001yeah I think hopefully you can hear me no it's not on the closer we're short remember short people can you hear me okay we're gonna go ahead and get started truthfully I kind of prefer not to be at the microphone but I know there are a lot of people in here um I'm Angie Ridgeway and this year I'm serving as the president of the Avon Oriole Advocates and let me just say a minute if I could about our organization um first of all we are a Grassroots group here in Avon Indiana an Eclectic group of individuals who came together eight or nine years ago to say what can we do in our community to support our schools different from the great things that happen in ptos and athletic organizations and so forth and we are
002all volunteers in fact I'm way beyond having any children in the school district but I care so much about our schools the quality of our schools and our teachers and our children that I continue to volunteer and so that's what the organization is about I'd like to recognize a part of our executive committee of the organization facilitated and organize tonight's forum and you know because you're all different kinds of work that putting together any kind of big event is a lot of work so I want to recognize those members of our executive committee if they would mind to stand and just kind of wave their hand and let's thank them for all the time they've devoted to putting together this evening [Applause] and all of my obsessive emails about can someone be at the door
003can someone do this okay I also want to thank the Avon Community School District because we don't have an infrastructure we our organization doesn't have buildings it doesn't have chairs it doesn't have administrative assistance and all those kinds of things so thank you to Dr Wyndham and the um Kevin Carr Dr brahmas all the people at Avon Community Schools who allow us to use the infrastructure to make these kinds of things happen because we're just we're a volunteer organization okay The Advocates lend a voice to the students teachers and staff of the Avon Community School Corporation to promote student achievement and Community engagement and one of our key principles is that we advocate in a positive way and so I want this evening to really be highlighted by some some great discussion and a reflection
004of our views and hopes and desires is all in a way that makes our children proud because I think that's what we're all about isn't it um if I could please I'd like to introduce Kim Woodward from our school board I asked him if she might come in for just a few minutes and really talk about what is the role of a school board member and she has been the Indiana school boards Association president not right now currently past president for the entire State and I thought well she brings a unique perspective if she would offer a few minutes of description what does the school board member do so thank you Kim and then she'll she'll toss it to Trophy to to moderate our questions thank you I also don't like a mic but I
005will use it uh so thank you Avon Oriole Advocates uh for making this candidate for impossible this evening I believe that it's important that voters uh see and hear our candidates views uh their knowledge uh their position on key educational issues and most importantly their heart for children my name is Kim Woodward as I've already been introduced I serve on the Avon Community School Board this is my 18th and a half year um seems like it really has flown by to be honest um I was previously the president of the Indiana State School Board Association for three years uh and I want to talk a little bit about my first leadership role in Avon Community Schools was as president of the marching black and gold uh band boosters after serving in that role for three
006years and as I rode off into the sunset of my daughter's graduation I was approached by two members they're sitting over there of the school board asking me to consider running and one of them actually said it's easier than being the band booster president well that was a lie there is some truth to that statement because I still miss that every Saturday in the fall so the role of a school board member is really quite simple three things one you hire and retain the superintendent two you enact and uphold policies and three you act on matters brought to the board in public meetings very simple three things that's it that's all there is and yet these roles bring about enormous responsibility academic achievement advocacy fiduciary responsibility leadership and probably most important character few can really
007give a solid or consistent definition of what good character is but for me in my board experience it is the belief that a board member will be assessed by the community as reacting in a positive ethical and moral manner to whatever circumstances arise in the commission of their duties so there are several important parts of that particular statement the first is it's a belief that others hold about you it requires that over the course of your term or terms that you earn trust it is the willingness to not rush to judgment and to have the emotional intelligence to collect facts and opinions before bowing to short-term pressures there will be a long-term decision by decision scorecard kept about you and it is important that at that point the board member be especially Vigilant because a
008single misstep can really destroy years of solid work on behalf of children finally character is about making decisions in an environment of informed thoughtful consideration and not ignorance or emotion it means being focused always and only on our end user the reason we serve the faction that schools and public education is created for students children kids our future a free and public education is one of the most noble aspirations that any society can have I'd like you to think back on your own educational experience do the vestages of what you learned when you were in public school like you know how to read or what eight times six is which I didn't Master until the fourth grade or the ordinary ordinal coordinates of north south east west do those linger in your daily life today
009yes of course they do School taught you to learn and learning taught you to Aspire succeed struggle have character do you remember that special teacher or bus driver or principal that made a difference in you of course you too do you remember the school board members that helped make all those great decisions about the learning environment and the teachers employment possible no of course you don't and that is exactly the way it should be good board members are servant leaders who Elevate and enable that school environment good character and belief in the nobleness of Education are personified by most of the school board members I've had the pleasure of serving with and others that I've actually met through professional development we are where we are doing what we do because it needs to be done
010right we do this not for ourselves we do this for kids everyone's kids all of your kids my kids everyone that lives in the Avon community's children and we don't have crystal balls and we can't guess the next issue or hindrance or mandate that will arise that we will face but we can take every day as it comes and try to do the very best we can for our children we can't know the future but nevertheless we work for the future and every time I walk into one of our buildings I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the work we do is Honorable it is important and I am proud to have done my part thank you for listening it's now my distinct honor to introduce Trilby Barry Taman from our Oriole Advocates
011who will be this evening's moderator thank you [Applause] thank you Kim all right like I said my name is Trilby we have randomly placed our candidates up here so to take any uh type of question um of it to be um just to make sure it's all random I apologize so we're gonna run through introductions and each candidate will have a minute to respond or to tell us and then we'll go through questions and each question they will have two minutes so the question the candidates have not received the questions until today we did give them things that they might we might ask questions on so they're having to um think on the spot of what their answers might be we'll start with the first question closest to me and then after we go I
012should say I have to go through the introductions and then the next question will start with the second candidate so to begin and I'll tell the candidates this we do have a timer in the crowd so you might see a hand come up if we if we feel that uh you're maybe getting a little lengthy which is right in the middle all right so please if you would candidates starting with closest to me Anita give us a minute of an introduction about you well good evening I am Anita Downing Overton born and raised in Indianapolis Indiana I have lived in Indiana my entire life relocating to Avon in 2003. I worked 26 years for the Federal Aviation Administration Air Traffic Control Center as a human resource management specialist currently retired so I have been a
013people person and a good listener most of my life thank you my name is Jennifer Smith I've lived in Indianapolis my whole life I moved to Avon in 2017. I have two kiddos one at Maple and one at Avon Intermediate East I have worked as occupational therapist for 13 years in home care so that's currently what I do thank you hello my name is Sarah parent and I want to thank everyone for being here this is amazing And for those of you who are streaming online as well thank you clearly there's a large Spotlight on school boards right now and my focus will always be the needs of the students first and foremost so as a school board candidate I offer a very unique perspective because I used to teach in Avon schools for over
01411 years I have a parent I am a parent of four children currently in our schools and I am an experienced advocate for Education I'm known for being well informed about school related issues and I also am not afraid to ask challenging questions I like to engage in respectful dialogue and I believe that's the most effective way to not only express my opinions but to get answers I have met some really fantastic people um during this campaign people who are passionate about our schools our community and their property values and sometimes we have heard some really wild information that can distract from our schools is that my cut off thank you thank you uh hi thank you for coming my name is Shawna Lake me and my family moved here in 2016. I am a
015Air Force veteran of eight years I worked in Health Service management I've been a surgical technologist since 2014. we have a blended family three children ages ranging from 22 down to six thank you thank you good evening and again thank you everybody for coming my name is Greg Dana I moved to Avon in 1998. I have three kids one is graduated from Avon schools I have a senior in high school and our little guy is in sixth grade at East I work for the NCAA in academics I work in all the academic support programs we do at the NCAA helping our colleges across the country graduate their student athletes I'm a CPA I have a master's degree in education I'm a current vice president of the Avon school board and I'm running to continue to
016positively support our teachers and staff as they work with our kids thank you so what we'll do now is continue to the questions and I will go to Jennifer first and the question we are posing are what are your reasons for running for the school board I am running for the school board because I'm a concerned parent like I said I have two children enrolled in the Avon Community Schools so I have a very personal investment in the community over the past year many have felt that they have not been heard fully by our school board as far as going to meetings I believe that parents are the best decision makers when it comes to their children and their education Avon's proficiency rates continue to drop and this is not due to covid proficiency rates
017were dropping even before covet happened and that is affecting everyone in the community Avon is nowhere in line for one of the top performing districts in the state of Indiana we need a positive change we need new eyes and new experiences on this board to make a change I could sit and complain and do nothing however I decided to stand up and fight for my children and other children in the community thank you Sarah um I am running because I believe that students academic success needs and safety should be the drivers behind everything this school board does as an involved parent and a former former classroom teacher like I said I do offer that unique experience and perspective compared to the other candidates up here today I'm aware there's confusion and negativity in the community
018some of which is misinformation about our schools and the legal authority of the school board but I want to help improve that communication I'm not naive I know that there are legitimate concerns that cannot be ignored and that is why I'm running we deserve a level-headed school board member who has a positive attitude who's capable of asking questions I'm not a pushed over and I'm not shy about elevating concerns to the next level when it's appropriate capable of civil discourse and if I need to mend fences and apologize later as I've said over and over again my mic is still on it sounds sorry it sounds like it was cutting out we need a responsible oversight of our school corporation that means the students the staff and the school facilities I am a new option
019for the school board who's well informed well prepared motivated to advocate for all students staff and parents with civility I am independent of political and personal agendas and as a board member I intend to continue that way I'm an independent thinker and I will operate on factual data listening to all sides and then you have to consider consider the legal boundaries as well especially before voting as a on a board of five so my goal is to be a part of an effective school board that strives for consensus by listening to all viewpoints seeking a fair inclusive solution to benefit all students thank you Shauna uh I got involved with coming to school board meetings when I noticed to put it bluntly uh the abuse of power by the current school board that was being
020asserted over the rights of the parents my daughter had just entered kindergarten and even though I didn't have a child enrolled in Avon schools I still felt compelled to show up and advocate for and support the students and parents of this community because I value children and I value their education education is the future children are the future I strongly believe that we need to reverse the current course of radicalization and get back to a classical curriculum that involves parents and provides them with the seat at the table I believe that teachers should teach academics and parents should teach morals and values if we can just get back to the basics of teaching and leave the political and social engineering agendas out of it I think we will find that much of the issues and
021the decline in proficiency scores would correct themselves thank you thank you Greg thank you Trilby I'm running for Avon School Board because I've seen the great educational experiences my kids have Avon schools and I want that to continue I value our class sizes our small class sizes I value our excellent teachers I value our focus on data to drive educational and policy decisions and I want all of that to continue we do have a learning loss due to covid and I want that to be our number one priority so I want to again positively support our teachers and staff as we look at the data figure out solutions to bring these kids back up to where they need to be and again being a CPA and a fiscal conservator I want to be in the
022room when we make decisions on how to handle our growth our community is growing and we are growing fast and we have to we have to manage that and I believe I'm the best person to be in that room when we make sure how to make when we figure out how to do that in a fiscally responsible day way without raising taxes I am a parent I want to continue being the parent representative on the school board I do take great pride in the listening that we've done to all voices as we tried to solve these last couple very difficult years and I want to make sure that when we make decisions we are just focusing on the kids and what's in the best interest of the kids thank you Anita well as you know
023I'm a current Avon School Board member slash officer and I am so very proud of the work that we have done over the last four years we have had many successes yet there is much more to do my knowledge and learning over the last four years has made me even more passionate about making Avon Community Schools the best District in the state of Indiana I believe in the team that I have been working with over the last four years and we have model collaboration and our plans to increase student learning and achievement while also making sure our students are in a safe learning environment thank you Nia we'll go to the next question with Sarah and I will make a comment that you know we are here to listen to the school candidates and we
024don't mind Hoots and hollers but we want to make sure that we get to hear everybody all right Sarah and the rest describe your past and current School Community involvement all right my school and Community involvement started when I was an Avon teacher as I mentioned I was here for over 11 years teaching at three of our elementary schools so you can imagine all the change that I saw I loved the relationships that I built with my students and their families and when I resigned to move to the private sector I remained involved with a awesome Grassroots group of community members called Oriole Advocates as we sit here tonight with their hosting this I have spent years for advocating for our school district and I've also testified twice downtown at the state house in front
025of our lawmakers to try and appeal for fair funding for our school as a parent of four Avon students I am in the schools regularly to volunteer and work with my children's teachers and and the staff I love the ability to see firsthand the hard work that the students teachers and staff are doing day to day when I say staff I want to make sure that I include everyone I mean custodians front office staff technology staff bus drivers my family loves Miss Kathy and Miss Diane they are all a critical they all play a critical role in all of our children's education I have attended Community meetings many of you have seen me many of you have talked to me I speak to our leaders about our schools the need to work together and I
026have attended school board meetings for years long before I decided to run and since filing to run I've made it a goal to be at all the meetings so I can learn about the current challenges and Jump Right In if I'm elected to which I said I will say put me in coach one of the most enjoyable parts of our school board meetings the that I really like is the celebrate our Orioles portion I care deeply about our school community and I want to be a part of that I'm proud of my local endorsements because they are intimately familiar with this community and our school district and that includes the former Avon school superintendent Dr Maggie horneman the current 19-year or maybe it was 18 I heard her say School Board member and former president
027of the Indiana school boards associate Association Kim Woodward current Township Trustee Don Hodson thank you and the Avon Federation of teachers thank you Shauna up until this point uh my involvement has been fairly minimal as I mentioned previously I do not have a child currently enrolled in the Avon schools but I would like to see that change not all families meet the requirement to receive School vouchers um and it's quite a heavy financial burden for families to carry to have to pay tuition to a private school uh in addition to providing tax dollars to fund a public school that they don't feel is a current adequate environment for their child to thrive intellectually so uh but with that being said I have many friends who are closely aligned and involved with the school in the
028community and I'm very well and informed of what's going on uh but I think there's a much greater level of fiscal and curriculum transparency that needs to be more easily accessible so that parents in the community know and understand exactly what's going on me and Jennifer would like to propose a similar idea to have a curriculum committee that's comprised of parent-teacher volunteers who want to review the curriculum together so you we welcome that we we want you to be involved and informed in your child's education uh I think that the only way this will work successfully is that parents be included and have an active role in what their children are learning thank you Greg thank you Shelby um I'll do the community in school in two separate house so my school involvement started in
029Avon 20 years ago when my children were born I started attending school board meetings I went to the superintendent at the time and said you know how can I get involved and I was placed on some committees so I ended up serving on the broad-based planning committee for about 10 years I've served on many other committees throughout the years such as teacher of the year committees or when we were hiring principals sometimes they would ask for parents to come and serve on those committees so I've been very active in supporting the schools all the way through since the early 2000s I worked on both referenda which I'm very very proud of so we attempted to get a referendum in 2011 we were unsuccessful we learned an awful lot from that and the school district experienced
030a lot of pain after we had to make those cuts and I was again very active in supporting and working towards the 2018 referendum which was successful I'm currently the vice president of the Avon School Board in the community I've been coaching youth soccer in this community for 25 years thank you Anita I have had both the honor and the privilege of being an incumbent um serving as Avon Community School Board as a member and officer for the last four years the work is not complete or finished yet we have had many successes that we could not have done without listening talking collaborating and coming to a consensus thank you for allowing me to grow and learn with you we have done very well but we can continue to grow with even more successes for
031our students teachers parents staff and extended families thank you thank you Jen yes um I have served in the past the community as being a nursery worker in the local church and also serving special needs children in the church I served as a chaperone when we did field trips I've brought in products when teachers asked and I've also served at like Field Days I serve my community every day by the work that I do you might you have to have a caring and patience to work with patients that are chronically ill and hospice patients also I am very involved in my children's education and very involved with their teachers every parent should be able to be involved in every aspect of their child's education they should feel comfortable reaching out to their teachers and teachers
032should feel comfortable reaching out to parents when there is an issue or concern we need to bring back parent teacher conferences we need the collaboration and transparency if we are going to make any positive changes I am willing to stand up and be involved in every aspect of the Avon Community I have attended scoreboard meetings in the past and I know what I need to learn and I'm willing to step up and learn that um I am endorsed by some people in the community um the reason I am Doris is not because my views line up with all their views it's basically because I stand up for parents I'm willing to put parents first and students first I will advocate for parents I will be transparent with you and I want you to be involved
033with me so we can bring back this community to where it needs to be thank you next question we're going to go start with Shauna and I'm gonna it's gonna like a two-fold so uh you would please describe if you're already an incumbent uh the very roles that you see at this as a school board member but if you're a candidate the types of service obligations you expect as a school board mentor um so this well the school board is responsible for the curriculum finances policy making uh hiring and firing of the superintendent But ultimately being held accountable to parents and students and the stakeholders of this community our students are the reason our schools exist the first role of education is to support students and students are best supported through partnering with parents I
034think school board should make sure to protect rigorous and robust academics and remove the political agendas embedded into every corner of the curriculum which does nothing but hinder that ability I would like to see the school board members be more accessible and accountable to the community I would like to see a board who respect and honor a parent's desire to send their child to school knowing they will be educated and prepared for College and Career Readiness of the parents that I've spoken to are fed up with their children being indoctrinated with culture Marxism and hypersexualized and groomed with ideologies that manipulate and confuse them into believing that they can't trust the reality of their own bodies when they can't even read write or do math at grade level so School Board should be aligned with
035Community Values and together should set the community standard for academic Excellence ensure that that standard is adhered too thank you Greg well School Board service is about as Kim said it's a little bit more simple it's about helping the administration serve our kids so the Administration has to make the policies in terms of you know how we're going to administer education to our kids and school board's job is to support them we need to keep the kids first we need to support the teachers and we need to add value to the community by listening to the community the Cornerstone of all of that obviously is keeping the kids first making sure we're making kid-first decisions we've talked a little bit and I've heard some of the candidates up here talk about listening the community and
036I wholly agree with that we experienced that during covid I see people in this room who are on both sides of that issue with me um and all of us because we all had lots of different opinions on how we should manage that as a community but what I'm very very proud of as we is that we got together and listened and talked and we had lots of little focus groups and people came to us and we spent a lot of time listening to all the different perspectives again we all didn't agree with where we all landed on that but that's the perfect example about how this community was more respectful and was more collaborative managing throughout some of the other communities in in Indiana in this country and I'm very very proud of the
037fact that we were able to work through that collaboratively I do want to talk about one thing that some of the candidates up here have talked about and that is the school board setting curriculum school boards don't set curriculum um you know again that we are a public school and it's Our obligation to teach the state standards so the state sets the standards that our teachers teach and honestly because we've all talked about how we don't believe any of these kids are really where we want them to be I think it's one that's one thing we all agree on we have I've had some learning loss due to covid our teachers are very very busy teaching the state standards to bring these kids back up to where the state expects them to be and the
038the goal of the school board members to support our teachers in doing that thank you Anita I'll live in Avon I shop in Avon and my all of my grandchildren have attended Avon schools I have been a member of the Avon school system and I am proud of what the board has been able to accomplish we have worked together as a team to guarantee our teachers and students have the best we can offer them thank you Jennifer the school board is supposed to represent the community and also is a policy making entity they must have a collabor relationship with staff in the community they need to consider the values of the community by listening to them being transparent with them and respecting their roles as parents and taxpayers the school board should see that resources
039are being used appropriately and monitoring progress to make Corrections mid course if needed the School Board needs to be transparent in all of its roles we need to shift to a focus on academic excellence I know the school board can't actually do the curriculum but we can work on picking a curriculum based on the laws based on what has to be taught we need to be open to parents I need school board meetings open to parents comments letting them say what they want to say and being let them be heard and hoping to make decisions based with the parents in mind thank you Sarah so um I read somewhere that school boards are accountable for everything but manage nothing and I've come to find out through you know this journey this campaign journey and my
040decision to run that basically as a few of people up here and Mrs Woodward already explained that the school board is um designed as the governing body for Avon schools and it must follow the laws of the state and the board policies that are already established and the daily decision-making operational things those are the responsibility of the superintendent and the administrators and the only thing I'll add about the main areas that like I said many people have already said is the other piece of we act as Liaisons to the community when I was considering running I decided to attend a class first word candidates that was put on by Indiana School Board Association also known as isba and I'll reference that later so this was a class where I was able to increase my knowledge
041about the role of school boards the legal boundaries and I also learned about the code of ethics of a school board member and I want to share those with with you I'm sorry just I'm going to read them because I want to make sure I don't mess them up it requires school board members to think always in terms of Children First conduct all School business transactions openly represent the entire School community at all times and refuse to play politics in any either traditional partisan or in a petty sense and I'm committed to following those and I'd like to challenge the candidates up here to see if they would commit to follow the isba code of ethics as well there's no place for a narrow view to influence the way in which I vote and as
042a board member I plan to listen and learn all the data data the information and the legal boundaries before I form an opinion and then vote thank you next question goes to Greg what would your top three priorities be for local programs and or resources in the Avon Community School District and if the budget were tight what's the first thing you might see as expendable that one wasn't in our prompts uh no it wasn't foreign so we we've been talking about again as we've been answering these questions we've been talking about what are the the big three issues or what are the issues and and to me we have three that that do jump out to the top the first is the learning loss we've talked about our kids have have fallen behind um you
043know there is no question that those two years of covid were no good for example and I know many of you have the same experience I have a son who has quarantined six times in one semester um he learned almost nothing and he spent the entire next semester trying to catch up that was not a good year for him um and we have thousands of those kids so our number one priority is addressing that learning loss and helping our teachers and staff um you know use the data they have and I'm very proud of my focus on data and my focus on making sure our Administration brings the data forward to the school board to make sure we can identify where those issues are with those kids so all the way down to the individual
044child level and then give those kids the support they need to get back to where they need to be second mental health issues have obviously grown very much with all of these children throughout covid mental health needs for these kids have skyrocketed and we're seeing rates of mental health issues in young people that we've never seen before in this in this country so kids with mental health issues need support from their families their communities and in their schools and so we have to figure out how our counselors and social workers can identify the kids with the most need and give them the support they need so they can be ready to learn when they get to class and then the third one is the teacher shortage the teacher shorted is real it is here we
045are very fortunate in Avon that we haven't experienced it the way other school districts have had but it is coming and we absolutely have to figure out how to attract and retain the best teachers that includes increased continue to increase teacher pay but that also includes about the culture that we support for those teachers the support they get from their community and their their um as staff and their Administration and their school board and so I think again we need a very positive School Board that's supporting and attracting and trying to retain the best teachers I'm done you lucked out you lucked out all right Monita yeah and I would also uh say that one is the uh due to Virtual learning Nationwide most of the children are behind so working on that as well
046as retaining uh and recruiting the best of the best of the teachers we want our teachers Educators to feel that they are valued and that um so they'll be happy in the classroom and uh the children will benefit from it so that that would be the two things and also about the funding coming from the state federal and local dollars and how that's used you get a certain amount per child unless it's virtual learning and then it's decreased a little bit so and some of the things that we can spend that money on is Staffing Transportation maintenance service food and general supplies thank you Jennifer the top three to focus on the first is academics uh bring in those proficiency rates back up when covet hit I had a daughter in kindergarten and we are
047struggling with reading sounding Out words and I have a son in fifth grade and there are words he can't even spell that I'm kind of shocked that in fifth grade he should know how to spell these words so we need to bring these academics back up to par when we're sitting in 40 proficiency rates and math and English I don't know to you guys but to me that's very unacceptable um also I think we need to look at special needs programs we need to bring parents together to discuss programs that help these special need kids to excel as other kids in the community going to back to teachers teachers to retain and we need to let them teach teach get back to the academics instead of assuming all these other roles that they have to
048take on I think I know a lot of teachers that have left I have friends who husbands and wives and stuff were teachers in Avon they've left due to the fact that they have so much on their plate they just want to get back to teaching academics um also another issue I've had Parents reach out to me is about the high ability how they've gotten rid of the high ability programs I would like to come together with parents and staff and discuss this and how we can bring this High ability programs back into the schools thank you I believe the largest percentage of school funding I'm going to say that it's anything that's related to classroom instruction so that's going to go straight to an impact class sizes support staff classroom materials and then teacher
049salaries as I you know in my own experience of being a teacher the most powerful impact on student achievement is in that classroom with a teacher um I'm a big believer in a well-rounded curriculum and that needs to not only include stem but music and art options as well there's also a secondary need to that for other staff or excuse me student needs like getting school kids to school with busing and Technology needs as we look around here in this room and I commend the district for their Improvement on those class sizes The increased teacher compensation and those additional supports as our student population has grown but to maintain this our school district needs and the community needs to continue to work with lawmakers advocacy groups like The Advocates Town Council County Council and any
050entity that can impact our community's growth in the school funding you did ask about what's Expendable that's a real hard one I'm going to go with something like maybe Landscaping because I feel like that's safe but nothing that impacts our classroom thank you Shawna um I yeah I'm gonna excuse me go the route with the high ability program I know a lot of parents that's been an issue for um and and as well as the special parents with special needs children uh I think that all children need to have the tools to uh get the education that they need to be successful um and that we're we're ensuring that all children's needs are being met and also uh the proficiency scores what what are we doing to bridge that Gap to ensure that uh major
051education loss that was uh lost during covid I think that needs to be a really big focus is to getting those children back to where they need to be thank you I'm gonna go out on a limb here and I'm gonna say as an oriole Advocate we have gone to the legislatures that the the representatives the Senators and we have been fortunate that they have given more money to the public school systems but things may change uh we might get a smaller piece of the pie so part of the Expendable question might be unrelated to the property taxes which is for the buildings and the buses and the computers if the legislators were had to decrease our per student funding which goes to the payment of teachers and the infrastructure for the children I'm going
052to start back with you Greg because it's still the same question what is it that try to dodge that the first time you're going to let me um no I think it's really important I think it's a very very important question um I don't believe anything we're doing is expendable um I really don't think as we think through where we have teachers where we have you know we can't say we're going to cut teachers we can't say we're going to cut counselors we can't say we're going to cut buses there's you know we can't we're going to do less bus maintenance or we're going to run fewer routes and so it really we lived this during the first when we lost the first referendum and it was just stretch it was stretch everything it was
053get creative it was figure out how to do things like if you remember when I first moved to Avon um we stopped at every house on the bus routes um any of you have been around for a while I see some of my if I remember that we don't do that anymore and I personally think we could actually stop a little bit less so Transportation folks so you can do some things like that you have to go into your class sizes and say we're at 24 can we do 26. you can't go back to 28 29 30. we can't have 40 in a middle school biology classes which we had before um but you have to look at all the little things where you're doing valuable work which I do believe we're already thin enough
054where everything we're doing is valuable and just stretch it out a little bit more to get through the rough times thank you Anita and I don't think there's too much more we can do we can tweak it just a little bit but I think the best thing that we can do is to recruit and retain the best of the best for teachers we want to make sure that our Educators in our classrooms are committed to Quality instructions who are happy about coming into the classroom on a daily basis thank you Jennifer I'm not sure if there's much more we can do but the biggest thing I think is we have to have a budget and work with it I mean you have to cut corners and you got to make it work if that involves
055meeting after meeting to figure it out that's what we'll have to do I mean we have to work within a budget everybody wants to be happy but you know there's got to be a medium so I say Come Together work within a budget and you can figure it out thank you Sarah I think I answered mine okay Shawna um I think without having access to a line item budget and what percent of dollars go where I wouldn't even be able to speculate on that but uh if I were able to look at it then I might have a better idea and answer for you so I'm sorry thank you all right we're going to come back to Anita for the next question retention and recruitment of quality teachers what other ideas do you have about
056it I think I just answered that one on the last question but I will I will repeat it that it's important that we seek out and recruit The Best of the Best we want them to feel valued so they can uh give the students the best that Avon has to offer they deserve that thank you Jennifer I touched on this a while back um about the retention and recruitment equality teachers and staff I think the answer is very simple we need to get back to the basics of Education Reading Writing and math like I said I know a couple teachers that have left the Avon Community just to the fact of all they have to do that's on their plate they just want to teach they love to teach and that's all they want to
057do um ah I just it's a big thing when they have they're so overwhelmed with other roles they have to assume they have to teach but they also have to take care of every other issue that comes up um so I think they're and also show them appreciation I mean when there's you know we can bring them like Christmas presents they have teacher appreciation so just let them know they're appreciated is another big thing to are sending them you know little emails letting them know hey thank you for taking the time to show your concern for my kids so I think just showing them appreciation and just letting them get back to what they love to do thank you Sarah well this is a passionate topic of mine because as you've heard me say multiple
058times I have classroom experience but um that's one of the things that would be a priority of me because I understand and I will fight to ensure that Avon attracts and retains highly highly qualified teachers and obviously yes they need to feel supported competitively compensated and respected I would like to look at ways that our district could gain efficiencies so that we can competitively Pay Teachers we've made great strides but we need to continue that as well as staff this isn't just isolated to teachers because ultimately that's what's going to impact students receiving the best education and opportunities um you know students and parents need teachers who are competent compassionate passionate about their jobs and respected as individuals and teachers in the community need school board members who believe in them and support public schools
059and the teachers I was had to I was talking too much during my intro and I had to cut myself off but I was endorsed by the Avon Federation of teachers and that's very humbling a vote for me is a vote to support those teachers as I was their candidate of choice and I won't let them down if elected I do want to dig in more and find out why highly effective teachers are leaving Avon regarding staff I would like to do a third party climate audit where all staff has a one-to-one setting and the results from that would be actionable items that our district can work on there are two other things that I have been on my mind there's a movement called grow your own teacher where we can look at high school
060students that they can have a graduation pathway that they can study teaching and then come back to our district which would be awesome and then there's also the state has a Next Generation who's who's your educator scholarship that's a mouthful it's a great program but it needs to be expanded so I plan to advocate for an increase in participants at last count there were 200 scholarships that were offered for the entire state so I think we can you're good thanks first we have to make sure we're offering and maintaining competitive salaries if you don't maintain competitive salaries then you will not retain quality teachers additionally I know teachers struggle with needing extra help in the form of teacher aids and support staff and they do need that relief I also think this presents an excellent
061opportunity for parent volunteers who have the ability to volunteer to get back in the classroom and be engaged with their child's education that again that's something that I encourage and welcome uh last year I believe we had a or I've understood that we had a record or near record Exodus of teachers leaving acsc then I and I would like to know why I know um teachers just they just want to be able to teach they don't want all of the chaos that's been attached in from what I understand these classrooms have become chaotic so um well-educated kids they have a direct impact on the economic strength and success of a community and ultimately a country so how do we expect children to learn and thrive in a disruptive and disorderly environment so one thing that
062I would like to offer is a truly Anonymous survey to hear from teachers who have left in the last two years or so to see if there's anything reasonably doable that we can do to get them back as well as how many may be planning to leave and the reason why and if there's any steps we could take to keep those teachers when you put students and parents first in essence you put teachers first because education is about students and parents support teachers when they support the education their children are receiving I believe teachers want to partner with parents and parents with teachers thank you Greg well we're all referencing it the teacher shortage is real the stress and extra work of teaching through the pandemic caused many teachers to retire and dissuaded many new
063graduates from entering the profession that is absolutely just a fact but current environments and legislation also pay a role teachers want to teach they don't want to be micromanaged by A legislature that has no idea what's going on in their classrooms they don't want to be vilified by members of the public who have no idea what's going on in their classrooms they they need compensation increases we are an all now in a bidding war for teachers I'll give you one example teachers didn't used to be able to jump from District to juristic and retain their seniority now they can and that's a really big deal so again we have to pay attention to that and we have to respond to that and then finally teachers pay attention to the culture of their school district teachers
064know which schools have supporting Administration supporting parents supportive parents supportive communities and supportive school boards so I'm running to keep Avon supportive and I'm running to key being the strong voice of positivity for our teachers on our school board thank you all right next question Jennifer yes what are in your opinion the most pressing issues concerning the Avon Community School Corporation I keep coming back to academics um like I said our children are behind we need to focus on academics once again when children are in school the focus should be on academics I believe if there's other social emotional issues that rise that needs to be addressed first with the parent and the child parents should be aware of everything that is going on in their child's education parents need to have a voice in
065their child's curriculum parents teachers and administrators once again need to collaborate on an appropriate curriculum we need a lot of parents this is going to be a touch issue but a lot of people have sent me questions about covid what's your stance on masks and vaccines this is a personal choice I will never vote to mandate these and I ask every one of you to research all these candidates up here and see where their stance is on that thank you Sarah many moved to our school district because of the reputation we have and while there's a lot of great things that are happening in our schools we do have challenges and some of the specific issues that are on my mind are handling the growth of student enrollment while being good stewards of tax dollars
066the teacher shortage which we've we've covered that enough academic performance and then safety and mental health of students as we've said the teacher shortage is a nationwide issue I believe Avon was spared for this school year luckily but I do wonder about the quality and quantity of candidates as in the coming years the school board absolutely does need to keep a watchful eye on academics they are dealing with effects of the pandemic and directives from the state so while standardized tests are one indicator of student achievement they are not necessarily what's best for all students and I could speak to this because I have kids with special needs so you know we need to look at all the data not one graph okay there are outside factors like Indiana changing its India their academic standards
067it moved from ISTEP to iLearn and that is a big impact on a school corporation because they have to then pivot to take local school time and implement it that's a lot of resources and then you think of the impact on the teachers so such changes like that all those evaluation tools we cannot look at one graph alone so you have to look at the totality of everything multiple academic tracks need to be given provided to match students plans for the future so that we have productive well-rounded citizens coming out in our community students learn best when they know that they are safe and supported our students today are dealing with so many things that most of us never had to deal with they are coming to school with trauma mental illness heavy burdens for
068a child to carry how could we expect them to learn when all that is on their mind now I'm not saying it's the school's sole job but they can't be a catch-all we have to work together as a community to address that thank you Shauna first and foremost as we went over many times proficiency levels are a major issue um I did have a visual aid but it's not going to work for me to show you so I'll just kind of talk you through it and yes I agree that one graph does not depict the entire view or give the entire answer but just to throw some numbers out at you 57 percent of students in acsc grades three through eight do not meet the minimum proficiency state standard in 2011 we were sitting between
06984 and 90 percent uh then in 2014 there was a massive drop from 2014 to 2018 there we were slightly maintaining with minor drops and increases along the way but fast forward to 2018 through 2021 there was another astronomical nosedive so you can't tell me that it's just a result of covid and quarantines because I just gave you the data trends for the past 10 years uh additionally there have been the political issues that are being inserted into the curriculum are one of the major driving forces behind parents extreme opposition uh as I mentioned before teachers should teach academics and parents should teach morals and values so uh teaching an opinion or an assessment of a particular race sexual or political issue does not belong to the school that's a conversation to be had at
070home with parents ultimately as a parent you have a constitutional right to direct the upbringing education of your child in the manner you see fit and that right does not end at the threshold of the schoolhouse door thank you Greg I talked a little bit about this when you talked about the priorities we talked about the learning loss that the kids have experienced we talked about the mental health issue we talked about the teacher shortage but I want to address a little bit about what Shawna just shared with us about our 10-year numbers there is absolutely no question that losing that referendum in 2011 killed us and our numbers went very very south and that was due to what I was talking about with 40 kids in a in a middle school biology class which
071is just insane you know and I had a second grader in a class with 30 kids and you can't teach 30 kids in a second grade um what's been fantastic is since we've been able to implement the dollars from the 2018 referendum when you get to about 2019 when we get to class sizes back under under wraps and we get the teachers back the teacher level of teachers up back to where we want it we've started to see growth and we're moving back towards where we were but it is absolutely true we are not back to where we're in 2010 and we are still building back from when we had no money for those seven years um so it's just really really important that we also talk about where we are compared to the other
072districts when we talk about covid learning loss and how far our kids have fallen during covert and how we've built that back um we're not where we need to be but we are absolutely doing much better than our neighboring districts and I'm very very proud of that thank you Anita yes and I would say that um where am I at I would say that student learning and achievement as well as student safety when they're in our learning environment I personally moved to Avon in 2003 because I was raising grandchildren and I moved there because of the history of the scoop and I was going to assure that their individual needs were being met because most of them were special education and I have not been disappointed yet in what Avon had to offer to my
073family thank you thank you so now we're running out of time candidates and I'm going to give you each one minute and I'm going to combine the last three questions so if we would each answer you know make sure we're out here as soon as we can when views are different from yours how would you prepare to honor those various backgrounds and families in that Avon Community in your decision making process who goes first is it Sarah great because I have a loaded okay well I'm gonna get cut off and that's fine but um because really you know I have a lot of numbers that I could throw out and I I do want to because it does represent Avon we have over 11 of our students that are English language Learners in 2001 we
074had just over nine percent of our students on free and reduced lunch now that number is roughly 33 um from 2001 to present day our black African-American population has grown from 0.6 to over 17 percent and there are over 15 percent of students with disabilities so um you know to answer that question I think I'm kind of skirting around it but I do I feel like that's important because all of that is different backgrounds we are a public school we welcome all we educate all thank you Shauna uh I'm just gonna uh it's kind of all grouped throughout so I would have to read the entire thing to answer all of these questions um so I'm just going to read until I get cut off and then pick back up when I get the opportunity
075to have my turn again so I I think diversity is wonderful I think embracing different cultures is valuable not only as a community but as a nation entirely but it feels to me that the diversity of thought is not embraced Equity the way it's being presented and defined today in our culture our society and our schools is primarily promoted is promoted in the idea rooted in critical race Theory and that is defined as a quality of outcome which is the very Foundation of socialism inclusion is actually very exclusive conservatives or Christians for example are completely lambasted or anyone else that opposes a radical agenda being inserted into our school so I don't see how that's inclusive when you're if what you're seeking is compassion understanding about different cultures and Lifestyles and what you seek is
076called Unity uh CRT was designed to divide and demonize a certain race of people which creates tension confusion and division thank you Jonah Greg um all the numbers Sarah shared um you save me some time yeah we we have an extremely diverse community in this can is continuing to become more diverse and it is the role of our schools it is our public responsibility to take everybody who comes to us and educate them all that is our legal responsibility it is extremely important that we have school board members that celebrate and embrace that diversity second it is moral and ethical right thing to do to build a school Community where all of these kids feel safe welcome supported and celebrated so I'm committed to advocating for all of Avon's children and continuing to make sure
077our schools are welcome open safe places for all of our kids I do want to make one point about critical race Theory since it was brought up it doesn't exist in Avon and our teachers don't have time eat even if we had teachers who wanted to teach it they don't have time they're teaching the Indiana standards and they're doing all the other things we've been talking about trying to get thank you Greg Anita okay it is important that we understand the needs of our students families and teachers understanding data and consensus is very important for the school board members and the central office staff when we have a clear picture of the students who are sitting in our classroom we can understand how better to serve their educational needs and I hope no educator is
078spending time on CRT material they will not be tested on since we are so far behind due to the virtual learning the time will be better spent on things that they will be tested um thank you Anita Jennifer I believe that we should celebrate diversity treat every child the same there should be no division based on differences um according to sources the social emotional learning took a shift to transformative social emotional learning in 2020 a lot of sources says this calls for students to critically examine the root causes of inequality um critical race theory is not required to be taught in our schools but social emotional learning is no I believe that no child needs to feel that they oppressed our oppressed um my daughter came home with the paper they did last year um
079and it was led by the teacher about a black individual in 1914 and it asks what conclusion can you draw about why the American Veterans Administration did not want her mention the ABA did not want her invention because she was black I don't understand why the focus couldn't be on what she did positive for the community why does that have to be on that I think we need to get back to thank you well I'll say our time has run out it's about five after actually and on behalf of the Avon Oriole Advocates we want to thank you all for coming first off the candidates I sure do appreciate you coming and giving us your wisdom and also absolutely I think the the people for coming to come and listen because it's very important to
080be an informed voter in our district thank you very much thank you no problem thank you for thank you for coming nice to meet you keep my time all right thank you together hey nice to finally meet you hey thank you thank you thank you for coming [Music] it doesn't exist I'll see you at nine around thank you thank you so much thank you thank you yeah thank you I appreciate it