001e we're going to get started uh with a special session of the hington County School Board of Trustees and Mr Allen here Mr mclen here Mr Melcher here Mr wall here Mrs Heim here Mr Carl moving on to item B2 District Two trustee I'll turn it over to Mr Wy thank you Mr Allen uh we're here tonight to interview the six candidates who uh are presenting themselves for your consideration uh this is directed to the six board members and um you were the ones that'll be voting at the end obviously we' like for you to consider uh all candidates equally before you make your your final decision we did a double random draw uh and determined the order for interviews uh cynthy kefir will be interviewed first Deb Miller second Colin Davis third fourth is
002Jim dmer fifth is Chris Hoffman and then Mr Hank Miller is sixth we have allotted 20 minutes for the interviews and we'll have a timer on that however we've added a five minute cushion in that we're not going to be like Congress and your microphone's turned off uh to finish a thought finish the answer to a question uh we'll we'll let you do that we just want to make sure we cover everything as thoroughly as possible again at the conclusion of the interviews we'll take enough of a break to gather our uh papers and thoughts uh we will not recess at at all all and we'll go into a time of discussion by the board members uh to express any thoughts about the interviews and then we'll start a series of balloting so with that
003and uh again Cindy will be on the timer uh so Mrs kefir you are first in the chair this is Cynthia kefir okay ready Cindy is it starting okay uh introduce yourself to us by talking about your background and education experience as it relates to your application well my name is Cindy kefir and I have grown up here in Huntington County went to school through through this system here and um my first encounter with the school system was when our oldest son began kindergarten and that was in 1976 and I have been involved with the school corporation ever since then in 1989 I became a teacher and my first position was at the old Crest View school and I went back to school got my masters in administration and have been an administrator at Central
004and Flint Springs elementaries and I went through the building process from Central to Flint Springs which was not easy that that took quite a while um but I have a passion for this Corporation and I have served in many capacities within the schools and even even now I retired in 2013 as principal Flint Springs but I have have been doing long-term subbing administratively and in classroom long-term Subs um I will sub for the secretaries also so I I am still very much involved with the corporation and it it's my life I I love it other than uh School related have you been on any other uh not for profits served on board of directors trustee ships other offices uh in in the past uh in public yes in the public no what do you believe
005are the qualities and skills of an effective Schoolboard member and what of those qualities do you believe are your strongest attributes I think communication is the biggest um the strongest um and I think that's probably my my best is is communication but I think listening also listening and communicating um are the are the two top but communication is probably my strongest how how is that your strongest attribute communication what are your communication skills um I I am a I am a good listener when people come and talk to me and I try to weigh everything from from what I'm being told and then um kind of put it all together synthesize it and make a decision communicate back what I am what I am thinking um I have had to communicate as an administrator with
006staff and school board and um parents students and so I think that's required a a great amount of communication skill understanding the the differences in role between Board of Trustees principal classroom teacher how as will you advocate for students as a member of the Board of Trustees um since I am retired and I am in the schools a lot I would like to continue to do that talking with teachers talking with classified staff find out what their concerns are What what is the the message that they would like for the board to hear and then bring it back to the board um as a communicator for the the staff I think sometimes the staff feel like they don't have a direct communication with the board and they have concerns that they don't know where to
007to direct those concerns so I would like to be that Lis on as a representative uh concerns will be brought to you by the public how will you handle those concerns and how will any board votes reflect priorities desires of your constituents or those that have approached you I will listen very carefully to the concerns um I won't be able to give the person that I'm talking with an answer what I can do is listen then bring those concerns back to the board for discussion um and vote vote my conscience I do I I do understand that my um my ideas will not always align with with the people that I represent I do understand that so do you vote according to the number of people that contact you no because the number of people
008that contact me will probably have different perspectives this is probably the question you've perhaps been asked by friends family and anyone else why do you want to do this why do you want to serve as a school board member for hccs and com and comment if you can about uh the ability to devote the time necessary to take on this responsibility so first why this and discuss time commitment um I have as I said before I have been in the corporation for quite a while and even after retirement I have taken on long-term sub positions because I I feel a great um oh I don't know what to say I feel a great commitment to the community to serve in any way that I can and because of my background and my education I think
009this is a perfect place to be able to serve continue to serve the community within the school corporation um my time is I'm retired and so time commitment will not be an issue for me what do you believe are the strengths and the weaknesses of the public education system in Huntington County I think the the strengths have to do with um the teachers that we have I think the teachers are dedicated to the students and I and I truly believe that um they are the strength as well as the support staff is the strength of our um Corporation everyone working together the the children in each School belong to the whole school and everyone takes responsibility for them from what I have seen um weaknesses I think um commun I really do think communication um
010between upper Administration and um those that are underneath them at some point and I I don't I don't um put the fault on the upper Administration I think that sometimes people are leery to even say anything or don't know who to to talk to but I think we need to make it an an open process so people are comfortable talking with us what would your personal priorities be in in the next year let me preface that for all candidates understand this is fulfilling an unexpired term right so there's two years left on this uh this term so 25 26 so what personal priorities or goals would you have and then there's a followup to that but talk about any personal priorities you may have um I think the main priority is getting um into the
011schools and um making myself visible in the schools I'm very comfortable in a school situation I I know all of the administrators in Huntington County and I know many of the teachers and I think that they would feel comfortable talking with me um I do not think that I could serve on the board if I did not know what was going on in the schools how what happens at the board meeting affects what goes on in in the school building and you know the students are our priority so we need to know what's going on with them part two of that is personal priorities how about corporate priorities corporate goals uh for the corporation I think um keeping a handle on the finances um what I saw last night from the board I I was
012impressed I I thought that was um that we're certainly heading in the right direction um and I I don't I do not mean this to be disrespectful at all but I think that as a board we have to become more personable do I want to say I know you all are very personable but as a group um I think sometimes Community does not understand what you are what you're doing what your goals are and where you see where our Corporation is going to be so I think um I think the finances and then communication with with Community just making ourselves more available so people understand what's going on in the schools if you could give a definition of the role and function of a a board member and what the board plays in the process
013of the O overall education of Huntington County students so what role does an an individual board member play what role does the school board at large play in the overall process I think the individual board members do listen to their um the district people that they that they represent so I think that's a a personal goal that every board member should have would be to to listen to take to take what people have to say and and really consider it as a entire board I think that we need to realize that everything that is decided affects the students in some way from finances to curriculum um it anything that you vote on eventually affects affects our students and that's why we're here we're here for the the students and um I I cannot stress my
014feeling of that enough they have to be our top priority the advantage of going first is you get to give a lot of the the answers by the time we get to four five and six they can just say oh yeah what what she said she said what she said at the same time um you've not heard the other candidates you've really maybe have not had any other uh chance to hear any other positions but why are you the best candidate why why should this board bring you on to to work with them I I think I could hit the ground running um on the school board because I am very much in tune with with what is going on with uh finances with curriculum um with the the buildings and I think that that
015I could would not have to take a lot of time to learn my responsibilities for the board okay is there anything that I have not asked that you boy I wanted to make sure they heard this about me or or my opinion or attitude I will what I just want to reiterate is that um I do feel like I am I am the best candidate because of my position already in the school corporation that might seem to some like be maybe a negative but I think it is not a negative I think it's a positive because I I see the corporation from um a bird's eye view and also from um a ground view when I am in the schools okay I think that's all I have okay we uh the questions so everybody understands
016were compiled by the board members uh submitting ideas thoughts and I compiled them we left a a space of time here if they have any individual or followup questions so uh do any board members have any questions they would like to ask Mrs kefir about either her comments or her resume you have her resume uh and have had that since last Friday so is there any are there any other questions follow-up questions I'll start Mr melter no Mr Carl Mr wall Mr Allen Mr mclen Mrs H okay thank you very much we appreciate your your interest and uh I haven't said this at the beginning but the board will vote on candidates tonight at the end of the last the last interview okay all right gather ourselves here for a second and then Mrs Miller
017if you want to make yourself comfortable there and again I would stress I've been in these situations that when you're getting the same question and you don't please if it if it repeats something somebody else has said that's okay we're we're trying to hear about you and learn learn about you so we ready okay uh Mrs Miller uh introduce yourself to us talk about your personal background and your education experiences as it relates to applying for this U position good evening and thank you so much for letting me have this opportunity to talk with you my background has been in education um many different facets of Education but it's my passion it remains my passion I have started my my first degree was a bachelor's got my Master's and then went on to get additional
018certifications for special education and um also for counseling I have taught Elementary um second grade kindergart garden and again I've taught special education and also been a school counselor I have been a building principal for 14 years 10 of them here in Huntington County and four in Southwest Allen and I have been so blessed given the opportunity um to come up through the Huntington County community school system and the advantages that they've given me um and then to move on into to um other areas of Education from Southwest Allen I began working with Pearson Education and the first um student data mining software um that had been developed in the country I was invited to join Pearson and learned a whole different aspect of the educational process and systems and how it works to benefit
019kids okay thank you what other than School related activities what other boards committees offices uh that you have been involved with in in our community um in Huntington County I've been involved with several um in the past I was involved with the Huntington YMCA board of directors and then served as president while we were doing the planning phases and the fundraising for it's not the new YMCA anymore but at that point it was the YMCA and um that was an incredible experience by the way um and so nice to be able to drive by there and see what that's contributed to our community uh I belong to SI Sai IAI philanthropic s sorority um I was a member of the Northeast Indiana State AIDS Council we had representatives from the school district and I served
020on that committee also on this uh I am a group leader and initiator of a support group for the Northeast Indiana Nets which is a specific type of cancer support group for Northeast Indiana I also belong to Fort Wayne Health Equity that's enough okay you say the new YMCA this is still the the new high school to you know since we graduated at the same time it's brand spanking new that's right that's right uh discuss what you believe are the qualities and skills of an effective School Board member and how does that match with your attributes and characteristics I meeting with and having friends on the school board and watching the school board in action over the years there's so many characteristics of really effective boards and it comes down to those individual members and
021what they bring to the table collaboration empathy caring putting kids first as a board member my question would always be how does this make things better for kids and how does this improve teaching and learning for kids so being able to collaborate to problem solve together um those are characteristics that allow us to get to a good answer a good plan and have good results so if if students are the the focus how will you advocate for them as a board member again as a board member um my question will always be how does this help kids how is this good for children how how is this going to make teaching and learning better for kids so that they have better outcomes how are we going to improve teaching and learning for kids but also
022to advocate for them in the community as well and and help spread and and talk about the positive aspects of what happens in schools I don't think we often get get the word out there of all the good things that are happening for kids and every time we can can get the information out to the community and help people to see what's happening the good things that are happening for kids it's going to improve okay you will be a representative of a a constituency a a district within in the county how will you address concerns brought to you not only by those constituents but any constituent in the county uh by the public and will your how will your votes reflect the priorities and desires of the people in your District when people are concerned
023it often stems from not understanding the whole picture not having all the pieces of the puzzle and so they might hear something or they might draw a conclusion or they may not know how it all comes together to fit I think personally it would be my responsibility to first and foremost listen and be be an active listener and try to understand where they're coming from where did that information come from how did you draw that conclusion or where did this concern originate as a board member I can't give answers for the entire board but I can also try to help them to see those things they haven't experienced or they haven't understood and then to bring that information and concern back to the group certainly don't think we can dismiss anyone's concerns but we can
024certainly empathize and try to advocate for making sure they have all of the information okay uh the question's in the middle of the questions but it's maybe the big question why do you want to do this again having grown up here in Huntington County and been the benefit and the advantages of U of A student coming through the school district I really want to give back I'm at the point in my life looking for opportunities to give back and with my background and experience and knowledge I feel like I can contribute to the conversation not just as a community member not just as an educator but also from the business aspect I've worked with school districts across the United States and overseas and I've seen the best of the best and I've also seen situations
025that make quite sad so I think I can bring those conversations and I can bring problem solving to the mix working in the business aspect working as an administrator you really learn to problem solve usually um by making good decisions but also bad decisions and learning along the way but being able to bring that that skill I think is important the second part of that question I did not ask it about time commitment uh for for meetings visitations uh being in the school talk to the board about that of your time availability I can see it takes a tremendous amount of time and and I'm so grateful for everyone here and everyone previously who've made this commitment to do it it's just not what you see sitting here at the table and going home that's
026ongoing just like any Community servant um giving to the community I'm retired um my kids are grown three of the four are in education and so I have the ability to spend time and devote it to to being a servant okay what do you believe are the strengths and what are the weaknesses of the public education system system here in Huntington County I can speak to and we'll speak to locally but I think it's it's wrapped up in what's happening Statewide what's happening nationally for Education which I think is going to be even more challenging as we move forward I think for Huntington County we have so many great things going on we don't necessarily we don't have our local newspaper anymore it's hard to get a common message out to everyone at the same
027time in the same way so I think trying to find ways to Market Huntington County Community Schools and what are the good things that are happening so people really have a common understanding a common vocabulary about the great things if you look at the Learning Center oh my gosh that's Second To None it's an award-winning program that is just growing exponentially and we have to make sure that people know what's going on here what about weaknesses and you may be touched on that but I think I think making sure that we have a system of communicating out to the public a systematic way of getting information out about the good things that are happening but even concerns trying to stay ahead of and it's not easy but trying to stay ahead of the ball game
028anticipate concerns and communicate um how we're going to address that how we are addressing that it's not that we don't it's just trying to find in an environment that is so desparate when it comes to having tools to communicate how do we do that how do we get that out there do you have personal priorities for this board this Corporation in the next year and what should be corporate uh goals priorities for the board let's start with your personal personal priorities one of my goals is to encourage creative approaches to teaching and learning to support creative approaches to teaching and learning thinking outside of the box bending but not breaking we're an environment now where schools are becoming competitive and we need to give our Educators the freedom to seek out Creative Solutions and creative
029Alternatives and look at research-based practices to improve teaching and learning another goal I have is to attract and retain quality teachers and I think that has to be an ed a board goal today well not today January 3rd we had openings of 1800 teaching positions in the state of Indiana we had almost 2500 openings and support staff and other educational positions in the state of Indiana this is a trend that's Nationwide we're not one of the top having struggling but having that many openings at the beginning of January in the state means we aren't retaining and building highly qualified teachers to fill those positions in our state and we have to talk about how to do that locally that's a goal and I think that one should be one for the district my passion is
030Raising awareness and addressing mental health issues for students we have to we're seeing being that reflected in what teachers have to deal with in the classrooms with an increase in behavior um negative behaviors in the classroom and we have to be able to meet the needs of those students if you'll just give me a sec I have some stats on that too and I want to share these the youth risk behavioral survey that was done for the state of Indiana indicated that half of Indiana students face mental health issues 47% 47% of our students are reporting depression 47% one and four indicated they have a plan for SU side one in four one and six have attempted suicide with these challenges that we're seeing in mental health we must address what resources we have how
031we're doing those hats off to the district and the community and coming together and getting four resource officers at the high school that's amazing designating a health professional to begin looking at mental health issues for Huntington County Schools they're already Tak you're already taking those steps to move forward but as I've shared we should all be extremely concerned do we have enough resources how are kids getting help how are they reaching out where do they go when they need assistance in Huntington County that particular goal um would be one that I will continue to work on as a counselor I was a counselor 30 years ago and I could only do it friends for three years I just couldn't you take it home you see it and you can't believe what our kids go through
032and we have to find a way to provide the support for them which ultimately supports teachers and families in our community why are you the best qualified candidate for this position I don't know that I'm the best qualified candidate I can tell you what I feel are are my strengths that I bring to the table that I think would benefit um my experience is varied and um is vast again I work with districts all over the United States and overseas I know datadriven instruction and decision making I know School Improvement and I know collaboration and helping to build consensus and I would bring those skills to the board what have I not asked you that you wanted to make sure boy I make sure I say this that either I've not asked you about or
033you've not been able to elaborate on to be honest I really I I can't think of anything um check my notes Here I I can't think of anything that um really um I wanted to share I think um I I would like to emphasize once again that that supporting creativity and creative programs um can really go a long way you know in in the state of Indiana we see Charter Schools coming up throughout the state we have none here but they're given the license go do whatever you want to do do just go do it be creative go have fun there's nothing stopping us from also supporting creative thinking and problem solving when it comes to teaching and learning and supporting our teachers and our staffs and our administrators and seeking out those creative paths
034okay board members do you have a any followup questions anything that was not asked addressed I assume you'll let it be known by raising your hand or carry no okay all right thank you Deb and uh we will again reassemble here and then well Cassandra security off you guys don't a about our students okay all right ready to go again Colin are you ready to go yeah that's where he is I will be I suppose you never know what's going to happen at a Schoolboard meeting right yeah all right oh you've already started you'll get 10 you'll get TW well you'll get extra seconds uh col it introduce yourself to us give us your your uh background uh education background as it relates to applying for this position well uh first of all thanks thank
035you all for your service on the board and uh the opportunity to be here tonight uh my name is Colin Davis I have a bachelor's of Science in mechanical engineering technology from Penn State and an MBA from Huntington University I have 18 years of manufacturing experience and I specialize in continuous Improvement and uh how that applies to a school board is uh just a focus on problem solving and driving data driven decisions uh I believe I can apply those principles to help proactively identify issues in uh the in the district identify I track uh District's progress towards goals and uh make data driven decisions when we're trying to make policies that advocate for students I have uh leadership experience I was uh four I spent four years on the leadership team locally at Bendix and
036uh I served on the United Way uh of Huntington County for two terms I am currently on the uh City of Huntington Redevelopment commission and I'm in my third year uh of that assignment kind of leads into the to the second question about other not for profit experience or serving as a director of trustee anything in addition to what you just mentioned there as far as uh uh those types of experiences I uh have been involved with the previously involved with the local Cub Scout Pack 3117 what did that teach you being a cub scout leader uh patience I mean as if having four kids didn't but you know I I grew up in scouting I'm an eagle scout and uh you know you understand importance uh adult role models and uh you know not
037everybody has that in home and sometimes you're that resource you got to keep that in mind discuss what you believe are the qualities and skills of an effective Schoolboard member and how do your qualities and skills and characteristics match up to those uh that list so the qualities of a of an effective School Board member and then how do you match up to that yeah communication collaboration and Community involvement uh I think all those hold weight and uh I'm pretty approachable like I don't get emotional with people like I'm levelheaded and like I said back to the day to driven decisions I speak with fact and information I don't like let emotions get to me so uh I think that plays to my advantage uh and I have like I said I have four kids
038in the school district so that gets me out in the community I have uh two kids in elementary school two second graders uh a son in sixth grade and a daughter getting ready to go to the high school so that that gets me out in the community with uh different school events and things did did I did I touch on all the points well I think what again your definition of what makes an effective School Board member and how do you do your personal characteristics match up with that so is there anything else on that yeah I mean just making sure uh you keep the best interest of the student in mind like I guess always checking yourself against is this in the best interest of the students which leads us to the followup on
039that on students how does a board member effectively advocate for for students uh you know making sure policies that are implemented are in students best interest and making sure I mean when we're setting budgeting and setting you know defining new leadership for superintendence like making sure that there's good alignment I mean obviously if you're not managing the budget well you know the school district isn't going to be sustainable so like the budget side of it has huge implications as a elected in the sense by this board but as a representative of your District 2 but all of Huntington County how will you address with concerns brought to you by the public and will board votes rep reflect your priorities and desires of the people and your opinions on matters what's what's the first part of
040that question a public member comes you concern about anything from a sports team uh the uh classroom uh the bus driver yeah sure the the lady in the the lunch line how how you deal with that when somebody yeah so like Discerning I mean Discerning what is I guess legitimate concern and what is emotion and then weighing that against uh you know collaborating with other board members seeing if those are concerns in their districts understanding how widespread the concern is and weighing all those things when making decisions do you feel a responsibility then do you report back to that individual or the public or how do you keep those lines of communication open I've come to you with a concern about uh a classroom teacher yeah yeah I mean it's it kind of depends on
041how large the issue is I think that's going to depend on the appropriate response and appropriate followup but like if it is a response you know certainly follow-up could be appropriate to the person and explaining why the board had to make the decision that it made like what you know in my experience in manufacturing like basically I'm the uh connect Connecting Point between like executive leadership and the the floor so I got to explain why the company decided to go one way versus versus another and uh when you explain to people like the reasoning when people have a good understanding of the reasoning behind a decision they're more likely to you know understand it and accept it okay which leads us to the the middle question but is the main question why why are you
042applying to serve as a Schoolboard member and uh second part about understanding the the time requirements to serving in this resp responsibility so initially why why are you why did you apply yeah I want to make sure that District 2 has good representation and also it's a good way to give back to the community the second part of that time commitment uh I mean it's just a matter of time management do you control your own time are you as far as work responsibilities yeah I and there's flexibility there what do you believe are the strengths and weaknesses of public education as exists here in Huntington County and and even broader than that Mrs Miller brought up even in the state but what are the strengths and weaknesses particularly of of public education here in Huntington
043County certainly administrators teachers and support staff I would say are the strengths and uh I would say the weaknesses are on the communication side you know back to the point just making sure we're communicating why decisions are being made what the board had to all the things that the board had to weigh when making the decision and having that communication loop back to the community any ideas how to improve communication yeah uh I guess I didn't reflect on that too heavily yet but uh you know whether that is uh you know social media or you know more in-depth video at the end of the school board meeting you know if we wanted to dive deeper into a certain topic we could have follow-up discussion there you know perhaps people could submit uh questions and we
044could address those at the end of the board meeting if they're not able to attend the meeting in person you know heck I don't know Facebook live might be a little uh a little bit of a challenge and you know certainly disadv negativi there but that's one way that people could submit questions while the you know discussion while the meeting's going on but then you got to have a moderator and there's some Logistics there do you have or what would be your personal priorities personal goals to accomplish by the board and then second part would be uh corporate goals of of the entire board so first of all what what are your personal priorities yeah continuing to engage in the community and just be uh available to constituents approach you know remain approachable so when
045people have a concern they know that they can come to me or even you know even just a talking point anything different for the the board as a whole or the corporation as a whole or the same types of priorities yeah I you know back to the communication side making sure that we're uh effectively explaining you know what went into the decision why the board went uh the way it did and how they feel it would have long-term implications on the uh on the school district if you could give a definition to the role and a function that the board member plays and the school board as a whole plays in the education process C in other words what's the role and function of an individual member what's the role and function of the board
046uh at large the rep the individual representative uh represents the district the consent consents in their district and uh votes and the board as a whole votes on policy uh they vote on the superintendent they manage the budget and uh advocate for students why do you feel uh Colin you would be the best choice the best qualified candidate for this position experience in data driven uh decision- making and problem solving just a unique approach little outside the box than brought to the board that's what I would that's the engineer in you yeah exactly analytical I'm analytical uh I I mean my wife might have a opinion about that thought process sometimes but that's way yeah that that you know engineering with a with a also a balance of business education what has not been asked
047of you uh a point you'd like to make or something about you that gee I thought they would ask this and they didn't what what's anything more about you that we need to know I just uh you know I'm passionate about being uh involved in the community you know growing up in scouting they emphasize the importance of uh community service so just hundred hundreds of hours of community service gr up and uh just wanting to be engaged in the community has continued and and then uh you know I have a vested interest I have four kids in the school district and uh my wife teaches at Flint Springs and you were a Penn State graduate yeah that was tough for there was yeah let's not talk about that on [Laughter] record that yeah so you
048so say we are right yeah there you go all right Bo yeah we should have we should have had that again yeah uh board any questions followup to anything uh Mr Davis said uh that was omitted not discussed are you all good everybody good okay thank you Colin thank you okay you're ready I am and Cindy we get the all right uh Mr de just introduce yourself talk about your personal background uh any educational experience and all of that how it relates to your application to serve on this board absolutely uh my name is um James dmer but people that like me call me Jim so we'll kind of assess how that goes a little bit later um so my background uh I I did not grow up in Huntington and I definitely recognized that
049as a as a disadvantage uh but I did grow up Northeast Indiana in a small town and understand what that means um my parents are both Educators so my education about education started at the dinner table every single night um I got my bachelor's degree from Purdue University went there for four years came back to the area and started my teaching career I was an elementary school teacher for a good long time I spent 10 years in the classroom uh two years as an instructional coach and then uh transitioned to Administration uh in Fort rine Community that's where the bulk of my career was as as a teacher um as an administrator in Fort Wayne Community I I was in charge of testing I actually oversaw the transition of a fully paper test to a
050fully digital test uh in my five five years in that position um I also have a master's degree in educational leadership and still have an active teaching license um which I'm not using my current job I just have have spent the last five years at Steel Dynamics at the corporate office um in as an Human Resources project coordinator so um all of these kind of components I definitely recognize that my path has been unique um and there have been parts that have been very enjoyable and parts that have been very tough but that that's kind of my educational background and and my background of who I am and and why I'm here tonight Beyond education related uh employment related what other not for-profit uh committee work volunteer work in the community have you had if
051any um I was a member of the board for the chief La Fontaine Saddle Club was President for three years of that um I have been a member of the board of um the Indiana pinno Association for a good long time spent two years as president of that um I'm sorry you said pin p Pinto pinto horses okay sorry that's one of yeah one of my um one of the things that I do out side of my regular career is I I also have a a horse business here in town so yeah spent spent some time doing quite a bit of that too what do you believe are the qualities and skills of an effective Schoolboard member and which of those qualities and skills are your strongest attributes I I'm probably going to be a
052little bit different from um your other candidates in that I I believe that an important skill is actually silence in that it's really important to listen I apologize am I speaking like I just want okay okay um I think it's important to when when people are coming at you with stuff um that it's important to to stay quiet so that you can understand what the real root of the problem is um I know you all are are brought with problems all the time as as is the administration they're extremely complex and when those problems are brought it's really important not to Give opinions because you're only hearing half of what's Happening there's there's so many other layers to it whether it's legislative whether it's you know personal background of the person that you're hearing from
053um whether it's you know background with you know student interactions teacher interactions Human Resources issues that are coming up if if if you're not silent about what you're hearing and the feedback that you're getting you're probably going to jump into something um that you're not prepared to talk to so having that time to pause and say I hear what you're saying I'm understanding what you're telling me let me find out more and someone will get back to you and I'll check back so um I I would say having the patience and silence would be a quality that I have um that would be helpful did I answer that well okay that's your yeah your answer's fine no that's that's fine uh we're about students so how do you make sure you can you do advocate
054for students in this role as a as a I've had so many roles in in education and outside education now um I've had such a variety of students just because of where I taught I taught up in Northwest Allen for six years I taught in some difficult neighborhoods in in Fort Way community um some of my students now I've got such a a variety of former students some um one one young man is a uh a manager at Barkley's in New York um I have another man young man who's serving a p prison sentence for burner it it's a variety but there's also a component of Education that is legislated um there's a policy component I I have a lot of background in both um I have contacts that I know that I can call
055on um as to to be an advocate not only for our district but for our kids and for Education more globally um I I spent time in those committee rooms down at the State House down in Indianapolis talking through accountability and what it its impact is and and the assessments and the impact on the on the kids and the impact on teaching and I I've seen what that looks like and it's it's one of the reasons that I'm not an educator at this moment in time it's one of the reasons so I think advocating not only from that base kid level from that teacher excuse me teach level from that administrator level um all the way you know from from the classroom to the state house like it all has to be there um and
056if it's not then then it's a shortcoming how will you address concerns brought to you by the public and how is that will that be reflected in your votes on particular issues this is a when I say this understand that that what I'm trying to say is this this is a a political body and we the board is is bound by state legislation in addition to fiscal responsibility in addition to you know the needs of kids now I I already kind of talked about people are going to come to board members to talk through hey this that or the other um I am always going to Advocate to coming to consensus with board members it's not always going to be possible um but also to make sure that I understand the big picture understand the
057initiatives that the um of the superintendent of the other administ Min rators um they're they're really smart people if they weren't they wouldn't be here because we wouldn't want them here and I think we want them here so really understanding that whole Global Perspective and how to bring that together into what board policy is making sure that we're taking care of our teachers making sure that we're taking care of our students and that we are um going to be able to do that for the foreseeable future the middle question probably the big question why why do you want to do this and are your ability to devote the time necessary to take on the responsibility um the why is simple the first why is I have two young boys in the district one is 14
058he was here last night um accepting an award super proud of him my other son um is fifth grade Flint Springs I want to make sure to my wife and I are both children of Educators and we know what it means to make sure that our kids have what they need and I want to do everything that I can to make sure every child in Huntington has the opportunities to learn about the world not only their world and have an understanding of themselves but the world outside of their small Family Circle you know to be that Advocate um to answer your question question about time um my mom passed away in August but she always had a saying and it's always stuck with me you have time for what you make time for if it
059is worthy as this is time will be made what do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the public education system in Huntington County uh and Beyond I think that this school district is is headed in such a positive direction um one of the things that I wasn't concerned about until last night was um the discussion about the elll students and the the increase in those kids um when I was a teacher I had I had kids kids from Myanmar Burma super interesting population had Hispanic kids I remember my first day teaching in Fort Wayne um I had one girl in my class her name was Wana and uh the only two words she said in English that first day was no English it was a and and the year the year after that
060her that I was teaching fourth grade that year in fifth grade uh she won young authors it it was it was exciting it was really cool to see that um but I also know with an increasing elll population knowing what I know about assessments knowing what I know about accountability the cards are being stacked against us and we need to figure out how to be advocates for us and the good things that are going to come from these students okay um the the accountability system is literally stacked against the the higher the elll population the more influence the elll test has on accountability and I'm going to tell you right now native English speakers would struggle to pass that test and the bar that is set by the State House is it it's stacked against
061us and we need to make sure that we're advocating the right way for for that specifically what are your personal priorities and what would you see as corporate priorities or goals for this board so I know that communication is important but I would go so far as to say uh I would like to see commun Community involvement not just communication out but figuring out how to involve the community in in creating accountability measures that don't have anything to do what the state has to tell us about but really accountability measures that are important to this community and figuring out what that means that's a huge huge thing and I'm not talking about test scores I'm talking about things that happen in classrooms things that happen outside of classrooms um whether it's athletic like whether it's
062the robotics what you know what are those things that are important to this community that are going to drive the growth of this community and the exceptionalism that is this school district why do you feel you are the best candidate for this for this uh District seat I have a horse farm we breed horses I absolutely love doing that but one of the things that I will always say is that the best horse is probably standing in someone's backyard and isn't here I can promise you that I'm not the best person for this role but the best person for this role might not be in this room at all I believe that I have a whole lot to learn about even though I've been involved in education for as long as I I have this
063is a different side of education and I know that there's so much I have to learn and I may not be the best person out there for the role I hope I'm the best person in the room tonight um but I know that I have a lot to learn and I'm excited to learn it question we'd ask others about the role of a Schoolboard member I think you've addressed that but any additional comments on uh the function of a school board member and the function of the board anything anything additional about the role and function of the school board I think you've dressed it in other ways I I do um I guess to kind of extend that you know um I think it's important for the board to set a standard and then make
064sure that we're we're meeting that standard and not just communicating it out but really involving people in that process um so that they have a good feeling about what it takes what it takes to to educate our kids is there anything that has not been asked has not been covered not uh discussed or something about you that gee I wish they would have asked me about this or that we need to know I've been in this community for going on years I love this community um and it's the same times still know and understand that uh I'm always GNA be the new guy um I don't think my kids are they're they're they're rooted here um and I'm I'm rooted here now but I know that there are people that have no idea who Jim
065deur is and I'm eager um to really get to know those people in a way that is helpful to the district okay board any followups questions this side okay thank you very much appreciate it Christopher can take the seat ready okay this is Christopher Hoffman so introduce yourself further uh talk about your personal background uh any educational experiences it relates to you're applying for this position well like you said I'm Chris Hoffman here grew up here in Huntington attended Huntington Community Schools um um after that I attended the University of Northwestern Ohio um came back to Huntington worked here locally for many years before I started my own business here uh been doing that for many years running it all aspects obviously of it from the dayto day operations and uh my education I look
066at is it's self-taught on a lot of it you know obviously it's hard to learn on a by yourself on a lot of how to run a business from the finances to customer support even the mechanic side of it do you have any other uh not for-profit experience uh serving on boards committees uh Trustees of anything other than your work or any school related nothing on nonpr nonprofits directly um I've been involved with many projects with other businesses to help bring new products to life um many with some new technology so when that was all you know just explain what your business is so we are a diesel repair facility and performance so we uh work on a lot of trucks obviously and by that we get involved with some new products that are coming
067to Market some for for for performance some that actually help with the emissions aspects of these as well is one of the bigger ones I've been involved with what do you believe are the qualities and skills of an effective Schoolboard member and which of those quality skills do you believe are your strongest attribute uh to be a good board member you need to be able to listen to your people around you not any not even just the people that you're representing but the other board members um we're all going to have different ideas that are going to be right and our ideas may be wrong as well and understanding that there's no one size fits all for it and that you got to be a give and take at times to make it to make
068the right decision is the best decision and and what qualities or experiences do you have to uh support that opinion being a the business owner um I'm consistently given opportunities to make a right or wrong decision um whether that's with customers with a vendor that or a product that went bad or a product that was great so I've got to constantly work with a a customer that is potentially unhappy with the way a job went or know that they come to me with an idea of how they want something put together and I can give them an a different opportunity a different option and let them make that with the most information available students are the focus of any uh public school education system how as a board member will you advocate for student needs
069well have of a father of two students here in the district I've seen uh the strengths of the district and some of the weaknesses um I've advocated for them in in ways that I thought it been very difficult to stand up for I thought things that were done wrong um and then things were done right so I'm very good at listening and looking with an open mind on how how it's looked at and what needs done how old are how old are your students I've got a freshman and a sixth grader as a representative how will you address concerns brought to you by the public and then how do your votes reflect priorities and desires of the people in your District I understand that people's going to come at you with emotions a lot and
070that the emotions don't always mean that they are right decisions you know we we can't just lead on emotions that you have to have the facts um you're going to represent them the best you can and give them the facts and and they may not have them all just because it's hard to get all the facts out to the public and that we're going have to make tough decisions that they may not like or some that they do approve of and you're never going to appease to everybody but you got to do the best you can the middle question that we've asked everybody why did you put your hat in the ring why did you decide to to do this uh to apply to be a uh uh member of the school board and as
071a follow-up to that uh about time management and your ability to uh have the time to serve in this capacity I chose to run because I see the opening to help and improve the community um I see a short or weakness in in our industry in this area of Hands-On training and the tech technical side and I know we got the Learning Center that's growing a lot um I believe it's still underutilized and has a lot of potential when I look at the openings in in my field alone with handson um is it's very alarming to see the under trining that's there um um and then as far as time management I've got some good employees there that will allow me to come and go as needed um I was gone half the day today
072that I didn't plan on but I had to get some other stuff done that just popped up so I can definitely you know in a short notice make something happen what do you see and you referred to this a little bit earlier about the strengths and weaknesses uh if you can list the strengths of the public educ ation system here in unin county and then also what weaknesses uh that you you see from your persp my experience with the kids in the school we've got some very good teachers that are very passionate about what they do um that is obviously the biggest strength I see that the Huntington does have is some passionate teachers um one of the weaknesses I've seen is I think there's some tools that should be utilized that maybe we need
073to look into more of and change a few of the things um to give the teachers more tools and to get into the hands of the students again it's I've got a student that excels very easily in one that that is more of a Hands-On learner and he struggles more in the district and uh I see a lot more of students like him that I won't say are left behind but are almost passed through that we need to figure out how to help better on Alternative Learning somehow what personal priorities or goals would you have in your term of service and even broader for the whole Corporation so personal priorities goals and then what you would want to bring to the board as corporate priorities uh personal thing I see is the learning C Center
074and again it's still a corporate is that Learning Center and Alternative Learning areas grown um I think we're leaving a lot on the table with even the e-learn thing the online learning um there's a lot of options I think a lot of students could even Excel on that aspect of it and I know others that that are going to not do well need more the Hands-On training um so I want to see some more done on that aspect so I don't think every student needs to have a full day of learning in school especially as they get older there's definitely other options that students are going to learn better at and others need that the full day of learning and and instruction um so I want to open up more options for students with Alternative
075Learning Styles and I guess that's a personal and a corporate side of it for Me by starting a business that's more of a Hands-On business how how did you combine those the the academic side of learning but then also the Hands-On side learning geez how I didn't ask anybody else that question but I'm just fascinated how do I do I I I feel very fortunate that I'm very good at Hands-On learning and just experience and remembering those things it is very difficult to own a business and a start one from from nothing um I mean I went from my garage to a a pretty good sized building now with multiple bays and and pulling people from two hours away into the into the community here um it's a lot of Hands-On learning and it is
076difficult for sure I I I don't know if I could explain it very easily well you appear to be successful at doing it so I I thank you and I feel very successful with the business and with family and everything and and it's I've been blessed for sure if you could give a definition to the role and function of a school board member and how the role that the school board plays in the overall education process the board should almost I won't say should be behind the scenes making decisions but they should be overseeing the decisions making sure that they're done properly um everyone has on the board a different Outlook and experiences in life they can bring and the board should come together to make that best decision possible for the students you have
077the advantage your number five you've heard four the six uh what distinguishes you as uh the best qualified candidate for this position well that was one I've been sitting back there pondering you know how do I answer that um and I've heard everything from I'm the best I'm not the best and and I still don't know the correct answer for that but um I'm definitely going to come in with an open mind again I I have a lot of experience of listening to customers concerns and keeping an open mind on what they would want which may not be what's best for what they're trying to do with their vehicle and I can see that very openly and step back and keep them moving forward to get the their vehicle done and and I've done the
078same thing with some of our vendors we've had struggles with of of it and I I so I bring a different perspective probably is my best suit there just from being self-employed not just in the in the normal employee corporate world it's a different Viewpoint is there anything that's not been asked that you wanted to make sure was covered or something about you that we you weren't able to say earlier uh that you want to share with the board um I guess I've been very passionate about helping the community for quite a few years silently I have never been very vocal on it so this is very uh out of my box here um that being said I have through my 12 years of self-employment we've had I believe six students um not just from
079Huntington we've got currently one from South Whitley right now that we have employed um I look at it that I'm not just their boss but I'm helping Mentor these kids to to grow and I can bring that to the table as well so is that through the ice an ice program or that's basically what they have I'm trying remember what they called it there he's actually in a welding program the half day but it's their half days I've had the kids from the ice here um I think there was one from through the a half day program years ago so I've had a little bit of everything through there and and all most have moved on and and thanked me for their the knowledge I've helped pass on to them anything else you wanted to
080add I think I'm good there okay y thank or to my right to my left no okay thank you very much okay I I was waiting for that to to go down okay Mr Miller introduce yourself to us talk about your background education experience if how it relates to applying for this job uh Hank Miller um as someone said I'm not from here uh as was mentioned not being from here is often looked upon with uh different eyes in this community so uh my background is unusual uh I was a product of the system I came through as a foster kid um so I have some unique backgrounds unique concerns uh I uh went through my high school then I went to the military which I think is the most important part of my education
081I know everybody wants to to name their their degrees but the everybody gets these degrees but they they still don't have the experience afterwards that a military education can give you um from my uh Air Force days I came out and I kind of aimless hopped from job to job to job which uh I did not realize that was actually a quality every three or four years I went to another job got a pay raise every three or four years went to another job got a pay um I went through different situations at CNC metal cutting um Automotive you guys SE seen my resume um so uh um I ended up here in Huntington um almost by accident simply I couldn't buy a house fast enough and uh I was recruited to a metal wire
082company there in Fort Wayne and had to have a house bought the house on scene I was in Germany and uh have a few kids in the system I'm sure a few few you guys know them and here I am what other uh board work committee work not for-profit committee experience do you have if so uh I am a little bit more unique than the rest of them I am heavily involved with with the uh County Council the Commissioners the city council and within that had opportunity to be on a place of Grace committee which which was really good for the community um in my past uh we were a very heavy soccer family um coached a lot of soccer my time my kids have kind of aged up um of course I I raised
083eight kids so you can imagine I almost had a soccer team myself um and another unique thing that hardly anybody knows is uh is our family is huge into the motorcycle racing um we we do mentor and train a lot of the uh motorcycle Racers youth in in the country they believe it or not they do come through Indiana through our house um we train other places so uh that's should answer that question what do you believe are the qualities and skills of an effective Schoolboard member and how do your qualities skills characteristics match up to those I I think the most important quality is knowing weakness um I think each member should know their weakness they should uh amongst yourself uh possibly if you don't know and answer get together find out the answer
084um as you know I'm not a very good people person but I have other qualities that someone else might have um what was the second part of that question I know I should has memorized well how do your how do your skills match up to so if that's what a good board member is how do how do you you fit into that so uh I have been able to work in so many different Industries and so many different teams so many different projects so many that I had no choice but to either um be successful or we're we're probably not going to eat on some of these contracts so uh I I'm I know you guys think I'm very flamboyant but uh I I do know when to be quiet I know when to listen
085and I also know when to get involved following up directly on that then how do we how how do you as a a board member advocate for students I've thought about this one and uh as many of you know I I am kind of a community um Community comes to me for information um I I love kids they're number one but I think what's more important is the parents we we have to start advocating for parents because without those parents doesn't matter what we do for those kids parents might go to another school district they might be unhappy but happy parents will translate into happy kids so how do we get how do we get the parents happy again I I I know more than I should be saying but um when I when I
086do talk to parents uh they felt very talked down upon by some administrators so I think it's it's a coaching opportunity of of maybe we need to look into how to get our the the face of the school your administrators possibly to to deescalate and and our parents are our customers at the end of the day we it's competitive out there people are poaching our kids people are poaching the school district and fortunately we we have to treat our parents better as a representative member of the board uh how will you deal with public questions and concerns and how will votes reflect those priorities and desires so um I I do get a lot of lot of uh concerns uh I I do try to coach a little bit uh believe it or not I'm
087in the background saying maybe this is not the school's fault maybe um did you go to your Teachers Conference meetings uh have you went to uh a volunteer to be a uh uh for a field trip um there so many opportunities and and sometimes bad situations like well have you sat into your kids' classro and sometimes when I've turned it around uh things deescalate pretty quick and maybe the parents kind of back off of being so angry uh and what was the second part of the question well how do then if it comes times to vote if you've had an issue that's been brought to you then how do you so balance what constituents necessarily have come to you about versus what you maybe think personally so being on a school board it it'll be
088a whole lot different um number one I'll definitely listen and probably not talk because I will have to be coached by by the board because maybe I might say something that is not proper or might get the school in trouble so it probably not respond immediately and come back to the board and get some coaching as I've said to the others the middle question the kind of maybe the biggest question why why are you doing this why did you apply and the follow-up to that is talking about time but first of all talk about why um every single person in this room on this side has seen me at every single board meeting they have seen me um take notes they've seen some of the articles I wrote um basically this I chose this to
089be my home I this is where I landed this this is where I'm GNA live forever and I truly want the school board in the school district to be the best in in a in a five State five County area Okay uh time commitments and so uh that's a very good question I I am very blessed uh in my current role Zimmer Biomet uh Zimmer Biomet cherishes uh their employees to be Community involved um I am a unique role where my my role is actually 247 um my computer stays on all the time my phone stays on all the time and uh got in a little trouble so somebody did a little phone call and they didn't understand that I'm Flex meaning I have if I want to work in the morning I could work
090in the morning if I want to work at the night I could work at night but at the end of the day my company gets more than 40 hours a week from me so I'm very flexible um strengths and weaknesses what are the strengths and weaknesses of the public education system in Huntington County and Beyond so one of the most impressive things I've seen I know you don't hear Too Many accolades out of me is is I was part of the Strategic plan um I was impressed being at Crestview seeing the community members seeing the mayor I I was actually at the table with the mayor as as we're doing the final edit of this and that that's what community is about that's how the school is supposed to operate that's how you get a
091Buy in from a whole community that's a strength what weaknesses um I see this often and hopefully nobody takes this personally but um in my industry we we call it silos um I I truly believe um the board has some pretty high silos um we we miss out on some some things that people from not from here catch and is very important I I didn't the first word you said you said silos say that say that again I I'm sorry repeat your repeat your answer of the weakness being that we're in silos is that it's it's a business term that that that uh the industry uses when when you're in a silo it means that you only see what's in your Silo you don't see what's beyond okay so as a board member how would
092you expand I I I will be the one that bust to Silo okay um I I am going to be the one that's telling you and I know it's uncomfortable conversation hey you know um Community is still healing for happened at Huntington University are we sure about this I'm going to be the one that's gonna bring to the board hey you know um grocery prices people are having a hard time eating people are doing utility bill should we be buying that ad building I I'm I'm I'm going to I'm going to be the voice of of let's look 30,000 foot not not our silos okay thank you uh kind of leads into this next one any personal priorities for your time of service on the board and broader uh corporate goals for the entire board
093what would be uh your personal priorities and you think and what would be uh the corporate goal so I don't think college is for everybody um I think uh there's a stigma of not going to college uh for the broader side is is I am a product of a tech school my last two years of my high school I went to a tech school I learned industrial Electronics I was blowing up resistors capacitors doing voltage and and uh along the way I learned a a pretty incredible skill that I still use today so um the third part of that is is what really upset me was uh my children had said some negative things about that career center and it offended me so I I want to get the stigma away from the kids in
094the school what type of gem we have over there could you give us your definition of the role and function that a school board member plays and the board as a whole in the overall education process my answer is going to be a little bit different um simply we need to give our teachers a tools for Success anything they need to make a child successful and I think the way the board measures that success is how well is that child that student going to integrate in society when they leave Hunton North okay what uh why do you believe you're the best qualified candidate uh to fill this position for the next two years I I'm not what's sitting behind you you got some phenomenal Talent back here um H however what I bring to the
095table is um I'm um I am very connected with our political leaders um just last night I was talking back and forth with a senator on another issue I have relationships with the representatives um I could go have the lunch with the mayor and and most importantly is is I have a higher support system that I believe that could be very useful to to our school system what has not been asked or omitted or glossed over or something about you that that you said Gee I thought they'd asked that that they didn't do that so let's talk about the elephant in the room um everybody knows I'm the administrator of a very controversial Facebook page um I understand that uh I will not be able to talk about the school I understand that is going
096to be a conflict of interest and I will recluse myself of anything School related on on the Facebook news page and I think that's important for everybody to know okay anything else about you or that either again was not asked or you want to make sure the board knows um another uncomfortable conversation uh I think we have an opportunity to show Huntington that that we we will accept a little bit of diversity um the kids that are coming into the school right now um are are more Latin they're more Asian uh I have a unique um skill set of of reaching those kids I've been there I know what they're going through um there's many times I've been in this room uh for other things like sports um it it really hurts me when I
097see a whole track team come up front get their athletic scholarship pler Scholastics we're getting good grades it's almost a whole team and I will look behind me it's it's it's the people that that are of color that have not achieved that that's that's eye opening board followup Carri no okay thank you very much uh what we will do now at the very least is be able to stand up stretch your your legs we are not going into a formal recess uh the board will not leave the room in any way but if uh uh we're going to gather our thoughts here and talk about the next steps to defitely I e e e which will shift everything to this side of the table except for Thank Goodness Me and Mrs Gray we won't have
098to have to do the vote but by Indiana statute Indiana code uh Open Door law the discussion and actual vote for to fill this position is a public meeting and must be done in public so uh the only agenda item at this point is for uh to vote on the candidates uh just quickly some rules Mrs Gray will read each board member's name they will indicate which candidate they are supporting uh I I first want to say thank you to the six who went through this and as as good or bad as it was to hear each other's answers it was a very informative couple of hours and and I think we're grateful for that and when a board member votes uh they're doing exactly what we ask you about what's the role of a
099board me board member and I forget one of you that said it's to gather as much information as possible and then make make an informed decision and that's what this will be so Mrs Gray will will read off uh the member's name they will indicate who they are supporting and since uh uh please with with Mr Hank Miller and Mrs Deb Miller make sure you uh don't just say Miller we want you to say uh which uh the first name um four me four votes are required if four votes aren't received on the first ballot we will then do a second roll call discussion first on all this uh on the second ballot if if someone has zero votes they would be eliminated from consideration so all candidates are eligible through the first two ballots
100if somebody has not had any votes after the second ballot then their name is off the list uh the third ballot uh again if somebody has zero they'd be removed on the fourth ballot if zero or just one vote uh would be removed on the fifth ballot uh one or zero removed unless it's a 2 two2 tie and then we go on and we have the procedure and process for that uh the most we could go to in eliminating uh as it goes forward would be seven ballots uh if at that point uh or an e if whatever how it works out there um an impass could be declared and by Statute uh if this board has not made a decision cannot make a decision it goes to the judge of the Huntington circuit court
101for appointment think we said all that so I think I'll turn it over to Mr Allen before we uh little different than that we're not going to make a motion that says I move we elect X because then that would just get very cumbersome and and messy so it's more bored you as you're called on you'll indicate a b c d or E we'll get the totals and then see where we're at after the first ballot if if we get four on the first ballot we'll be done and we'll swear the person in if we have to go further than and that we will and we can have discussion between each time so I'll turn it at this point over to Mr Allen for discussion by the board regarding uh the candidates and any support
102you want to indicate thank you Mr Wy um I first wanted to reiterate what he had said and Echo what he said um really appreciate your efforts tonight you should be proud of of yourselves um you've made the choice very difficult uh honestly we have have six very good candidates um I know that when we realized we were going to need to replace this District uh member um we were hopeful to get a couple and uh you are all really really good candidates and done did a great job tonight um anyone have anything like to add yeah I was gonna just reiterate what Tim had said I also would like to thank uh the other individuals that uh applied uh that would did not meet qualifications that lived in the area I just thought it
103was great that we had I think it was 13 total people that applied for the position so I do truly appreciate that um also if at at the if at the end of the the day uh you don't make it on the board please don't give up continue to to advocate for the community that's one of the things that I think I heard across the board from all you guys is you're invested in this community and I want to continue to have you do that and get involved so on that note I wish you all the best of luck any other board members have anything like to add Mr Wy okay any other discussion at this point all right Mrs Gray uh will'll again read your names you're at this point you're in alphabetical alphabetical
104order uh Mr Allen Mr Carl Mr Heim Mr mclen Mr melter Mr wall so she will read your name and I ask you to please indicate who you are supporting uh on this first ballot and we will rotate who goes first if we have to go more than one ballot but Mr Allen you get as wait for Mrs Gray yeah wait for Mrs Gray to call your name we'll go from there Mr Allen uh I vote for Deborah Miller Mr Carl I vote for Chris Hoffman Mrs Heim I vote for Deb Miller Mr mclen I vote for Deb Miller Mr meler James dmer Mr wall I vote for Deb Miller certainly I'm just going to read in alphabetical order by last name James dmer one Chris Hoffman one Deborah Miller four okay and I think
105uh by the rules we have established uh Mrs Miller you are selected to serve on the board we are prepared to swear you in tonight and uh uh I think um Cindy will then talk to you about even further training that will occur so um that's that'll still be part of this meeting so y um we will close out the election of District Two trustee and move to see items of discussion by board members anyone have anything they' like to add before we close thanks again to all you um really really productive night um as Mr wall said there are all sorts of opportunities to volunteer and be a part of the things that go on in the schools and as well as the Committees um some of the ideas that you brought forward today
106are absolutely going to be discussed by the board I can assure you of that you had a lot of great thoughts it means a lot to us yes yes ma'am great group to be a part great ton and I hope everyone will continue and just to tie up the very last piece this is a two-year term this is for the remainder of 25 and 26 and this uh seat uh is one that will be on the ballot in November of 26 filing for that position will occur I believe in August of that year so many days so uh we encourage uh those that are interested and there may probably will be could be others too so um with that Mrs Miller if you come forward hold on motion to adjourn so negative was up here
107that's why I was on was on the list that's before the swearing in there is no saring I think we can make that part of the we usually have that part of the board when we do it when we did it for let's adjourn after the swearing end yeah we'll wait no to read it let's do left hand raise your right hand and you need to turn around all right I and state your name do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America that I will support United States America and the constitution of the state of Indiana and the laws of the United States and laws and the state of Indiana and the state of Indiana I will Faithfully execute the duties of this office as
108a member of the governing board of the Huntington County Community School Corporation yeah so help me God congratulations