001my e e e okay everybody we're gonna get started well that was quick um hi I'm Nancy proct I'm moderating tonight's Forum I am a mother of two children who graduated from Cornwall um I've had the pleasure of moderating for five of these forums over the years years which have been graciously hosted by the uh Cornwall PTO trust David is live streaming us so um we're live and I guess the candidates can watch after the um the Forum itself tonight's questions come from the community the pto's collected questions from the public and then they give them to me to organize we don't have time to answer all the question or to ask all the questions that have been sent to us those that don't get addressed tonight will be given to the candidates to answer
002in writing if they so choose I'll start um asking questions to each candidate in alphabetical order starting with Jim and rotate accordingly so at some point each of you will go first and each of you will go last I've been doing this as I said for four or five years and I always forget to rotate so if I do that stop me and I will fix it um the audience I'm going to ask the audience to hold any Applause until the end of the entire Forum at which candidate at at which point each candidate will be asked to provide a closing statement as well as an introduction candidates will have two minutes for an introduction and closing and one minute to answer each question we have a timer in the front of the room will
003you just raise your the timers um we ask that you follow their instructions they're going to give you a 30 second Mark and then a Time up and then they're going to ring a bell if you go over that so uh I really ask you to to follow their guidance and see the floor when your time is up so uh we have four candidates we have Jim KGAN we have Tiffany gallano elanora fio paninaro and Pete violetti we have three open seats um and you know what I don't know the day of the election what when May 21st so be sure to vote um okay so we're going to ask you Jim to start by introducing yourself and provide us with a brief overview of your interest in the school board and why you believe
004you'd be returned as an as an effective board member and as I said each candidate will have two minutes to answer so Jim the floor is yours uh great thank you Nancy uh thank you to the other candidates um I certainly appreciate everybody who's willing to commit their time uh to the board of bet it is certainly a serious uh time commitment but it's an important job um and that's why I'm asking the voters to vote me in for another term it's an important job and I feel like I've uh done very well in my first term here uh for those that don't know me uh I grew up in town I'm a graduate of Cornwall schools uh left to go to college uh came back uh in my early 30s um after having my
005own family now have four children and uh my wife and I are raising them uh here in the village and I'm a community volunteer coach l leth football um on the board of a local diaper Bank in Newberg uh in my first three years uh on the board here I I won't go into great detail because we'll uh get into this later but um we've passed a capital Bond bringing 23 million of needed uh Capital Improvements to all five of our district schools um we've passed three budgets with an average tax increase of under 1% for three years uh while adding uh needed positions uh instructional and non-instructional uh we've instituted a new upk program here in the district so really a lot of good things we've done as a board I'm one of nine
006so I can't take credit for all of them but uh certainly I was a part of that uh also this year I was proud to serve as the vice president of the board uh and I was voted to that position unanimously by my other board members uh so I have the uh respect of the other board members and uh hope to earn another ter and earn another term and earn your respect uh in your vote next Tuesday thank you thank you go ahead Tiffany hi everyone good evening my name is Tiffany gallano um my husband James and I many people know him as Jimmy live in the village and we have a blended family of five children four of whom are uh Cornwall Central High School graduates and one current CCMS eighth grader we also
007have a son-in-law who's a cc uh HS graduate um all of our kids have been involved in sports arts clubs um and really taken advantage of all of this wonderful district has to offer we are also the proud parents of two New York State Certified teachers uh personally I'm an attorney I'm a senior administrator in higher education and an Adjunct professor for more than 10 years prior to this I worked in government I'm a pretty committed Community member serving more than 10 years on the board for Girls on the Run Hudson Valley um and volunteering there I'm also on The Advisory board for the food bank of the Hudson Valley the chair of the Cornwall youth committee which maybe some of you are familiar with the Cornwall color bash or the junior ball drop that
008we did this year we're going to do that again next year so we hope to see you all there um also a past coach for Cornwall girls basketball Newberg Armory Unity center and um volunteered for little league and was a class parent at Co for 5 years I have a lot of experience in uh large budgets Union negotiations CCA um contracts very familiar with furpa and just so you know students are my number one priority I'm looking to be a bridge to communication with Educators and uh my experience with strategic planning and negotiation should certainly help in these uh this next year with contract negotiations coming up thank you thank you elanora hello my name is Elan just press the green the yeah there you go the push sorry thank you hello my name is
009Elanor fazo paneno for those of you who don't know who I am I am uh was a teacher here in Cornwall for 24 years I've been teaching for 35 years I spent 11 years teaching in Westchester County where I lived prior to moving to Orange County here prior to that I was also an accountant I have four children all of which who graduated from the cormwell Central School District they all were involved in sports and arts and all of the fun things that we have to offer here I also was very involved in the community coaching their little league and basketball and my I I thought they were going to name a bench after me at in the gymnasium because I was sitting on it so much but uh so that's my backgrounds with that
010I have been in this District very long I love my students I felt I'm running because I felt that being in the classroom I advocated for my students as as well as advocating for the community members as a community member myself and I tried to think of how can I continue this without being in the classroom any further so the best case scenario is to be involved in the board and be there to help make the decisions that would um enhance their education and as well as looking out for the community I'd like to work as a liaison between the district as well as the Community thank you Peter hi I'm Pete violetti I'm a recently retired veteran of the New York City Fire Department and I feel it's it's taught me a lot about
011working together with people and responsibility and communication working with others and it feels good to serve the community and help others I was in one of the busiest companies in all the job and just going out that door you're out to do good and that's no different here I I just want to do the greatest amount of good for the most families and and kids my wife's a teacher she's been teaching for over 27 years she's very good at it I'm I'm proud of her accomplishments and with that being said said we have three of our own kids in Cornwall one in the Middle School here in seventh grade I have a a freshman my son and my daughter is a senior in the high school so we've been through a lot of the programs
012the on the drama the the modified Sports softball soccer baseball and and we love it and we're thankful for these great programs um I believe in transparency accountability and most of all Integrity if if people don't trust you or feel that you're in this to do what's right then you don't really have much of a backbone to stand on so I'm just all about what's doing what's right and for the students and the families and we we just need to make this an all includ inclusive environment for all our students especially in special education I I feel it's lacking here and it's an area that needs support um Peter we'll get into more detail in a little bit so okay we'll cut you off there but we'll we'll jump right into questions um Tiffany you're
013going to start now okay what do you think is the most positive thing about Cornwall schools and how will you work to make that stronger and again you have one minute okay I think the educators are the most positive experience um that I've personally witnessed with my children uh my current eighth grader has had an amazing experience with all of her teachers and staff um I would like to work to bridge what I see as a gap between the the communication with the Educators and staff and the board um not for anybody's fault but I would like to help help improve upon that I would like to for the teachers and Educators to be heard because they are the boots on the ground with our children and they're the ones that can tell us exactly
014what's happening with our kids so that's what what I see is the most valuable thank you thank you Elanor um I have to agree that not only the teachers but all of the staff of the cormel Central School District are what's positive about this District um we have always had the among the top five scores of Orange County we have always excelled in uh moving our students through the Academia and progressing them through their secondary education so yes our staff our teachers are primarily what is causing this to happen and so as a uh board member I feel that it's our job to make sure that we continue to do so and that our administrators are carrying through the processes that need to happen so that this that so that this can continue thank you
015Pete can you repeat the question again please sure um what is the most positive thing about Cornwall schools and how will you work to make that stronger uh the most POS positive I I think is uh the community and the schools are very linked and it's a it's a great place to live and just like Saturday there was a fundraiser for two women that had breast cancer at the little league and just the the outpouring of support and and all this all stems from the schools they all know each other from school the boys and the kids and uh it's just a great community and and the teachers there's phenomenal teachers I I feel I'm very impressed by their knowledge and and how well they do and the scores here in the district and uh
016the teachers will always have my back so okay great thank you uh Jim thank you this is one of those questions where it's hard to go last uh everybody's said uh a lot of good answers um so you know um I'm going to repeat a lot of what I said three years ago actually with this answer um obviously our our teachers and our staff are wonderful uh and it's that link between the staff and the community um we have such a great School District because the community uh supports us both uh obviously financially um as taxpayers uh and supporting budgets uh year in and year out uh but they also are really involved you know um we have people coming in we have class mothers we have anytime there's a volunteer um you know the
017the uh drama programs which are really outstanding have a lot of volunteer work with them so the community is really engaged and involved uh with our schools really wants to see their kids do well um and sends in great kids ready to learn and ready to take in the information from the teachers and staff and it's really just a it's a it's a virtuous cycle where everybody works together as a community and uh that's what makes this school in this District really great thank you okay so now we're going to go a little negative and we're going to ask what you think the most pressing problem is at Cornwell Central School District and how would you work to solve it and Eleanor it's your turn to go first there we I will get that before
018the ends of the night um I have the privilege of being on the inside of this issue um and as a teacher of the district for many years I feel that the biggest issue is the lack of communication between sometimes the board Administration and the teachers and staff and that has caused quite a bit of tension among the staff and so I feel that as a board we need to start listening we need to start uh taking what is being said to heart and doing something about it Pete you're next okay the most depressing issue I I would say special education in the district would fit that I'm actively engaging in in in numerous support groups and I hear people's sides of their disappointments and and the lack of support and just families that are
019upset at how this is is being run um I I don't know if it needs more money allocated to this area but um the taxpayers are basically the customers and we're we have kids that have special needs and issues and you would think like the school district as the business would want to satisfy the customer but here it seems to be opposite it's just about the business saving money and the customer is unhappy and that hurts kids and families and we we need to to fix this and do better I'm going to just cut you off now we're going to go back to it we'll get to it sorry I'm just passionate about no it's fine it's fine Jim thank you um I would say the most pressing issue um is just long range planning
020and communicating that uh with the community um we have a very good district and sometimes it's actually more difficult to maintain Excellence than it is to achieve Excellence um it can be very easy to to build a business and you know just build more locations and then all of a sudden you you're you you have a location in every state and you go uhoh now what do we do to improve sales you can't just add more and more and more you actually need to uh improve your quality improve your visibility um I I think we've made a lot of strides with as far as capital projects with long-term planning in my time on the board uh passing a bond is part of that and and a new capital reserve towards the next Bond and uh
021this year we have begun an initiative um to do some long-term strategic planning for the district and we're we're sending out um some rfps for that shortly and I think that's really going to help uh steer the ship here for the long term so I think that's the the most pressing need is to um do long range long range planning and communicate that with the community okay thank you Tiffany I've already mentioned communication between Educators and staff and administration and the board so I'll move on to something else which is also infrastructure and facilities and a planning and the transparency of that planning I think that really needs to be addressed that plan needs to be made available to the public to the uh the taxpayer um I also find and I don't don't want
022to say negative but I I also um and not fond of our history with letting um our Educators and staff go without a contract and I know next year will be a contract year and I would really like to get that contract um in place on time um and so those are the things that I'm looking at as things that we could work on okay great thank you Pete you're going to start with uh this question and you talked a little bit about this in your opening but what is your guiding principle and what values will you bring to the um board School Board uh guiding principle uh it's a great question [Music] um I'm about there always what's doing what's right and sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest thing and you need
023to do it when no one's looking and that's when it means the most so I'll always be doing what's right for families I I I'll always vow to do my best and um Integrity character they're pillars of a strong individual that will fight for people okay thank you um it is your term Jim thank you um you know I would say my guiding principle um would be integrity and honesty um really making sure sure to just carry out my values in each and every act that I take uh in an elected position uh to make sure um that the public knows that they can put their trust in me um that what you see is what you get um as far as what do I bring to the board just a levelhead in common sense
024you know just really able to work with my colleagues uh a big part of sitting at the de with nine letter people is not necessarily getting everything that you personally want it's working towards a consensus and how do we get seven eight or nine members to agree on something um so just using some common sense and and good communication skills to try and and build consensus amongst the board to make right decisions for the district in the public thank you Tiffany thank you um I said it in my my opening uh students are number one that's my guiding principle for this purpose and this role in this job is students come first um and to me what that means is hiring the most qualified teachers no matter what it means delivering quality education which I
025feel that we do but we do that by hiring the most qualified teachers that's one of the ways um investing in our technology and in our resources so teachers have what they need so they can make that deliverable to our children um and to make informed and thoughtful decisions and that doesn't mean that everybody's always going to get exactly what they want that's not how compromise works but to be open to compromise open to listening and at the same time not being afraid to give my voice and give my opinion and and make those hard choices thank you Elanor do you mind repeating sure what is your guiding principal as a school board member or as a school board candidate and what values will you bring to this work so my guiding principles would be
026obviously honesty integrity and transparency for the community what I think I will bring to the school board um is the students have to come first and so when um making decisions we have to put the students needs Pro ahead of everything else and so there has to as they've all said and Jim you were right going last isn't always great because everyone has already said everything you wanted to say um when we so putting put I'm sorry now I lost my train of thought um we have to put the students first we have to compromise we all have to work together and so as a board member I feel that not only the Board needs to work together but the Board needs to work with the administrators with the teachers with the community and because
027our ultimate goal is what is best for the students okay thank you very much our next question uh Jim you'll start and um the question is the district has recently adopted a Dei policy diversity equity and inclusion policy how will you support this work in the school district thank you um certainly a Hot Topic um I was um honored to be tasked to be the chairman of the policy committee this year uh so I actually worked very in depth uh with Mr Dade and the members uh of our committee in drafting that policy um we talked about this at at board meetings but I I think one thing that really stood out to our entire board and something we were really proud of is that we drafted a policy for Cornwall we didn't just pull
028a stock policy um from uh the School Board Association the UN State School Association we really tailored it to our district and we have set up uh started this year a uh Dei committee and that has showed uh the community showed a lot of interest in that committee uh I want to say 30 40 plus members attended uh the meetings uh that that committee had this year um I think the bottom line and the goal of any Dei efforts are to make sure that every student in our district feels is ready to learn that they feel welcomed and they feel that they have a safe place to learn thank you Tiffany so I didn't have the benefit of participating in the writing of the policy however I have read it thoroughly and I do appreciate
029all of the work that was done the time the effort that was put into it I did watch the community Forum um everybody who wanted to have a voice had a voice and I think that's really what Dei is about at its core is for all people to be valued to be um appreciated and afforded the same opportunity as everyone else so I'm in favor of the policy as written and I look forward to supporting it thank you Elanor I was thrilled when I saw that that was being done and I'd like to thank our superintendent and the board for taking this initiative uh for the Dei I feel that it is important that all students have representation that all students are heard that all students are treated fairly and equally I feel as a
030board it's going to be our responsibility to ensure that it is followed uh that the information is sent out to the community that the parents are informed of what is happening that everyone is on board and that the teachers staff anyone who has contact with students are trained and have the proper um equipment everything that they need in order to implement what is in our policy thank you Pete yes uh definitely Hot Topic right now and it's great to see that the district is is on this and working with it and I think we we kind of need to tie in also with the teachers like training like social emotional training train the staff how how to pass along to make everyone feel welcome and included and people that don't exactly check all the boxes
031or they have anxieties and things that everyone feels included and so this is a great step in the right direction and and I'm real happy about that but another thing is like some people say to me like H how do you quantitatively measure this though that that it's happening and I think that's might be the next step for that committee to to to maybe somehow we can quantitatively like measure that it's it's it's working it's happening so okay but yeah very good thank you Tiffany please complete the following sentence children learn when children have children learn when I think children learn when they feel supported um when they are challenged and when they're not always um told that oh yes that's the right answer no challenge them engage them give them the right materials um
032that they can learn and broaden their Horizons um but I think it it again it boils down to support if there's supported properly and engaged properly that's how they learn okay thank you Elenor children learn when they feel safe and supported and that can only be done through a supportive teacher through uh communication between the school and the home getting the parents on board to support the initiatives that are occurring in the classroom having Administration supporting what the teachers are doing children learn when they feel safe children learn when they don't feel that it is wrong to make a mistake that um they are heard it's okay to get something wrong and when they feel safe in that environment then the learning comes with that thank you Pete yeah being last on this one's tough
033but yeah I agree safe feel feel nurtured uh and just overall kids do better when they're happy when they come to school happy feeling good about themselves and they like the environment they're in and and the teachers are supportive and they're flourishing and they're learning and so uh definitely want Happy Safe Kids okay thank you and you're not last Jim is last so all right sorry or Jim um still having uh my youngest who's three I'll tell you that children learn when they're awake from the first breath in the morning to that to their eyes hit the to their to their heads hit the pillow at night uh they learn how you talk to your spouse they learn what you eat for breakfast they learn that dirty word you said when your favorite football team
034throws an interception uh they're always learning their little sponges uh but in the school district I I think Elanor really put it well you know when they're safe and supported um and that's where you know our teachers really go above and beyond is they're not up there um you know uh we have a visitation committee on the board and when I've been in the schools uh the teachers aren't up there just talking and and not paying attention to is that message received or not they're really attuned to is my class listening is my class learning and they're working with those students that maybe struggling to get them into an environment where they're ready to learn um so you've got to set that Baseline and that's where um our instructional staff uh really does a great
035job um and it's a you know it's a it's a coordination with our parents too to make them send them to school ready and fed and ready to learn thank you thank you okay Eleanor um a lot of what the district focuses on are academics arts and Athletics imagine a situation where the board must cut the budget what would you cut first and why wow um having well academics is out of the question so there you cannot cut academics um the children need to learn they need supplies in order to learn they need their technology and books um so that would be out of the question having children who were both in the Arts and sports that is a very difficult question because every child flourishes in different venues so you may not be in
036academic student but you may be that wonderful quarterback or terrific softball player or you might play the piano beautifully or paint so where do we cut we'd have to come up with a compromise where not everything is cut completely we have to take into account those students who do do well in other areas besides academics or sports or Arts everyone has their own venue that um where they are sorry thank you thank you first I would I agree you can't cut the academics It prepares the students for life out of school college interpersonal skills that you can't cut that so what I would do is let's let's let's see if we can fund raise let's try to save a program and JV and varsity baseball we raised $22,000 just out of the generosity of of
037families so if if it it's known that drama needs a certain amount of money like people would they would come they would come together and and try and save something if that falls through you have to just equally just spread it between the academics or the drama you hate to do it but um it would have to be equal equally spread out okay thank you Jim thank you um it's a difficult question because nobody wants to be there right um so I would say it starts before you have to make cuts and it starts with long range um fiscal conservatism as you're passing budgets every year and the board as I've been on it um really dealt with we dealt with an influx of federal funds from covid relief and we were very um pointed
038in our questions to the administration and the administration to their credit um was was of the same mind of saying you know hey we can't just go and hire a bunch of people and know that we have money for two years and we'll have to lay them off so you have to be very careful with your spending um so you don't overhire and that you don't get in a position where you need to make cuts um also you know to members of our community uh New York State the governor proposed a budget this year which uh gave us $300,000 Less in state aid than we should have received by the formula for foundation Aid um so next time you see your state senator or your state representative uh tell them that they need to fully
039fund education in our schools um so that you want to work to avoid making cuts to begin with okay Tiffany thank you um I I agree with Jim I I I disagree that it should be an equal allocation to all I deal with very large budgets in my um in higher education and also with grant funding which potentially the next year could could go away um I believe that there should be a top down and bottom up review of finances and a strategic resource allocation plan so you see where you can make Cuts strategically as well as planning for same so not everybody needs the same amount of money maybe your travel budget hypothetically or is larger than it needs to be maybe there's so many different places that you can make Cuts if you
040follow strategic resource allocation that you don't have to actually just say okay we're cutting out sports or we're cutting out Arts we can plan so we can have everything and offer everything to our students with keeping the taxpayer in mind and not you know raising everyone's ta taxes to an unrealistic expectation thank you uh Pete I believe you're first on this next question New York state has recently mandated the use of Science of reading literacy curriculum in place of the previous whole language approach to literacy what are your thoughts on this shift and and why do you feel that way well I think it's good because whole language is is more like they're trying to just treat everyone kind of more the same like you have people coming from other states other countries and you're
041trying the same method on people that are from totally different backgrounds it's not as successful as the science of reading the science of reading it's it's how we learn to read and it clarifies instructions for the students and it's it's it's the new way of teaching kids how to read so I support it okay thank you Jim thank you I'm going to lead off by saying this is not my bellwick and this is an area when you've got to uh rely on your administrators to make these types of decisions um someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that uh the district changed um right before I came on maybe three four years ago um changed our instructional um not necessarily our method but changed to a different instructional program um I don't
042believe that we were in a whole language environment before that so um I think the way what's important is the way that you monitor that as a board and we do that by annually reviewing New York state test scores as well as other academic metrics um including in-house uh star exams and other exams that we give in-house um so working with the administration to review all of that data to make sure that it's having an effect uh but as far as getting into the Weeds on that you got to you got to rely on the professionals and that's where Megan or Jenny would come in and make those changes as necessary thank you Tiffany could I just ask you to repeat the question sure New York state has recently mandated the use of Science of
043reading literacy curriculum in place of the previous whole language approach to literacy what are your thoughts on this shift and and why certainly thank you Nancy um I am certainly no expert um my daughter is a high school and middle school Ela teacher so she probably is um but I I am not however I have read about it I did some research on it um I've read about a couple charter schools actually in I think it's Brooklyn who were Pioneers for this and it's highly successful its research is showing that it's increasing um writing and reading in our students and again I too would rely on our experts and our experts are our Educators so that goes right back to that whole communicating with our Educators um just to make sure that we can bridge
044that Gap where we don't have the expertise and they do thank you thank you elanora um as Jim stated we have not used whole language for quite some time I think whole language approach to reading was done when I first started teaching 35 years ago I haven't seen it in quite some time the approach that you are speaking of we've implemented um for years and so it is a more it it's a holistic approach however the students are getting the phonetics the students are getting the um chunking of word they're understanding the process of reading and making them lifelong readers so yes I am in full support of this program and I know many teachers who are are already using it in the schools and are finding a great deal of success with it okay
045thank you Jim um student we're going to talk about preschool a little bit um from what I understand students wishing to participate in the Cornwall School District's prek program have been selected using a lottery system what are your thoughts regarding increasing the number of students participating in the program over the next two to three years um and would you prefer to see the program located in in one place or spread throughout the community yeah so um I'll start by answering that by saying um we have you know in my time on the board there was no Universal prek when I came on uh we started with 60 seats then we went up to 80 uh this year the budget has uh in for I think 98 seats it's not quite 100 um if the voters
046do approve the budget next Tuesday so um I am in favor of it um I think we've taken a cautious approach uh as a board as we do in most things where we we've crawled before we walked and walked before we run um number one we simply don't have the space to do it um inhouse we're we're nearly busting as the seams as it is uh number two it's actually uh a little bit cheaper to do it um with external providers at this point than it is to hire full-time staff which doesn't mean we won't go that direction in the future but that's where we are now um the reason that we've had to uh dip our toes into the water um one it's a it's another you know area where New York state will
047tell you hey we're funding it uh they give you about $5,500 a seat where a seat here and an external provider costs around 8,000 so it's not fully funded um and also we need to be mindful of private providers who've served our community for decades we don't want to put them out of business as well okay thank you Tiffany yes New York State seems to be wonderful uh at unfunded mandates um upk is an Absolut essential program it did not exist exist when my current eighth grader was in prek and I have to tell you as a working mother it was I I felt like I was spending half of my paycheck um just to pay for prek um it's absolutely necessary my understanding from watching all of the board meetings it's a good time
048you should try it um was is that the in the seats have increased for this year if you vote Yes for the budget we will have more upk seats um and then perhaps even another kindergarten teacher to support all those upk seats for the following year so um the lottery it is necessary we just if we can't fit everyone unfortunately the goal ultimately would be to fit everyone right when when the when there's a need and be able to meet that need um but as a fiduciary we need to be mindful that we can only fit so many okay thank you stud I cannot stress the importance of upk as as an educator the difference in the students who have a preschool experience as opposed to those who come to us without a preschool experience
049is tremendous uh I'm thrilled that we are adding some seats so please vote Yes on Tuesday for the budget um so that we have some more seats for our preschoolers I would love to see it in-house I know space is an issue so I'd love to see what happens in the next few years and how we handle that um I the lottery system has not has always been a thorn in my side um I know it's necessary but I feel strongly that we have families who can send their children to preschool and then we have families who cannot because they cannot afford it and sometimes those are not the students who are getting into that preschol school program and so we have children coming to us in kindergarten who've not had preschool thank you um
050that was it right you were the last feet did you go oh I'm sorry see I knew this would happen go ahead see this is where the lottery system we're all about the Dei the inclusivity you're not including everybody when when you have the lottery system and I'm on the facilities committee and we've discussed what it would cost the taxpayer roughly a month to have every kid in the upk I think it was 60 70 80 cents a month per person so there is a way to make sure there's no Lottery everyone is included all three of my kids went to preschool Hudson Highlands nature school they loved it they flourished I still have the pictures on the wall and look at it and and just remember that time it's being a great time and
051and we have to make this happen for for everyone include everyone in in the upk thank you Tiffany um some school boards across the country have become active in determining curriculum for students who do you believe should be setting curriculum for our students well Nancy I would say that the experts the Educators should always play play the largest role in setting our curriculum however there should be in my opinion I we have a visitation or visiting committee I'm sorry if I'm calling it the wrong name and it's wonderful but I've heard some feedback from some Educators that say you know when the visitation committee comes and when it's our time to speak with them we're teaching we're instructing so we don't have the opportunity to speak with the board so again it goes back to
052communication um if we had had a curriculum committee that could have an educator or two on it that could have Administration that could have a couple board members I think that that would go a long way to satisfying parents and you wouldn't just have parents coming once they hear about something at the end and coming up to the board meeting at the microphone being upset about something or feeling like there wasn't transparency if we could create that curriculum committee and work together on it relying on our our experts thank you I or thank you Nancy um I would love to say that the board would have the decision or that the teachers have the decision but ultimately it's the state that sets the curriculum so the state sets the standards determines what we will be
053teaching however it should be up to the Educators to determine how their students best learn that standard and teach it accordingly to their classes having a board although we could be involved in it certainly but having the board make that determination without the uh expertise that the that the teachers would have or the expertise about the students that are sitting in front of them and how they learn that that would not work so the it has to go to the Educators the administrators everyone has to discuss But ultimately it's the teachers that have to determine how that curriculum is taught and and what they are teaching in order to meet the standards that are set forth by the state thank you Pete can you repeat the question exactly yes some school boards across the country
054have become active in determining curriculum for students who do you believe should be set in curriculum for our students I I believe it it's it's the teachers they're the experts I'm not I'm not going to come up here and pretend I'm a teacher and leave it up to them they they know what they're they're doing and they're the experts on it and like I'd like to see things classes that kind of like more life skills like like like a financial class where you learn how to balance a checkbook you you learn about stocks bonds uh savings accounts credit cards just basic life things like things like that but uh this is the uh the teachers uh realm and obviously would have to get approved by the administration but um I leave it up to the
055teaching staff thank you Jim thank you yeah um as Elanor said you know uh a lot of things are State mandated so you have to do those no matter what um as a board a board certainly shouldn't be introducing a a curriculum and leading that charge um that would come from the insistant superintendent for Education anytime that there's going to be a curriculum change they're going to form a committee they're going to involve uh building administrators and uh Educators Department chairs and others um so there's a process that's going to be followed there um I haven't remembered all of the board policies by heart yet but I do believe uh that there is a policy that there is a vote uh on a board on on a on some level of curriculum change so sort
056of a final stamp of approval um which is you know the board's role on a lot of important issues is to just be a final check to make sure um that what the district is doing represents uh what the community wants and that's the role of the board member um is to to be that voice of the community um but certainly the board should not be coming from top down and saying hey we should introduce this new curriculum that's not the way it should work thank you the next question is for you Elanor to start do you think our district should have a dedicated gifted and talented program so when I first started working here in Cornwall we did have a gifted and talented program uh my daughter my oldest participated in it it was
057a wonderful program do I think we should continue that yes I do I feel that um we have we have multifaceted students some who require additional help some who require enrichment we cannot ignore either one so we need to support our special ed students but we also need to support those students who are Beyond where our educational system is going and we need to expand their learning so is it through a gifted talented program or is it through changing our curriculum so that within the classroom we could differentiate for our students that's something that the board should look into with the administration as well as the teachers Pete yeah I I remember when my oldest daughter was in the middle school that there was like a kaleidoscope program and the these have existed and uh
058like my colleague here said like like how special education needs support I think the top end of of of the spectrum that they should also have a gifted and talented program like there's there's colleges out there accelerated programs and business where you can you could finish in five years and and and be out there with a master's degree and we could Target programs like that and so yeah I think we should definitely try and bring it back if at all possible thank you Jim uh thank you um there there are a couple folks out in the audience who are on the board I want to say in the 2014 timeline give or take um when Cuts had to be made to the budget and that was one of the programs that they cut and uh
059those folks would tell you that they'd love to see it back I you know I can't who's going to say no we don't want to see that of course we do um it always comes down to money um sadly those programs had to be cut um it would be great to bring them back we've got a lot of other needs and we have not uh yet been able to to scratch that itch um a key thing that Elanor said is differentiation and um from what I've seen uh both with my kids experience and and being on the board is a lot of times in the Elementary classrooms uh it's not a teacher lecturing to 22 students all doing the same thing they're broken into three or four different GR groups um and through that they're
060able to you know provide some more challenging reading materials for those uh who need it and give a little more help to those who need it in different groups so uh that's certainly one way to help bridge that Gap from having a dedicated program thank you Tiffany so I believe we have an obligation to meet the student where they're at so yes uh gifted and talented or whatever it would be called um I'm not certain if that that name would stand up up into in 2024 nonetheless the program itself um my my own child wasn't able to um get into accelerated courses until the seventh grade so yes I would like there to be something um Jim previously mentioned external partners that we use for upk perhaps that's something that we could look into um
061for cost-saving measures um and I would also as I we say about meeting the student where they're at I would also love to see um co- teing at the elementary level so we can support those students with extra needs um at that level as well and not just resorting to special ed and not that it's not wonderful and it's not necessary but not every student needs that some students um Can thrive in a co- teer environment which I believe is not available till the fifth grade thank you um the next question Pete is can you discuss a time when you experienced a conflict with a colleague or coworker or peer and how did you resolve that conflict this is a great question like an interview question a real job well at the end you'll get
062a job when when when you're a fireman and you're working 24 hours with uh 10 other guys and there's obviously going to be issues that arise everyone has different personalities different ways they go about things so you need to gauge how people are and their Tendencies and ultimately if something does go Ary and there is an issue grown adults you have to communicate you you have to talk it out you know why did you see it this way that you feel it that this is what you thought was right and I'll tell you my side and let's come to a compromise and uh and then once we come to that let's just put this behind us and and move forward and so you just have to communicate with people and and that's how I feel
063okay thank you Jim thank you um yeah so I'll kind of revert to a previous answer I said um that uh a big part of the board is working towards consensus um and a lot of um what um two or three people here will realize as they gain a new seat on the board is that um you'll have a lot of ideas and you'll come in and charging and you want to think that you can accomplish everything and it turns out that you're one voice out of nine uh and that can be frustrating uh but it's also uh a built-in part of the system in that you know change is supposed to be slow you're supposed to be uh turning uh you know turning an oil tanker and not turning a speedboat right you're supposed
064to to take things slow and do them deliberately um so learning learning how to work with your other board members and to drive consensus and to be a part of consensus um is a really important job uh really important part of being a board member and uh really important part of how a board functions uh to serve the community thank you Tiffany so um my husband is a leadership expert of sorts and has given many many speeches and Keynotes about it and one of the first things he taught me was it's hard to hate up close meaning when you have a face-to-face conversation with another person you will usually find out that you're not that far apart that you can find Common Ground um it goes back to consensus and compromise like Jim was mentioning
065active listening take a breath listen to the other person and hear what they have to say find that Common Ground um as the secretary to the Board of Trustees and my current job and adviser to several other boards I understand how boards work and what needs to be done in order to accomplish and achieve a goal thank you thank you elanora thank you uh as I look out into the audience there are many of my former colleagues sitting out there and when you work with people you are going to disagree on things and as they know we have had dis dis agreements but the key is active listening you must listen to each other and you need to feel heard now conflict doesn't just occur adult to adult as a teacher you have conflict in
066your classroom you and a student may not see eye to eye again the student needs to feel heard I need to feel heard there has to be a a me a middle ground where you can both come to a cons ensus it's not about right or wrong it's about coming to a decision that you're both comfortable with thank you Jim what should the district do to recruit and retain the next generation of diverse and talented staff both teachers and and other staff members so to retain uh diverse and talented staff I think it really starts um with where we're at in terms of being an excellent District uh being a well-regarded district um certainly we have you know the proof is in the pudding as they say um when we have a job application we
067typically get hundreds of applicants um for uh for role for teaching roles and other roles um people move into this District uh we've seen a surge of enrollments the last two years for kindergarten over the summer before kindergarten I might have a light kindergarten class this year you get 20 30 new enrollments over the summer um so it's a it's a desirable School District uh because of the students that we turn out and the staff that we have and the community that we have um so it's important just to keep that train rolling um in terms of hiring uh diverse staff uh I think that's always a goal is you want to have uh diversity of experiences diversity of opinions and um you know Mr Dade has done a great job of of starting programs
068this year to recruit in different areas that we typically do to bring in a more diverse staff thank you Tiffany thank you yes um Mr Dade has um taken the initiative to recruit and hire a more diverse population I commend that um it's sometimes as basic as where are you um advertising um what language are you using in your job posting being mindful of all of these things I also think it's really important we have a commitment to hire the highest quality educator and staff person that we are uh that we can find and again it goes to relying on the experts so if the department chair of you know math says this is the candidate that I want and this is the best person for the job uh nine times out of 10 that's
069going to be the person that gets my vote to get the job um I don't want to settle I don't want to be Pennywise and pound foolish um yes we have a fiscal responsibility but it it it's where we um advertise how we advertise and selecting the very best thank you elanora when I was hired in this school district it was one position and there were 375 resumés that Melanie Robinson needed needed to go through fast forward to today and there are three applicants for an enl position that we haven't been able to fill I feel that the issue we are having is that our contract is not competitive that teachers are going to other districts so in order to get a qualified diverse staff we must have a competitive contract to attract those qualified
070and diverse teachers that we keep talking about wanting to get into our district thank you Pete no please hold your applause to the end of the event please hold your applause until the end of the event this is uh I'm really glad this question came up as a civil servant I went through five contracts with the FDNY so I know about Union bargaining and all of this is public information what the teachers here got their contract you can go on see through New York and look it up you could even see people who signed the documents in the negotiations Cornwall took a z% increase from July 1st 21 to January 31st 22 a a zero raise no compensation increase then 2% 2% 2% 2% the government measures inflation with uh the CPI index it's running
0713.5 3.56% year on year this contract's not even keeping up with inflation and we are going to have a crisis here getting good teachers and it's happening like she said you you only have three people and there used to be hundreds and last thing I want to say though the 0% increase it it's devastating to to someone because these every year these steps compound so you're compounding offer of zero I'm going to ask you to hold off on that maybe add it to the end another question thank you Tiffany according to the latest state survey cornwall's parental satisfaction rate with special education is below the state average and it's not the first time why do you think this is and what would you do to improve it well I touched upon this already um I
072we have to meet all students where they are not to sound completely redundant but it's it's very important and I I truly believe that you know we have high AIS numbers um from what I'm understanding please correct me if I'm wrong um but again going back to that co- te um opportunity that I feel like we're missing in elementary school it it helps you know whether you have an IEP a 504 whatever whatever your needs are the needs of that student would be better served with a co- te environment in my humble opinion again I'm not a teacher I'm not an expert but I listen and I research and um I I think that that would help a lot of our situations with special ed and our special ed teachers being overwhelmed thank you elanora
073special education is an extremely important part of our school district and sadly um we we are short changing it because of the number of students that are that are need to be serviced for example my classroom was always the inclusion classroom which meant I had the regular ed students and the students with IEP are 504 your class size was still 27 students so it was very difficult although we did it you had you had to differentiate for each of the students in your class regardless of where they were so what do we need to do we need to have programs for these special education students we need to support the teachers we need to support the resource room teachers the special education teachers the regular education teachers everyone who is working with these students need
074to have the support of administration need to have the financial support in order to have the proper supplies to do their job properly thank you Pete along those lines I feel that this area maybe it's a money issue this needs more funding that to to get the supports and and and get the staff to training on the social and emotional and like I I feel the numbers are even worse than than than that are advertised out there you don't hear about the people that are denied the IEP or the 504 you don't that's not even baked into the equation so I I don't know if the law firm that we have had here for 20 years is uh is doing a service to our csse committee members but um if I get elected this is
075going to be an area that I'm going to dig deep on and we're we're going to have to make it better when I moved here in 2006 a person that was showing me around said that this is a great School District if your kids play sports check the boxes but if you need supports you might not want to move here and that that's that's that's devastating and I find it sad thank you Jim thank you um vitally important question very challenging issue the board um the district the community we all want to support every student that we have in our district um I would say that we have definitely in my time on the board made strides and improvements in this area um early on in my service um we were settling lawsuits from folks
076that were suing the district um you know from years ago for not getting uh the proper treatment um we have made improvements in that area um we follow you know all state mandates and guidelines but there's always room to do better as a board this year we requested and received from the administration uh presentation on this issue uh we were given the ability to ask several questions and those were answered uh but there's still more work and more um as Pete said more Deep dive to be done to see how can we make this better and make every student in our district uh supported and ready to learn thank you I'm going to just stop for a minute we're going to give you a minute to breathe and I want to ask everybody to just
077take out your cell phone look at it and make sure it's on silent or do not disturb nobody's moving just look at your cell phone you're looking at it already look at it and make sure that it's on do not disturb or silence please we're about more than halfway through so it's great everybody did that okay thank you Elanor what is the best way to measure the success and failures of the School District your students 100% your students if your students are successful you have a success a successful School District if your teachers are happy you have a successful School District if your staff is happy you're clerical you're custodial everyone most importantly however are the students if your students are succeeding then you've done your job thank you peace repat repeat the question what
078is the best way to measure the success and failures of the school district I agree with Elanor the the students exactly how when they graduate what was that what was their experience like did do they feel they're ready for college the real world and and also the families too you know how did the families feel the experience was and uh were they happy with how their kids' education went and the grades they got and do they feel that their child is prepared for the real world and so yeah the students and the families uh absolutely thank you Jim yeah simply put it's the students right I I mean that's there's no other answer is how you measure the Su success of the district um in that measurement we are um very successful uh we graduate
079you know 98 99% of our students uh the best majority of those go on to colleges uh some of them you know very competitive colleges uh we also have you know contingent that goes on to military service uh which we certainly um applaud them for their service and their efforts um and we have a good contingent um that's involved in the Bose program and and goes on to vocations um and it's great that we uh can serve all of those students so so um you know the model of the district is driving for excellence every day there's always room to be better but the measure is the students and are we preparing them uh for life when they leave our doors thank you Tiffany so my very opening statement and I think a couple times
080since then I mentioned that students come first and I it this is where it does stink to be the last person because you sound like you're repeating what other people said but I will also go a step further and say um I I promise to always make ined and thoughtful decisions I said that to you once already and that means being data informed right it also means looking at your measurables so again who is Happy who's not what are our test scores what are our um graduation rates they're all great and striving for excellence every day but part of that is looking at your deficiencies and where you can improve so you just can't strive for excellence by status quo because that's the way we've done it or we're going to continue to do it
081this way we have to look where our deficiencies are and assess them and address them and try to improve them wherever we can thank you Peter what do you believe are the core issues that a school board should be involved in addressing what are the boundaries between a school board member's job and that of a superintendent and Educators uh the school board is is basically the bridge from for the the public and the students and the taxpayer concerns we represent the people that vote for us so it's our job to bring to the administration the superintendent the concerns of the public of the students the families so the board is kind of like that that bridge between Administration and and the the students and families and it's our role to to support the families and
082and and keep our promises that that we said we want to accomplish if you voted for me or anyone so the board is kind of like the liaison thank you Jim thank you um there's three main areas uh that the board legally has responsibility over um that's to set policy so the board uh approves and sets all the policies for the district it's the administration's uh responsibility to carry those policies out uh number two is to approve a budget every year which then is presented uh to the voters for ultimate approval the voters are the ones who um tell us our budget is okay but to set that budget for voter approval um and then number three is to hire and fire the superintendent um so those are really the legal areas where we have
083perview um certainly the most visible you know day-to-day year and year out task that we do is set that budget um and that's you know where it's very important as Pete said to breed that bridge to the community and make sure that we're communicating with them what the priorities are uh that we're carrying out um in our annual budget to you know keep the school district rolling thank you Tiffany thank you um yes the the primary roles of the board legally are what exactly what Jim stated that they are and the budget as as the board being the fiduciary of the district it's a tremendous responsibility so if you look at that in a broader sense we are the elected representatives of the community so we do have the responsibility and the honor of being
084your voice so you have the ultimate say when you vote for the budget but guess what if you vote no there's a three plus week turnaround where it the administr and the board need to scramble and and have plan B so um ultimately it rests on the shoulders of the board and administration of course um and that goes for the policy portion of our responsibility as well we are the voice of the community we are your elected representatives to your board and for my personal opinion though maybe it's not our legal obligation is to be that uh bridge to communication thank you thank you thank you as stated we have three main legal obligations the budget policy and the superintendent but I feel as a board we have the responsibility of being your voice we
085are the ones who must be transparent with you and let you know what's happening we I feel our biggest job however is to make sure that the administration is instituting the policies that we are voting on so it's not just about creating the policy creating the budget but it's also about making sure that it is being done properly the funds are being allocated to where they're supposed to be going and that the policies are being followed as stated thank you Jim we talked a little bit about cutting the budget uh before now this might be a little easier if if the school district had a financial windfall what would be the top three programs that you would want to implement uh if we had a financial windfall so I'm going to ask you first is
086this one time money recurring I knew you were going to ask is it one time money or is it recurring never going away because if it's onetime money we're going to spend it on facilities if it's recurring uh we're going to hire new staff so um you know what areas of Staff do we need to hire I'd have have to go and pull out my list um uh the staff that we're adding this year in the budget um our high school business teacher um an elementary educator to uh reduce class sizes in the early Elementary level um I know that we need more staff in guidance uh we certainly need more enl staff and that's a very difficult uh position to find as as Elenor pointed out um so guidance um early intervention NL I
087guess those would probably be the top three areas but again I would lean on the administration for that thank you Tiffany wow windfall so after we got the Unicorn then I would um I I've heard that we have some issues with our infrastructure and with our buildings that that need some major improvements um everything costs so much money as as we all know um we've talked about inflation um our facilities also it would be a major um draw for me um also contract and contract um making Cornwall more competitive to get the best teachers that we can get and also to increase the pay for our existing Educators and staff um and then to bring those programs in like the gifted and talented or whatever we renamed it and uh our special ed and co-
088teing um opportunities and um all of the PK seats that we could possibly fill I mean we're talking about a windfall we might as well go big thank you Elanor thank you um if we had a windfall we have to take care of the buildings um we have many things that are falling apart we had things that were in the capital project that we ran out of money to fix you know the the staff bathrooms at the middle school which were in the the capital project money and they are not done student bathrooms were done so certainly being able to fix all of the things that need to be fixed we have a gym floor in one of the buildings that is you know has a hole in it so yes facilities for sure would
089be a priority um class size we keep we keep talking about someone mentioned AIS um yes it's wonderful to have the AIS and the resource room and all of those programs but if you make a class size smaller the teachers can now pinpoint what needs to be done for their students we have classes that uh you know in the elementary school that have 30 students in it so I believe that that would be it and then yes gifted and talented and special thank you Pete this is a a fun question because you could really do a lot with a lot of money and being on the facilities committee we are bursting at the seams our schools we're we're within 5% of an increase in enrollment at being at Max Capacity so I I'd want to
090build another Elementary School we need storage so badly like the Middle School cafeteria a third of it is taken up with with the lacrosse the softball the baseball bags so definitely a lot of money into the facilities and I don't know about your kids but my daughter is carrying around in the Middle School a 70 lb backpack like it's incredible that they're not going to a locker and putting some of these books in and they need a couple more minutes or whatever or the lockers are too small but when I was in high school I used my locker so we need to put Lockers in these schools and and and of course teacher contract would be where I I want a lot more money to go to because they're the pillar of the district and
091we need to retain them and and get great talent to come here thank you so speaking of that um during the 2425 school year the school board will be negotiating with um The District's three of the district's bargaining units as a member of the Board of Education how will you ensure that fair settlements are reached before the expiration of these contracts s on June 30th 2025 including pair Fair pay for all union members including par professionals nurses and teachers alike Tiffany that's you um I actually love this question because I have significant experience in contract negotiation um cssea bargaining non- bargaining um I also have tremendous experience in dispute resolution uh with um unions um um I it's it has to be fair and balanced so in other words you have to work on it
092in a timely fashion so it's not okay here's your proposal now I'm going to go sit on it for a month and then I'm going to come back to you with my proposal and then you're going to sit on it for another three weeks and that's how we have gotten ourselves one of the reasons we have gotten ourselves into the situation where teachers where Educators and and staff and and and the three unions have gone without contracts for some time um we make it a priority right anything that we prioritize in life we we can accomplish and I'm not trying to make it minimize it and make it sound like it happens like that I understand that it doesn't and there's many considerations but I think that it can and should be done and I
093certainly will advocate for it thank you elanora thanks so I was on the last negotiation committee when we negotiated the contract we have um we have three unions who are negotiating this year for a fair contract my biggest point that I need to make as a board member if I am elected is that every single person who works for this school district is equally as important there is no one more important than anyone else so when we're negotiating contracts the contract should be negotiated fairly when you're negotiating an administrative contract it should be dealt the same way as when you negotiate a teacher contract or the custodial staff or the clerical we need to make sure that our staff is being treated fairly and equally thank you Peter I just think that we we're going
094to have a problem in in two three four five years from now getting high quality teaching candidates to come here if if we don't don't have a better starting salary and uh 2% is it's not terrible but it's not great but what was alarming to me in my research is the 0% for the seven months that when you retire your last threeyear average when you have your 30 years is your your final average salary is based on the best average of your last three years up to 30 so those people that got out under this contract they didn't get any retro pay or a bump in their numbers so every month till the day they die they they're they're taking home less money than they should have and we need to up it this contract
095and New York City is paying retention bonuses $400 24 you get 72 5 a th000 in in 2026 top Pay Teachers now in New York City 150k for the first time I'm just saying we are going to lose teachers okay we have to do better thank you Jim teachers are a vital part of our school district teachers are who we entrust our children with every day uh to import knowledge on them uh not just book knowledge not just learning but you know uh life lessons right very valued asset to our community I don't think anybody from the administration to the board to the teachers union is pleased with the way that the last negotiation happened um I'm not going to sit up here and rehash the past other than to say I don't think that
096any party is Happy how that happened um I think there were some compounding um or confounding factors uh certainly covid was still an issue at that time and people weren't able to meet face to face uh that presented a lot of challenges um we have an Administration now who has been here longer has had time to build relationships uh and I'm very confident that lessons have been learned by everybody and that this contract negotiation will go much more smoothly than last time and that everybody in the end will feel um that it was a good process and and come out feeling as valued as they are thank you Elanor Board of Education members are often confronted with complaints or concerns from parents and community members how will you handle these thank you well this is
097a great question because as a teacher we often have to deal with some complaints and concerns from our community and from our parents and I think the biggest um the biggest thing that I've learned over the years is listening so when a parent or a Community member in this instance would have a concern we have to listen to their concern we don't minimize what their concern is even though it may seem something small that we are dealing with in comparison with you know infrastructure you have to listen we have to listen to the community because we are representing the community we are here as your voice um so it's very important to have these conversations to allow yourself to be available for it as well you can't close yourself off in other words door needs
098to be open please come tell me anything that you need to tell me and hopefully we can address it at the board of ed meeting thank you Pete well I'm recently retired and I have time to sit with people I did a little video on my Facebook if you you want to DM me call me I'll come to your house you can come to mine I'll meet you at two Alice's whatever you want to do I love talking to people and and hearing what their concerns are and if you're elected it's your job to to hear these people's concerns that's why they voted for you so once I sit with someone I enjoy people and I'm going to get your concern and we're going to bring it through the proper channels and and make sure
099it's addressed and and and try and satisfy people's their needs and and why they're coming to me so and I still stand by that you you can send me a DM after this meeting I'll I'll meet you tomorrow thank you p Jim thank you um so sort of a two track answer one is uh if we're dealing with an individual student or an individual uh case it's very important to let um the parent or Community member know you know hey this is out of my purview you've got to go through the proper channels you've got to start teacher to building administrator to Central Administration you've got to work your way up that chain right um it's very important to not be a board member and say I'm going to come in and fix you know
100this one student's problem that's just not the role um and it's not the way it happens uh when it comes to broader concerns uh when it comes to facilities when it comes to programs when it comes to spending that's where the board is the face of the community um it's a factual answer uh you would bring that to the administration um and have them provide that answer if it's a broader question um it should be bought up in a in a board meeting and bought up uh in the public eye so the issue can be debate debated and discussed and uh a solution found for it hopefully thank you Tiffany um I'll agree active listening so you can't guide someone in the right direction if you don't know what their issue is um I'm a
101lawyer I I solve and resolve people's problems for a living um it's it's just one of the things that I do um I also understand furpa so as soon as you say that question that's what pops up in my my head because some things you're not allowed to talk about if it's an individual as as Jim had mentioned um so guiding people to the right person that can help them and hearing the broader Community concerns they're two different issues but I'm happy to listen thank you the last question is is there a book an article a TV show or a movie something that uh has influenced your thinking about education are there lessons that you've drawn from it and would apply to education in the district and I believe Peter that's you Pete that's you
102start um I I watch a lot of business like news and CNBC Bloomberg and and uh I I just feel like like we could have a lot of uh like skills with with basic life like like I was saying before like classes with uh where you learn how to balance a checking statement or you can learn about the stock market bonds retirement accounts and just a kid could learn how to open up a credit card and just start getting gas and build their credit as as they're teenagers and they have their first jobs and so I just like to see like more like like more life skill type classes if possible like imp implemented because uh it's valuable to know things like that thank you Jim I got to say you got me with the
103curveball here I wasn't prepared for this one um you know ultimately um I've said it a few times before and it's it's come across from other candidates up here you know it's not just teaching the lesson but it's making sure that um the student is ready and receptive to learn that lesson and making sure that they're prepared to accept that information uh so if we can go with an older movie we'll go with uh Stand and Deliver we'll go back to the 80s here um where where you know he's he's teaching uh calculus to to Inner City youth in California just you know really sort of highlights that concept of how first you have to have that trust and that respect and that connection uh with your students and that's where teachers are really magicians
104uh to be able to do that and make that connection and and make sure their children are ready to learn uh before they can start uh imparting you know the lesson in the curriculum as it is thank you Tiffany yes so I normally quote like Seinfeld or the office and I don't feel like either of those are appropriate to answer this question but I have read many books and sat in on many seminars and attended many conferences because prior to my current role in higher education I was the dean of the School of Business so I've read you know the Dei books in fact one of my faculty wrote two of them um that I that I I read um the approach to education is again in my opinion support putting students first supporting Educators
105supporting staff and in the to the best of your ability um in a fiscally responsible way providing as many resources as you possibly can thank you Elanor can I say One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest it's been a long night um as an elementary teacher of course the first book that popped into my head was thank you Mr fauler by Patricia palaco and it is an amazing story because we're talking about Dei and diversity and accepting students uh for all that they are and that the story is about the author Patricia who was dyslexic and no one knew so it was an autobiography that she pretty much wrote for herself and this one teacher that saw that she felt she was stupid and called herself that and the teacher saw that and it was not
106that and was able able to address her needs and so I think as Educators and as a board that will be working with the Educators and the administrators our biggest hurdle our biggest job is to make sure that those students every student feels that they can accomplish what they want to accomplish and be who they want to be and it's a beautiful story if you've never read it you should go read it thank you okay so now we're going to go into our closing statements um Jim you started you would be next to go first but you started so we're going to skip over you and Tiffany is going to start um as part of your closing statement if you can include why you think you are the best person to lead the Cornwall City
107Cornwall City uh Cornwall School District uh into the future please um include that if you would certainly um I don't normally like to give myself accolades or or praise in any way um I don't normally find it appealing in people but since you asked um I would ask that you vote for me on May 21st um and for yes for the budget um I I have the experience I I I have strategic planning I have strategic resource allocation I have Union negotiation I have uh furpa compliance um board advisement um I I have education experience I've been teaching undergrads for 10 years um like I said I was I was a business Dean um and again more importantly because I believe in transparency I believe in open communication I believe in our students our Educators
108our staff I believe in Cornwall um you know I've given a lot of my time um to various organizations around um Cornwall I told you girls on the run the food bank um the youth committee um I believe in partnering um strategically I believe in using the resources that you have at hand um and I'm just committed I'm committed I still have a a child in the district have some grads as I've mentioned and my husband and I are are truly committed to Cornwall and the Cornwall School District thank you Elanor so I feel that uh I would be a wonderful board member and I would love for you to vote for me and definitely vote Yes for the budget but I feel that my experience not only in as a teacher um as an
109accountant but I have wealth of experience with curriculum um I also served as a union representative within our school district so I have that experience as well with negotiation but more importantly I'm trustworthy I'm transparent um what you see is what you get if you attended any of the board meetings previously I was there and um will speak up when I feel that something is not going the way it should be going um so for sure you can definitely trust that I will be honest I will be as a transparent as can be and I feel that I do have the experience to serve on the board of education thank you Peter Well I think you could see that I'm I'm kind of just a straight shooter I I I tell it like it is
110I'm passionate about my beliefs and and things that I think can improve the Cornwall school district for the students and the families and the teachers um if if I'm elected like Jim was saying before there's nine board members you need to to get everyone to communicate and work together I feel that the job I had for 20 plus years is that's that's all we did is how you get along with different personalities and mesh with different people and and uh and I have skin in the the game here I have three kids here there none of them have graduated yet and you know of course I want them to have the best possible education and um like I said I I'm I'm retired this would be my full-time job and I enjoy helping people and
111trying to do what's what's the best for people and if you voted for me I I could sure I'll bring my passion for you into the boardroom and I I will do my very best for the people here and for the students and families thank you Jim thank you um I'll start real briefly with a with a tactical answer rather than a big picture answer because we we touched on facilities a little bit tonight but we didn't really dig into it I've been on the facilities committee for three years uh we have a lot of needs um our facilities committee chairperson um is not running for reelection so if nothing else you should vote for me just to chair that committee next year because um I deeply understand those issues having been on that committee
112um we've passed a $23 million Capital project we have 3 million of 5 million in our next capital reserve saved and we're going to coming out with an Capital project in the next couple years and it's vitally important from a big picture perspective um I'm a longtime resident uh I moved away and I I chose to move back here um to raise my children here um imported my wife you know said this is a great place to to to raise children uh this is a great I had a great childhood growing up and uh our kids should be afforded the same uh I understand this community and you know really what you see is what you get if you're in this room and you're watching this on YouTube um you know go watch some old
113board meetings if maybe if you have insomnia watch them all board meetings but if you if you're watching this you've watched some of the board meetings um you've seen what I'm going to bring to the table you know trust your eyes you're going to get Common Sense levelheaded leadership um who has the trust of his fellow board members uh to continue driving this District forward thank you thank you okay so on behalf of the Cornwall PTO trust I'd like to thank you for for joining us tonight I'd like to thank all of our candidates um please vote in this election which is on May 21st and in every election good night thank you thank you very much for