Meet the Board of Education Candidates

001welcome to today's meet the candidates um for the Board of Education we'd like to start with the Pledge of Allegiance I pled pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic stand your God indivisible good evening I'm Bernie Vega the president of the Monro Woodbury PTA Council the PTA is a nonpartisan organization whose mission statement is to Advocate advocate for cultivate and Empower individual units to improve the Education Health and well-being of Children and Families the pta's mission is to make every child's potential a reality by engaging and Empowering Families and communities to advocate for all children this forum is part of hour this forum is part of our ongoing voter education efforts to help voters make informed decisions at the upcoming elections we hope that over the course

002of this program you will learn more about the candidates and what they hope to do for Monro Woodberry Board of Education welcome to the meet the candidates Board of Education we're delighted to have you join us tonight as we embark on on a journey to learn more about the dedicated individuals lying for positions on our Board of Education this forum serves as a vital platform for our community to engage directly with the candidates gain insights into their visions and understand how they plan to shape the future of our educational system here as we navigate through tonight's discussions let's keep in mind the importance of this decision- making process the individuals you'll meet tonight are not just names on a ballot they are community members Advocates and leaders who are committed to enhancing the quality of

003Education of our children and empowering our schools to thrive together let's Embrace this opport to shape the future of Education in our district thank you for your participation and let's make tonight's morum Forum a productive and enlightening experiencing experience for all we have five candidates running for the Board of Ed positions however there are three seats available the candidates are as follows Caitlyn Simmons Don Tober incumbent Candace Deo noac Jamal Evans incumbent Anthony Anderson incumbent not present today don't on Topper instructions for the candidates you will have two minutes for an opening statement two minutes for a closing statement and one minute to answer each question there will be no rebuttal after each question and every candidate has an opportunity to answer every question in a rotating order opening and closing statements will be done

004based on ballot order and the timekeeper is Ashley Torres North Main PTA president sitting to the far right next to me on my left is Erica Culver president of the Smith clove PTA and we will take turns asking questions submitted by our community members when there is half a minute left on your speaking time the timekeeper will hold up a yellow card indicating that you have 30 seconds to finish your answer please wrap up your statement when you see the red card if you continue to speak after the stop the stop card is held up I will say thank you and move on to the next speaker the rules are as follows personal references about other candidates are out of order please note the cameras are at the back of the room and this form

005is being broadcasted live and will be rebroadcasted several times we want to remind you that it is not a debate and the answer should be just addressed to instructions to the audience please turn off your cell phones and beeping watches now we request that you treat all candidates fairly please remain quiet throughout the Forum no clapping no cheering or calling out loud with the exception that after their closing statement you may clap for all candidates if you wish at the end no campaign literature or signs are allowed inside this room no questions will be taken from the audience starting the candidates Forum we will start with the candidate for the following office with Kaitlyn Kaitlyn what special knowledge Focus initiative would you bring to the Board of Education if elected uh so um as an

006attorney I think I am very analytical very pragmatic um I also in my professional career I work uh for the City of New York in the inspector General's office so having to have difficult conversations having to be at an inass and having to find ways to solve problems where you can meet in the middle where there are times that you have to think about how to get to the best solution I think that I have a true tried and true tested ability to be able to do that I think also making sure that we always think about the end goal I think sometimes in uh negotiations or disagreements or when you're trying to get decisions made you can get lost in trying to get there and I think always keeping the focus there always trying

007to make sure that the focus is on the children what's best for the district I think I I have the ability to bring that um to to uh the board um in addition to in terms of the focus the focus should always be on the children I think as a parent that is my primary focus it is always on my children and I feel like being a part of the board you can never lose focus about all of the decisions that you make all of the decisions and the policies that you are part of putting into place ultimately affect the children and I think that being that pragmatic voice being that calm person who always can say let's just refocus I think those are the types of things that are needed um particularly when you

008have to to make tough decisions and then just also making sure that you always keep in Focus kind of the end goal and if you have any other opening statements you can as well um just I my husband and I have lived in Monroe for 14 years I have twin daughters who uh excuse me they made me say twin Junior Olympic track stars who um attend North Maine and will be coming to the Middle School um in the fall um so uh thank you thank you you can start with your opening statement and then what special knowledge Focus initiative would you bring to the board of education of elected thank you um my name is Candace I'm a candidate for Board of Ed it's nice to meet all of you I live in Monroe with

009my husband Jonathan and our two sons jack and dashel um Jack's a student here at the middle school Jack's a a North mayor in fourth grade um we've had an awesome experience in the district so far so really loving loving it um with regards to what special Focus I think I could bring to the board um my education is in mathematics chemistry and chemical engineering um I hold a PhD in chemical engineering and have worked in research and development for the last 14 years so I'm very process driven very kind of analytical tactical stepbystep kind of mindset um I've also worked within my career in highly constrained systems so I work in product development and in bringing a product to the market there's never enough time there's never enough money there's never enough resources so

010finding an optimal way to deliver within those constraints is something that I've gotten very good at over the years and I think that those skills can really apply to some of the problems and challenges faced by the board especially budgetary B challenges I also bring a lot of one of my passions in my work is to bring diverse products to Market um within a consumer goods and to do that you need diverse input so you can't bring diversity without inclusion and so that's something that I've also brought into my team my product development um and not just from a racial point of view or from a gender point of view but really from a kind of skill set point of view too so the best experiences I've had in my career were when we had

011scientists engineers and creatives all together solving a problem so that multi-disciplinary approach is really something I'm familiar with and I think could apply really well to my role on the board thank you uh Jamal all right uh J Els uh resident of the Monroe area for 32 years now uh this school is now the middle school but I was the last year to graduate here when it was the high school so I'm old um I to get a little bit back on myself I'm I'm a dad first that's what I do that's that's my main goal that's my main job that's my end product is to be the best dad that I can be uh so me being on the board is a step in that direction um it's me giving back to my community

012that has pretty much laid the foundation for who I am today it's allowed me to be the man the Father the husband the person that I am um so I had to find ways that I felt comfortable and able to get back to the community and this is it for me so this is my second term uh I I've been on the board now for three years the last two acting as the uh vice president as well uh and I will answer the question so I guess the the special knowledge I have is my profession is similar to them we bring our professions with us to some level my my profession is a user experience director so what we do for the most part is we assess we act and we build um we take

013in information all different kinds qualitative and quantitative information and really think about what makes the most sense to make an efficient product going forward uh and even though I don't see our students in such a dry way I do think that those kind of skills can be applied when specifically even dealing with each other I think there's a lot of opportunities there's a lot of chances and opportunities for boards to go in the wrong direction um and in my mind you want to be able to connect with people that don't have a specific view that you have but you still have to respect theirs just like you want them to respect yours um so in my mind it's something that I I feel like I do well I'm not going to refer to board members

014but I hope that they respect me and my my approach to things because I I do think that um that that communication between us is very important and you want to have a non-biased uh point of view when you approach situations so you getting ready with the red paper I was like it up Anthony hi thanks for having me uh my name is Anthony and Jamal you are very respected on the board and in the community um I've been a resident of the community for 24 years now um this is my uh third term on the board so I've been on the board for nine years now um I'm a dad uh I've got two kids one of them went through the uh Monro woodb school district and I have another child in fifth grade

015currently um my uh my person personal job the the one that actually uh takes up some of my time besides the board is um I work for an insurance carrier and I do uh insurance claims work specifically for uh design construction uh projects uh that gives me a lot of experience dealing with attorneys dealing with uh contracts um dealing with design professionals um and I've been able to transfer a lot of that knowledge um to some of the issues we've gotten involved in in the board um some of the capital uh projects that we've had to um um repair the fields uh repair the buildings things like that I've I've gotten very involved in some of the contract work there very involved in some of the negotiations with the uh um contractors and um some

016of the design professionals that we've used um I've been a leader in my company for over 20 years and I could bring some of that experience to the board as well well just dealing with people getting placeholder uh people you know stakeholders various stakeholders involved in whatever issue we're dealing with and um you know I think a lot of those uh uh resources that I have I can bring to the board and have brought to the board for the last few years and I'd appreciate um staying on the board for another term thank you Candace the district mission statement is Monroe Woodbury Central School District is committed to academic achievement and success for all students in a safe environment in partnership with families and our community the district's mission is to promote confidence Inspire passion

017for Learning and to prepare students to become responsible Global Citizens what do you see as the major issues facing the school so right now I think the important kind of key wordss in that that we should focus on is all students and safe so so right now I see the biggest issue and the biggest thing I hear from my peers in the community is making sure that our schools are safe and safety has a lot of facets right so it's it's school safety that there's no Intruder but it's also kind of bullying it's peer-to-peer interaction student to student interaction so there's so many elements that kind of come along with that and then related to that is the communication so it's student safety making sure that students their education and safety comes first and then

018making sure that there's a nice communication stream coming out to the community from the school district at all times s with regards to those elements so again making sure that that all students have that safe environment to flourish Thrive and get a great education so from what I've seen over the last few years um being on the board we we get that view from what's Happening behind the scenes a little bit more or a lot a lot more uh and I would say the number one thing that I see as um major issue to be completely honest is accountability uh I think lot of times kids aren't being held accountable for their actions so it it does sometimes unfortunately lead to safety issues um there are certain students that need certain levels of discipline we

019can't Overlook that just because we don't want to have it be seen as oh they're being too harsh on the children so in my mind I I see it as and I'm sorry it shouldn't just be for the students as well for the teachers and administration too a lot of decisions are being made and we have to hold students teachers and um Administration accountable parents as well trying to beat that red card Anthony like Jamal said you know we we see some things in in the board so we've got a little bit more access to some of the information um safety certainly is one of the things that is one of the issues for the kids always is and always something we look out for accountability certainly because of the sort of the change in

020the climate that the kids uh uh exhibit nowadays um but the the two two things that I would say are the are the major issues going to be affecting our district are the dramatic increase of uh English as a second language children and uh the dramatic increase of economically disadvantaged children in our district and we have to do whatever we have to do as a board to make sure that those kids aren't left behind that we devote the resources and the money to make sure that they are trained that they learn how to speak how to read and how to have all the opportunities that every one else in the district has um I definitely agree with my fellow candidates in terms of safety and accountability being major issues I also believe just to have

021just as an additive that making sure that our children are prepared for the world that they're going to be exposed to you know um the world right now is very different than the one that we all grew up in technology is playing a major role in a lot of what we are doing manual process are being phased out so making sure that we're adaptive to that and making sure that we're preparing our students for the world that they're going to see whether it is in a educational Forum a technology Forum making sure that they have a safe environment to thrive I think those are issues that we have to make sure that we tackle so that they're prepared for the world that they are going to hopefully be successful in and we're going to prepare

022them to thank you as a board member do you you feel there is an advantage or disadvantage to also being a current parent of the Monro Woodberry Central School District student that is for Jamal 100% Advantage um I it's it's you're vested you're 100% vested and what's going on in the schools not even just what's in the current School my my children go to Pine Tree fourth and second grade um but because they're in Pine Tree I have to now worry about what's going to happen when they're in middle school and high school so even though I don't have children there I'm still invested in what's happening at those levels that I could be aware of that we should start working on now so that we can improve it selfishly before my kids get to

023that level I I'll be honest uh so in my mind it only it's only helped me um and I I understand some people that are like when I get to a certain point and their kids are graduating they're like I don't need to be on the board anymore and I I get that attitude I I might feel that same way but as of now I'm very heavily inv involved in just what's happening from a day-to-day BAS Anthony yeah I agree totally I I do think it is uh important that you have kids in the district as Jamal said it's you have a vested interest in it um you kind of have an Insight or two to sort of give you the uh the real load down as to what's going on sometimes um in the

024schools that you may not hear about um you get it from a different perspective right from a students's perspective um so uh you know what you hear maybe in the board meetings or what you you here in some other meetings may not be exactly lining up with what you're hearing your kids telling you and it gives you sort of a a subject area to uh explore a little further as uh as Jamal said you know um as your kids move up through the schools you have a vested interest in making sure each of those schools are are providing the right resources for the children and you know it just gives you a a you know more of an interest in in those uh areas to be focused on Kaitlyn um I 100% agree that it

025is an advantage um I hold a very prestigious um professional career but as I said in my opening statement my most important job is being a parent first um and I think you do have a vested interest and you want to see the best product you want to make sure your children have all of the amazing resources and you want to make sure that what they're being taught and they have the best technology and resources available to them and you also want to make sure um as a parent you have that compassion for parents who may have children with special needs or other educational developments that they may need because I think those give you kind of the insight and the compassion to make sure that it's just not numbers on a spreadsheet and you're

026not making decisions that are broad brushed but you're making decisions really putting the whole child um and the very different facets of all children into the decisions and the policies that you're a part of making Candace I agree with everyone it's an absolute Advantage um and just to give kind of an analogy you see when there's a medical advancement or a new innovation often times that stems from a personal experience or a vested interest in it so sometimes the best doctors will go into cancer research because a family member had a a terrible cancer experience so having that vested interest brings a passion and a focus that I think is only an advantage um to this this area um being part of that Community there's also the immersion Factor right so you're with your kids

027every day you're hearing what they're saying you're seeing what their friends are you're hearing what their friends are doing so that immersion is also extremely helpful to really keep that that targeted focus on the role Anthony in regards to the new superintendent what qualities characteristics and background would you be most looking for if you were the decision maker well I think you know there's certain table Stakes we're looking at right I mean they have to have the right right qualifications in education I'd like to see if they were a doctor and had a doctorate um in the education field I'd like to see that they are experienced as uh either a superintendent or an assist superintendent uh for a good school district maybe one has similar characteristics as of ours you know a few thousand

028kids 5,000 or more um mostly I want them to also be a good person um and someone that has exper experience in dealing with the issues that I talked about before that we'll be seeing a little more in our district about students with ESL and uh economically disadvantaged students if they've had that experience in their District they've written about it in some dissertations um uh those are the kind of things that I'm looking for so um I would say that yes there are Baseline professional characteristics um that I would uh look for um of course a background in education but I think in terms of outside of the Baseline checklist factors that you would look for in a superintendent in terms of professional qualifications I would also want to look for someone who had an

029adaptable personality I think when dealing with you know Changing Times in children you you can't look at things as black and white and it can't be as rigid our community is changing it's it's been changing and a developing and evolving and you want to have a person in charge of your school district who can be a adaptable and evolve with the times to make sure that our curriculum our schools the education and the resources also match the needs at the time so I think that would be aside from professional characteristics and background it would also be adaptability as a character characteristic trait um a agree we need the next superintendent to have strong credentials and educ um I'd love to see somebody come in with a doctorate perhaps with some Publications um in the field

030of Education I would love to see the candidate have some a balance of teaching experience as well as some Central experience central office experience I would love to see that balance um and I would also love to see someone who brings a high energy um I don't know how how some Miss R Rodriguez does it all the time but you need to have that high energy personality and that commitment to the job so I think that in addition to everything that the other candidates have said which I fully agree um you need that energy Focus J so I would say we need someone that has proven leadership and great communication skills uh I I do see from situations in the past where even though something may have been done well um how it gets communicated

031out can be an issue we have we have a community that's very strong-minded and and they have no problem voicing concerns so we need someone that can speak to that and not not cause conflict but actually build Bridges through that confers ation uh that's what I'll be looking for but and also on the leadership side I think it's important because this person is not going to be in every school day to day we don't want them there we we need them to kind of lead from afar in certain situations so they they need to have a they need to have the respects of their cabinet through their great leadership if we have the cabinet continue to be as great as they are then you have great teachers and staff and if they are then obviously

032it's going to go down to the children that's what we really that's what we're all here for Kaitlin one of the tasks you would have as a board member is to ensure that the district is putting together a fair and responsible budget please share how you will go about soliciting input from all stakeholders community members administrators and classroom teachers to ensure that money is being allocated to meet the needs of our students certainly um so in my professional career I'm the I'm the Deputy Commissioner of operations for the Department of Investigations one of the units that I oversee is budget um in my prior job I was the chief of staff for the administration for children's services again one of the the jobs in my portfolio was overseeing budget I've overseen budgets as high as3

033billion doar and I think when you are soliciting input you need forums like this where the community can have a way to voice kind of what their concerns are things that they would like to see um the teachers should be able to do the same in terms of what affects them and their ability to do their jobs and administrators the like so I think um creating forums and avenues for that input to be easily um given and garnered and then taking um all of that collectively and being able to put it into the decisions that you make so I would say creating um an a forum for receiving that information that makes it easy for people to give it cice um I agree a forum is really the best place but there's a lot of

034thought that needs to go into that Forum right because we live in a time of great technology um and as part of my prep for for running for the board I went back and watched some of the board meetings on YouTube they have 20 views so so there's lots of ways to kind of give feedback and get feedback and solicit that feedback but but sometimes the things have to mesh together so that's where I think creating the Forum and then communicating or creating that open communication and that dialogue is really important to make sure that it's effective it's reaching the people who want to say something giving them an area to be heard and then making sure that there's a clear understanding of all feedback being kind of synthesized together right so it's not like

035one person can say they want something and it's going to get done so making sure that that communication is is really about receiving and synthesizing everything together and then making the best decision for the district that's outside of my own family income and household I do not have a budgetary background uh so what I've learned especially for my first year because they put me on the audit committee was to really become more versed in um what our our finance uh person does Patrick and he's incredible what he does and I respect him because the amount of numbers that him and his people deal with are incredible uh but what I did there was I had to kind of sit back I'll be honest and really take it all in and really understand what was being

036done from from a audit perspective that gave me a better idea of what we're where our money is really being spent so in my mind I don't have a clear answer because I other than forms which is a great answer I I I haven't seen it work yet um over the last three years I feel like it's something that not a lot of people are versed in in the public so they do depend a lot on the professionals so even though we can put a for out there I don't think a lot of people would unfortunately come Anthony um you know I kind of agree that you know forums and and opportunities for various stakeholders to you know State their opinions is is most important thing I think we do do that we do that

037in our board meetings we do that in a more informal meetings uh we also have the whole hierarchy of the principles and the um assistant superintendents that are constantly taking uh you know the temperature uh and getting the school climate and through the informal ways we in the back chn as we do hear from you know School teachers and other members of the school plus we have various surveys that we send out to the community and we try to take all of that together and as Jamal said Patrick is a tremendous Financial person and he he really does spearhead the effort towards uh balancing the budget but that's where the board comes in and tries to take all that information along with the administration and filter it through the you know lens of putting a

038budget together that meets all the the uh needs Candice what ideas do you have for building Community cohesion intentional inclusion not just physical integration for our students that are classified with social deficits and special needs in the elementary and secondary schools so there's a lot of opportunity and we've seen some some really great practices in some of our elementary schools that I think we can apply and mimic um some there's different ways that you bring diversity nights so so North Main for example has a food night where everybody could kind of bring and show their cultures there's different ways to do that to kind of bring all different communities together so if there's a special needs for example community may maybe there's a neurod divergent or something some kind of area where you can bring

039in different focuses to kind of do that cross education and break down some barriers um so aside from kind of children's events or student events there's also broader community events because it's not just the students that maybe need to have this kind of cohesion it's really about the parents and the entire community so I think that there's ways to kind of expand on that and apply um things to just educate and share your personal experiences with your neighbors and with the other families that your children go to school with last thing that um cenace mentioned regarding sharing is what I would actually go towards because something that my my daughter's teacher did was there a special needs classes close by the their class and what she will do sometimes is get their class and her

040class together to do certain events or certain activities and I think that level of exposure especially at the elementary levels it's huge it helps you to build your empathetic heart to a point where you can see them as not special needs they're just like you they're kids they want to have fun they want to learn they want to be around other people and they want to feel like they're a part of things so I love that kind of stuff uh also I would say we have our Special Olympics uh individuals that that do great work and they put in a lot of time in effort into that and I don't personally feel like it's promoted as as much as it should be I know we have it every year but I feel like we could

041do a lot more with that when it comes to getting the community and the other students involved Anthony um yeah I agree I think we do a pretty good job in the district already uh the Special Olympics uh and the whole special education uh part of our curriculum is is really well-run and we we um we try to uh put the word out in the community so we get people to attend those events uh we do have uh a lot of things regarding you know diversity in the schools uh those nights that we have where we have uh people come and and and everybody brings something that they've cooked that's a uh unique to their uh culture or Heritage um uh so I I think we we already do a pretty good job of it

042but there's always room for improvement and um you know I know I've been to a lot of the schools where they have uh things that try to reach out for the economically disadvantaged kids where they'll have uh clothing dry so it focus on diversity equity and inclusion and I think one of the things especially with young people they don't want to be labeled as different they don't want to Spotlight on them I'm special needs um I think being able to inform our children because they are much smarter than we give them credit for we tend to want to Shield them from a lot of things but letting them know um you know what uh someone who may have special needs what their characteristics are or what their triggers are and just letting them be kids

043and let them interact with each other and if there is a need for an information session in the community I think yes do that but I think for the most part let children interact um naturally uh don't put the spotlight on oh it's this person is different um because kids are kids at the end of the day and I think sometimes when you are a special needs child you don't want that Spotlight to say hey I'm different and you treat them differently they want to be treated like all of the other kids and a lot of the times kids don't see the the special needs that we see so I think making sure that they're informed so that they can um be empathetic but but also um thank you some members of our community feel

044there is a huge disconnect between what is happening in schools and the Board of Education some feel the only information provided to the Board of Education seems to come through administrators only some feel the information is funneled in a way that the teachers voices are seldom heard what plans if any do you have to improve communication and that is for Jamal okay so it might sound like a very simple answer but email and what I mean by that is uh even though people may feel like we're only hearing it through a certain lens maybe from the administration or the superintendent it's not true we get emails frequently from parents that have concerns and I think that is important for people to know that our emails are available for those reasons um sometimes they don't feel

045like they're being heard at the at the class level School level administration of the school level so reach out if you feel like you need to it's not something I would say to you know take advantage of or anything but there's a certain channel that you should be going up but we want to make sure you're being heard so if you don't feel like you're being heard please reach out and that goes for the teachers as well it doesn't happen as much with teachers I think because they have a somewhat of a relationship with their internal staff but um I I would say for the focus on parents and community members that our emails are public for that reason U we always will get your email to the right person your emails Do not sit

046in our inbox um you know rusting we will we'll get you know who who needs to see it thank you the same question do you want me to repeat it or you good no I got it okay yeah I I agree I think that's exactly right we do publish our our uh emails and we do try to answer every email uh that any Community member specifically teachers or or non-teachers or members of the Union they have an issue um you know we're always available to them I I hear I hear more things sometimes outside of the board meetings you know at the it's the vegetable stand in stop stop and shop then I then I do uh inside so you know we're not that big of a community um people will come up to you

047and just start talking and I've had many discussions with teachers many discussions with union members and then you know it's good to hear that because they it's it's an informal discussion and they will let you know certain things that they maybe don't feel so comfortable to talk about in a more formal setting but I I do think we do try to make ourselves be public and let it be known that if if you do feel this way then reach out to me reach out to Jal reach out to anyone that is on the school board that information is readily available thank you Caitlyn um I think one of the reasons that forums like this and elections like this are important is that you remind members of the community that the people who sit on this

048board are also members of the community so a lot of the concerns that they have we may also have and I think as a professional that works within the within the school system I think yes we we have to ensure that the people who are responsible for teaching and safeguarding our young children every day um they have have a means that they feel that they are able to be heard they're able to be frank about challenges and issues and that there is a a viable means to hear that I think making yourself available to and making yourself approachable I think makes it easier for people to want to be candid with you so I think have a forum that whether it's email or uh some in-person Forum or just being approachable in shopright at the

049food stand so that people will be um uh more comfortable letting all of the the things that they're unhappy with or happy with be heard thank you andice um it sounds like there might be a little bit of depth to this question so maybe somebody is is coming from a place where they haven't felt heard so so aside from email approachability there's kind of two things that I would try to do as as a board member if I'm elected so one is making sure that you have that confidence right because it sounds like there might be some apprehension for a teacher um to to express themselves candidly um and so making sure that you are able to maybe synthesize or keep that confidential or report that anonymously so building that trust with the community is

050first and foremost the way to kind of open up the discussion and make sure that that any person feels comfortable emailing or approaching you um and then the second is the feedback loop because I think that might be what is missing for this exact person is maybe they've said something and they haven't felt like it was heard and so making sure that if there is something that comes up that there's some kind of feedback whether it's even that you were still under reviewing this this is still under view we're still looking into this just having that feedback loop to make sure that it wasn't just submitted or said it was actually heard thank you Anthony students and teachers are expected to perform in classrooms with temperatures approaching 100° in early fall and late spring and

051custodians perform their heaviest lift in the summer preparing our schools for the upcoming year we as a district have made health health and safety a priority yet over the health and safety related issues associated with long-term exposure to excessive temperatures including but not limited to heat exhaustion and heat stroke as we experience higher and higher temperatures in this area how would you propose to bring our older buildings into the 21st century in terms of climate control yeah it's it's certainly an issue that we've thought about as a board and and you know I I was the head of the uh Capital project improvements um for the last couple of years and we actually had air conditioning in the proposed project uh last year uh but unfortunately got voted down by the community unfortunately in public

052schools you know budgetary concerns are an issue and there's only so much money you have to go around to fix a lot of the problems we we do recognize that this is an issue and we have tried to address it by putting in fans by putting in some air conditioning where we can in some of the schools but the overall project to air conditioner every school it's just something that we need to get a community buy in for uh and they've at the present time recognize that some other things like security and school safety take precedence as well as some of the um uh infrastructure of the schools like the boilers and the rules and it just comes down to a money thing unfortunately but we're not purposely avoiding it thank you thank you um

053one of the things that I've learned in my preparation for um running for the board is that there's a minimum temperature limit there's not a maximum temperature limit and I know that there is um uh support for legislation to change that and I think that's one aspect I think two infrastructure improvements in terms of if a child is in an environment that's too hot and they can't learn effectively then that's a that's an issue because I think one of the most important parts about being in school is being in a comfortable enough environment where the heat isn't affecting your ability to concentrate so I think looking at infrastructure R improvements trying to find the funding where you can to make sure that all of the classrooms and all of the school buildings can be as

054comfortable as they are yes I know some other things may take precedent but I think if it affects the student's ability to learn then it should be looked at as one of those priorities as well I think I had the same aha moment at the the special budget meeting when um one of the teachers Daryl McElroy was um speaking about that and and that kind of really struck me that there's no maximum temperature so these students the teachers the staff the custodial staff they're all working in what no other profession would probably allow that is indoors um so I do think it's a really important thing for the school board to continue fighting for um and I think New York state legislator should be changed legislature should be changed too in this area to establish

055a maximum temperature um I'm not sure how effective that any any Board of Ed would be in in doing that but it's something that we can all look into and try um it is something I'm really passionate about supporting the board and supporting the budgetary um Maneuvers and optimization to help enable so I know Anthony touched on there a little bit but the capital Improvement project once again it was in there um but that's why I think next superintendent that communication is going to be key because of things like this that we didn't get approved because I don't think that there was enough communication regarding how it affects our children and the staff in in the actual schools um and one thing he didn't mention is that he's the chair of our visitation committee I'm

056on this with him we go into the buildings we've we've been in the classrooms actually towards the end of the day so it's not even at the hottest point so you walk to those classrooms and you feel it as soon as you walk in you don't want your kids in there you wouldn't want your kids in there all day um and I I wish that we would have passed uh the earlier Capital Improvement I understand why I didn't for multiple reasons but I do like others are saying we have to keep fighting for this because they shouldn't be in that condition they're small children and and even the adults it's not fair to them and it's not a good learning opportunity for them it's definitely a distraction Caitlyn what is your policy as it pertains

057to cell phones and schools some feel that the access to data Internet while in school has dramatically decreased learning across the country we have given kids a built-in distraction that they are incapable of ignoring most adults cannot even control themselves there are people right now looking at their phones as this is being read to the candidates therefore many school districts around the nation are adopting lockup policies for phones students turn in their phones and locked cases at the beginning of the day slh Home Room what is your position on this policy I I think that I agree that cell phones can be a distraction um particularly in the world of social media um young people are always attached to their phones they always want to be in constant contact so I think yes I um

058I as a parent I understand the need for a child to have a cell phone so that you can be in contact with them during their points of travel and other after school activities but I think during the school day when they're in a safe place where you can contact them and know where they are that yes their phones can be locked in an area that it doesn't become a distraction to their learning but when they're leaving or at after school activities you as a parent can still get in contact with them so I would be in support of them being able to bring it but have it in a safe lock area um during the school day so it's not a distraction to to their learning andice um on this my policy is is

059definitely to support lockup bones during the day the research is overwhelmingly in support of less screen time for adolescents teens twins children it's really damaging on a number of levels to to their social and academic development um so I really feel that there's they should be locked up during the school day I'm also conscious that in today's day and AG there might be worry for parents to not be able to reach their child during the day should an emergency happen but I do think that the risks outweigh the benefits to having those phones in the hands of students during the school day thank you I I'm also all for the lock up of phones at the beginning of the day um and I I know there's going to be situations where that doesn't seem like

060the right move and I think in those situations we have to take them seriously and look into them I think there's situations where mental health can be a concern for many students they need to fill like they're connected to a phone in case they have to call out for help even in those situations though I think that maybe that phone should be with a guidance counselor or someone that they can go to that has more uh that has some level of a control over when they're using it and if what the issue is of why they use it uh so I I would definitely opt more for a lock up locked up type approach Anthony I 100% agree uh I think Candice said that the data just overwhelmingly supports that the kids since the Advent

061of the smartphone and in uh 2010 2011 um we've just got a multitude of problems and even even more serious than just distraction but um as far as distractions in the school I would certainly favor locking them up you know we probably can do some sort of uh studies and Analysis as to what exactly the parameters would be about that and I do understand the need about uh potential emergencies but as was stated we know the kids are in school so you can contact the school and then school would be able to get the child if there was an emergency so I think that you know concern would be alleviated Candice to what degree will you or do you trust Educators as Professionals in their fields with multiple Advanced degrees to practice academic freedom meaning

062discussion of challenging relevant issues as well as including and providing relevant texts and resources in our class classrooms and in our school Community while giving students the academic language and tools to engage in civil discourse and respectful dialogue so I think this is about professional empowerment for teachers right so so you're hired to do a job you have the credentials to do the job you have the experience to do the job if you're coming into the classroom and you have to teach a certain curriculum to your students the path to do that should be in your hands right so there's going to be some boundaries to this you can't come in and and deliver a math course um and then maybe deviate into you know some social issues right you have to stay on topic

063and stay on course but for somebody who's teaching a civil AI Civics social studies any of these courses where these types of skills are really essential to developing your and being educated to be a citizen of the world I think it's really important to empower our teachers to use their experience and expertise to choose the path on which they deliver what they're supposed to deliver go okay so I I I'm assuming that this is uh in in relation to um Middle School and High School assuming the reason why is I think we have to make sure that it's age appropriate for whatever this potential discourse or potential conversation that may be off off topic is going to be um in in my mind this also leads back to what I said earlier regarding one of

064the issues one of the main issues is accountability if a teacher is going off course a little bit for the benefit of the children and their their their learning opportunity I think they have to know they're going to be held accountable for anything that happens from that if it's not approved by the school then it could go left it could go right we don't know until um you know a parent parent writes one of us and let us know what what happened in the class so I think they have to be be aware that that's a possible outcome uh I I do think that there's a lot of great conversations that can happen from I I had a lot of them I my teacher was Mrs blat and we had lots of conversations back then

065regard regarding um uh different things that were happening in in the late '90s so long story short I think that is NE it's a necessity but we have to kind of be sure what you're doing thank you thank you yeah I mean I mostly trust the Educators we have great teachers here and I would say 99% of the time they they teach the courses uh the way they should be taught that the students are engaged and they're allowed to have discussions about relevant topics and some serious topics I mean we we live in a very complicated world now and there's a lot of disagreement about certain things as Jamal stated you know sometimes we do hear about situations where particular student or um their parent is not um is a little upset as to how

066the course was taught and um we do have to have boundaries and the teachers know that generally speaking they stay within the their lanes and if they don't if they Veer off course a little left or a little right usually that comes to our attention and we bring that to the attention of the principles and or the administration and that that's taken care of um I believe as um professionals and subject matter experts um who are vetted and hired to do a job that there should be some level of Freedom um as long as it's age appropriate subject appropriate of course using the example that Candice did um if you're in a math course you're not going to talk about social issues but if it's appropriate um age appropriate subject appropriate I think it's help

067helpful because our children again we we tend to shelter them as parents but I think they're aware of a lot of the social issues they have opinions about them and providing a forum where they can get informed where they're not relying on the internet for misinformation they can get correct information and engage in you know dialogue about things they agree and disagree with and have a forum to do that I think it's really helpful so they could be um educated about those subjects appropriately Jamal and what would days would you work to support our changing student demographics specifically helping students who are new to the district feel welcome and reduce the culture of bullying and exclusion online students parents and staff that some established residents seem to be comfortable with a lot going on that

068question so break it down a little bit so when it comes to the bullying um you know I don't think anyone went to a high school where there was a no bullying doesn't happen uh but the idea of lessening it is possible I think one of the ways is what we just talked about regarding the use of phones I think that that is a huge issue that can lead from school to after school actually not can take their phones away after school but the idea that you have people that can attack another 24 hours a day if they want to and they don't even have to look at them they can do it from afar I think that's a huge issue that hopefully locking phones up during school can partially take care of uh when

069it comes to the changing demographic I think they have to be able to feel like they're walking into a school that feels like they're a part of it not that they're a foreigner in their own school um once the once the child is in our district and they're going to our schools they're our kids so we have to give make sure and we provide an environment where they feel like they're being seen thank you Anthony um yeah um I I think we especially for the The Bullying part you know as J said it it does go on I think to some degree but I would hope that no one in the district or the community is comfortable with that and if that does come to uh the attention of the school or the uh board

070we we do try to step in and make sure that that situation is taken care of as far as the kids who are you know feeling like um the school isn't a good place for them or a good home for them or not comfortable you know we we have been uh expanding our curriculum to take into consideration more culturally responsive teaching where they'll um you know have pictures and books that uh have a diverse U uh group of people that are uh represented in them so those are the kind of things that you know we've been trying to do more often because the demographics are changing Kaitlyn there there's an old saying um it says it takes a village um it takes a village it takes a community and I think one of the things

071that I appreciated the most when my husband and I were doing an extensive search on where to settle down and eventually raise our children um one of the things that I fell in love with about mineral Woodberry is the sense of community um Family Family Values I think um when you move when you move to a new place you you always want to figure out kind of what the atmosphere is and to to make someone feel welcome I think making sure that we build a level of tolerance for anyone who may have a different culture a different background um understanding that the way that you behave at school is an extension of what you are taught at home and when there is bad Behavior holding students accountable and letting folks know that you know it's

072not going to be tolerated but I think building that sense of community to make sure that all of the new students to the district feel welcome and if there are unfortunate incidents that happen making sure that there's a level of accountability so that other students know that it won't be tolerated so they won't do it this um so I'll kind of talk to making sure everyone is welcome and has the same opportunities and the same same warmth as as their peers um I really think that that starts in the lower grades I think we've made great strides as a district and just as a an entire generation that's kind of coming up um my son for example has a stutter and when I was growing up that would have been something that other kids made

073fun of and because it's been talked about and kind of showcased and it's not a it's not an issue so kind of bringing that in in the lower grades making sure that people who are coming in from different socioeconomic classes or different cultural it's talked about and it's normalized at those lower levels can do a lot to make them feel welcome and then that'll come up in the the higher levels um as far as some of the other things there's best practices right so there's districts that are out there that are probably more more polarized economically than ours and there's a lot of tension that kind of comes along with that but that said there's a lot of research and best practices that might be available that we can look to and then help to

074apply here thank you Anthony how will you advocate for and support student students with special needs to ensure they receive the necessary resources and services to thrive academically and socially for example bringing satellite bosis programs back to Monro Woodbury yeah that is something we have uh talked about on the border and looked into is trying to get some of those services that currently are with bosis brought back into the district uh that takes you know having to allocate the resources to make sure we have the equipment to make sure we have the right teachers to make sure we have the right teachers assistance but it is something that we monitor closely we do try to uh keep on top of the the population of kids that have special needs and make sure that money is

075spent to get the right equipment and to get the right uh teachers uh in our schools in order to accomplish that it's it's sometimes it's easier said than done um it does cost a little more money right now the model going to bosis is probably uh uh more economical in some ways for us but um there is a tradeoff I think of of not going uh you know going outside the district so to speak and we continue to look at that as a potential option um in terms of how I would Advocate I think one is being educated about what the needs are and I think what programs and resources are out there that can be responsive or the most responsive to those needs um determining how best that we can allocate resources to bring

076those things here here to Monro Woodburry or to take our students to them if they're not economically feasible to bring them into the community so um just in terms of answering the question on how I would Advocate I would become educated understand what the needs are and then do the research and with of course the fellow board members to determine what is the best pass forward for the children in the district in terms of meeting their individual needs um so so similarly I'm coming into this a little bit fresh so it would be first kind of mapping the situ understanding what the needs are what we're doing today and what other options might be available and then finding a way to get into the budget at the right time making sure that we hit the

077planning cycle and to to hit that budget and account for those um in the best way possible when we have that time so the good news here is I I actually feel like we're in a good place when it comes to this already not saying we can't get better but we're we're in our area and our region we're pretty well known for how we we treat these areas and these these demographics and I think that you know we're in a good place to get get even more I think we should be applying for more grants um because capital is a problem uh when we want to do more things uh you know we we fit everything we can into a budget but we can't exposee the budget past a certain level so I think applying

078for Grants would be a big big help for us um in my mind it's something that we should have already been putting more focus on when it comes to the grant perspect perspective but we would also there's nothing that I feel like we we aren't doing um or aren't looking into already and I know that might not be something that everyone's aware of but there's a lot of conversations happening in the background regarding how can we benefit these children to make sure that they graduate on time and with a certain level of support when they when they when they do leave our our walls this is the last question before your closing statement are you currently a member of the district SEPTA and or at least one building level PTA and if not what has

079been the barrier besides partnering with ptas how do you plan to Foster strong Partnerships between schools parents and the broader Community to support Student Success so I am a member of the PTA uh North Mains PTA um I I just believe that um my motto as a parent is that I stay as involved in anything that has to do with my children as possible because being involved it helps you make good decisions for them it helps you to stay involved about the issues so that you can be um an advocate for changing them and I think in terms of the fostering relationships the PTA is De sep is they're out in the community building those relationships so they have them I think there are voices and opinions and and resources that are available um and

080I think just being there being accessible having that communication um going both ways so that the community has a way to sh share their information with with the ptas and then to the board and vice versa so I think being a part of the community being active on your PTA I think all really bleeds into fostering that level of communication and the partnership between the schools the PTA and the community at large thank you Candice um I'm not a member of any District SEPTA or PTA um I have been involved in some PTA events that Ashley the North Main team have really done just an exceptional job um I have contributed when I had the time or the money usually more time money than time in the past um and that was my barrier right

081it was time um prior when my kids were small and before when they were very small and before they were born I did a lot of community outreach I did that when I was a a resident of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Public Schools um I before my oldest son was born I started a science Fridays program with Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson um and then I got kind of really wrapped up in motherhood I'm at a point now where my kids are a little bit older and need me a little bit less and I now have that time to refocus on giving back to the community um and that's why I'm here today Jal not a member this year in the past I had been my wife is a member this year uh but you

082know we talked in the past regarding where we can give time and attention to and for me it was it was the board uh so we will go to events and actually I did think I was a member this year and then I was told that country tree that I was not but that my wife was that's how I found out but so there's no specific barrier other than I'd say time yeah similar answer I quite frankly I don't know if I'm on on I know I've been in the past I think I was in Central Valley last year I know my wife has been many years she she was in uh when we were in Smith clove um time is the issue unfortunately being on the board and having a full-time job makes it

083difficult um but it is a great organization we fully support it being on the board when you're on the board you do get a lot of interaction with the PTA you get invited to a lot of event you get to go experience them and so you know in that way that's how I try to contribute and continue to forcer the relationship thank you all right so your closing statements if we could start with Anthony is that okay uh sure um so as I said this is the end of my third year um on the board I think think uh you know I've been involved in a lot of things uh in this school district we've seen a lot of things uh we went through a uh Global pandemic we went through a Cyber attack uh

084I've been in charge of uh two Capital Bond projects where we've gotten uh uh large projects pass and a lot of work done to our schools we're presently uh involved in one of those right now um I think my experience in the business world with dealing with attorneys dealing with contractors dealing with design professionals negotiating contracts budgets um uh having a lot of uh access to data and and understanding how uh to apply data to certain problems I think all that uh is a really good uh resource for the uh board and I think I've given those resources to the board and I would hope that the uh Community uh is uh lucky enough that I'm lucky enough to have the community vote for me for another third term because I'd be proud to serve

085thank you Kaitlyn um so I I think um in terms of my closing statement um one of the reasons that I was interested in pursuing this opportunity is because I I really do care a lot about the community I care a lot about what happens to my children I care a lot about their education um I am an active member of this community I'm on my school's PTA I am a member of the board of the YMCA I volunteer um in terms of with young people on my daughter's track team because I think being involved in your child's upbringing it just helps to Foster kind of them being more involved in what they want to do seeing them grow seeing them change and I think you know my professional career and all of the accolades

086and highlights that that brings I think I can bring some of that skill set to the board in order to you know help with these policies help to think about long term strategic plans how our community is changing how we adapt to that longterm where resources should go I yes we have kind of the big bucket checks in terms of safety and this thing and that thing but I think we we have to take a new Fresh Approach sometimes and sometimes a pair of fresh eyes to something that maybe was seemingly a barrier I agree with um Jamal maybe we look to getting some additional resources in terms of Grants and other things but I I think based on my vested interest as a a parents and an active member of the community plus the

087the very vast professional skills that I bring to the table along with my networking um capacity I think I could be a very valuable member to the board and I could be a very valuable conduit for the community to bring issues to the board so that we could hopefully fill all the gaps and resolve the challenges that we have year after year thank you Candice 12 years ago my husband and I chose this area to settle down and have our children really because of this school district it had an exemplary reputation and I know a lot of my friends and peers in this community did the same thing so a lot of people in this area there's either the people who have lived here their whole lives or their transplants who chose to live here

088because of this District what they have in common is everybody loves this district and wants to see it succeed um I believe that my background I've been in research and Engineering for 15 years um I'm an engineer and a scientist at heart in Dearing referred to as a super nerd in my family and I love to share that um and I think feel that this is one way where I can bring those skills in into do some good for the community um I also feel that um a fresh and unique perspective can can really help kind of maybe tackle some challenges that have not been successful in the past for one reason or another that fresh perspective often is that final nudge that can bring a project to fruition um I also have a lot

089of experience from my research days and writing grants and getting those so I would love to help do anything in that area if there's money on the table let's apply and see if we can get it um but in closing I would love the opportunity to give back to the community in this way I think I can add value to the board based on my skill set and I'd be honored if if you would vote for me on Tuesday J so there's a few reasons why I I would like to continue uh working for the board and for the school district uh one once again I I'm a long-term resident even when I did leave I came back because I was like we had our our first daughter and um the intention there was where

090was the best school district for her to be in I was a little biased so it moved us back here I purchased my family home and I plan on staying so I want this to be a community that I continue to be proud of um I think that when I was in school it was a it was a great Community great school and I know things have happened since then life has changed the world has changed um school life has changed to be honest uh so I think that that's no excuse for us to not continue being as great as we've been in the past and we can get back there uh I try to give as much time and effort as I can to the school district um last couple years I I was

091fortunate enough to be able to provide a scholarship for our students um that was a huge uh that was a huge huge win in my mind for for for me because I once again I wanted to find ways to get back and that was a way that I was able to um my two daughters still in school for many more years here uh the intention is that we keep growing we keep getting better and better and one of those ways hopefully is going to be through the uh through the hire of our next superintendent uh and with that I think that I'm not going to speak for Anthony but I I believe that the people are that are going to be on the board next year are going to be proud to be a part

092of that transition uh we have to make sure this person comes in and learns about the district learns about our culture and learns about our issues and gets to work um uh and part of hiring is working with that person afterwards and that's what I plan on doing thank you so much I'd like to close this forum by thanking all of the candidates for their participation in our process I would also like to thank the Monro Woodberry middle school for hosting us this evening to the voters please remember to vote on Tuesday May 21st at Central Valley Elementary this concludes tonight's Forum thank you