001Okay. Good evening everybody. We're going to get started. On behalf of Pit Pittsford Central PTSA, welcome to the 2025 Meet the Board of Education Candidates Forum. We're happy to be here tonight. My name is Colleen Emmens. I'm the interim coordinator of the event this year. We're really honored to be able to host um this space and time to be able to meet and listen to the candidates um who want to serve our children in our schools in such an important role. Uh welcome to our candidates, Miss Emily K, Mr. David Burke, and Miss Laura Schulz. Uh, and welcome, a huge welcome and thank you to Miss Amy Thomas, executive director of the Monroe County School Board Association, uh, and who is our moderator this evening. So, with that, Amy, I welcome you to the podium.
002Thank you. Thank you for the warm welcome, Colleen, and welcome everybody who's here and those that are at home watching. Welcome to the Pittsver's Meet the Candidate event. Thank you all for being here this evening. A special thanks to the Pittsford PTSA and in particular Colleen Emmens for organizing tonight's event and to the Pittsburgh technology team for ensuring this program reaches the broader community. We received quite a few questions from members of the community in such a short time frame. So, I'd like to thank the community for your engagement. While we won't be able to address every single question that was submitted, we've done our best to group similar questions by topic. This way, we can cover as much ground as possible and provide a clearer sense of where each candidate stands on key issues.
003Before we begin with the candidates opening statements, I'd like to take just a small moment to acknowledge the important work of our board of education members. As public servants, board members hold a critical role in upholding the public trust. While they're elected locally, their positions are nonpartisan and unpaid. Trustees dedicate hundreds of hours over the course of their term, not only attending meetings, but also engaging in ongoing learning. This includes at least 12 hours of mandatory professional development training during their first term as well as developing a working knowledge of education law, school finance, state regulations, and the evolving landscape of federal and state mandates. In addition, board members are expected to remain visible and accessible, participating in district events, serving on committees, and staying engaged with the community. We sincerely thank tonight's candidates for
004stepping forward to serve Pittsford in this vital capacity. Now, let's meet the individuals who are seeking to represent you on the board of education this year. Appearing in ballot order, they are Miss Emily K, Mr. Dave Burke, and Miss Laura Shoulitz. Each candidate will have two minutes to deliver their opening statement. Following that, we'll move into the question and answer portion of the evening. We'll begin the first question with the candidate listed first on the ballot being Emily. For each subsequent question, we'll rotate who answers first to ensure each candidate has the opportunity to lead off. Candidates will have two minutes to respond to each question. If you need the question repeated, feel free to ask. Be please be mindful of the timekeeper. So, if you look to your right, Colleen will raise a yellow
005card when 30 seconds remain and a red card when time is up. To ensure fairness for all participants and clarity for our audience here at home, we'll strictly observe the time limits. We ask that you begin wrapping up your remarks once you see the yellow card. Okay, with that, we're going to begin with opening statements. So, Emily, you're first up. Hi. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Emily Kay. I've been on our board for three years now and would love to continue serving you for another term. I'm a proud product of our Pittsver schools K through2 and together with my husband, Andrew Kay, who's also a Southerntherland graduate. I'm delighted to have two kids who now attend my old elementary school, Mend Center, as well as one at Caulkins Road. The first
006term on the board of ed always comes with a steep learning curve, but I've gone out of my way to get up to speed as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. I've been a member of our Monroe County School Board Associations committees on district operations, information exchange, and our legislative committee. I've also traveled to Albany three times to meet with our legislators and to speak with representatives from of the governor's office and the state of education, as well as attended a number of other advocacy events. I've also been a member of our teacher center policy board here in Pittsford for three years and I've been on our district's community outreach committee for two years and this year I volunteered to head up our newly restarted policy review committee. Uh through these experiences I've seen how
007Pittsford's unique culture of collaboration between teachers, parents, administrators, students, and the community has allowed us to maintain such a high standard of excellence over the years. During my first term in office, I had a lot of people ask me why I would want to frequently put myself in the line of fire for what's essentially a very intense unpaid volunteer position. And the answer is simple. I'm fiercely protective of what we have here at PCSD. When I left our schools, I saw what an incredible advantage my Pittsver education was for me. And I feel passionately about ensuring that asset uh is passed down to every single kid who goes through our buildings. But a school district of Pittsver's caliber doesn't happen by just running on autopilot. It needs a constant stream of stakeholders who are committed
008to growing our standard of excellence in all areas for all kids. And in the coming years, I look forward to continuing to step up and help this district to create the most collaborative, supportive, and academically rigorous environment possible for our kids. Thanks, Emily. Dave, your opening statement, please. Thanks, Emily. Good evening, everybody. Um, thank you PTSA, Amy Thomas, Colleen Emmens, our timekeepers. Appreciate you being here. Um, I'm Dave Burke. I'm running also for reelection to my second term, uh, as a board member. Um, three years ago, I presented at the candidates night and, uh, shared that, you know, my professional experience qualified me for board service. Um I've had experience in you know business operations, finance roles, working with corporate boards uh and had a good sense of you know what the role of governance
009um is and and was and I thought there would be a lot of parallel uh with board work. You know I would say in retrospect is really nothing can truly prepare you for board service. Um I had no idea what a tax certiary is and I still sort of don't. Uh but there's a ton of surface area um when you're on the board. I mean, it's everything from, you know, facilities to pedagogy to finance and ops and and well beyond. And so, there's so much to learn. And I think being three years in, I still feel like um I'm I'm just starting to kind of get, you know, my feet underneath me and feel confident in my role, uh what my role is and and I feel like I have a good sense of a
010lot of the different facets and aspects of our district. And so, uh for that, I'm really excited about the prospect of of serving another three years so I can really bring that experience to bear. You know, I think that's really important. Um, like Emily and many others, I have a vested interest in the community. I'm also a Southerntherland gradu 2002. It's very long time ago. Um, uh, along with my wife, um, we have two children, uh, and my son's in first grade at Jeff Road. My daughter's a incoming kindergartener next year at Jeff Road. So, we want to see the schools continue to sort of thrive and grow. And, you know, the schools have been a big factor that brought us back to uh, Pittsburgh and Rochester. Um, when I look around, I do think
011right now, you know, we are at an inflection point. Um, across the district, we have lots of new faces in leadership roles from our building leadership to athletics to our central office team. And so, I think it's really important that we are able to invest in those leaders and make sure that those transitions continue to sort of drive the type of collaboration we've seen from the leaders we've had throughout the district over the years. And I think the board plays a really important role in that process. And so I think it's important for us to have a cohesive board and excited to be part of that. Um, finally, I think we're also facing a lot of uncertainty both in terms of policy changes. Going to have to interrupt you Dave because we've come to the
012end. Sorry about that. Didn't time it well. Okay, Laura. Hi, and thanks to the Pittsford uh PTSA and Board of Education for the opportunity to join tonight's forum. I am Laura Schulitz. Um, I also appreciate everyone who reached out to me, signed my petition when I announced my intention. My family has lived here in Pittsver for the last 14 years. Uh, my two older children are 2021 and 2022 graduates of Mend High School and my youngest will be a 2026 graduate. I hate to tell you, time flies. Um, the most important aspect for me for joining the Pittsford Board of Education is our children and how they are navigating their way through school. Over the past eight years, I've worked as a building substitute in all nine of our buildings and I have seen firsthand
013how the students are navigating their way through and it's hard to be a kid. My concern is always what do kids need and how can we help? I know as a member of the board of education I can be the voice of children and ensure it is heard ensure that they are heard. Parents I know I need to hear your voices as well. Um but I want to make sure the kids are heard and valued. Um for kids it's um it is a very short time in their life and I want to make sure that they're having an amazing experience. Recently my husband and I started a boutique financial services um company Tridine and we are very excited. both for the company as well as the opportunity to have the time to volunteer and work
014in our community. I have been a member of the Girl Scouts of Western New York. I'm a past president of the Junior League. Um, among other things. Um, and I am just so happy to be here. Right time for me, right place, and I can't wait to help. Uh, thank you, and I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you, Laura. Okay, we're going to move on to the question and answer portion of the evening. A reminder that answers should not exceed two minutes. When there are 30 seconds remaining, as it was in the opening statement, a yellow card will be shown and start wrapping up your response and then a red card will be shown. Feel free to ask any question. If you need a question repeated, I'm happy to repeat it for you. Okay. So, for
015the first question, we're going to begin with Emily. What qualifications and experiences do you bring to the board of education? And how would you work to foster trust, collaboration, and transparency with fellow board members and the Pittsford community? Thanks. That's a great question. Um, I think I touched on my qualifications a little bit in my opening statement, but I wouldn't mind going in to a little bit more detail. Um, I've spent a lot of time, I would say, over the past three years on the professional development aspect of this role. Um, the committees that I've mentioned that I'm a part of for Monroe County School Boards. They are meet week, you know, one week a month. So that's three Wednesdays per month that I go in and uh for about an hour listen to an
016expert come in and talk about a boardspecific topic. It might be zero emissions buses. It might be capital improvement projects. It might be civil service um changes in the requirements. It could be anything of the myriad of topics that Dave mentioned. Um and then we also hear from our fellow county school board members to see how they're handling that. that has been hugely beneficial in me feeling competent and qualified for this role. Um I also came into this role with um what I would say is a is a varied background. I think also touching a bit on what Dave said, this isn't a role where you're expected to be or where you should be a subject matter expert. We have subject matter experts in our district. They are fantastic. Um we put a lot of
017effort into making sure that we have fantastic experts in these uh in our district. But you do need to be able to be able to ask insightful questions and to understand a lot of different things that are put in front of you. And my background uh you know was in English, foreign language, uh music, music instruction, literacy as well as data analytics for three years. So it I do feel and and law actually for a while. Um but I I do feel prepared to be able to look at a lot of things. Um in terms of fostering trust, I do want to touch on that even though I only have a few seconds. I think the best thing we can do is to listen and to assume good intentions from each other and to bring
018good intentions. Right? I I feel strongly that uh our central office team, our administrators, our teachers, everyone in our schools as well as our board members are coming from a place of wanting to help the children and that is really what builds the foundation of trust. Thanks Emily. Dave, same question. Um I will reiterate a lot of what uh Emily said which is I mean at the end of the day uh particularly we're not meant to be subject matter experts. We have those the role of a board member is the role of governance which is to be able to think really critically about the big picture for the school and to be able to kind of dive into those details when and where you need to in response to challenges that the school's facing at
019any given time. And I think it goes back to also like um you don't need that subject matter expertise. In the same way we teach kids how to learn as board members. We have to ask really good questions. We have to dig in deep when and where there's an issue that needs our attention. Um and then we also have to be able to trust the leaders in the um in the district, particularly our central office team, um to be able to make the right decisions and the right calls and and back them up on that. Right. Um when we see that things aren't working, we need to dig in and and better understand where there's opportunities for improvement. But by and large, our job is to really support uh cohesive um leadership amongst the central
020office team as well as to continue to make sure that we are making decisions as a function of our our values and our mission. I think being guided by our values particularly when we have a diversity of perspectives and opinions on the board and a lot of times we'll have hard conversations um those are collaborative and productive because we can stay focused on both the kids and and you know the values that drive our district. Thanks, Dave. Laura, same question. Would you repeat the question, please? Sure. What qualifications and experiences do you bring to the board of education? How would you work to foster trust, collaboration, and transparency with fellow board members and the Pittsford community? Okay, thank you. Sorry. Um, so for me, um, I am coming off, uh, the board of the Girl
021Scouts of Western New York. Um, I have been involved in many other organizations, the junior leagues, the GBPTA, the PTSA. I'm on the district planning team, so scenario planning team. So, I've been very involved in our community as well as our um our schools. Um, so I think my qualifications speak for themselves. I've been very I've just been very involved. Um, I've had multiple positions. Um, and as far as transparency is concerned, I think we could do here a better job of transparency. Um, I went through the minutes for the last year and I had a really, really tough time figuring out what was going on a little bit. Um, and I was in some of these meetings and I was very involved. So, I would think, um, if we could work a little harder
022on that transparency, I think that would be better for our kids and for our families. Um, the most important thing I always say is our kids and and what they need. Um, so if they need a field trip, how do we get that to them and how do we make that happen? Um, and I would love uh the opportunity to be able to do that. Um, as well. So qualification wise, I've been very involved in a lot of things. If anyone would like to see my resume, it's crazy. Um, but it's uh I'm at a point where this is what I need to do and this is where I would like to be. Um, and I have a great affinity for our schools and our school district. Thank you. Thanks, Laura. For the next question,
023we'll begin with Dave. What are the most significant challenges facing the Pittsford Central School District in the next three to five years? and how would you prioritize and address them? Thanks, Amy. Great question. Um, so I think one of the first things I would talk about is, um, as I mentioned in my intro, we have a lot of new leadership and at the end of the day, we need to make sure that all of our leaders across different aspects of the district are working together cohesively. They feel supported. Um, they've got that professional development they need to step into those roles. So, I think that's a core, not necessarily a challenge because I think we have a lot of confidence in our leaders, but it's an opportunity for us to make that investment and really
024set them up for success. I think beyond that, we're dealing with some bigger issues that are outside of our control. Well, we can control how we react to them, but ultimately there's a lot of sort of choppy waters that we need to navigate. The first, I would say, is um broadly meeting our budget, right? We have a $150 million annual budget. 70% of that comes from the tax levy in our community. And so we haven't historically have been able to lean on foundation aid too much, but we're even becoming um it's even more challenging for us to get the aid that we need. And we're really really fortunate to have some very um capable, experienced people that are helping us navigate um how we can be really resourceful and thoughtful both in the money we
025spend and in how we get um aid for a lot of different aspects. Uh so I think that is hugely important. And at the end of the day, we have to balance the budget every year. Um the next I would say is we are still navigating I think some really difficult um waters in terms of you know there are questions about policy. What are our policies going to be? We're getting a lot of mandates now at the federal level that are uh that we're going to have to react to and figure out how we're going to respond to that. And the last one I would say is we are still in a difficult macro environment where interest rates are still really high and prices are really high. And so that goes back to how are
026we going to balance our budgets? How are we going to make sure um that we're that we're delivering um the services we need to to our kids? Um so I think those are the high level challenges. Thanks Dave. Laura, same question. Well, thank you. Um for me, um and I'm sort of on the outside because I'm not part of the board. Significant challenges I feel really are transparency. Once again, I went through a year's worth of uh minutes and I had a really tough time figuring what was going on. Um so I want to make sure that um our students, our families, our stakeholders know what's going on um as far as the um as far as the district is concerned. Um so that would be one challenge. A second challenge would be um in
027the nicest way keeping our kids happy. Um, I don't know who has walked through a building or talked to kids, but our our high school kids, there's a lot going on. There's a lot of um not drama, but it's more internal drama. So, they're upset, they're worried, they're, you know, what about my future? What can I do? What's what's coming around the corner for me next? Um, and if you just stop and you talk to a kid, sometimes you can steer them in the right direction or whatever. So for me that would be our challenge or one of our major challenges um is how we sort of manage those kids who are our stakeholders and I but I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thanks Laura Emily. Thanks. Um I agree with a lot of
028what Dave said about the um making sure that our budget is sustainable especially when you're looking at a three to five year time horizon. Um sustainable budget is huge. I do think another huge thing that wasn't touched explicitly on was is mental health. We're in a mental health crisis in our country and it's it bears out in our schools. Um, you know, I think that some of the things that we've been looking at are good starts to trying to address it here. Obviously, it's a it's a large societal problem and so we're not going to be able to fix it in isolation, but we our culture of collaboration in Pittsver um has at least allowed us to um put in a partnership with Pittsford youth services, partnerships with Galisano, um build teams around kids that
029touch with both their mental health providers and their teachers and their families. Um and I think that building this up um and building these programs up will be very helpful. Um, you know, something that I almost think of, if you think of it like an like an MTSS model, the tier one support, something that should should maybe help a little bit all of the kids might be the cell phone policy things that we're looking at. Um, there's a lot of research around how this is tied to our kids poor mental health. And we can't solve smartphones in general, but we can give them a break from it during the day. Um, another thing that, you know, sort of goes on the other side of the spectrum for kids who can't get to school because their
030mental health struggles are so severe, I think our tutoring center has been a fantastic addition during the time that I've been on the board, giving those kids a place where they can still receive instruction even if they're having severe troubles and they're not falling completely behind. Um, but I do think that's that's, you know, it's it's been building, especially coming out of COVID, and I don't see it resolving itself anywhere in the next three to five years. Thanks, Emily. For the next question, we'll begin with Laura. If you could make one immediate improvement to the Pittsford Central School District, what would it be and why? Yes. So, I'm sorry. My name is Laura Schulz and my name has fallen. So, that's okay. Um, I would think one significant challenge. Um, was that the question? Significant
031challenge. One immediate improvement. Okay. So for me, an immediate improvement, and I'm not privy to some um of the information, would be um the how our children are allowed to sort of vote and participate in the processes that directly affect them. Um I would I would love them to be able to, you know, even if it's a collection box or something, have the ability to say, "This is what bothers me, and this is what I need to be fixed." Um, I would say that would be sort of my immediate challenge. Thank you, Emily. Um, I think, um, ah, a couple things. Um, one, I I think that that's a really great point. Um, and I do think we're, um, New York State has mandated that there's going to be a student member on the board.
032One, we're going to have one from Pittsford Southerntherland and Pittsburgh Mendon. Um, that's a change that's coming right up down the pike. So, I I'm very excited about that because I do think that that's a great change. Um, I think, you know, if I could immediately put my finger on one big looming issue that we have, then we would probably have a lot of structural issues in our district. But I think something that's sort of a lowhanging fruit that that would be nice to see is if we could engage the media for some more positive press about ourselves. I think we do tend to um be a little bit gunshy in engaging the media and we have so many wins and so many successes here in Pittsver and I think that being able to celebrate
033those publicly a little bit more um would go a long way for morale. Thanks Emily Dave. I would hire a hundred bus drivers. I mean we do we have a transportation issue, right? Um, and we're actually looking at that now, which is fantastic. And I think, you know, we're looking at that holistically, trying to figure out routes. Um, and we have a mandate to, um, make sure not just kids in our schools, but broadly in our district are are making to school. And we also, that's another area where we want it to be equitable. Different kids have different lengths of rides and and we're also just consistently understaffed on um, bus driving. So, I think it's a it's a challenge. We're not alone in facing that. But I mean, if there was, you know, one
034immediate issue that I could just fix right there, it would absolutely be that. I just have to pick up your name tag because it's bothering me. You always have a technical glitch in some way, form or fashion. So now we're all set. No fans, nothing. Okay, next question. We'll begin with Emily. How will you advocate for all students, including highability learners, students with disabilities, and students with behavioral challenges, and ensure their individual needs are met? That's that's a great question. Um, and I I mean, I think that the the truest answer is honestly the most obvious one, which is that you need to listen to the families. you need to listen to the students um to find out what those individual needs are and to be able to address them in a way that's going
035to work for that child. Um I think that you know you can creating systems is also going to be very valuable especially when you have kids with similar needs right um when I hear about gifted education I know the instructional challenge program um is such a huge benefit for those kids and they could just be given a more difficult worksheet in the classroom you know they could just be assigned a harder book but being able to meet and see other peers who are facing both you know that have both the same interests and and strengths, but also some of the same weaknesses and challenges as as they do really goes a long way towards not having those kids feels isolated and feel singled out. Dave, same question. Yeah, it's a great question. Actually, I was
036just going back to our mission, vision, and values. And right in there is personalizing our education, right? I think that's it starts with that. I I actually believe as a district we have prioritized in our vision that our educational path for students is going to be personalized. Um so it starts there. That's that's what we are always striving toward. How do we continue to support and enable that? You know I agree with what Emily said. I think first and foremost we have to listen and understand both students and families and our teachers and our staff what what students need. In many cases it's not always that you know it could be a teacher who knows best what students need. And so we really need to always be listening and make sure that we have those
037channels for that communication to be moving up and down the organization. Um, which today I think we do a good job of, but we could always do better. I I think the other piece there is support, which in, you know, reality oftentimes means funding, right? It means having the the resources to be able to provide that level of support. Um, you know, we just went through something where, you know, we're bringing um a PT and an OT in house to the district, which is the right decision for us at this time. So, it it is about being able to make those trade-offs. And I think that's one of the hardest things on the board is we have to make trade-offs, right? There's a finite amount of resources. We all absolutely want to support all of
038our kids in the way they need to be supported, but we have to make those hard decisions about when and where we can can, you know, bring in the resources to to help the most kids. Um, yeah. Thank you. Thanks, Dave. Laura. So, I am a huge advocate of the kids, but I think it's really really hard to put all of the kids in the same box because we because every kid is different. Um, and in order to meet individual needs, you cannot lump all of the the kids together. So it all so we have to think of the kids individually um and figure out what's going to be best for them as opposed to um seriously putting them in the same box. So you got to advocate you can advocate for all students but
039not all students are the same. Um so I think they would need we would need to really really look at what those different in the nicest way boxes would be and where different kids would fall. um as opposed to oh you know this kid could be this or this could be that. But I think the kids are so individual that they would need individual plans um and that might allow them to crisscross um with other kids from um that have different needs than them but it allows the kids to it allows kids to be kids um as opposed to putting them all in that same box. Thank you. Thanks Laura. Okay, the next question, Dave, you'll start us out. Given the national shortage of special education providers, teachers, related support staff, what strategies would you
040support to ensure Pittsburgh consistently delivers all mandated IEP services throughout the school year? That's a great question. kind of ties right back into what we were just discussing, which is I mean, ultimately, um, so first and foremost, I actually think Pittsburgh has one of the best programs to support students with IEPs. I mean, many, many people move to this district just for that program, that ability. So, I would say out of the gate, I'm just really proud of what we achieve already. Um, obviously, there's always more we can do. I think, uh, specifically talking about shortages, yeah, I mean, there, you know, we're experiencing labor shortages everywhere. you know, my comment about bus drivers, it's really hard to find the people that we need and there's a lot of competition across um other districts. And
041so, unfortunately, you know, we do operate in a labor marketplace, right? There is supply and demand and the best way to get more people is to pay more money. Uh so, I think we have to continually look at that. Again, places where we find um creative ways to save money, that money gets reallocated to places like this, right? Right. And so it that's part of the bigger picture is how do we really be thoughtful about um really saving every cent, identifying unique ways to to create more revenue. Um we made a lot of money this year just off um short-term interest on our our budget like $700,000. That money can actually be reallocated to efforts like this. And so uh I I think that's a big piece of it. And then, you know, we also
042have to have a really good recruiting program. Um which we do. Uh we've got a great HR team. We do a very good job of recruiting. And I think we've also consistently built a great reputation um as an employer um in Rochester, certainly in kind of the Western New York area. And so I think that goes a long way as well to getting us more people even when you know maybe um if you're a if you're a physical therapist and you're you've got two opportunities in front of you uh if the compensation is about the same, but you know a brand like Pittsford, you're like this is a better place to work. That's what's going to swing the the needle in our direction. Thank you. Thanks Dave. Laura, this is a tough question. Um, because
043I think when it comes to special education providers, there's a there seems to be a disconnect in um how much they're getting paid in the nice in the nicest way. you have uh members who are one-on-one who are getting paid $20,000 a year. Um, and I worry that that is becoming the norm. And I would love for sort of a raise in that in that uh for those folks to allow them to sort of better balance their personal lives and their work lives. um kid our kids deserve so much more sometimes than we are able to give them. Um and the shortage of providers I think has a lot to do with salary. Um and I'm just kind of disappointed in that and I think uh we could do better and I think we should
044do better. Um because you have a provider that's making $25,000 a year. Um and as much as that sounds great, that's hard. It's hard to live that way. So, um I would love more training. I would love um all of those other things, but I think it does have to do with salary and money. Um and I think there's the ability in our budget to make sure that we are compensating um those very special people the right way. Thank you. Thanks, Laura. Emily, I agree. This this is a hard question. Um I echo what Dave says. I think that the recruiting is very important and I do think that we do a very good job of it here in Pittsburgh. Um I also think that the pipeline isn't there so it's not just a struggle
045that we're seeing in terms of finding special ed providers. It's all around right. Um uh I I think that when we can have these services inhouse then it does make it more reliable uh for our kids. it's more, you know, if we have when we brought in the OT and the PT positions, right, we know that we're going to have that person to be able to provide those services for our kids. Um, but I do also think that um when we can't do that, our um our ability to contract with Boseies is huge and they do have very strong, very reputable providers. We're just sharing them with other people in the county. Um which also reminds me of the push that is coming down from the state towards um a regional sharing of services when
046it makes sense. Right? There's um the state has been trying to get regions on board with um seeing ways that they can work together to fill gaps because we are all in this labor shortage together. Um so I think that it's probably something that's worth us looking into. Thanks. Thanks Emily. Okay, the next question, Laura, you'll begin with this one. As a board member, how would you balance fiscal responsibility to taxpayers with the district's legal and eth ethical obligation to provide highquality services for all students? First and foremost, transparency. um a a family or u a taxpayer is more likely to participate if they know what's going on and what their money is going towards. I think um as I said as I went through some of these minutes I and I've been doing PTSA
047for 14 years. I had a tough time figuring out what was going on and where um we are going and my name fell again. Um but I think in order in order to balance it's just like any organization any business you have to look at each and every line item and figure out what you're spending money on and why. Um it is not the it's very difficult and it takes a whole lot and there might be some programs that might not be necessary any longer um unfortunately but it is uh where what we have to do in order to ensure be because if we go over the tax cap then most likely um no one is going the vote's not going to be with us so we won't be able to move forward. So, we
048want to make sure that there's a good balance there. Um, and that's I think that's what I think. So, thank you, Emily. Same question. Yeah, thank you. Um, I do I do take our responsibility to tax payers very seriously and I I think that our district does as well. Um, not for nothing, although we are the most affluent community in our county, our student spend is always right in the middle. Um so and in terms of you know for example our administrative budget is one of the leanest in the county and then when we needed to make budget cuts this year um we still managed to find room in to in that administrative budget to make cuts. Um so I I have the feeling that people take their responsibility to taxpayers very seriously. I also
049think that they take their responsibility to kids very seriously. when we saw this looming tax cut that was going to be needed this year um in a huge feat of collaboration, our internal units, um the PDTA, the PDA, all of our internal units were asked to identify within their own unit where they thought that they could make cuts without touching the kids, without taking away programming from the kids, and without requiring layoffs. And they stepped up and did that. Um, it would have been very easy to become defensive and and close the ranks, but I think everybody had the kids' best interest in heart at heart and was able to help make those hard decisions collaboratively. I also um what really stands out to me as well from this budget season is the advocacy campaign
050that our community stepped up to do. Um, you know, we asked and ended up receiving a 3% increase from the state. Um, and I have to say our Pittsburgh community was so enthusiastic in asking our legislators for this increase that when I was meeting with one of the legislators, they uh jokingly begged us to have stop having people send them letters because they were getting flooded daily with letters from Pittsver community members and parents. So, I I do think that that's a huge huge win on our part. Thanks, Emily. Dave, would you uh repeat the question? I sure will. As a board member, how would you balance fiscal responsibility to taxpayers with the district's legal and ethical obligation to provide highquality services to all students? Yeah, thanks. So, I I think that question actually suggests
051that the two are not ne you know, it's one versus the other, right? How do you balance these two things? I would actually say they are virtuous and they support each other. um there's a group a community together they did a a research project and basically found that 70 cents on the dollar uh of a school budget goes back into that community right so in many ways our school is supporting our community and so by delivering educational services we are you know meeting the financial responsibility the fiscal responsibility that we have to our taxpayers um and I do think going back to Emily's point I mean look at any metric across all of the districts in Monroe County and Pittsford is consistently delivering one of the best educational services at the lowest possible cost relative
052to to everybody else in the district on almost every single metric. Um, and I I think that's only something you develop over a long period of time of having consistent stable leadership, having boards that support the superintendent. You know, you look at our superintendent, he's been in the role 15 years. The average in the country is four years, not even. It's three and a half years. When you have that high level of turnover, you cannot even begin to do things like long range financial planning. You can't think about how you're gonna where you're going to be in five years, much less where you're going to be in five months when you have constant turnover across the board, across the central office team. You're going to lose teachers and talent. And so I actually think that
053fiscal responsibility that we have has had a huge impact on our ability to deliver educational services. Um, thank you. Thanks, Dave. For the next question, we'll begin with Emily again. What role should the board of education play in ensuring students have access to nutritious, healthy meals? And how would you approach this responsibility? That's a that's a great question. Um, I think we're really unique in Pittsver because we do we are not part of the federal lunch program. We run our own in-house lunch program, which does give us more latitude. And I think the reason that that decision was made was because what we saw was the the strings that came with the federal program, the food that we were mandated to serve was not actually being eaten by the children. And getting nutritious meals for
054our kids also means that it has to be something that our kids are going to eat. Um, I think that that has been serving us well and that tweaks can always be made um and they can be made more with more agility if we are have our in-house um service than if we are doing federal funding. you know, the the one monkey wrench in the works here is that New York State um wants to fund, you know, universally fund free meals, which would be fantastic, although part of their program depends on the federal funding coming through for those universal meals, and that's a little bit up in the air right now. So, I do think that if we were able to have the opportunity to have universal free meals for all of our kids, then
055it might be worth looking at what we're doing and is seeing if the differences that we're able to implement as a district are, you know, balance them against the benefits that would be having all of our kids be able to access free meals when they're hungry. Thanks, Emily. Dave, can you repeat that question again to me? I sure will. What role should the board of education play in ensuring students have access to nutritious, healthy meals? And how would you approach this responsibility? Yeah, great. So, yeah, I I think I I I think there's two key factors here. One is the nutrition and the quality of our food. You know, I I know when I was in grade school, it was like Cisco and milk in a bag. Um, so I'm, you know, really glad that
056we have prioritized nutritious, high- quality food. And to Emily's point, part of the reason we're not in the federal program um or the state program for that matter is is because it tied our hands on quality of food. So, we have prioritized that and I think that's absolutely the right thing for us to be prioritizing. Um and Emily called out another piece of this which is that it changes, right? There's always this is always changing. So, we have to stay on top of if it makes sense from a nutrition and economic standpoint for us to actually shift into um the state or federal level program, then that's a decision we'll make at that time. Um, and I know that came up this year and we were looking at that. So, um, so yeah, I'm really
057supportive of the decisions we've made around our lunch program. Also, our lunch program breaks even. You know, on month over month, you'll look at it, sometimes it makes a profit, sometimes it makes a loss. Like is really happy when it makes a profit, but generally speaking, it breaks even. So, it's not like it's a profit center for us where we're trying to make a lot of money by selling junk food to our kids, right? It's really, you know, first and foremost about, you know, quality food and nutrition. Thanks, Dave. Laura So the few years ago the um if I remember correctly the um we left the federal program because it was something Mrs. Obama had brought in and it was just a little too restrictive for us and our kids was very long time ago.
058Um, so for our kids, all of our kids should have nutritious meals, but they are not going to eat them. So for me, it's a graband-go kind of thing. It's a cereal in the morning. It's fruit or snacks in the afternoon because a lot of the food goes to waste if you spent any time in any of the buildings. Um, luckily if you haven't opened it, you can put it in a bin that can be shared, but for the most part, a lot of the the food gets thrown out from kids who are purchasing lunch, and that's very unfortunate. Um, and it's also hard to see if you've ever been in the lunchroom during um a lunch period. Um, so I would lean more towards graband go. um and as opposed to sort of a
059federal mandate because I don't believe our kids would be receptive to that. Our parents would, but our kids would be like, "What is this and why do I have to eat this?" So, I would love sort of um to spend some time in the cafeterias with the kids and see what they're actually eating and what they're bringing um and and come up with a plan that would be more um something that the the students would be more behind as opposed to some of the kids who are just forced to have like this lunch that might not be what they want. So, okay. Thank you. Thanks, Laura. The next question will begin with Dave. With growing concern about the effects of personal technology on student focus and well-being, what is your position on managing cell phone
060use in schools? Great question. Um, you know, I think at a high level, we can't get rid of technology. So, we have to figure out how do we teach our kids to have a healthy relationship with technology, which also requires us as adults to have a healthy relationship with technology, which is something I know we're also navigating. Um, I think the number one opportunity we have is to have a consistent and well-defined policy as it relates to cell phones. Uh, and you know, we've had a lot of conversations around that. And we're also navigating kind of what New York State's mandate is going to be on that as well as kind of what we think. And also it's not just about what the board thinks, it's about what the community thinks and trying to sort
061of navigate that. And so I I think one at a high level it has to be consistent. Um it has to be thoughtful and pragmatic, right? You know, one of the things that recently came up is just the fact that there's so much coordination for u after school activities. And so it's a huge burden on parents for the kids not to have any access to a phone throughout the day entirely. So we have to be thinking about pragmatically what's going to work for our community. How do we um try and minimize the usage as much as possible and and also kind of take that desire to use it away um through different kind of mechanisms. Um and then we have to be really really consistent and clear in the policy and just communicate that it
062also does you know we also need to be thoughtful that it's very different what cell phone usage looks like for a high schooler than an elementary school kid, right? And so we have to be thoughtful about that as well. So there's a lot of pieces to think about and navigate and we have, you know, clear perspectives on that. Um, but I think we we do need to make that next step of of establishing that policy and and implementing it and seeing it through. Thanks, Dave. Laura, same question. So, I made a comment one year that uh cell phones are the end of dinner, what cigarettes used to be. You finish your dinner, you whip out your cell phone, and you see what's going on in the world. And back in the day in the 60s
063and the they would smoke. Not that I'm promoting smoking in any way, shape or form, but it's kind of that addiction that is really hard to break. Um for for me, and I think each family is different as to what they allow. Um can a cell phone be in your bedroom at night? Can it be does it have to be in the kitchen? Where does it have to be? Um, but I also know that I know when my high schooler has a break, so I can text her like, "Don't forget you have to do this thing." And I can send her this text in between periods because I know in my brain when that is, so I can tell her something. And I think we as parents, especially since COVID and most definitely since Sandy
064Hook, we have been we need to have sort of that touch on our kids. We need to know that they're okay. We need to know that we can sort of grab on to them and and that they are safe. And I know that kids do dumb things and they take photos in bathrooms and they do all sorts of other really really ridiculous things. Um but as a parent it is really important to be able to have um that touch point with that child. Um especially um just based on the way that the world has been. Um, so taking those phones away and not allowing them I think would be more detrimental to the kids than anything else that we would that we would do towards for them. So appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks Laura. Emily,
065same question. Thanks. Um, I think a lot of good points have been brought up here. Um, I think that the education piece, having our kids understand just really what smartphones, you know, everything about smartphones, what the potential dangers are, what the potential upsides are, every understanding everything in the context of no matter what our decision is is huge. Um, I will just say personally I had my middle schooler read the anxious generation because this is a topic of conversation among him and his peers and I thought it was valuable for him to start looking at it from a researchbased um rather than an I want I want based uh viewpoint. Um, I will say for where our policy ends up for me, one of the huge points is that I want the onus off the
066teachers in terms of um enforcing this that they they cannot teach while trying to take away a cell phone from a child and they shouldn't be put in that position. And I also don't feel like they should be on the front lines of having to manage with families if the families have different ideas of what cell phone use should be allowed than the teacher or the administration or the district does. Um, I personally think that a distraction-free environment for our kids is non-negotiable. Um, I I think that our kids need to be able to have the same advantage that we had to be able to give a 100% of their focus when they're in class to the class that they are in. Um, I definitely appreciate the concerns about um, you know, worst case scenario
067type things, but I think that I worry sometimes that we are prioritizing our own anxiety as adults over what's actually best for the children. And specifically in this scenario, um, numbers of groups of emergency responders have come out and saying that having kids having cell phones is more dangerous than kids not having cell phones in this scenario. They will miss life-saving instructions when they are trying to touch base with their parents. And if a lot of kids are trying to do this, it also risks jamming up the emergency responders. Okay. Yep. Receiving what they need. Thanks. The next question will begin with Laura. What is your position on book bans or content restrictions in schools? Under what circumstances, if any, should the board of education consider the removal of specific materials? So, I don't agree
068with book pans or content restrictions at all. Um, it reminds me of a place in time that we are no longer in. Um, and I think it should be up to the teachers who are teaching a text or whatever that is that they are working on should have the ability to use any kind of book that they want. Um, a parent can decide that their kid may not participate and I do understand that. But I also do not agree in banning books in any way, shape or form. Um I think um if a book is out there and it has been published there is a reason for it. Um so yeah I would be I don't know how I would I would handle that on a a board. We'd have to look at it but
069if it is um a book that is available then I think our kids should have the ability to look at it. Thank you. Thanks Laura Emily. Um yeah, so if you attended a board meeting at some point last year, you probably um can guess where as a board we are on this topic. Um it was very hot in our um in our boardroom here in public comment. Um and I am not for banning books. Um I believe we our controversial materials policy was something that we worked on quite a bit last year. We started with what we thought was, you know, a good starting point and as we sort of saw how it played out and we received more feedback, we ended up amending this, I think, three times because we really want to get
070it right. Um, and I think what we settled on in its present position is, um, you know, really the heart of what most people want, which is that families might have the right to restrict their own kids access to materials, but they don't have the right to restrict other kids access to materials. and other people like community members or other kids parents also don't have the right to restrict your kids access to materials. Um, so I think it's also really um it's really important to us. We have fantastic experts in our librarians in our schools. Um, and we, you know, currently have our ASI working very closely with our library standards leader to make sure our experts in Pittsburgh are putting their eyes on all of our books and they are making the decision. This
071is age appropriate. This is valuable. This is something that our kids are really going to benefit from having in the library. So, you know, we're not just receiving shiploads of books that nobody has looked at. An expert has decided this is valuable to have. Um, and and I think that that's a great development that's continuing now. Thanks, Emily. Dave. Yeah, I I'll tack on to a lot of that, which is basically one, you know, I trust in our librarians. Um, you know, they are specialists in this. They make decisions based on a set of criteria about which books are in our libraries. Right? So I have great faith and trust in their decision-making. Similarly, I have great faith and trust and support in our teachers who decide which materials they're going to teach in their
072classroom. Now to Emily's point, um and Lord's point as well, I mean obviously sometimes that might not um coincide with what a family wants taught, right? And we need to deal with that on a case- by case basis. Um, finally, I have a lot of support and confidence and trust in our process for evaluating uh materials that maybe shouldn't be uh required in classes or in the library. That process is very well defined. It's incredibly thorough. Multiple people are involved and spend actually a lot of time reading every single page of those materials. And ultimately the onus is does this have educational value? uh which I think is also the right kind of heristic and criteria for determining if that uh if those materials should stay in the uh in the library or or in
073the syllabus. And so um this is a very clearly well- definfined process and I'm very supportive of it. Thanks Dave. Okay, on to the next question. We're going to begin with Emily. How would you approach evaluating and responding to recent changes in federal education policy and their potential impact on Pittsford schools? Yeah. Um you know that's that's a big one and I think right now um to say that anyone has the answer on this is is overshooting your confidence here. Um everything you know it is it is constantly in flux. I think that one of the things that has been pretty helpful for our board currently in evaluating what's going on at a federal level has been talking to our partners in Monroe County and talking to the other board members and um their administrative
074teams and sort of seeing what they are seeing in their buildings, what they're hearing their communities, what you know if they have any information we don't. Um, I think, you know, beyond that, all we can do is continue to keep ourselves centered on our mission, vision, and values and make decisions every day that are best for our kids. And, you know, we control what we can control. We don't control what we don't control. That's the end of the story. Thanks, Emily. Dave, yeah, I think um we have to navigate these, right? We uh to Emily's point, we absolutely need to lean in to our council and our groups uh like Boseies that give us guidance and and support us on how we should think about this. Um also the guidance from New York State Department
075of Education. A lot of this is coming from the US Department of Education and it goes back to one of the core challenges I talked about earlier which is um you know whether you like or don't like which policies are coming through it creates uncertainty. It creates a tremendous amount of thrash and work for our district. And so the board needs to navigate that and try and minimize the impact of that as much as possible um while also having to make hard decisions. And I I do think these are actually going to be some of the hardest decisions we've had to make as a board uh when we really think critically about what's the right call um on these policies because there is no, you know, good um there's no good decision on either side
076unfortunately. Um so it's frustrating actually. Um It's a real challenge. Thanks, Dave. Laura, so I think whenever there's a new president of the United States, there are always changes in policies and we need to do our best to ensure that we evaluate those changes and do what's best for our students. um even if it's at a federal level, um we do have the ability to support our students locally um and allow them to um to grow and to flourish under whatever um that is because it might change again in four years or it might change again in eight years. Um, so I'm not privy to some of the information, I think, but I think it is really important to um work with our students to ensure that they have um they have what they need
077and then we will figure out um how we can um roll in those federal policies. Thank you. Thanks, Laura. For our final question, this is where you breathe heavily. For our final question, we'll begin with Dave. One key responsibility of the board of education is hiring and evaluating the superintendent. What qualities and leadership traits do you believe are most important in the role of a superintendent for the Pittsford Central School District? Yeah. Uh, great question. So I think when you're evaluating a candidate for any role, you need to look at two things. You need to look at skills and you need to look at behaviors. So uh skills are the experiences they've had. We need people who understand what it means to operate uh in this type of environment in that type of a role.
078Um behaviors those are you know those are intrinsic oftentimes. It's it's what you look for um in almost somebody's personality, right? Uh, and so I think to consider a candidate for that role, the skills, you know, you has to check those off. It's binary that they sort of have those experiences or they don't. Um, when it comes to behaviors, I think probably the the single biggest thing is um that sort of collaborative attitude, right? Like they have to work with so many different stakeholders across so many different um facets of the community. and their ability to do that and their ability to uh enjoy that I think is really important because for some folks it's not necessarily fun. Uh and as a superintendent you have to do that all day every day. So I think
079that's a a huge factor we look for. I I think the second piece I look for is really like stamina. I mean just you know watching Mike Bureau I mean you know it is a very very demanding job. Um, there's no question it is not a nineto-five. You are spending I mean probably 80 hours a week honestly. Um, I get emails at like 2 a.m. or something from like it's crazy, right? So, um, you need somebody who has an incredible investment in the community, a desire to do that job, um, a willingness to to really put that job of the community first, which I think is is super important. Um, I could probably keep going on, but I think those are the the big the big ones I would focus on. Thanks, Dave. Laura, so
080um I've worked with Mr. Piro for a very very long time, 14 years, um through the different um groups that I've been involved with in the building. And so I've watched, you know, take a step back and you watch and you look at the qualities and you learn that golf is the greatest thing in the whole world because it allows him to relax and do whatever it is that he needs to do. The hardest part, I think, of hiring and evaluating a superintendent is how is that person going to fit into our culture? Um, and I think that's with any hire that you have or any new hire is always how will that person fit and what will they change. Um, having been um on sort of both sides of that. Um, I think it's
081very very difficult. Um, I am a big fan of his and I'm afraid that they're telling me something that I don't know. But um I think uh it is it is very important for that person to be cool, calm and collected and have a good head on their shoulders and for us as um a board of education to know that um that person is someone that we can work with for a very long time. Um and I have personally worked with Mr. for about 14 years sort of through PTSA on these back in these background roles and um I do um know sort of what an amazing and different character he is and I don't know that that he would be easily replaced but um I am um yes so I would say I would
082say it's going to be a slow process that L. Thank you very much. Thanks, Laura. Emily, um I mean I I have to reiterate what both of these people have said that we have been so fortunate to have Mike Piro to see over the past 14 years what an exemplary um superintendent looks like in a district. Um one of the things I think that has always really impressed me about Mike Piro is his foresight. He is able to see what is going to come down the pike before almost anyone, I think, and to see what's going to become an issue in our community. And that allows him to have the time to invest in the collaboration that our district is so well known for. It gives us lead time to spend months and sometimes a
083year or more discussing with our different stakeholders something that can might and then inevitably does surface in the future. Um, I think beyond that, you know, you can't overstate that it needs to be somebody who puts kids first and who is able to build trust and is able to be trusting in our community. Um, and is able to always project good in intentions and assume good intentions. Um, it needs to be somebody who can who can listen well, work with divergent viewpoints. It's somebody who's going to see families on their best day and their worst day in the school district. And it needs to be somebody who not only is able to handle that large range of emotions, but somebody who relishes that part of the job. Um, and I think it also just needs
084to be somebody who truly loves the job and our community. Um, we have something really unique here in Pittsver. And if it's if the person who holds that role doesn't value it as much as every member of our community, then this just isn't going to work. So, thanks Emily. So, we have reached the end of our question and answer portion of the program and it's time now for our closing statements. As I indicated earlier, each candidate will now have up to two minutes once again to make your closing statement. The statements will be given in the reverse ballot order. So, we will begin with Laura. Hi all. Uh, thank you again for the opportunity to speak this evening. Thank you to Amy Thomas, the technology team, PTSA, um, everyone that was involved today. I am
085committed to Pittsford and the board of education. I would like to ensure that all of our students have an amazing experience and their voices are heard. Overall, it is a privilege to volunteer and I feel this is an amazing opportunity to help our kids. I have led the Girl Scouts of Western New York, the Junior League of Rochester, as well as the PTSA, so this isn't new to me. Um, but I look forward to the opportunity of serving our community. Um, and this and this and and the board of education is so very important to me because I would like our um the legacy to move on. So, I'm hoping if you are so inclined that you vote for me on May 20th. Thank you very much and have a great night. Thanks, Laura. Dave,
086I'll uh reiterate uh the thanks that Laura gave to everybody for making this possible. Um and great questions uh from the community and for everybody watching. Thank you for taking the time to watch this and actually um you know, pay attention and and be invested. Um I I think serving on the board over the last three years has been, you know, really a great honor for me. Um it's been an incredible learning experience uh and something I've really valued. Uh and it's been incredible to be able to um invest my time and effort in our district uh in that way. And so um kind of reflecting back on some of the things we've talked about, I I do think we are at a challenging point. I don't want to say it's more challenging than you
087know since the pandemic, but I I do think in many ways there are a lot of real challenges the district is facing today. And so I I think over the next three years, which is the next board term, it's really important that we continue to invest in leadership, that we have strong leadership to guide the school community through these these challenges. Um, and where I have seen that work over the last three years is by having a diversity of perspectives and, you know, not having that turn into conflict, but actually turn into kind of a collaborative process where we make really good decisions, right? it hones that decision-m and that's kind of the dynamic I've experienced on the board so far. And so, you know, I think when I reflect on why do I want
088to run again, I think it's one to bring those learnings I've had to bear, but also two because um I I feel that um that dynamic is good and I'm a part of that dynamic and I want to continue to keep that intact and do the best that we can to um to ensure that we do the best for our kids and our community um over the next few years. So, thank you very much. Thanks, Dave. Emily. Yep. I think we can't close this out without thanking the district PTSA for hoping or for hosting this event, especially Kristen Huns, the president, and Colleen Emmens, uh, the meet the candidates coordinator and our past president, uh, for putting all this together. Thank you to Amy for moderating. Um, and to everyone else behind the scenes who
089made the live streaming happen. Um, I also want to thank the PDTA for their endorsement. The support of our incredible e educators really means so much to me. And finally, I would also like to thank all of the people who have reached out to me over the past three years with their questions, concerns, and sometimes difficulties with the district. Um, I know I can't always give you the answer that you want to hear, but I do want you to know that your input really matters and that I do share it with the rest of the board and our administration and that oftentimes your feedback will stay with us and influence our our decision-making long after you've shared it. Um, I hope over the course of this evening and over the course of the past three
090years that I've been able to show how deeply I care about and believe in this district and this community. What we have here is truly unique and I am fully invested in continuing to protect what we have here in Pittsver as well as helping the district continue keep moving forward uh inspiring and preparing our students to be their best, do their best, and make a difference in the lives of others. Um, thank you everyone who is listening and I hope I've earned your vote again this year. Thanks, Evelyn. So, this concludes my portion of this evening's uh meet the candidate night. I want to thank the candidates uh for your thoughtful responses and for your willingness to serve in this capacity. Providing community residents the opportunity to meet and listen to different viewpoints of those
091that are asking to serve as board trustees is key to participating in our democratic process as an informed voter and that's what you did this evening. I'll now turn it back over to Colleen Emmens and again my thanks to the PTSA. This is quite an undertaking to put all of this together. So I thank all of you for doing that. Okay. Um, just like everybody else, thank you so much for your time and your thoughtful answers. Um, I mentioned it before. This is just a a really important event for us. It's a huge role of PTA um, to be able to do that. Um, so thank you so much for being here. Thank you for everybody online um, that that tuned in. Um, a little bit of housekeeping. Um the recording of tonight's event will
092be available on um Pittsford Central School District's YouTube page within about 48 hours. Um so you'll be able to view it and rewatch it. Um and um a few more thank yous. Actually, thank you to PCSD for the space. Um and the technology support for today. Um thank you for thank you to Interpretch for being here. Um thank you to Joel. He's behind me right now who's um helping us with our live stream. And of course Amy, thank you so much for being here. We're so lucky to have you. Um, so, uh, the vote will be on May 20th at Caukins Road Middle School to change this year. So, um, spread the word and thank you. Thank you for a great night.