001and tonight we are here to meet our Schoolboard candidates and also learn about a special ballot item that has to do with schools everything you need to know about Maricopa Unified School District before you vote on November 5th we are still waiting for a couple of candidates and we're going to start with a presentation by Dr Tracy lman Superintendent at musd she's going to talk to us about proposition 488 which for everybody who's voting in November is something you will have to decide if you vote Yes or no and without further Ado Dr Lan tell us about prop 488 thank you Elias where should I stand where's a good spot to stand great oh of course this is fine how about right here okay um thank you for joining us this evening um so that
002you could learn about your board candidates but also learn about prop for 88 um which is the $70 million Bond measure that the Maricopa Unified School District governing board voted to place on the ballot this November as you know Maricopa is growing explosively and that growth in the city of Maricopa means that the enrollment in Maricopa Unified School District is growing just as rapidly and to accommodate that growth the school district will be building schools for elementary students and adding classroom space for the high school level and tonight we'd like to talk with you about some details around those projects and then we have our CFO here as well to speak in a detailed fashion about the $70 million Bond and how it's not a tax rate increase and some other uh details associated with
003those financials um and we would we would were perfectly happy to answer any questions you might have about prop 488 so as I said it's a $70 million Bond the board intentionally set the bond amount at $70 million so that it would not increase the tax rate there are four projects associated with the $70 million the first two are elementary schools serving students in kindergarten through 8th grade and then the other two uh projects are additional classroom space at the high school level a little bit more detail about those two projects the school district receives State funding to build schools when the enrollment reaches a certain capacity when we're overcrowded the state will fund a new school so we have on the books a school opening in July of 2026 we've selected the land that's
004the serrento project if you've heard about that and the state has granted us about $31 million to build that school with the bond we would like to supplement that funding to fully equip that school to the tune of about $12.5 million uh the state funding formula is inadequate and so with the additional funding we would be able to fully um build out the teaching stations provide adequate learning space provide a a building that is made of materials that have a longer life than just 25 or 30 years so that's the first project serving students in kindergarten through 8th grade the second project for students in kindergarten through 8th grade opens two years later in July 28 uh that we will be granted a little bit more money from the state uh about um oh pardon
005me um we will be granted uh about 23 million and then we will we will supplement that with another 20 million uh and with the same the same idea able to that makes us able to fully equip those learning spaces and teaching spaces to close the gap between the state funding formula and what it really cost to build a school today the other two projects uh impact Workforce velopment at our high schools the Maricopa high school project would be fully funded by the bond we're not going to get any funding from the state to add add this space at Maricopa high school and we know that Workforce Development is of dire importance in this city in this state in our country and we know that students involved in Workforce Development programs uh do do so
006well in their academic programs and they graduate ready to work so we're we're looking forward to that and then we know that our enrollment is going to continue to grow at at the high school level so we anticipate being funded from the state for additional classroom space for students in at the high school level logically most likely that space will be added at Desert Sunrise high school and opening in July of 2028 and we anticipate being granted about $42 million for that space and it would need to be supplemented about another 15 million to uh fully uh equip the school for um The Learning experiences and teaching and teaching practices that um our staff is has come to um expect and and that even goes to the number of outlets that are in a classroom
007um the technology the capabilities that we can install as we build the school and not do it you know sort of aftermarket um it's that it's that intricate of a of a plan that we want to provide our teachers with that kind of teaching capability and we would need need to do that during the construction phase I'm going to turn it over to Mr Harmon thank you thank you Dr lman um so one of the questions we get often is how how can we go out for a bond without increasing the tax rate so a bond is a tax it's paid back by our local taxpayers um over a 20-year period with principal and insurance payment similar to a home mortgage the way that uh there's no tax rate increase the last time we passed
008a bond in Maricopa Unified School District was in 2006 so we're in the final years of of paying that Bond down um so the timing of this is perfect um not just that the property value has increased in Maricopa um rapidly and so um the timing of this allows us to go out for as much as $70 million and our governing board wanted to know what level could we go out for a bond without increasing the tax rate above the 79 cents that it is currently and $70 million is that number and we can time our our bond sales to make sure that that happens um we're required by Statute to show how much this impacts a home with a a taxable value of $100,000 and so that's approximately $63 a year we also added
009the average um homeowner taxable value which is about 154,000 and that's just under $100 a year is that tax that tax burden and that's similar to what's already being being felt currently um because as I said that tax rate will stay relatively flat over the 20-year period it will actually decline the 20-year average is 63 cents but the the tax rate now is about 79 cents and it'll stay 79 cents for for the next several years before property values start increasing and then we'll see we'll start seeing a decrease in that tax rate if you do have any questions about tax rates I don't know if this is the right form but you can always call this school district to get a hold of me I'm happy to sit down with anyone and and look
010at tax bills and talk taxes and tax rates because they're they're they're not they're very complicated um we uh we're projected to grow if you live here you're aware of this um we're projected to grow uh over 7,400 students in the next uh 10 years which is over 800 students on average and that keeps us on Pace to build a school every couple of years um and that's that's the the pace that we're that we're on currently is this okay so and Dr lman alluded to this a little bit but the funding formula is insufficient not just not only do they they fund schools to uh fund school districts to build schools about years later than we need it um the formula is also insufficient so we're granted about $320 a square foot for this
011serrento project and the Market's closer to $430 a square foot so that $ 122.5 million that that first project will be supplemented is just to take us from the funding formula to where we need to be so we don't have to make um sacrifices like the quality of of building materials or we're going to build a wood structure a stucco structure that that doesn't have a useful life of a hundred years or can we build a mason structure that that can last Generations um are we going to not have carpet or drywall or what other limitations are we going to have um on the technology spaces and a lot of that has to do with uh with this supplement that's coming so we don't have to make those sacrifices some districts that are dealing with
012this challenge are making really hard sacrifices to try to build a building that's going to uh service the students that are coming without the the finishes that you might expect if you've ever built a home or or renovated a home it's those finishes that really cost a lot of money so those are some of the some of the challenges um with desert Sunrise High School one of the challenges was we're gonna have outdoor cafeteria space or are we going to build indoor cafeteria space and so that those are some of the the trade-offs that districts have to consider when they're building a school with with just the formula dollars that the state gives the this is I think our last slide just a reminder of the the elections on November 5th ballots will be sent
013out uh by October 9th and the county recommends that you get those ballots in by oober 29th to ensure that they're they're in on time okay yeah if you have any questions please and I don't know if the live chat can ask questions too yes sir um it's a great question some our secondary schools have different athletic needs that's part of it um yeah it's all and square footage that's correct the the high school project is 125,000 square feet where our elementary projects are under 100,000 square feet um but the the cost per square footage is a little higher at the secondary level but it's that the significant difference is the the number of square feet on these projects I can take a stab at that um so we we ran these projections with today's
014numbers we we can't uh predict what the future holds the state does uh adjust their formula annually and and tries to keep up with that market it's just it's always behind so the Delta between this current project and the market is the same Delta we kept the commitment though is with the bond supplement that we're attaching to each of these projects we're going to build the best school we can with the state fund and with the bond amount that we're assigning to those projects um and and we'll make that work please uh so the first set of guard rails is we pick the categories that we assign these dollars to and there's a number of Cate categories like administrative spaces Pupil Transportation Renovations and and one one category is New School construction all $70 million
015is assigned a new school construction so we can't spend any of this on anything other than new school construction so that's going to keep us in in one category as well but we'll also have an oversight committee that'll hold hold us to these four projects to show that we've done exactly what's in our pamphlet and that's the commitment thank you guys for the presentation we'll we'll we'll move right into the next part I want to ask the candidates their opinion on 48 whether they support it or not um but this feels like a good as time a good as time I can't talk as I need to be educated so maybe you could let me into your next public speaking class uh this is as good a time as any to bring up another question
016I want to ask there's there's some people here U there's a maybe a dozen people here if you're watching online there's a dozen more watching there um prop 48 is something that has CA sparked much debate on social media if you've been on there you've seen it people have very loud opinions about this ballot item that Dr lman and Mr Harmon have just discussed however um when it comes to having an opportunity to learn more about it uh well we can see that the questions are very slim um I want to ask this to to the candidates I have a story that you'll see in the October in Maricopa about voter turnout in the city of Maricopa now I'll give you guys who uh who are here and watching today a a preview of what
017I found and I was writing that story that you'll read next week Maricopa had the worst voter turnout this year in its primary election of any City in Metro Phoenix I'm not sure how many people here know that in fact it had a worse voter turnout than almost any City in the state it had a worse voter turnout than any city of 50 to 100,000 and it had a worse voter turn out even than cities 20 years old and younger Schoolboard I could only imagine and based on our similar event for city council where 120 people were there uh it's there's there's a not a lot of interest when it comes to voting and learning compared as as it is to complaining it's something I've noticed so I want to ask this to our candidates
018uh um who are here we are short one um we've got three candidates let me ask you this question uh first and get a get a raw reaction and then and then you can introduce yourselves um starting with uh uh starting um with we've got Mr Ben Owens Mr Nicholas yandi and Miss Carolyn Lopez who is a current School Board member and two hopefuls um let's start um with Miss Lopez and movie down the line and just tell me what can you do if you're elected or for you now to get people to be more engaged in the process of educating themselves about musd and voting or do you not think it's the governing board's responsibility to do that everybody hear me good Christine good um I do think it's part of the board's responsibility
019um especially when it comes to the bond we're asking to for the community to help us do this right it's a partnership and I think that while you may not be able to change some people's minds most of the time it's that people don't either understand all of the information or they need more information right they want to know and be validated on how that's going to affect them personally um and so yeah I do I do think that that it is part of the board's responsibility to help get the word out um to help people understand what's at stake in these kind of situations and what um what that will look like if it doesn't pass if it does pass um and then there's realistically always going to be people that aren't going to
020agree no matter what you say but it's just trying I think the best that we can do this yeah before you sign off the other the tail end of the question what would you do to get people who don't have kids in school or maybe who have kids in private school or even homeschooled um people like me I don't have kids how do you get me by what specific means to get engaged with voting and participating so so far I've just talked to people in everyday stuff networking um depending on the groups I attend or the Committees that I sit on I haven't gone door- knocking I'm a pretty busy parent but at any opportunity like I did kids day and walked around and tried to just engage people in it's okay to ask questions
021it's okay to want more information um I have taken like different calls different I'm constantly bugging Mr Harmon on questions that I get asked to get better Clarity so that I can help answer forther questions whether I'm at the grocery store or Copper Sky Fields like just using any opportunity to help teach educate be open I think the uh responsibility is shared um it is the job of the governing board to be a public servant and so they representative of the people um but it is difficult to be representative of the people if there is no political participation from the people so that responsibility is shared from the public servant and the people themselves um and so I think because of that shared responsibility it's a big part of the uh public servant to initiate
022those discussions for example this is a great example of that with this event here and we're talking about the bond that is being initiated on the end of the media and the musd20 and that is so that we can have these these discussions with the people of Maricopa on things that matter especially with our children um in terms of trying to engage with people that don't maybe want to have a say in these kind of kinds of things because they don't feel like their needs are being associated with the with the governing board because they don't have children at school I think it's just a matter of again just trying to open that discussion just having basic communication um because political participation goes so much more than just just our schools it goes at the
023local level the state level so even if you don't feel like you your voice matters within our school district because you don't have children your children don't go here your voice still matters in America's democracy because you can still have an impact on that local level that state level and so it all starts here on this local level and again it starts with our children um and so again I think it's just initiating that discussion and having that form of communication and I think this is a great example of that all right it been a minute can you repeat the question please voter turnout for in Maricopa is among the lowest in the state we can only predict that for Schoolboard engagement would be lower than for the city council where we saw that happen
024do you think it's the governing board's responsibility to get people engaged including nonparents and parents of children who are not in public schools and if so by what means um the governing board has Direction Over the education it goes on here in marova right um the board um as an individual we have limited or a board member has limited uh influence so to speak right sitting up there there's a lot of power up on this Das there's a lot of experience up on that Das um it is true that and we've seen it in past elections where the school board election is often skipped over on the ballot um it's just just the way it is it's not typically seen as a super important race um what uh what can what can we do well
025it when it comes to the bond being part of uh like the pack for example that's supporting and trying to get the word out about why the bond is important why 4 488 is important um having individual conversations with people um that kind of thing but um the board and the the district the city all together uh educating people and why it's important I think that's where the where the power really lies now prop 48 and similar propositions we're talking about potentially my tax dollars so of course I'm going to look that way um Mr Owens if you could expound on on this if we're talking about the proposition I could see but for uh for me voting for Schoolboard why should I vote for you or should I should I leave it blank um
026I think that every race has its own importance right um on a national level obviously there's more there's more people that are impacted than on a city council or a or a uh a school board a governing board um election um but getting people that are interested in this position isn't always easy um it takes a lot of time um so yeah I do think that people should vote for the governing board uh and educate themselves do you want me to go into why you should vote for me personally or are you looking for why you should vote for someone up here for someone but that's a good foray into introducing the I like to start this out with a curveball you know zero prep time I picked on you first because you're already on
027the board so my apologies um but uh now that my curveball is is over and away let's start with you since you're since you're moving that way and move back this way and have everybody introduce themselves by the way for all the people that are watching at home um you're going to vote vote for three school board members for four open seats um all four candidates other way around sorry other way around sorry of course it's been a long day guys there's there are four candidates for three seats um and there's three candidates here all of the candidates indicated that they would be here but one of them is not maybe Dr lman can tell us about our about your absenteeism policy kidding but uh let's introduce ourselves before the next question and we'll uh
028work our way back on on this gotcha uh my name is Ben Owens and uh my family and I have been in Maricopa for uh just over 10 years um I've been involved with uh musd um in some fashion for the past eight plus years uh starting with uh site council at Santa Rosa uh four years on the governing board three years as vice president one year as president and the past two years um I have not been on the board but I've still been active um as you can see by my less than professional attire um this afternoon this evening uh I just came from Copper Sky where we uh myself and uh host of other families were just running a swim meet down there um so for example this year we're running seven
029swim meets in about seven weeks and it's uh it's a lot of time so um if there's any question about my dedication to uh to musd um I'll direct you to some swim coaches down at coer Sky and MHS desert Sunrise um I would just like to first start by saying thank you to M Copa for hosting this event uh special thank you to Dr lman for presenting the uh prop 488 and a very special thank you to everybody being here present for those watching online uh your political participation is very important because at the end of the day we are here for the children uh because they are the Future Leaders of tomorrow's America and that is very important um my name is Nicholas andreski I I just graduated from Maricopa High School back
030in May I'm born and raised here in Arizona I've been in the Maricopa Unified School District proud member of it uh since I was in preschool um and I've just been doing my best throughout my educational career while I was here amop UniFi to be as active as I could and try to make a difference and impact in my Community uh most notably in marope elementary school I was um I went through the whole leader and me program I was part of the scholars on special assignment and That gave me the opportunity to really see what it can be like to try to make that difference impact and be a student leader um and that has continued throughout my educational career um I was in 24 pintech which is the student repair company at Maricopa
031high school that is part of the CTE program um and I can say that that being part of that CTE program has definitely made an impact right now in my educational career and can definitely help me in the future um my last two years at Mara High School I ran a podcast in which my colleagues and I we covered important issues on campus to try to create a safe space for students to share their opinions on important issues that are affecting them in their educational career um and so as being part of that I was able to be the voice of the students and now that even though I've graduated from ameropa high school and I'm no longer a student my time here in the community has not stopped and I want to continue to
032be an active part of that and so I hope I can be your voice hi I am Carolyn Lopez I am a current member of our governing board um I was appointed last December to fill the vacancy that Dr Miller left um and it just so happened that that seat is now up for election I would like a little more time to finish some things that I I am very passionate about my background is in special education helping parents advocate for special needs Services Statewide um and behavior health and I got into this because I was a complainer I was a loud squeaky wheel but I didn't just want to complain I want to fix it I want to help bridge the gaps between our our admin and teachers and amilies and and limit and
033diminish all of the the miscommunication the emotion behind such sensitive areas of family's lives and I feel like we're doing a really good job I'm really proud of what what we're doing here recently with that I can feel like we're making some changes and and I'm not done so um I also coach I coach for the city I coach basketball I'm always out there I've taken a break this season from soccer and football because it's election time and it makes it a little busier but um I've enjoyed it I've enjoy learning the different perspectives when you're not in it you don't see all the layers but you know that there are layers it is it opens up your world and then you want to sh I want to share that I want to share that
034knowledge with people with parents with staff with everyone on how it all works and then where can we make things better so hi I'm Jeff Chu the education reporter at in Maricopa and uh the question I have is a pretty obvious one tonight since we've already been uh well introduced informed about uh proposition 488 uh how do you starting back with uh Ben uh how do you see proposition 88 as a benefit to the future of musd um passing prop 488 would be a um a huge Advantage because um we know that we're getting funding in the future for a serral school and I was part of the the land selection committee for that uh um for that site and we looked at uh three other properties as well and having been previously on the
035board and seeing how the state inadequately funds a school uh to the point where yeah you'd have a wall but there may not be drywall on that wall there probably wouldn't be uh nicely finished floors or decently finished floors um uh a cafeteria and the kitchen equipment there's so many little components that add up to make a school inadequate for what Maricopa unified has said these are our needs um so yeah passing that Bond and setting uh education in the future up and we're not talking just in the next five years in the next 20 years we're talking down the road um is really where passing this Bond now is going to make make the greatest impacts can you restate the question please how do you see proposition 488 as a benefit to the future
036of MD I see it as a benefit to musd because I think every student deserves a quality education every single student regardless of their background and where they come from doesn't matter what school they go to which teacher they get what part of what stage in their life they are at when they join md20 they should all receive the same quality education and a lot of that unfortunately has to come from the funding that we get and in today's world we're not getting enough of that funding from the state and prop 48 is the solution that does not does not come at a cost to you the people um however it's very important that you guys stay informed um the district has created multiple resources musd20.org Bond um so you can become informed to be
037a part of these discussions because there's a massive benefit to passing prop 48 because it can make a difference on our children's lives we want to prepare them to the Future Leaders of Tomorrow and so a great example of that is with the high school with the CTE programs um as being a part of that CTE being part of the CTE programs I can tell you it has made a difference in my career my future career and I can only imagine what kind of impact it has made on all my other peers that have just graduated this year and what future students can expect with their careers it shouldn't be oh wait five years ago uh it shouldn't be I I say now my CTE career was successful but then 5 years in the future
038I look back and I see students who didn't have that same opportunity it should be able to provide every student with that same opportunity if not more going into the future as we get new technologies as you want to prepare students for new Industries and new fields that are created we want to make sure we're on top of that and a lot of that stems from the funding and so I think there's a massive benefit to passing property8 488 okay one more time Jeff sorry I'm listening so intently I'm like what was the question how do you see prop 488 as a benefit to the future of musd so I'm going to kind of piggy back off what Ben said a little bit um I went toured a bunch of other schools and other school
039districts and were able to see what they are offering when they built their schools and and every community in our state build schools with Bond money not just State money and so as I looked at this and I'm looking at what our education could be in the future right where it needs to be now but also like where are we going to be in five years and the technology behind that and we if we pass this we will have an opportunity to um like Dr lman said and Jacob earlier and like Ben was just saying about the kitchen equipment or things like that just the technology and wiring alone to advance those programs to make what the teachers use for computers or smartboards to be able to teach our kids having the ability to go
040plug that in in a hallway to use space and get creative versus being stuck just in a classroom or just in this corner it will provide I think in in building a better more useful space and and be able to open that up for whatever our future is in education right we want as many opportunities as we can squeeze in to what we're doing right so that's how I see it the benefits of it is is how many opportunities can we give our kids by doing this we build this building we expand the other buildings how much how much can we get with that in all areas but I'm going to use technology specifically because I think a lot of our education is going to be on that technology type welcome in council member and
041others who have arrived here we've had a few Jim hi a few more arrivals in the audience and um and more arrivals on the live stream I know there's a couple of dozen people here but I wanted to let know as of right now more than 300 more than 300 people have joined our live stream for for your information so you those are the people you're addressing on the camera there and for the people who join by live stream if you are one of a couple of hundred who have joined um in the last several moments um we've got our candidates here and look we've got a current Schoolboard member a recent musd grad who was very involved and a guy who just came here from a Maricopa High School swim me to make time
042for this where he administers uh both high schools sports at both both high schools and as a former School Board member so we got the people here they care about schools and I want to remind the people who have joined that uh on November 5th you will be able to vote for three people which is how many are here now but there are four running on to the next question I'm going to change the change the tone here um The Time Magazine last week published an article called how the pandemic broke kids' brains there's a lot of data in the article IQ is down the average fifth grader in the United States is reading and writing at a third grade level is this something Carol U Miss Lopez let me actually start with you and
043and ask you is this something that you have seen at musd and if so how are you working to make up for what was lost during shutdowns so no I have not personally seen that um I have five kids two are adults I have a tween who does not attend here he attends a different School District um and then we have two Littles and our two Littles attend musd schools but they were born 27 2019 so they weren't quite in school yet for us to see any of this um so no within musd I haven't directly seen that what I have seen is behavior um but I think that musd from being a board member seeing what we do with our parent committees seeing what our principles do seeing what the curriculum is and how
044active everybody is in addressing any any delay in any area of Education um I'm I'm pretty proud of that I'm proud of how we respond and and it I don't I wouldn't even call it even responding at this point I would say it's it's goals that I think all districts have in how to balance the needs of all their kids at once but I haven't specifically seen you said the reading right all of the above it is it's mainly been behaviors that I have specifically seen uh Mr andreski will go to you you were actually in school when the pandemic started in fact during all of the the shutdowns you lived through that as a student um in your experience did that set education back at all these these Nationwide numbers coming out about the
045lowest educational attainment in recorded history by Elementary schoolers right now is this something that you've seen is this something that concerns you is this something if elected that you would take steps to address I think it's important to understand that covid-19 isn't the only uh factor of consideration during that period of time um it definitely was an obstacle for everybody's education it was an obstacle that I fortunately was able to overcome and a part of that had to do actually with the education that I received when I was at Mara Wales Middle School I was part of 20 plus1 21st Century Learning and that learning was based around doing work on uh technology using laptops and so when we moved um during lockdown to uh online learning that made no impact to my educational career
046because I was already prepared to do everything online they use the Google Suite um to do Google meet do uh all kinds of sorts of projects used in the Google Suite that our District employees because I was part of that program um but it not not all not every single student was a part of that program and so I know a lot of students did struggle with covid-19 but it's again it's not wasn't the only factor of consideration um a lot of it also had to do with just the uh social impact that it had on students um I think every student was provided with the same uh at least the district attempted to provide every student with the same level opportunity and the resources that they needed to strive forward um during covid-19 to
047overcome that obstacle but a lot of it came down to at the home level um with the student needing to make that effort to make that dedication which is why when it comes to these topics of trying to further education especially after we're recovering from events such as covid-19 it is a joint effort that blame does not fall upon any one person it's a joint effort between the students the parents and the U administrators and so I think in terms of covid-19 the administrators did to the best of the ability to again provide those resources and that was part of their responsibility and the rest of the responsibility then fell on to the parents and students to have that discussion to try to further that dedication because when students were left at home there other
048factors of consideration that took away from education video games social media TV any ways that they could help you know deal with covid-19 because I know that definitely had a mental impact on students and so although they probably had the resources that they needed to strive forward in their education they might not have had the resources needed for their mental health and things like that um and so it's not fair to say that covid-19 is the only Factor consideration I think there was a lot of different influences but at the end of the day it just comes down to that joint effort of the administrators provide those resources needed and then now it is the community to step up and have that conversation between the students and parents to make that level of dedication and
049to that point Mr Owens I want your opinion on on something a little bit different um obviously there were Nationwide some educational effects of the pandemic but at the same time we're talking about the first generation that grew up with smartphones um the time article as well as many more have explored how the access to technology um and uh cell phone use and internet use um among young children being at an all-time high has also had social and educational impacts this has been a very hot debate in the country recently um you've seen a lot of of lot of headlines in National newspapers about this in in really just the recent days tell me your opinion on where a child's cell phone belongs when they're at school well I'm GNA say I probably got the
050easiest question out of the three of us all right um that cell phone belongs off or locked up during the school day there are districts I know in in the valley that have have done that and I agree 100% with that that is a major major distraction um if there's an event where I need to get a hold of my daughter who attends desert Sunrise um in an emergency well guess what I can call the school school can then put me on hold and they can ring me you know they can contact the teacher um the students don't need their cell phones right um if there's a teacher that is having um let me let let me just back up a little bit right there are certain applications as uh Mr uh andreski addressed the
05120 plus programs those students a lot of times will use their cell phones to do um movies or that kind of thing um in an instance like that yeah absolutely but just having it on having it I know that kids are sneaky right um um it somehow I think should be I I would totally support some kind of a lockup or something like that I know there's been teachers when my daughter was at MHS that you walk in the you walk in the room and you're supposed to put your cell phone in a basket kids lie I get that she saw it teacher saw it I'm I'm sure but I would totally support something like that so definitely any students that are watching my peers you may not be happy with my response um I
052do feel like there is a time in place for the cell phones um definitely I think there was a time when cell phones were more needed as technology wasn't widely accessible for all students but now that every student is equipped with a laptop um that is fully capable of doing all the required school workk there isn't much of a need for a phone um but I think it's Al although the idea of potenti locking up your phones I think is an interesting idea to kind of mitigate the distraction of cell phones because don't get me wrong cell phones are in fact a distraction um I think a lot of it also has to fall on the responsibility of the student the student needs to learn to be responsible to handle their own devices and their
053cell phones you as a parent have trusted your children with cell phones now it is part of them growing up to become an adult to follow the rules and take response bill of their own property um and make sure that they aren't using their devices that's distraction to them or their peers um I think it's also this disc that we had with the students uh many students wouldn't be happy with the idea of their property being taken away because it is their personal property um so student privacy is also very important to consider in that regard um but again at the end of the day I think there's a time and place for cell phone usage and I think a lot of it has to do follow on the responsib of the students to take
054that extra step and realize that um there's a time and place for myself pH I need to focus on my education because the impact that it can have Miss Lopez where do you fall on this I mean on the one hand if there's a rule that cell phones aren't allowed it would follow that that they could be put put somewhere else right but at the same time we're equipping children for every aspect of adult life um do you think they should be able to learn how to resist the temptation in real time so I'm in agreement I say lock them up um I think that it's a huge distraction for the student for the teachers um um and as far as challenging them to take ownership over and learn that responsibility I don't think in
055our our teachers are trying to teach academics Reading Writing math um problem solving skills I wouldn't want it um to to burden our teachers with more responsibility of well now you you need to now reinforce this other behavior um and then how how do we then enforce any of those rules like that's that's a layered I think that you're just setting people up for failure when you try and do that I think a blanket rule is just a lot better um I think that is more on a parent's responsibility to teach that kind of stuff I think they get some of it right throughout their day throughout the their lives and what they do you but I'm in agreement I think that cell phon should be locked up and um if you learn that you
056you learn it in other places not in the classroom with your teacher uh Nicholas uh I'd like to ask uh uh does the graduation rate at musd need to improve and if you think it does uh how would you approach that uh so I don't actually have the numbers for what the graduation rate is over the years but what I can say I think there are a lot of instances where there are students who are provided with every resource possible to succeed but they don't take advantage of that and then there are students who aren't provided with every resource to succeed and they want to succeed but they don't have the resources needed to do so um I think again I'm going to keep coming back to this I think it is a joint effort
057between the community um and having that level of communication between everybody because it's not just falling upon the responsibility of any one person it's not just falling upon the student to make that a lot of what the student does in the educational career is influenced by external factors whether that be administrators teachers staff parents and their peers and so I think it's important to again um provide every single student with equal access to all the resources needed um in order for them to be successful but also raise awareness to these resources there's a lot of stuff that uh your taxpayer money covers for the students that many students aren't even aware of but then there are areas where money is being spent on certain resources that the idea is to make an impact on students
058lives but aren't necessarily doing that and that money can be redirected elsewhere um and so I think it's I think it's important again I think it's a joint effort between the teachers students and parents to have that conversation and outline those responsibilities and I think a great um resource for that is the plan of a gra the portrait of a graduate that md20 provides I think that's a great example of showing what that path to success is but a lot of students don't know what portrait to a graduate is a lot of students don't know what the Strategic plan is and I think a lot of that falls again on the communication um because a great example of this is high schoolers um high schoolers don't want to be treated like children anymore high schoolers
059want to be treated like adults they're going into the adult world we might as well prepare them for the adult world and so I think explaining to them here these are our goals this is how you can accomplish those goals that is the first step of initiating that conversation with them and so that they know how they can be successful because if not they're left clueless in the dark trying to figure out what am I supposed to do and although you could argue a lot of that needs to fall on the student to figure that out for themselves they're still growing and developing both physically and mentally and so they need that help through those external influences and so I think a lot of that again falls on that level of communication having those conversations
060Ben can you repeat the question sure uh does the graduation rate at musd need to improve and how would you approach it there's always room to improve it there's always room for improvement um when I um over the past few years and through the uh through the override um M MHS for example um opened Ram Academy and that in and of itself helped the helped the graduation rate immensely um how do you help increase the graduation rate you help that um with making sure that programs that kids are interested in are available to them for some it might be Bann for some it might be 24 pin um making sure that there's school counselors and um Administration that is keeping and and they are but keeping kids on track a lot of that too comes
061back on families as well uh in my family where I grew up um and my wife's family education is incredibly important I didn't didn't do so well in school and and I've said this before if I could go back I'd do things a little bit differently in my own education right um um working with Administration and the governing board um understands the importance of graduation what that does that sets students up for the best life that they potentially can have right um and making that known and uh Rel relaying that on to Administration but just making sure that the support structure is there for kids Carolyn I don't have too much to add I mean it's part of our strategic plan I think there's always room for improvement um and like Ben was I think
062our our Ram Academy's graduation graduation rate was 97% 90 it was high 90s um and so I think I would I I just agree with with what Mr Owen said I I don't see any anything to need to add to that thank you uh so uh since you don't have anything to add I'll give you something to add in the form of a new question this one's just for you and I'll ask you all an individual question different questions these are based on people who are watching right now um the first question is for you miss Lopez because you have been on the board since the spring the question is what is MD's budget is it enough is it not enough is it too much is it just right so I would say um I
063am more of a person to lean to I don't think there's ever enough money for Education ever um there's always better programs that we can do there's always better curriculum and we pay teachers more and have better facil like I could there's always going to be a need and and I don't think that there would be a sufficient amount of money to be able to make everybody happy in all of that um I think our district from what I've seen since I've been on the board and what I have been told from previous years and and budget issues in in previous Administrations we're we're doing good we have really smart people we have really good people in place to help navigate what we spend how we spend it um so my overall answer is I
064I think education can always use more money I think it's just about who we have in place to know what to spend that money on as wisely as we can and I think so far musd is doing really good with that I think Mr Harmon would agree with you on all points or or do you think there's too much money just kidding all right uh next question is for Mr Owens um the question is this and it's a two-parter so pay attention um the first question is what was your biggest achievement or favorite moment of when you were on the school board in the past the second part of the question is what do you hope to uh your biggest achievement would be in this term biggest achievement uh while I was on the board
065uh doesn't have to be yours personally yeah but what's something that the board accomplished then that it benefits to this day um I'm GNA I've got two things two things there for me personally end of the Year celebrations are and again I've said this before the end of the Year celebrations is what carries carried me through a lot of stress through the other 11 months of sitting on the board uh seeing graduates and their excitement um and knowing that uh our district has been part of setting them up to succeed down the road um that's one of the one of the one of the great things about being a board member it really is um I would say in my time on the board with the help of an awesome Administration and incredible people outside
066of the district and this has been said before to death building a high school in the middle of Co um with sometimes not be being able to meet in person um but seeing that final product um one of I think probably one of my favorite uh pictures that'll show up on on my phone is um is a picture of the completed project at Desert Sunrise uh with myself and Dr L A lot of the decisions that were made that again are carried not just 20 years but 50 years in the future were made during my time as president um and vice president too obviously but um our Administration actually deserves more of the credit on that I think than the board does but those are those are probably the two things there um as far
067as the future um you know I guess that's something I haven't given a ton of thought to um The Well I'm I've said it before I'll say it again that my goal is to make musd and I know it's the administration's goal the best dist District in Arizona a destination District where we've got some kids that travel up the road up 347 that we're bringing some kids down 347 because we've got the best teachers we've got the best programs we've ' got the best Athletics overall the best District in Arizona that's my goal next question for you Mr andreski I'm GNA preface it quickly or I'll try to be quick I'm not great at it um I went to public school I'm a proud product of public school actually um and when I was in
068uh when I was in high school when I was 16 I was working at a warehouse hauling 100 PB bags of bird seed um but then uh when I was 20 was the first time I started managing a news company and I've been doing it ever since reason why because one guy had faith in me and the rest is history it seems to me as a society we're ready to give young people a chance to lead in every Arena pretty much except when it comes to elected leadership reason why I only had to get one guy to believe in me you've got to get a majority of people in the city to believe in you so my question is this why should somebody vote for a college freshman to run schools in their city um
069a wise person once told me um to always know your audience uh those are three simple words that most times this meeting is very simple um there's some moments like here um where that meeting is so much more so to know your audience I'm going to be honest with you guys I don't I may not always know what you want but I can guarantee you one thing I know what you need I've been a proud member of the school district since I was in preschool I've been through the whole process I've seen the ins and outs I've seen the power Dynamic and the level of communication between the administration the teachers the staff and the students I've worked my way up through all three levels of from elementary school middle school high school I've been
070through a variety of programs or an organization and use variety resources from the district um and of course like I mentioned earlier I created my podcast and a lot of that was focused on trying to talk about important topics on campus um because I've been able to have a lot of these wonderful conversations with several staff and students and I feel like a lot of those perspectives aren't necessarily being heard on a higher level but I've had that experience I've been through that um I've been down the path of change um I faced a lot of struggle and push back with my podcast who trying to get the word out there because a big thing for is communication I think it's very important to remain transparent and to keep everybody informed on everything because that
071is the most effective way that we can uh write a government is to have communication and so that was a big part of my podcast was trying to not only advocate for freedom of speech and press for students but try to get to the Forefront of these issues that exist and have a conversation about it um but I faced a lot of push back for that and so I went down that path of trying to go up the hierarchy of trying to get board policy changed I've been through all that I've seen the bureaucracy of it all um and there was a lot of obstacles but that didn't stop me um I kept going because I knew I was doing this for not only my peers right now that I was at the time I
072was in high school with I was doing this for future students because I know that the impact that it can have and the difference that it can make is again we are building the Future Leaders of tomorrow's America and so it is very important that we are focusing on not only the students that we have now but the students that we could potentially have in the future and so I've been through that process I've seen the ins and outs and so as I mentioned earlier I had the wonderful opportunity being The Voice of the students and I want to be the voice of the people of Maricopa I want to be your public servant I want to be here on the board listening to your problems your issues your concerns so I can bring that
073to the administrator so that we can make sure that there is that level of communication and that flow between all core components of our school district because it doesn't fall upon any one person is again a joint effort between the students the parents the teachers the staff the administrators but the only way we're going to be able to do that is by having that communication by having that discussion and I want to initiate that discussion that is why I'm here tonight that's why I am running for the board so I can be representative and initiate that discussion I'm going to switch it around a little bit uh but talk about hopefully you all can inform us a little more about how you feel about uh uh recent events uh have taken place uh for some
074reason young students think they can uh threaten or call in bomb threats uh and get away with it uh as if it's lightly so uh I was wondering just how much uh how much see in musd schools and uh how could security improve Carolyn so I know that just this year a couple weeks ago we started the visitor aware um and I think that's huge to be able [Music] to get a um a background on anyone entering our school I think Mar Maricopa unified I think we do a good job so far I think we've done everything that to address safety that we can do I was I sat in on that town the town hall that we had a couple weeks ago um and just listened to parent concerns and Community concerns about what
075what other things that we can do and I think it's an open conversation um I think we have two more schools to put the the barriers up in the front off offices I I know we have video cameras and faal recognition and all of our staff are trained in all of the different safety measures lockdowns all of that I I believe we do a really good job and we've addressed issues before they arise where I think we could do better is the behaviors that we're seeing in the school so I think so far the focus has really been outside coming in and now immediately it's inside in the classroom and and how do we better help those teachers those staff those schools deal with with what's going on we've done a little bit we've we're
076bringing in more behavior health professionals to help address some of that but I think I think that there 's some other things that we could be doing partnering um and parent involvement um it can't just be all up to the schools when it comes to that it it we really need that parent participation um when we look at at in inside the classroom Nicholas uh when you were in high school um did you feel safe I feel that in recent years the Administration has done a great job in trying to invest in more security measures but there's always room for improvement and room for improvement doesn't necessarily mean spending more money a lot of that goes with trying to improve upon what we already have so a great example of that was the implementation of
077metal detectors at Maricopa High School um I can say for me as a student I definitely felt a lot saf on campus knowing that they were metal detectors because it is it acts as a deterrent but I can tell you that there are a lot of students who didn't necessar care about feeling safer they rather saw the metal detectors as an inconvenience and that is because of the way that the proposition of the metal detectors was presented to students because I could I could tell uh speaking on behalf of my peers a lot of students feel security measures as an insurance policy and not necessarily prioritizing their safety that isn't the way that it should be and so a lot of that stems from Raising awareness of what we're implementing so it should so a
078lot of students when they were told about the metal detectors it was just thrown upon them it was just told you have metal detectors you're going to have to go through that in the morning show your ideal deal with it right it wasn't necessarily A it wasn't necessarily raising awareness of hey we're implementing these metal detectors we're going to go through a trial period um maybe we have resources available to you where if you feel like there's something that you want to improve on you want to comment on we can have those discussions that way as we're slowly implementing this we can further improve it for not only you but other students that wasn't presented to the students in that way and so I feel like a lot of students when they see these security
079measures they don't see the benefit of that and that is very unfortunate and so I think there are definitely ways into we can improve that communication how we present things things and there's also just a sense of inconsistency when it comes to security measures at our schools um again going back to the metal detectors depending on the day and when I'm carrying in my backpack you could get away with certain things through the metal detector depending on who was Staffing the metal detector that day whether it was just a security officer if the principal was present because there was no common procedure that was established and if there was a common procedure that was established that wasn't being presented and that wasn't being communicated with the students um because students have different types of backpacks
080to bring different resources to schools and so I think there definitely to be a conversation on that of trying to raise awareness of trying to better discuss what the common procedure is and being consistent another great example of inconsistencies with the student IDs every single year the policy on student IDs is different at amoa high school it has to be visible on your person has to be in your pocket has to be in your backpack it's very different every single year I don't know all the logistical reasoning behind it I'm sure there is good reasoning but that isn't being communicated with the students and that isn't being communicated with the parents and there's the opp but the good news is that there's the opportunity for discussion we have those discussions because the students are the
081ones that are seeing whether or not their campus are safe you have to talk to the students because the students will tell you where their concerns are the students will tell you where they where they feel like they don't feel like safe if we're talking about issues such as student safety bullying fighting the students will tell you how to handle that the students have great ideas because they're the ones living through that but we're not having those discussions with the students a great example is at Maricopa Wells and Maricopa High School the rampant drug problem that is present you can ask those students and they'll tell you yeah there's a serious drug problem especially usage in the bathrooms and that is affecting my educational career when I'm in class and the classroom smells like weed
082to the air vents that is an actual concern among students but I feel like that kind of issue isn't being represented on administrative level and it's unfortunate because the students know where those issues are and we have to have those conversations you ask any student every single year students say we should have Vape detectors installed in the bathrooms to my knowledge that there aren't Vape detectors in the bathrooms but I know that something like that would definitely cut down on the drug problem it would help with students education because again when we're thinking about safety of our students we're also considering the impact that it will have on their educational career and so I think a big step going forward is there is always room for improvement again the district is doing a great job
083right now with current implementation again I myself as a student feel safe but I don't think every single student shares that same belief and I feel like a lot of that has to do with the communication we have to initiate that discussion Carolyn would you agree no um we have Vape detectors backpacks aren't allowed um we have done things and I I don't think that it's necessarily and I'm not trying to exclude our students either but we need the adults in the room and the teachers and the staff to know what to do in emergencies and and they are the guide right and so I I'm not I I'm not if kids aren't comfortable walking through a metal detector oh well go through the metal detector um but I just wanted to clarify that we
084do we have Vape detectors we have um it backpacks aren't allowed so there is no no concerns with that so we've done we've done everything that we can that we can do to a to a point but that's also why we held the town hall right is to get those ideas what else does our community want what is it that we can do Ben where do you stand on this issue remind me of the the the complete question because it's kind of it's kind of morph just a just a lot lot of bit sure sure I was asking uh uh rmusd School secure uh and uh if if you don't agree with that uh how could they be uh a more secure place for students um again this is I think one of those areas
085that there's always room for improvement right um I I think that putting the metal detectors in is a huge step in that direction um educating our um the staff they know the areas that there's weaknesses the kids know the areas where there's weaknesses and I agree 100% with uh with Nicholas that having some of those conversations with with kids and they may already be happening I don't know um is is crucial um the aware uh to Simply get into the buildings and some of the uh new security measures um that's huge when we moved here over 10 years ago we came from Minnesota right and in my daughter's Elementary School uh we physically could not get inside the building without presenting our driver's license and we had to stand there for about five minutes before
086they would even electronically unlocked doors to let us in um was it a pain yes absolutely it was um but I've gone through the aware I've been in to the to the office at at am bigh um my background's good so for me it wasn't an issue getting in um are there room for improvements yeah absolutely part of that partnering with uh the city of Maricopa with the sro's that I think Dr open and the uh Administration have done a fantastic job of building some of those bridges and finding the right officers that can build bonds with students um that help them to feel supported and if there's an issue that those Sr are going to listen the administration um is going to listen there may not anything at this point that can be done
087there may be I don't know um so much of it comes down to relationships it really does relationships with with our students and teachers um Administration and families being diligent that and and students uh the old um Saye they kind of really came out after 911 you see something you say something that's really kind of where it's at thank you so much for for being here for your time and answering the questions I promise an hour of questions and answers an hour has uh has elapsed and I would like to give you all uh a couple of minutes for a closing statement and a a pitch to the voters Let's uh let's see we let's start with uh Mr Owens and work our way back all right thanks for uh thanks for the invitation um
088originally um I wasn't going to be able to make it uh this evening um because of the swim meet that uh that we were just a part of but um the uh the team that I work with I kind of told him hey this is kind of important that I kind of need to be to this thing and uh we uh we got things cleaned up really quick so um I'm going to tell you out of the four that are running for the three positions um I've got the most service to Maricopa Unified School District um probably out of the four of us the most unteer hours right um You can look back at my uh some of the things that you know that I mentioned earlier being on site Council um the was it
089back in 2017 2018 um I worked with M sha franic at Santa Rosa and when I was on site Council and we implemented the watch stocks program and this goes back to that security question specifically in elementaries um getting male role models dads grandpas uncles friends of students to spend a day in the classroom spend a day at school with kids um that's kind of a that's kind of a big a big thing when when parents are involved it matters um when dads or grandpas whatever go to school with their kid I'll tell you what some of those smiles and the pride that those kids have it matters the support that the teachers feel because hey this uh you know a parent gets to see that this isn't just babysitting time right our kids aren't
090going to school for a babysitter they're going to learn and I've been in third grade class and and I've seen things go a little Haywire um but I've also seen the teachers bring that back in and when um it's an educational experience for for parents so um I've got a daughter in musd like I said at Desert Sunrise she's a freshman involved in a ton of stuff so consequent consequently that means that Dad is involved in a ton of stuff as well right um I've got know people at a lot of the different schools a lot of community uh Partners um and getting their feedback is vital you can ask Dr lopan a lot of times hey Dr lopan when I was on the board previously I I just had this conversation what do you
091think bringing that back to her and then she funnels that down and she does that for any of the board members um so again my my personal opinion I'm the best qualified candidate to be sitting up on that dis uh for four years starting January 1 Owens thank you um to be fair to Mr yandi I don't think you've had time to log that many service hours um or to be a dad I would hope not um so a lot of people I think are meeting you tonight for the first time you you definitely bring a lot of um unique things to this race um that would be missing without you what what do you want the people who've met you tonight to think about you when they're making that decision in November a big
092part of why I'm here at this board is to be a role model to the community again I feel like it is very important as the job as a board member to be a public servant for the community and so a big part of that is being that role model that sense of inspiration um one of the most heartfelt things for me at my graduation was that I had students who came up to me um this is the last time I'd be seeing some of these students and they told me Nicholas thank you so much for everything that you did you were an inspiration the fact that you were able to take the initiative to not be afraid to speak what was on your mind and try to create this safe environment for these students
093in in relation to my podcast that was inspiring that just showed some of the the impact that my work did and unfortunately that was only contained to the level of the high school I want to take that to so much more um I know that some of my views might be different sitting here on this board some of you may not have agreed with what I said tonight but that is okay because I want to have those discussions a big part of me is keeping an open mind and I want to hear from the I want to hear from your guys' opinions to know how we can have that discussion how we can make that Improvement because at the end of the day we're trying to make an impact on our children and so a
094big part of that again goes back to my role here on the board and being part of that is being a public servant and I want to be your voice and I want to be a part of that journey to overcome those obstacles because I been through that before I've SE again I've been a product of the system I've used a lot of the resources that are still being used today a lot of the experiences I am going that I had gone through a lot of students are going through right now and so a lot of what I have to share from my time at elementary school middle school and high school are still relevant today and I know that a lot of students can resonate with that because I was in their shoes at
095that point and so I know how they are feeling and now I want to open that up I also know the perspective of the teachers I've had countless conversations with teachers and I want to make sure that the teachers voices are heard I want to make sure the teachers are involved in these conversations just as much as the students are and the parents are because again it is a joint effort on the community um although I might not have as much experience because I haven't been on a board before things like that I do believe I'm the most qualified in terms of topics such as technology I have I've been to the CTE program I worked hard for my certific ifications I represented ameropa High School in The District in several competitions before and so
096as we are moving forward in discussions such as technology and the importance of it in our school district I do feel like I am the most qualified to speak on those matters um and again that doesn't mean that it is just technology I feel like I want to embrace everything else about the school district because I am a proud member of the school district again even though I just graduated my journey does not end at graduation my journey continues and every other student should feel that same exact way of mar Mara Unified School District made an impact on my life it made a difference in my life that I want to stick around I want to see what it does for other students and that way at some point in the future and somebody asked
097me hey where did you come from I grew up in Maricopa Arizona I went to Maricopa Unified School District and that's what helped me get to the position that I am at today and every student should feel that exact same way and a lot of that starts with political participation I applaud you guys for being here tonight I want to thank everybody for being here tonight thank everybody for watching online that is a big important part of political participation again as I mentioned earlier that responsibility is on both the public servant and the people you guys have done your job of politically participating and you guys will participate on the elections November 5th and I hope that you guys I can count on your vote on November 5th and that way I can do my
098part as a board member that way I can be your representative your voice that we can make an impact on the students because again they're the Future Leaders of tomorrow's America thank you guys Mr gasi thank you so much and finally to Ms Lopez you've been on the board since the spring which means most of the time has been in the summer when school is out but I know from reporting news that uh in that time since you've joined you have or musd rather has added needed uh security um apparatus in place um teacher pay is continuing to go up and is is uh very competitive in the state and the nation um even we even since that time that you came on got to see Jacob cow catch his first pass as a as
099a 49er and watch the desert Sunrise kids uh go into their senior year for the first time so you're the only one who's on the board now um tell everybody why you should stay there I'm not done um I was put on the board well first I I want to say thank you for for doing this um and two we're we're losing to really amazing people from our current board and those seats are that that's a lot I mean that what they bring to the board is an immense amount of knowledge and background and um I'm I am so thankful that I was able to come on board and learn from them they have been great teachers so first I want to say that um I was put on the board specifically to help address
100special education and I think we have a great start last night was proof we have a new goal specifically for special education and I'm not done with that um although I am a fixer and so it's opened up this whole world of and I love to learn I love to learn the process behind things I love to be part of solutions so I just hope you allow me a little bit more time and I look forward I love I love advocating for our community I love talking with people and getting to know everyone so yeah that's that's won't keep you too much longer this wasn't as bad as I thought I was pretty nervous guys I was I was really nervous this is my first time doing this so it helps when most of the
101people are not in the room you can pretend they're not here and to those people first of all to the candidates thank you all for your time for your answers for your Civic action and your candidacy um and somebody mentioned it earlier but historically uh the Schoolboard member has has been an unpopular job I mean there's been many of people over the years I'm sure Dr lman can recall people that have run uncontested over the years because there were not enough people who wanted to compete for that spot I think the fact that we have competition is a good sign I want to thank the candidates I want to thank the people that came here I want to thank 568 people who T who have tuned into our live stream and especially I want to
102thank our keynote speakers Dr Lan and Mr Harmon and musd for being a fantastic partner over the years to in Maricopa for the use of the building and the microphones and everything tonight um and for their commitment to being transparent with us and the press and letting us in and um and trusting us to do everything from report the news in the district to stuff like this so thank you so much to musd if we were here to debate public versus private it would be a conflict of interest but since we're all here for MUSC I'll say as I did earlier I'm a a proud product of public school I believe in public school and we do have a great uh School District here and um Good Luck to everybody who's running and thanks to
103everyone who's voting thanks again to musd and I think we'll end it right there you all