you on that report card Brent I'm going to hit you up first on this one um great question question uh glad you're answering it yeah so I'm not sure if this is the ISB report card but I have been playing around on the I think it's called the Illinois Report card. website I don't know the website that has report cards for like every district and every school and you can break
057it down by like School building uh and it has been interesting because you can like yeah if I'm if this is completely not the right thing I'm talking about that's perfectly fine but I'll go I'll go ahead and keep talking um you can like compare multiple schools right so you can say start with tront and then add you know six or seven or eight schools to compare against and then you can look at things like um SAT scores and um you know the rate of students who were going on to secondary education and um you know there's Financial metrics teacher salary metrics um something that stood out from that I I don't know that I have any huge takeaways other than um as I sort of played around and compared other schools within our conference
058you know the eurekka El Paso Gridley Hayworth um our stats seem to stack up really well I can't I can't rattle off any specific statistics but the the you know they good visual representations on that website I'd encourage any of you to go go play around with that and I think you'll see that that we're really competitive with similar size schools in the district or within our conference and in our area and even as you go and compare us to like a peacon or a Morton um um I think we stack up well okay thank you Cody uh last time I looked at it was yesterday um I uh I have some statue that just stood out to me and what Bren said it's a great website you should all go on and look and
059see how well tront is actually doing like I said I come from a very large school system there were five high schools with 2500 kids each in my district so that's over 10,000 kids just high school that doesn't include middle schools and elementary schools so um tront is awesome listen to this so we have OE o operating expense per pupil and I kind of touched on this earlier Tremont in 20 the 2024 rankings are not out yet but 2023 is out tront spent $1,870 per pupil the Illinois spent over 18 the average School in Illinois spent over 18,000 per people so tra is spending much less on their students per people that's not a bad thing though that means we're good at budgeting and we have uh fiscal responsibility and conservatism that's amazing um the
060opposite end of that what I touched on earlier is that our outcomes are awesome so like I said earlier Tremont high school was voted exemplary top 10% in the state of Illinois awesome grade school middle school got um uh commendable which is also very good um just to give you an idea on that o the operating expense per pupil where we rank in the state we are the out of 852 schools we are 753 lowest which is a good good thing and if you get a better picture of that to give unit district so a unit district is a a district that offers grades kindergarten through 12 okay there's 394 unit districts in Illinois we are 333 so that just shows you uh the budgeting the fiscal responsibility it's amazing treeon is amazing and I
061I hope to continue that I've never looked at it but it sounds like a cool to I'll I'll check it out um last time I looked at it was probably 21 um that was my last son graduated yeah um but just from going to the last few board meetings um probably for the last six months and I they've talked about it many times I think almost every board meeting they talk about it but just to see how um I mean back in then Tre was um bad you know what was excellent then and how they have stayed there and maybe even went up since then very good thank you Cody you'll be on this next question first given the uncertain future of federal education funding how will you ensure that 702 provides its students and
062teachers with necessary resources and educational experiences so I already uh touched on that a little bit I do that as the president of the Trea Education Foundation like I said we allocate the funds for scholarships for students I get to read all the essays every essay that's submitted for the scholarship we read through we grade them we vote on who who gets to uh who wins the scholarship essentially so I've been involved in that way again what we talked about earlier the referendum was huge uh if something like that will ever have to be passed again uh I mean that might that might come in the future uh and and and it's kind of hard to discuss future issues because we don't know we don't know what tomorrow holds right uh we have to live
063in today it's good to be pre prepared for tomorrow so like I said the the the the school is fiscally responsible uh and um I think uh I think they're doing a really good job of that right now so it's uh just providing what I like I said I already help with the Treemont Education Foundation and that's how I uh provide those for the provide the funds for that grants for school thank you yeah I think that Cody answered the question in his uh in his answer to the previous question I mean if if if whatever if we lose Federal funding presumably everybody else does too and it sounds like we're positioned really really well to weather that better than most and so um so it sounds like the board and and Sean are doing
064are doing a great job so whatever Secret Sauce we got working with right now we'll just keep on um I don't know the future is hard to know but if something like that would happen and our federal funding would be um cut I think for me I I look at our community and the way we work together and way we help each other out I think if we can lead on our community um for some of that funding would be and I know all of us would be willing um I know that us like to pay higher taxes but I think all of us are willing to give more to the school I think that'd be one way toore that up yeah I have mentioned a few times the referendum and what a what a
065change a good change that's been and will be in the years ahead um so I'm G to brag on Sean a little bit um he is an absolute wizard with the budget he makes our job pretty easy he comes puts spread sheeet up there explains everything here's where we are here's where we were last year um and we're just like great you know so of course we throw out ideas and discuss things but um your your community and your children are in good hands Rene you stole my thunder with uh the Commendation of Shawn but I have been impressed too with with Shawn's obvious Gra ASP of the financials so um that's that's a huge uh Comfort I guess as as you think about the the Bedrock and the foundation of operating any entity whether
066it's a business or a or a school right you got to have a firm grasp of the fun the fundamentals financially um I think everybody else has spoken to the need to replace federal funds with with other sources of revenue where's that come from well local sources or state sources and our state's pretty pretty uh uncertain as well right it's a it's a difficult time for the state so um thankful for the the referendum and and thankful for a a community uh that supports our school okay thank you next one question is for all of you Josh I'll give this one to you first will you be able to stand up and voice your opinion if it differs from the rest of the board yes yeah and and I I I I really do that
067think that that is a personal strong suit of mine you know you don't obviously all know me uh me personally but I'm not bashful at all about about sharing my opinion and um and I you know I don't want to my plan for getting on the board isn't you know to get in and and you know knock skills and and you know take ground and whatever else but um but if I've got a strong opinion about something I make it known and um and yeah yeah I will okay um yes most definitely um I had an opportunity to serve on U Apostolic Christian restmore board um for six years from 2017 to 23 so right through the heart of um Co and just like it was very hard here for the school um it was
068very very hard for the nursing home as well and um many times um I vo my opinion there um but also I just kind of took it a step farther um rather than just voice my opinion um on some of the regulations that were going on and the hurt was going on with our residents at that time I also took the time to call the state I probably spent 50 hours on the phone to different state agencies um talking to them advocating um for the residents and I'm willing to do that for this community as well for our students as well thank you Rene yes I willing to stand up and speak my mind very good Brent yeah likewise I am as well I'll just uh draw on my experience uh I work in a
069small business a small company with a a handful of employees that work together strong personalities are in the room and so um I think I can draw on that experience of of having to stand up and uh and hold my own in that sort of environment uh and draw on that experience uh if I need to uh on the board thank you yeah I would voice my opinion as well and just on personal experience when I was a a nurse at the hospital you know being a male nurse is uh more of a rarity uh and uh you can get stomped on by other Healthcare Providers uh and I wasn't afraid to like if if there was something that was going on that I didn't agree with I wasn't afraid to talk to a doctor
070and say Hey listen this is going on I think we should do this you got to be able to present the problems present Solutions and uh I think I'd be able to do that okay thank you this next question is around curriculum and Dan you'll be the first one to answer how would you approach parents who have concerns about controversial curricular topics um first of all I think it's um pretty evident that we have a Christian Community and many of us not all of us are have biblical principles and I think that's one of the most important things to have also in our school and so when it comes to curriculum that's that's where I've really on um first of all does it align um with the Bible and we should be teaching our kids
071and that's to me that's how I'd approach it okay thank you um well Cody referenced this earlier that if a parent has a concern about a curriculum a curcular uh topic um they go to the teacher first and then if they can't work it out they go to the principal they can't work it out they go to the superintendent if they're not satisfied with that they come they can approach a board member or the board in general um so I encourage parents to follow that that line um we're happy to to hear concerns we have several times um and we're happy to make adjustments if we feel like that's you know a legitimate concern okay I'll just reiterate what Rene explained as far as that that process um I will point out too I mean
072I've noticed as a parent in the district um many teachers are already very proactive in reaching out to parents via email with hey here is something we're going to be covering here's um a film we're going to be watching here's a book we're going to be reading so I feel like teachers already do a really good job of trying to open up that community communication and and uh have that that sort of dialogue with parents already and provide those opportunities so take advantage of that I think from my experience our teachers are are uh open to to hearing concerns and and already try to uh to reach out and establish that that open communication from the start yeah and like Renee said and like I said earlier the hierarchy structure of the of the school
073district going from level to level and ultimately reaching the board if the problem's not resolved and Echo what Dan said is we live in a this is a such a conservative uh Community uh and in my alliance my my my values align very conservative biblically based um I mean listening to some of these kids graduate high school and their quoting the Bible up here I never had that in high school there was no Bible in my school and we're going to be offering LifeWise Academy for these kids to be learning uh about Jesus our lord uh I mean it's just amazing the opportunities that tront has I went to this District that had an enormous amount of funds and didn't I feel like I had zero opportunity so tremont's doing a really good job if
074there's an issue use that hierarchy start at the teacher move your way up the board will be there at the end waiting for you if you need to thank you Cody Renee this question is for you first please speak to the standards based grading system what are the pros and cons in your opinion did Josh get a chance to talk oh Josh did I miss you you skip me I'm sorry go right ahead that's fine I I didn't have a lot to add I I I I I'm with Dan and Cody I'd vote my conscience I'm a Believer too and and you know and so that's that's that's the deal that's what you get vote for me you get my conscience on on issues of you know whatever I guess moral issues or controversial issues
075that that have a moral bance Dan thank you for stop on the bus appreciate it I look at the clock I try to get through all these questions so I apologize my apologies Josh okay Renee please speak to the standards based grading system what are pros and cons in your opinion okay um so it's been a few years since we've implemented standards based grading and it's kind of been a gradual process not all buildings did it at the same time not all grades did it at the same time um personally um I wasn't like 100% behind it I I was open to the idea and we we heard a lot of the the pros of it um basically they're they're grading um the students on a lot of different areas instead of just saying you
076have an A in this class or you have a b in this class so the standards based grading is great it's giving them uh numbers on different standards that then add up or average into a number which you can it's kind of equivalent to a grade A four is kind of equivalent to an A+ and um so yes I I know parents have different um thoughts and and feelings about it and and so do we as a board and it's been a work in progress honestly um it looks a little different than when we started it because we've made adjustments based on what people have said based on how kids have responded to it um so I think the idea of it and the the general rule of it is is good because you're you're
077giving that student more chances to work on different areas of an assignment or a project and then letting and then also you know CH a chance to reassess if needed um so I'm I'm not like the biggest cheerleader in the world for it but I see some of the benefits and I'm okay with having it if Sean came back tomorrow and said we're reverting back to ABC DF I'd be like okay that's fine too you know I I guess I don't have a hill that I'm going to die on either way thank you um this is actually an area that I've I've heard a fair amount of feedback from parents on like when they hear that I'm running for the board it's kind of like the topic that comes up um and I I have
078a I'll be honest I have a fair amount to learn about standers B grading um one maybe thing that I've just picked up as I've seen my kids progress through uh through the school system we have a just it's in the it's in the bio but we have a a daughter in high school a daughter in the middle school and two sons in the grade school so um my wife and I have have a a kid in every every building and um it seems maybe that it's it's not so much about like switching back to a a traditional grading system or or being really enthusiastic about standards based grading um because there is a b like one of the main benefits I see of it is kids have an opportunity to understand the content more
079than just like hey they walk in they take a test they fail it and boom you're moving on to the next set of topics there is an opportunity to try to master the material so that that's a good thing um the con I think in my mind is where uh parents and students themselves are trying to understand what the numbers mean and as they progress from grade school to Middle School to high school do those numbers still mean the same thing does the information they're receiving back translate into like what does this actually mean for how while I'm learning things so maybe it's just a matter of we need to do a better job of like educating families educating parents of like what are we trying to communicate with these numbers with this report card
080and that might go a long way in um in sort of alleviating some of the angst yeah I'm gonna be honest I'm not a fan of it I uh grew up with the ab C D and F and these kids are getting these uh one two threes and it's very very hard to get a four and I worked my tail off to get A+ in school right and these kids are having trouble getting fours or maybe not or three is essentially what what they get fours sometimes involve extra credit and then you can't get a four of extra credits not offered so three is the highest score you're going to get but then there's a roote Awakening when they leave school and they go to college and they're back to the abcdf so if it
081would come to vote I'd be voting back to the standard grading and that's just my opinion on it thank you Josh uh yeah I'm with Cody I don't have a real strong opinion about it and and you know like I said earlier we got little kids and we're just kind of getting started in this thing um but but but what Cody said is true and when I get assessments for our our kids um you know when we went through we had it wasn't just ABC DF you had a and then a minus then B+ and then B and then B minus then C+ and so you know there were there were all these these in inet you know and that's kind of where I was I was kind of like a B+ type student you
082know but that was better than being a b student you know and and but if they would have cut all that out that's what I would have been I wouldn't have been an a student I would have been a b student um and so you know so so the more and of of course there's an upper limit to how many you know levels you can have but but you know maybe Eight's better than four um and and and you know tangentially i' I've had a conversation with a teacher who was not real impressed about it and that's something that that I'm I'm maybe more interested in um if elected uh is is seeing what the teachers think about it because they the ones who interact with it every day and and and the retaking tests
083you know that that or R redoing assessments or whatever I can see how that would be an opportunity to master the content and also an opportunity to get familiar with the questions on the thing so you can get through it and not learn anything you know depending on what kind of kid you are and um and and I'm not saying that that's what's happening or or the other but but uh you know I'm I'm curious what what the teachers think and what you know kind of the boots on the ground experience with with using it is thank you Dan I'll be honest with you I'm not real familiar with it I don't think they didn't have that when my kids were in there so I couldn't give you much negative or positive for I know
084if it does create um if it's not something that doesn't um create um hard work create success um probably before so I think put in the work in the grade me myself I'll do kind of like but I really don't have a strong thing okay thank you all right this next question Cody this one was directed to you and then we'll have a follow-up question for all so Cody um as a health care professional how would you address State and National mandates for health issues very uh loaded question and a tricky question so uh one of the biggest issues during covid was masks right and it's like a that's like a trigger word for people um it is what it is we learned um CO's still around right people are still catch catching it I'm
085not going to Discount the disease I had many patients pass away from covid uh I had many patients do very well it was a wide spectrum um but when it came to the federal government and the state government laying down these rules and these guidelines the board's hands were tied okay so a lot of parents didn't want their kids to to wear masks I understand that but then if we take the masks off the kids and they the school loses all its funding then what so that's the kind of issues you're talking about if you don't come apply they could take away your funding and then what and there's no answer for the and then what and then you file a lawsuit and then you do this and then you do that with what where's
086that money coming from because the taxpayers don't want to pay for the lawsuit to the state or to the federal government so that's a very complex question I hope and pray that we don't ever have to deal with that again and I hope and pray that if there's another pandemic we've learned from our mistakes um luckily we everyone in this room came through it um but uh uh if that were an issue in the future I mean I would obviously uh take my medical expertise I went through a lot of school getting A's B's and C's I didn't get C's but A's um and uh I don't take that lightly I I would I would give my valid medical expertise medical opinion on what I believe is true and what I believe is more government
087overreach okay thank you so here kind of the followup for the rest of you uh Brent you'll be first on this one given the recent outbreaks of disease like measles what role does the school have in keeping vulnerable students healthy um yeah I mean I it's a health care issue that um uh is tied to all of our very personal beliefs um I'm I'm a Believer in um in expertise and and in Health Care Professionals who can give good recommendations but at the same time uh I'm I'm personally not a fan of of mandates whether they be vaccine mandates or or whatever um again I I think um we should encourage uh Good Health Care practices I mean I think I think somewhere on the school website I saw there is a report that shows
088vaccine statistics for the district there's like 40 individuals who have religious exemptions for vaccines I think that's fine um but at the end of the day I'm I think we should do all we can to encourage vaccination for measles vaccination for diseases that um can if we if we do good practices can be uh you know widely uh reduced and eliminated so thank you Josh I might come to you next um so spec if this is a vaccinations question if it's a question about getting sick in general then the school should have good policies about you know kids are sick they should stay home and not come and you know hand the flu around or stomach viruses or whatever else but but but in regards to that I just think it's kind it's the parents
089deal and so you know parents all do a cost benefit analysis and um and we vaccinated our kids and there are parents who don't and you know I'm assuming that the parents who don't weigh the you know the the benefit is that you're not susceptible to measles and the and the the the uh whatever the cost is whatever um and and if if if the cost to Any Given parent outweighed the benefit then I think that that's that's the choice they made and they're free to make it but but I don't think that we I don't think we need to go out of our way to um to protect students that and that parents didn't choose to protect because because they they they chose to protect their kid from from the vaccination because they saw
090harm in that you know what I mean and so I think that parents protect their kids in the way that they protect their kids and I don't think that we need to be whatever try to supersede that or or thank you Dan um I certainly think we as a school district we need need to have a safe and as healthy as possible environment but when it comes to health I think that's a that's a family issue that's for the parents um I don't feel that's for the school I don't feel that's for the government um I feel that's for us as parents we're we had our kids we got to answer for our kids um I think we should be the ones protecting our children the way we best feel okay Renee um I'm also
091a health care professional so I'll I'll speak as that and just personally um there's a lot of mandates that come out of Springfield and a lot of them are intrusive and oppressive they cost money um not just Healthcare mandates all sorts of mandates we have to figure out how to try to implement them while also being responsible to our taxpayers and our constituents and um It's Tricky but as far as vaccinations go uh to my knowledge the school has always the state has always allowed an exemption and I don't think that's changing anytime soon and I'm I'm fine with that exemption thanks thank you okay next question how will you nurture an educational experience for students that encourages curiosity and diversity of thought and Josh I'm going to go to you I think I've made
092it around so how will you nurture an an an educational experience for students that encourages curiosity and diversity of thought I'm not sure how uh directly would as as board members because I'm not um I don't uh I don't have a good idea of how closely the board interacts with students um I don't I did when I was in high school I didn't know who was on the board um I found out when I came to you know the first board meeting and then they're hanging on the wall and so I look back you know to whatever5 six seven eight when I was in high school um and that's when I found out uh and so I I think probably primarily in our interactions with teachers and you know making sure that they're providing that
093kind of space in their classroom you know and not allowing um you know maybe somebody who's in a minority opinion to get to get trampled over by by you know by kids who are in a majority good thank you Dan are we talking like gender identity and that kind of stuff or I think you can wait for the next question on that well I just kind of go back to my um high school days there was um kids that had different thoughts and there were kids that different me had different skin tones had different um thoughts than I did and I didn't think they were treated any different I thought the teachers didn't treat them any different and they were able to get a good education um I just don't think we need as a
094school um need to dabble into that kind of what's come to the Forefront in our country I think we need to should leave that to the parents yeah I think it's very important to have uh diversity in education um we serve a student population that is more and more diverse uh we have a family now from Afghanistan attending our school so they are not Christian they're Muslim um they should be represented as well so um basically I think this the teachers do a great job of bringing diversity into education um and I and I encourage that and I encourage kindness and respect for all students no matter what diverse thought they might have yeah I mean as as a public school we have public school teachers who are who are operating on the the principle
095of of everybody has uh a certain equal standing and equal voice right and so conversations in class should allow for that um regardless of of personal deeply held beliefs and and religious beliefs and ideological beliefs we can have a space that's uh that's open and that allows for discussion allows people to learn so I'm supportive of that yeah I'm a supportive of that as well I mean the um as we grow as a community I mean diversity there's is is more ethnically diverse like you said The Afghani family um and having a space to be able to uh voice our beliefs uh but also emphasize importance on not pushing them on one another so like I mentioned the LifeWise Academy if you don't want your kid in the LifeWise Academy don't put your kid in
096the LifeWise Academy if the Afghani family would like to start a uh Muslim program I'm all for it and if other people want to join a certain program I'm all for it I'm for all types of uh um groups and ideas and beliefs uh it's the issue I have is when you start forcing it on others we can provide as a provide options and you can do what what you want with the options and I think a lot of that uh is the parents at home and how they teach and and bring their kids up um I think the parents should have the majority of the power there the the board will will not be forcing uh this stuff on you guys okay thank you Dan you'll get the first first crack at this one
097if elected how do you plan to deal with our states progressively woke agendas now you can go um well obviously I disagree with our Stakes spoke agenda and um recently I did get a text from a parent with some of that U stuff about gender identity and maybe some pronouns I can't recall top of my head but um I think it's something we need to stand firm against um as a school as a community and I think it takes all of us um it isn't just the board standing up against the state I think us as parents um as a community um need to talk um to our Senators to our congressmen get on the phone stand up against it as well if we all work together I think we have a better opportunity to
098keep that U woke thought if you want to call it um it's not really a woke thought it's a lot of it's just wrong and yeah just PR I don't think it needs to be on our schools and if I was on the board I would definitely vote not for um I I don't find the word woke to be especially helpful because I'm not sure what it means it depends on who you talk to um what I am for is uh referencing what Brent said that we make space for every student no matter what no matter what they identify with or believe it doesn't mean we're pushing it on anybody it means we're respectful and kind um that doesn't mean that we do everything that student wants um we've had students who identify as a
099different gender and um instead of having them go to the bathroom of the gender they identify with we say here's a here's a private bathroom you can use to me that was just a really thoughtful way to deal with something that's really sensitive and what many people find offensive so I think we can be creative and thoughtful and kind and respectful all at the same time thanks the uh the issues that I uh that come to mind when I hear the term uh woke I guess I would kind of lump them I lump about three areas together into uh topics that really probably should be taught at home should have parents leading and guiding and forming the beliefs of their children and it's it's my opinion that the Public School really really shouldn't be involved
100in trying to form and lead a child's belief and and really to be clear that's like religion politics and ideological issues and that cuts both ways like that that cuts both ways of like keeping this a space that is relatively free of religion politics and ideology but I think it's really up to parents and families to decide how they want to shape their child's beliefs in those areas so I'll leave it at that yeah and I kind of touched on that earlier it's very important for the parents to be involved in this they should be the decision maker on what their child what they're teaching their child what they're uh instilling beliefs in their children it's important as we bring our children up to um uh teach them right and wrong um it's a again
101it's a it's a loaded question um I'm against government overreach if they're trying to force us to do something uh I would be voting against that but what we is saying to have a space where people can voice their beliefs I think that's important if you want to believe this way go for it if you want to believe this way go for it and then the issue will come to the board and the board again will vote and the majority will rule um but to have a space to be able to to express your beliefs I think is important um it's good to hear both sides I know we can lean uh more conservative in Tremont uh and the rest of the nation does not really lean that way um so I do feel VA
102there's value in hearing the other side whether you agree with it or not um and allowing their voices to be heard um and ultimately uh uh brings me brings me back to their the up upbringing your your parents involvement in the children uh and what beliefs they're instilling in them I don't think the uh the public school has a has a right to tell you what to tell your kids um well I don't uh uh I don't think that that sex or sexuality has any place in the grade school um arguably not in the Middle School It's seems like more of a high school thing to me and so I would pretty strongly oppose any kind of I mean I guess if that's what we're talking about I'm a little with Renee woke is kind
103of a loaded thing and and it depends who you talk to about what they mean and what what they're concerned about but but we have concerns my wife and I about um about whatever I don't want anybody any adults telling my you know my daughter that they can be whatever they want to be certainly not before they're go before they go through puberty they don't even know what they are I mean you know it's a confusing thing growing up and uh and and so I don't think that um that's at all appropriate for younger kids now with that said you know uh high school kids Juniors and seniors are like adults you know they're 17 18 years old and and they're going to make decisions or maybe probably of them make lifestyle decisions you know
104maybe even outside the realm of this specific conversation that um that I don't agree with or or that they're classmates don't agree with and you know we we don't need to have kids uh bullied or ostracized or or um or whatever for you know just because they're they're making a decision that I don't agree with or that their their classmates don't agree with so I think that there's maybe a line to walk there um I feel much more strongly about about younger kids like the middle school and the scho I think that it's um it's it's pretty perverse to um to involve kids in discussions about about sexual orientation but um but uh but but you know we can't control the choice control what you know what what what high school kids feel and and
105certainly adults they're 18 year olds in the school and they're going to feel what they're going to feel and you know and I don't think they should be whatever run out of school on a rail because um you know because I don't like their life choices okay thank you this is our last question okay because we are at the 8:30 Mark and this question starts off with a thank you to each of you for stepping up and putting your name on the ballot so thank you for that the question is what is an area of what is an area of your life that you have been intentionally intentional about for personal growth so what in your area what is an area of your life that you have been intentional about for personal growth and Renee
106I'll start with you my mental health um we've had some really hard things in our family the last year and um I'm I'm proactive about my mental health because I have eight children and six grandchildren and it's really important that I not go nuts so um I try to I try to prioritize that um and my spiritual growth for sure thank you um yeah I don't know how how applicable this is to to uh the board but I guess as a candidate it's informative you know um this is kind of random but I'm I'm just trying to lately I'm trying to read more books I'm trying to to just learn more um I've hit 40 and kind of realize like I spend a lot of time working and try to spend a fair amount of
107time with my family but um where I can I'm trying to carve out a little more time to to read of a variety of of topics and continue to learn I I think I think that might even be part of the um mission of or vision of like creating lifelong Learners here um so unintentionally I guess I'm trying to do that I'm trying to be a lifelong learner uh mine would be my faith just growing in my relationship with my savior Jesus um and trying to be a light to others I mean I do that at work if I have to see a patient and tell them yeah you have a tumor on your kidney um I don't know what it is but we're going to figure out figure it out and I just I
108don't know if they're a Believer or not but I'll I'll offer to pray for them not one person has turned me down right so uh whether they believe uh what I believe I'm not forcing on them I just uh am offering it to them here I just gave you some really bad news can I pray for you and I found it very valuable and it's actually helped me grow uh patience and in people in general when they're broken and they feel vulnerable they can be screaming for help but making no noise um and uh Me growing in my faith studying and learning um has been able to minister to others and I and I and that's something I'm going to continue I hope for many many years uh because that's that's a daily that's a
109daily process thank you Josh um probably family uh I I don't know if I'm maybe as intentional as I ought to be but I that's um probably the most important thing to me is is is I want to be a good husband and I want to be a good dad and um so so that that's my that's my priority I like I like getting home and and wrestling with my kids and I like you know tell my kids to to shut up and get out of the room so I can talk to their mom and um and that's that's uh that that's that's the stuff thank you and um first and foremost probably be my faith I try to grow theirs and focus on that as much as I can the older I get less
110important work is and more important family is last last year or so actually last six months had a lot of change in our life my wife and I are empty nesters and last week um we had our first granddaughter so just trying to be healthier for them as well and focus on my family just having a grand baby pretty special cool cool cool all right that is going to conclude the evening first of all I want to thank all of you uh for coming um and and putting in questions uh as we did not get to all of them so we apologize for that the candidates will be around and if you want that question asked you can mingle with them there's still some drinks and and snacks in the back um help yourself but
111let's give a round of applause to these candidates for stepping up and being in front there you go we were going to do a round of closing remarks I I do think that the bio the bio that goes around kind of has the why should you elect this person so it kind of covers that but like he said they will be around if you want to chat out a little bit more um I did want to thank everyone again thank you to Tim Barrow for moderating tonight he's great at what he does thanks to the PTO for sponsoring the event please grab the cookie on the way out or as you stand around and chat um early voting by the way I was going to mention this if you want to do early voting they
112do have it at the community center here in town the next two Fridays Saturdays and Sundays Friday the 14th and 21st from 99 to 6 Saturday the 15th and 22nd and Sunday the 16th and 23rd from 9: to 3 so you can vote early election day is April 1st there's also some dates that you could go to the county clerk's office and peek can and vote early if you'd like and if you go to the County website you can find those dates and times so um let's have one more round of applause for our candidates they did a great job and some tough questions tonight and thank you all for coming and feel free to hang around and chat hello this