001that anyone planning to attend would be here by now. Anyone who comes in after this point will be marked tardy. >> Ladies and gentlemen, this is our superintendent of schools. Welcome Jason Smith. >> Thank you Dan. Welcome to our board candidate forum. I'm Jason Smith. And as a former social studies teacher, this is kind of my thing. Having this kind of civic debate, I'd like to welcome Zach and Katrina and Matt to the stage. Thank you for your interest in serving on our board. I want to recognize Dan Fisher. Dan is a former owner of WBCA. He has done a couple of experiences before. I know the candidates and you were were in fantastic hands. In the event of an emergency, there are exits to the side. Please use those. This is being recorded and
002we are not live streaming. And from here on in, uh Mr. Fisher is in charge. I'm just going to sit back and enjoy and welcome my candidates again and thank you for your interest in serving our board. Dan, thank you. >> Okay. >> Well, good evening everybody and especially to our candidates whom we will now meet in just a moment. A couple of housekeeping announcements. Our goal, first and foremost, is to be fair to each and every one of our candidates, allowing each to receive approximately the same amount of time, about 1 minute, to answer each question. Some of these, uh may require a little more. We'll be as flexible as we can be while still being fair. All three candidates will answer the same question and as we progress through questions, uh we will
003begin with candidates in the order that they appear here on stage. All the candidates will be asked the same question. I have reserved the right, since I can, uh to ask a follow-up question just for clarification. And I will ask the members of our audience to refrain from applause or any other form of exclamation during the questioning or comments by the candidate. We have allotted 1 hour, maybe a bit more, for questioning the candidates. We'll begin with questions that either I have prepared along with questions provided by the New York State uh school boards association. And halfway through, we'll take a short break uh followed by questions submitted to the audience. Some of you, I noticed, have picked up uh the cards uh ahead of time. Let's meet our candidates. First, to my left is
004Katrina Di Gennero Hanson. In the middle is Zack Corselius. And on the end is Matt Warne. And now is the first time of two instances where you can applaud and welcome our candidates. All three are potential uh newcomers to the Board of Education. There are two open seats to be filled by the top two vote getters on election day. Election day is Tuesday, May 19th. And that's just a week from today. Over my career news, and I won't tell you how long that's been. You two can't tell by looking at me, but thank you for that. I have covered literally hundreds of school board meetings. Usually, if they met two per month, either here in Genesee County or in my previous work in Chautauqua County. I know for a fact that these meetings can be
005fun, they can be tedious. Your time between meetings is filled with dozens of phone calls from your constituents, rarely to praise you for the work that you've done on the board. And like many board members, you will attend school functions, plays, concerts, sporting events, where you will likely get even more feedback from your constituents. And you will do all of this for no compensation whatsoever. So, that brings me to my first question. And Katrina, we'll beginning with you. Why do you want to run for school board? >> Should I just turn this is off? Hello. >> Push the button. >> Oh. Hello. Is it >> Hello. >> Okay. >> Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak with all of you tonight and to take on potentially one of the most important jobs I'll
006ever have in my life. As a newish mom of a 3-year-old who will be starting pre-K in the fall and a 9-year-old that is currently in third grade, I look at this responsibility as a huge one. I want to make sure not only my children, but all the children in our community have a wonderful, safe environment to learn in and that they're flourishing and they're doing a wonderful job within that community. Um it's just the most important role that we'll ever have as parents and also as the opportunity to sit on the board to make these important decisions as they come up. Um I believe that the board as it stands is a great one and to be part of that is an honor if I am chosen to do so. In addition, we also
007have our teachers and our aides that work within the schools, which is the lifeline to what we know is going on within those classrooms. I think having an open line of communication with them as a board member is crucial. We are not in the schools every day. We don't know what's going on. We don't know the highlights. We don't know the lowlights. I would commit to also having an open line of communication with the teachers, with the aides, listening to the things that are going on that maybe do need to change and the things that are going well that do need to continue. >> Thank you, thank you. >> Thank you. Appreciate that. And let's move over to uh uh Zach Cruse, you have the same question. Why do you want to run for this?
008>> Testing. Testing. Okay. Uh well, just for the record, this is my second time I would be serving on board. I previously served for 2 years. I was appointed by the board in the past. Uh since then, um I actually spun off and have worked hand-in-hand with the Batavia School Foundation, still supporting our school, and I've been president for the past few years. My passion for the school has not stopped since the last time I was on the board. It's continued to work as a student-first mindset. I felt as being a president of the foundation, I could directly impact with more scholarships, more money going into people making decisions, etc., etc. Which comes to the real reason why I want to run on the board. I'm student-first. I believe that uh as a young kid
009coming from Alexander and now in a big district like Batavia, being a resident here, I have my family here, uh I have a local business here, multiple businesses, actually. Um and quite honestly, I've continued to donate very well to the school as well in terms of my time, financially, etc., etc. I believe that our school needs a board that's student first, accountability second. Meaning accountability for our district leadership, accountability for our unions, accountability for making sure that we're financially, physically responsible with our funds, while also balancing education as well. Um and lastly, which is probably the most important thing, is I do believe that I have the experience to take from private industry, as well as my background being in education, being around the school as long as I have now, in many different capacities.
010I mean, at one point I was actually substitute teacher here before I served on the board. Um and I've seen the front lines, my wife being involved here. Um I believe that I have those experiences that will help elevate the board to the next level, maybe look at things at a different angle than what we're used to right now, whether it be the budgetary items, whether it be uh personnel decisions, things like that. Um I believe that I have that experience to help out and contribute and make it even better. >> Zack, thank you. And let's move now to Matt Horn. Same question, why are you running? >> Well, I I was a teacher for for 16 years, and um ever since I, excuse me, left that job so that I could spend more time
011with my family. Um I've still felt very connected to the Batavia City School District. My wife's a teacher here, uh my brother's a teacher here, both of my sisters-in-law are are teachers here. I've got two kids in the district that are really active in sports and music and all different aspects. So, I'm in the buildings a lot. I see the great things that are happening here. Um I I did work in a really great school district in Webster, and I think I can bring some of those positive aspects of that district here as well. And so, I think merging my educational background in addition to my private business experience and all of the other leadership aspects I've done outside of education, I think I can provide a really unique perspective to the school board and
012the uh taxpayers of Batavia City School District. >> Okay, Matt, thank you. Uh our next question, what we often hear means of measuring student success. And the first thing we think of is, well, test scores. But maybe there's more to it than that. So, what do you see as the board's role in fostering student achievement and measuring that achievement? And this question will begin with Zach. That is >> That is a great question. I would love to answer that. Um so, some stats that I don't think we've been paying close enough attention to is we do have a declining graduation rate. When I was on the board, we were close to 95%. Well, recently, when I last checked, they're close to 85. Uh I also noticed, too, our participation. There's a lot of talk right
013now with a lot of different schools talking about how we have to merge sports teams, things like that, so on and so forth. Yes, that is true, there is population decline, but for Batavia, I would argue that, you know, we're relatively the same over the last decade or so. But we again still are seeing those participation levels start to decline. And there's a couple of different ways you can look at all that, right? One would be, hey, we just need to mandate X Y and Z, you know, when it comes to scholastics with tests, like you're saying, but I think it really just comes down to stability. Stability in our buildings, stability in our culture, stability in fostering things. We've had a very high attrition rate on our building level administration. And I believe that
014that is a contribution to our declining graduation rates. Cuz when you don't have the same people in the building consistently, whether they're APs, teachers, principals, you're going to start seeing a little bit of a decline in our staff. Secondly, when it comes to participation, you know, for sports, we should not be just looking for the coaches that want to win. We want coaches that want to help develop our students to participate. It's not just about the scoreboard. It's about participation. That's a great way to measure your inclusion. >> Thanks, Zach, and Matt Warren. >> Yeah, uh test scores are obviously something that are put out on a yearly basis. Um and and to for some for some they're important, but also improving scores, uh what their teachers are evaluating in the classroom, and putting on
015their report cards is also just as important if not more important, especially to those individual kids. Uh test scores are a way for us to get a lot of data and distill it down into like one simple number, whether you're talking about graduation rates or um average test scores, um reading levels, all the these other things. It's It's a good kind of general picture, but it's not really an individualized plan for each one of those students. And then there's other things that aren't academic. Um there's referrals and behavioral metrics that we can look at. There's uh participation rates, as Zach said, um whether it's after school activities or in school activities, um AP course uh AP course participation. There's lots of different metrics we can use, but I'm a lot more interested in what the
016teachers are saying on the report cards that we can't necessarily measure with one single number. >> Okay, Matt, thank you. Um Next question. Oh, I'm sorry. You get a chance at this one. My my apologies, Katrina. >> Oh, no problem. Um Would you mind repeating the question? >> Sure. If I can find it. Uh the question was how do we measure essentially student success other than test scores? >> Thank you. So, of course test scores are obviously very important. I'd like to look at the the numbers of attendance. If that has also been declining along with the graduation rate going from 95% to 85%. I think attendance in schools and looking at the metrics of that is also very important. Perhaps a decline in extra activities such as library, art, and just overall attendance in
017extra curriculars. So, I think that that would be important to look at as well. Um I think just looking at the opinions of the teachers and the aids of maybe why attendance would be low and looking at how that could overall play a part in in that as well. >> Okay. Next question. And Matt, you get to take this one on first. How do you define the board's role when it comes to curriculum and instruction? >> Wow. That's a very big question. So, a lot of the curriculum for our students is top down even further than the board from New York State. And so, you have to start there because you have to meet certain requirements with New York State. On a local level I was blessed when I was teaching in Webster because for
01816 years I got to pretty much write my own curriculum as a chorus teacher and a general music teacher. I've written national curriculum for the National Association for Music Education, for the Library of Congress, for businesses, all this other stuff. So, I I really do love curriculum writing, but I don't necessarily think it's part of the board's job to get involved in nuanced curriculum writing for individual classes. Obviously, it's part of the oversight with working with the administration and the teachers, but I don't know if it's necessarily like that kind of in the weeds stuff. >> Okay. Uh next question, and this one I'm pulling from my few years covering school board uh meeting after meeting uh for about 50 >> I don't mean to interrupt you, Mr. Fisher, but the other two candidates didn't
019get to answer that question. >> Oh, I'm sorry. That's what you get when you ask a 76-year-old to come up here and do this. >> You said you weren't going to say how old you were, Mr. Fisher. >> I know, but that's Isn't it obvious? Uh I think next is uh Katrina. >> Do you want me to read the question again? >> Certainly. I believe the question was, "How do you define the board's role when it comes to curriculum and instruction?" >> I think I think that the board needs to have an open line of communication with the teachers. I think environment really needs to play a big part in the curriculum as well. Listening to the teachers about the classroom sizes, about the environment as far as the AC units and the temperature within
020the class. I think that those are very important. And so, I think that looking at it as a whole and of course having an open line of communication down with the teachers both ways as well. >> Okay. So, that's two minutes with curriculum content and uh the board's role when it comes to curriculum and instruction. >> I would 100% agree with Matt. You know, there's a lot that comes from down from the state. It's our job as a board to oversee our district, and really just kind of implement what the state's given us, and then at a local level, see what other things we can we can change and do from there. I I agree it's not the board's role to go and write any type of specific curriculum. But, what I do really see
021as again, we've had the same person in charge of curriculum for quite a while now in our district. And again, when you talk about accountability on the district level, I see a little bit of turnover on some of the building level, but I'm not seeing any difference on the district level. And the reason I bring that up is because again, if we're going to use that measurement of graduation rate starting to slide, well, maybe there's something in that curriculum that's not being communicated. One other thing that again, if you get me as a board member, I'm always going to have opinions. I'm going to ask questions. Why weren't we looking at some sort of vision where if, you know, the middle school watched a board meeting right here, they have an issue with the 1%
022as they like to say. Why don't we as a board come up with a solution to help educate them maybe in a different setting still within our district to allow the other students to then be more focused so they're not distracted by the troublemakers. I think that's a really big factor. And And one other thing, you know, teaching is not like it was 20 years ago. It wasn't like when I graduated. You know, I was reflecting on that. As bad of a kid as I was, you know, sometimes I hear stories, I don't think I was that bad. Just saying. But, what I will say is is right now we have historical different problems when it comes to behavior, and those behaviors directly impact the other students. So, what new solutions or vision can we
023come up with to change that instead of just doing the status quo, which is what I stand for running for the board? >> Okay, Zach. Thank you. Uh the next question goes first, I believe, to Matt. >> No. >> Katrina. >> Thank you. I knew that. I was testing. Uh Katrina, this question comes up often in Board of Education issues. And this is a matter of conflict of interest. New York State and its school boards association have written pages and pages on this topic. And the first responsibility of uh board members is disclosure of possible conflicts. Do any of you believe that either in your family or business relations, that you could face a potential conflict of interest in your service on the board? Katrina. >> Um the answer would just plainly and simply be
024no. I have no family that works in the school district. I have no conflict at all, personal or professional, that would interfere with being a board member. >> Okay. Next one. Uh the next answer from Zach. >> My answer is no. Yes, my wife does work for the district currently, but last time I served both my wife and brother served for the district, and that was that round before. I think if anything, it's an attribute to help me be a better board member, uh because it allows me to have other ears on the ground, other things going on to help influence, while at the same time separation of state and church, as they would say. Uh when it does come to board conduct, um, I do believe that is very, very important. Um, and I
025believe that we need to as board members hold ourselves above anybody else. So, for example, if I was a board member and I had say had any situation where I was going to have to go on another school campus, I think that should be disclosed and I do believe that is something that should be addressed in the code of conduct. >> Okay? If you were voting, I'm going to follow up on this one, Zach. If you were voting, wife was a relief principal at Robert Morris, you've previously disclosed that. Uh, if you were voting on the principal's contract, which is separate, can you be impartial on that? >> Of Of course I can. I mean, it's not going to impact one person. And quite honestly, you can't predict the future. Just because that next contract
026comes up doesn't guarantee that my wife is going to still be on there, still be in the school. But, yeah, it's it's a separate thing. This is professionalism, so it's not a problem for me. >> Okay. >> And then, >> potential conflict of interest. >> Sure. Yeah. I've already said that my wife is a teacher in the district, my brother, both of my sisters-in-law are are teachers in the district. I don't call that a conflict of interest, I call it investment. I've got people in multiple levels of this district, at multiple buildings, who talk to an even larger group of people, who can help me celebrate the successes, but also identify where some of the problem areas are inside of the district. So, if me being really invested in the future of this district is
027a bad thing, I mean, that's kind of where I'm at right now is I really want this district, each of these buildings, to succeed for my kids, for my family members. And and they already voted on the teachers' contract, so I can't have any say in that right now. So, there you go. >> All right. And that, one other family member, I believe your twin brother. >> Yeah. >> Try to imagine that. He's another one >> He's a very good-looking man. >> who looks just like him. Um >> That's what I said. >> is president of the teachers' association. >> Mhm. >> How would you manage that? >> Well, I mean, first of all, a lot of the the teachers' association conversations happen via Jason and then come to the board at large. And when
028you're one of a group of seven people on the board, I Sure. My bro- My brother and my mom jokes about this all the time. She's over there. Hi, Mom. My brother doesn't tell us anything about any of these the the teachers' union stuff, which is what he should be doing. He shouldn't be talking to me about that, whether I'm on the board or just a parent in the district. So, he's really good at separating that. I would be very good at separating that. And I I I I think that you can move forward with that kind of separation because of Mark, my brother, my twin brother who looks just like me. Uh but he wears glasses. Uh I I I think he should be going through Jason way more than he's going to me
029with concerns. >> Okay. Can any of the three of you think of a time when you would recuse yourself from voting on a mission? Real quick. Well, you have no direct conflict. Zack? >> The the only thing that I have ever recused myself from is if um obviously my wife was assigned to a new position or something of that nature, but no, I Other than that, I don't see anything unless somebody else works for the district that I'm related to. So, who knows? That would change, too. Okay. Matt? >> Yeah, I mean I I could see Maggie's not going to have this problem, but like I could see disciplinary hearing for a teacher or something like that that I'm related to. But, you know, my my wife's been a teacher for more than a decade.
030My my brother's been here for 20-something years. Like, I just don't see that as a possibility of something coming up, but I at least have to mention it in this answer. >> Okay. Um Let's move on here, and I believe our next question will go first to uh Zach. Um And I'll find you in just a moment. I promise. Okay. How do you view the board's role when it comes to community engagement? >> Well, I think, you know, one thing I really like to change on the board is I don't think you should have to get us appointment ahead of time to speak to the board. If you got a concern and there's a meeting, you should be able to just go, show up, and talk. That's what you do at the city council. Again,
031I'm president of the Lake Geneva Utility District, so I'm very involved with a lot of their dealings as well. Um and I just think that that's your first line of communication. Somebody has an issue, there's a board meeting, you should be able to just speak. There shouldn't be a waiting period. Um I think the role overall is doing more things that honestly we're kind of doing right now, you know? And that's where, instead of maybe even having a formal board meeting, you're throwing events, you're in the community, you're asking questions. I mean, I'll give you an example. I had a guy reach out to me on Facebook last week who wanted to sit down and have coffee with me to talk about my thoughts on budget and the school board. I don't think he contacted
032any other guys. I'm not sure why, but I think he's you know, just wants to pick my brain, right? Which is fine. That's great. We want that in our community right now. That's something we lack. It's okay to disagree and just move forward. It's okay to not have a unified board that has all the same opinions and always agree. And it's okay to disagree and just settle. But the most important thing is working together, working for it. I believe our school, you know, one thing I have to give to you, there is a lot of outreach out there. There really is already. My my thing would be going further. The one big thing that I would want to come back in an even bigger and better way is probably community schools. Community schools was in
033the community doing things. I know it just got recently reorganized. I do agree with the path that each school should have its own community closet. Um but I think there still needs to be that actual layer that Julia used to do. Um there was, you know, more festivals, more outreach, you had more community partners coming into the school. And I And that is something I would like to see come back. And I believe as a board us pushing that as one of our priorities would be our role to uh have even more community engagement. But I will commend the current board. They're The current board's goals are I have to be at an event once a month. So, I got to give kudos to them for that. I do think there's some other things we
034can do as well. >> Okay. Matt, community engagement. Can you read the whole question for me? >> Sure. I'm sorry. Um I'll find it. Community engagement. Uh Well, how The question came down to community any How should the board, okay, engage with the general public when it comes to the business of the board? >> Right, that's that was the clarification I was looking for because when I go to, you know, my kids' events, I see tons of community engagement all the time. I see, you know, 100 people down in the middle school cafeteria eating dinner and watching Dinner With Oz. You know, I see people at all these concert events. And so, I wasn't sure if you were talking about the district engaging with the community or the school board engaging with the community. And
035I've seen school board members at all of those events that I've gone to, which again is wonderful. Um like I have been saying, I I I am in the schools a lot going to a lot of those events. And so, it would be second nature for me, uh I guess, to be engaged with the community while I was at those events since I'm already there and being engaged with the community at those events. So, being a representative of the board there would be, I think, second nature to me. Um and I I do see the community engagement that is happening, and I'm I'm very happy about that. >> Okay. Katrina. >> I believe I believe that as a board member, community engagement is by far the most important tool and and resource and obligation we
036have as a board member. Being out in the community, talking with parents, talking with teachers, talking with aids, listening to what's working, what's not working, talking to taxpayers, having that ear available to them to discuss with them anything that's on their mind and things that they need to feel rest assured about, to have answers to, having somebody that they can call and they can voice their opinions to, I feel is so, so important. As a board member, we work for the students, we work for the teachers and aids and the taxpayers as well. So, I believe having that open line of communication and being in the community at the sports events and at the Richmond Library and all the other things that bring our community together is imperative and it's been an important job for
037all of us. >> Okay. Next question goes to Matt. Uh what is your approach to supporting students with special needs and diverse learning styles? That one I believe goes to Yes. >> Yes, I was just writing that down. Sorry. Um so so supporting students with special needs and diverse learning styles is something that was very important to me when I was in education, when I was in my classroom. Um not just because it's mandated by New York State, but also because I I had a very diverse group of students uh in my classrooms, whether it was general music or chorus. Um and so some of them would come with aids, some of them wouldn't. Um obviously uh having uh IEPs and 504s, I would have the most of any teacher in the school when I
038was there because what as a teacher in chorus you tend to have the most students in the school. Uh so I I worked a lot with students with special needs over the years. And then as I said earlier, when I was writing my curriculum both for the Library of Congress and NAfME as well as uh for the Webster CSD, I would have to differentiate all of my uh curriculum both for high achievers and for uh students with special needs. And so being able to provide a diverse education as a teacher is certainly something that was very important to me while I was in the classroom and it's something I really support as a would really support as a member of the the school board. Okay. Katrina, you're next. >> Would you mind reading >> Okay.
039Take notes. Uh what is your approach to supporting students with special needs and diverse learning styles? >> Well, I I think that it's obviously very important that we are being within those guidelines of the students' individual learning, supporting the teachers, and furthermore making sure that the classrooms have the proper amounts of aids just because it does fall into what New York state says the number of students with the aid. Is that enough? I think that this needs to be looked at on an individual case-by-case basis with the student in the classroom. And if something's not working, that it is addressed sooner than later and it's fixed hopefully sooner than later. >> Okay. And Zach. >> Well, well, again, honestly, this comes to heart of what the school should be doing, right? I mean, we need
040to look at each kid's individual needs and try to meet them the best we can. And it's a hard task to do. But, I believe that us being and quite frankly the biggest district in Genesee County, um, we do sometimes have some of the highest needs and highest challenges that are not comparable to other districts. And and that being said, the reason I'm bringing that up is to remind, you know, taxpayers, people like that, like we do a lot already. I know we do. But, there's always more we can do. And when it gets to the point where you have some kids that maybe just can't handle a whole day of school and it has to go to a half day, it's okay. Let's figure that out. Uh, this middle school where we're sitting right
041now has had some of the highest challenges in the last 3 years. But, that comes down to the vision of the district leadership to come up with other alternative solutions to support the building of administrators to make those changes. If you have a student that gets violent or can't handle certain situations, what are the What other things can we do outside the box? What's other ways we can do it? That's why I love that. 16 years in education. I'm sure he's got a couple ideas that I don't even have, right? But let's do something different, not the same thing. And that's where I stand as a candidate that I want things of change. I want us to look at things differently. I believe a school of alternative learning within our school is vital. And I
042know it sounds crazy, and some people are going to say it's going to cost more money. But is it going to cost more money if we just reallocate some of the resources we have to a certain population? Um and when it comes to aides and things like that, I'm a 100% an aide supporter. I think aides are amazing. They're on the front lines. And I have another vision I've always had for the school. We don't have enough trading grades. Like somebody shows up and they're automatically just hitting the floor running. Just one thing is that I believe as a district we need to come up with a more holistic approach to our learning, whether it's a teacher, a student, um or an administrator, and having an orientation program that would then help that facility to
043do their job better. Okay. >> Zach, thank you. Next question and then we'll take our our break. Uh and we begin with Katrina here. Uh how do you handle criticism or disagreement from constituents or with other board colleagues? >> Well, being a mother, this is something that I handle often with my own children. Um I think just really having open communication, being non-judgmental. Someone that comes to you with an issue or a problem, it's important to them. They need to be heard. It's the least we can do. They need to be heard and they need to be understood. So, I think it's very important to have two ears and one mouth for a reason and to really listen to any issues and any problems that come up. So, I feel that being a good communicator,
044listening, and if you don't have the answer today, getting them the answer so that they can put their minds at ease and to rest. So, I think that that's very important when you're working with anybody that has conflict. >> Okay, Zach, how do you deal with a disgruntled constituent or or colleague? How do you settle your differences? >> I have never been in a fight in my life. Until today. I am president for two boards right now. And let me tell you, as board president, um of course, there is a lot of times where we have disagreements. And honestly, it's good. If we didn't have it, we wouldn't be as strong as we are. The BID has probably, arguably, a hard year this past year getting certain things uh up and running and doing that.
045And I'll tell you what, we did not all agree all the time, but we all came together. And um I'm really proud of the BID. I'm really proud of the uh scholarship foundation. We've come so far. And on every single one of those boards, we transformed the board by inspiring people, getting new people's opinions, getting new people's thoughts, and a lot of times having some disagreements to come together. And again, our current board, I see people make presentations, and then it'll be like an hour, and then we just don't have enough follow-up questions or say, "Hey, what about this?" Or, "What about that?" It's okay to challenge people in a good way. Um you know, last night I we heard the kindergarten talk. I've heard about the aides. I actually took a phone call today.
046Somebody thought I was still on the board. I said, "No, I'm running for the board." She goes, "Oh." I was like, "But, I'll give you my take on it. You know, the kindergarten's not losing all their aides. They're going from eight to six, which means that theoretically they would only lose an hour or two per day. Well, hey, I'll I'll be the one to say it. In certain ways, you got to make a cut You got to make a budget cut line, right? It's going to come down to it. >> And in fact, I want to hold you up there because we let you go about 3 minutes the last time. So, um Matt, how about you? How would you handle disagreements? >> The The constituents and the board colleagues, I think it's two different
047conversations. For For constituents, for me at least, the the first thing I want to remember when I'm in that conversation is that there's sometimes where I'm speaking for myself, and then there's sometimes where I I can't be speaking as like the entire representation of the entire school board. So, I it's me as a parent sometimes, it's me as a a husband sometimes. But, but but as a board member, I can't be speaking for the entire school board in a lot of those conversations. Um as a lead teacher, which is essentially a building department chair, um when I was teaching, I had a lot of conversations with a lot of people that were really unhappy with the direction of, you know, the building or how they were constructing a schedule or when someone was going to
048get a lunch break or whatever it happened to be, and we had to find common ground, whether it was with that person or a different teacher inside of our department or even inside the building when we were handling, say, a room change or something like that. So, I have a lot of experience working with both colleagues as teachers and also with, you know, other parts of the educational apparatus to kind of moderate some of these conversations. and and that's one of the things that I do at work a lot too is we work with a lot of people having conversations that surround sports and sports teams which can get a little bit heated and people can be very disagreeable sometimes but we you know we keep everything on the rails and and have constructive conversations
049moving forward. >> Okay, we are going to take a maybe even a little less than 5 minute break somebody told me there was a hockey game on tonight. Somebody some of you may want to watch but if you haven't filled out a question on the cards please do so during this break. You can direct it to a specific candidate and I'll try to be fair with that or to all of them. So let's take a few minute break no more than 5 minutes and we'll see you in a bit. >> Uh, I've got of questions here for all the same question, but it's for all of you. So, I'm going to start in reverse order. So, Matt, this one's going to go to you first. How would you describe the ideal relationship between the superintendent
050of schools and the Board of Education? >> Thank you for that question, whoever asked it. Like I said, I've never been a superintendent. Uh I've never been on a school board, so I'm not 100% sure what that relationship is like on an individualized basis, so on a one-to-one basis. Um again, I I I don't want to speak for the entire board when I'm having these conversations because I'm part of a group, not necessarily an individual on that. With that being said, I've had multiple conversations with Mr. Smith, they've always been wonderful and cordial. Um I heard that he called my brother Matt a couple times last week, which is pretty funny to me um because he's always called me Mark. The first time I met him, I had to show him my driver's license, it
051was a whole thing. Uh but that was at John Kennedy's I think open house or something, anyway. Uh so, I I have a nice relationship with Mr. Smith and I would have no problem saying nice things to him, but also constructive things to him, and I think he would welcome that. >> Okay. Uh let's go to Zach. Same question. The relationship between the board and the superintendent. >> See, I really believe it's an employer-employee relationship. And what I mean by that is, you know, at the end of the day, um Jason, as much as you could like him as a person, as a friend, as a colleague, he ultimately he is an employee of the board. It's the only decision the board really has full control over in terms of decisions they make is he's
052really a solely their only employee. So, as a board member, you can't go talk to a teacher or you know what I'm saying in terms of the structure should be always everything is through your superintendent. Now, that being said, um Jason was one of the candidates that was uh actually runner-up at the time um when I was on the school board for being superintendent. And you know, uh things happen. He ends up getting on after I leave. Um and you know, Jason's been on there now for for a little bit. I just think that from a taxpayer's standpoint, there are some things that do concern me about our current board. And the first amendment of his contract, they gave him lifetime medical benefits 75/25 for his entire life. Now, I'm not sure as a board
053member that I would have done that because that's like a 40, maybe 50-year commitment. Um that price tag alone after 1 year was probably multiple years of salary added up over time. And it just makes you question how do we get to that point? How's a board feel that comfortable with somebody only after 1 year? And now, 4 years down the road, we do have a declining graduation rate. We do have an attrition problem. We do have a slight morale problem. And some of those things I think are attributed to the district's leadership. And I do think that that is something that needs to happen. I think Jason already knows that I feel like that. And that's okay. We don't have to totally disagree, but some of those things and decisions that have been made
054in the past, I do think should be looked at in the future. We're talking about getting more teacher aides. Well, guess what? In the future, we might have a teacher rate if we didn't have a commitment for 40 years and health insurance. So. Okay, Sam. Thank you. Katrina. Relations between the superintendent and board. >> I believe that the superintendent and the board, it's important that we all work together for the common good of our children that are in this school district. There hasn't been a time that I've reached out to Jason when he hasn't I'm sorry, Mr. Smith when he hasn't reached back out to me, answered my questions, helped me out, not only with preparing for the board interview, but also with my own children. Um yes, Mr. Smith does work for the board,
055but I think that his track record speaks for itself and he's made a lot of very good decisions for our city school district. And I think continuing that relationship and working together for the common good and the open door policy that Mr. Smith does have is imperative and it's wonderful and I appreciate it very much, but I think it is important that we're all on the same page. Okay. Um Zach, this one was directed to you. You were previously um the board of education and resigned. What makes the community confident that this time you'll be committed to finishing your term? >> The This is a very good question. I'm glad to address it. So, the first time I was on the board, I was actually recruited to be on the board at the time. However,
056I was working for a corporation that um eventually I had moved up the ranks and had to travel quite a bit. Um and it was causing me to not be able to make meetings. Um my situation has completely drastically changed. Um I'm literally in the community all the time. I own multiple businesses. I contribute to the school, uh whether it's um donations and everything like that. So, the point I'm getting at very simply is I'm in the community and here and present. So, I do not see myself traveling ever again like that. So, that was the reason I resigned and I don't see that happening again. >> Okay. Uh I do not have questions that were specifically directed to either Matt Warren or Katrina. But, uh the I want to find this just a little
057bit. Uh do you believe that there is a high turnover rate among teachers in the district? And if you agree with that, uh what can you What does a board member do about it? And let's start with uh Katrina. >> So, there is significant turnover within administration within the district. Um I think having more of an open communication with the teachers, maybe more check-ins with the teachers, having, again, open lines of communication. If there is a problem, addressing it, making them understand that we're there to help them in individual cases and as a whole so that these problems don't result in having them leaving the district and having turnover, which is expensive and it does cost, obviously, taxpayer dollars. But, more importantly, it's also uprooting a classroom and it's uprooting the children having to adjust
058to a new teacher if it's mid-year or whatever the case may be. Um but, I do, again, feel like open communication is the key to a lot. So, I feel like that would really resolve things maybe a little bit better. >> Okay. Matt. Issue of turnover. >> Yeah, um >> my son is probably the best example of that that I can think of. Uh in the last 3 years, my son has had four brand new teachers into the district. Now, they've done a wonderful job. But four brand new teachers in 3 years seems like a lot. And there is a high turnover rate, not just with with teachers, but also we've shifted the buildings around a couple times. Uh let me be clear with this. I do not like that the fifth graders were here
059at the middle school, and I'm glad we're moving away from that. So, I'm not complaining about the shift in the schools. But um um um there is a high turnover rate in school, and that leads to, you know, going through hiring processes over and over again when you've just done that. Uh training teachers both in upfront training and then ongoing training. Um establishing building norms becomes harder and harder to do, whether you're talking about turning over the administration and establishing new building norms or turning over teachers on a consistent basis and having them acclimate to the the the building norms. So, there there is a lot of problem with teacher turnover as a whole, and I do think that there is turnover here in the Taylorsville School District. >> Okay. Staff turnover. >> I mean
060I mean, yes, of course. I I think it's a major issue. I think it all starts with administration. I mean, you've lost multiple teachers or multiple administrators with 20-plus years experience, whether they were last minute given tenure and then the tenure is taken back, or uh we're going to have you in this school and then put you in this school and then we're going to put you in that school. That's going to be a trickle-down effect. Because whether we like it or not, there are going to be some teachers that probably follow certain principles, whether it's going from first grade to fifth grade, vice versa, and so on and so forth. And ultimately, to me, it comes back to the same question. During this time period of high attrition with the administration, why is there
061no checks or balances from the district office? What was the district's office original vision when they made recommendations for whether people got tenure, took it away, or then additionally said, "Hey, we think that this person should go from this building to this building." And that's the struggle I have with the district right now. Like, what is that big vision? How does that work? And how do you recreate that culture? But it has to start with consistency. I will give it to them. For the past year, we haven't anybody moved, but that's where it starts because it takes a good principal, I would argue, 3 to 5 years to create that. And Matt, I mean, I'd love to hear your opinion on that because I think you'd agree with me that being a teacher is a
062lot easier than you have. >> Okay. One of the things which you said I think I already mentioned that the Board of Education, one of their primary responsibilities is the selection of a school superintendent. And many school districts throughout Genesee County, throughout New York State, go outside of their district and import people from who knows where. This time, the Board of Education in the selection of Mr. Smith decided to stay local, not necessarily the particular district, but within Genesee County. Was that a great move? And if you were ever faced with that, how important do you think it is to select a local candidate? And once again, I've lost track of who went first, but we'll go to that. >> Sure, I'm happy to answer first. Um Mr. Smith is a Batavia resident, um was
063a Batavia resident when he was hired, and but was coming from an outside district. So, I mean, you could call him an outside hire if you really want to. Um I know in Webster the thing that I advocated for when I was that new teacher building kind of guy, um was bringing in outside ideas that meshed well with what we've already established here. So, that's not to say that I only would consider external candidates, or I only would consider internal candidates, but I think external candidates can bring a vision that can improve what you have and diversify what you have. But, also establishing what I said building norms earlier, and then promoting that district-wide, I think can also have a lot of benefits. So, I think it had it's more candidate-specific than we should hire
064somebody local, or we should hire somebody from external. >> Katrina, your thoughts on the hiring of a superintendent, local or out of town? >> I think that the job should go to the best person for the job. I think there is some value in having a diverse diversity, interviewing people that maybe have different ideas, or come from a different background, but I ultimately feel like it should be the best person for the job. >> Okay. Zack? >> I'm I'm in full agreement with Matt and Katrina. I think it comes down to the best man best job, and candidate-specific. I will say, there are some great candidates that are in our school right now, though, that I think could take our school to the next level, because they know the history, they know the history behind
065the buildings, they already know the families. You know, yesterday at the board meeting you had another parent that's upset about bullying and things like that. I can understand that. So, therefore, I do think a little bit that there might be some candidates within our school because the history of Batavia before Jason and Annabel was Chris Palm. And prior to that, it was a very much promote within the district. We primarily promoted within. And I will say, when you look at the longevity of our of our superintendents, that's where you had some of the longer regimes with people that that had been in our district for a very, very long time. But again, it really does come down to what the criteria of that seat too. But there's a lot of nuance there. >> Okay. I
066was personally hoping for a little more controversy on that point, but I thought your answers were uh were very good. Uh well, that's really all the time we've allotted for tonight. I want to thank you very much for coming. And uh I especially want to thank our candidates. And now, if you are so inclined, you may show your appreciation through applause for all OF OUR CANDIDATES. ELECTION DAY IS A WEEK FROM TODAY. The polls are open from 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. If you live north of uh Main Street, Route 5, and you vote at John Kennedy Intermediate School, that's on Vine Street. And if you live south of Route 5, uh you vote at Batavia High School on State Street. And uh just a side note, if you previously voted at Robert Morris, you
067will vote this year at John Kennedy. But the thought I want to leave you with is what is most important is that you Board of Education elections do not get the same attention as more partisan elections such as city council or town boards county legislature although boards of education have the same taxing authority have just as much authority to take money out of your pocket as any of those other government institutions. It It troubles me that when compared to the partisan what I call partisan elections or municipal elections the turnout for Board of Education is so low. Your vote matters and I'll close with this. Many years ago when I was working in Jamestown a long time board member by the name of Emery Olson Mr. Olson is departed. And he was running for re-election.
068He happened to be serving as the Board of Education president but that position was filled by members of the board but he ran a three-year term like everybody else. It was not an exciting election. There were two candidates running for two seats Mr. Olson and one other. They were running unopposed. Mr. Olson was the only candidate in Jamestown Board of Education history to run unopposed and lose the election. Lost to a strong write-in candidate at the last minute. Your vote matters. Thank you and thank you for being here tonight.