001good evening everyone welcome to the Boulder Valley School District candidate Forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Boulder County my name is Elizabeth Crow I'm proud to be a member of the league and very pleased to serve as a moderator for the Forum this evening the League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization for over 100 years we have encouraged informed and active participation in government and influenced public policy through education and advocacy to remain nonpartisan the league never supports or opposes political candidates or parties also sponsoring The Forum this evening are the Boulder Valley District Parent Council and impact on Education Foundation and I'll just say just a word about these two organizations The District Parent council is made up of one representative from each School in the district they meet
002once per month during the school year with the superintendent to discuss and examine timely and relevant topics that affect students in schools of bbsd the meetings are open to the public and the public is encouraged to attend impact on education supports nearly 30,000 students and 4,000 Educators in the Boulder Valley School District with Community funding and resources to meet critical needs and eliminate opportunity gaps we so appreciate the staff and volunteers with these two organizations for all of your work planning and doing Outreach for the Forum this evening and of course for the work that you do every day to serve students families and staff and now on to the Forum for the November 7 20 20 23 municipal election voters will be asked to fill four seats on the bbsd board of education the
003board of education is made up of seven elected volunteers representing seven Geographic areas and of our of our community voters will cast votes for a director in each open seat for districts a c d and g candidates must live in the director District in which they run but they do run at large the format for today's far Forum will be as follows each candidate will have one minute for an opening statement we will then begin with questions that have been submitted electronically online to the league by the community and then by tonight's audience as well audience members May submit questions by writing them on index cards available from our volunteers thank you volunteers questions will be received by our volunteer screeners sitting over here for clarity and may combine some several similar questions into one
004question on that topic we will try to ask the candidates as many questions as time permits so we request that you submit your questions as soon as possible and we will share any questions not asked this evening with all of the candidates so you can see what's on voters Minds for most questions each candidate will have up to one minute and I realize that is a very short period of time but we want to get as many issues out on the table as possible however it may expand the time as necessary to um for you to answer depending on the question for our audience members please refrain from clapping booing or otherwise showing your approval or disapproval of any response this is actually distracting uh for others who want to focus on candidates answers and
005make may cause delays thank you all in advance for respecting the candidates and the space we are hosting this evening to prepare voters this forum is being recorded for live streaming and broadcast on channel 22 and will be available in both English and Spanish the candidates are seated in the order they will appear on the general election ballot and now we'll start with opening statements for opening statements again you will have one minute and please pay attention to our timekeepers in in the front center here and we will begin with District a candidate anger go ahead please okay good evening everyone thank you for hosting us uh thanks to the League of Women Voters and impact and the District Parent Council it's really wonderful to be here tonight great to be here with my colleagues
006as well um I spent uh 25 years working to improve public education uh for all kids I started off as a teacher fourth grade teacher in Compton California and it was a transformational experience for me I saw firsthand the inequities the challenges of our public school system I went to an excellent public school system and the school I taught in I started I had 40 kids and 20 desks and 10 sets of textbooks we had no playground no art program nothing uh to speak of um but it changed my career and changed uh the direction of my life uh and as I said I've spent 25 years working to improve education I've been a school administrator I spent a Dozen Years working in the United States Senate to improve federal education law and policy uh
007and now I'm a a parent of three kids two in bbsd uh one who will be in the district uh she's only three she'll be here for a very long time uh I'm a volunteer at the school I've served on our sac and I want to bring those experiences to uh to the to the school board to help address the challenges we face thank you thank you candidate Fishman thank you and thanks to all of you for attending tonight um my name is Neil Fishman my gender pronouns are he and him and I'm the product of the public schools I went K through 12 and my undergraduate and graduate degrees are in geology from CU so I'm an Ardent supporter of the public schools my daughter is also a graduate of bbsd and so I've
008learned a lot as a parent at all levels from elementary through High School of what it's like to be involved with uh uh bbsd um I also have worked for decades at the local level on social justice issues and I would bring a lot of those kinds of connections and involvements and and successes um in some of the work that I've done to a position on the board um I I have 15 seconds left so I just want to say again my name is Neil Fishman and my gender pronouns are he and him and I'm in District a thank you candidate stel hello uh thank you all for being being here thanks to bbsd and the League of Women Voters for hosting this and for everyone online who submitted questions my name is Andrew stevil
009I'm running in District C uh I grew up originally in Minnesota uh went through public education from kindergarten through High School uh my mom was a teacher so I understand firsthand the value of public education and quality teachers and what role they can really play I've been uh living in the Boulder Valley School District for the past 24 years I have two kids who are currently enrolled in Monarch High School um they've been in bbsd from kindergarten now all the way my daughter is a senior I have a son who's a freshman um so I've been actively involved with their education uh in bbsd as well uh I came to Colorado uh for graduate school at the University of Colorado where I got my degree in astrophysics planetar and atmospheric sciences a PhD and a
010master's degree um I an astronomer a planetary Scientist by professional training and my sort of top reasons for running are kids mental health their safety both physical and emotional and uh making sure we have Equity amongst the various schools in our very broad um diverse District thank you candidate medler hi my name is Alex medler I'm running in District C uh thank you very much for this opportunity tonight um I've lived in uh Boulder since 1992 uh my two kids now 21 and 22 uh went through the schools in the table Mason neighborhood um I'm a passionate supporter of public education and I have spent three decades working on issues of children's policy including oversight of public schools trying to promote School quality and equity for students my orientation is very much oriented towards serving
011all students and promoting social justice I myself am one of those kids who didn't uh speak till three or read till the end of the second beginning of third grade so I'm heightened to the issues of students with disabilities and their parents I'm running because I want to support uh rigorous great content and challenging uh education for all students um I also want to prepare them for life after school I care a lot about mental health student well-being and sense of belonging and I think we need to make some progress there and I also want to continue the efforts the district started to make on student Equity including investing in our students in our schools that need more support thank you candidate neson good evening my name is Cynthia neson um I have two children
012in high school at bbsd and I have a PhD from Stanford University and work as a research scientist and I'm running as a concerned mom who worked part-time as a bbsd classroom monitor in 2021 and saw firsthand how coid era policies in my opinion did not adequately balance children's overall mental and physical health needs um as a result of coid and other factors excuse me um confidence in public schools is eroding Nationwide and in bbsd only 89% of the available student pool showed up in kindergarten last year and that's a six% drop from the historic Norm um so and I've had many conversations with parents that suggest that many are not um have misgivings about the direction that public schools are heading so I'm running in in the hopes of bringing more diversity of thought
013to the public schools while also serving all children and um putting their needs first thank you thank you candidate brand uh good evening everyone I'm Andrew Brandt uh I've lived in Boulder for 15 years and have two children who attend school in the district uh and have been here this entire time um I started my career as an investigative journalist and covered consumer uh advocacy and privacy and security issues while I was a journalist I then switched careers Midstream and got into the computer security industry where I today work as a professional hacker uh helping protect people from computer criminals um Mohawk excuse me what was the question sorry um it's okay keep going so um I I wanted to talk a little bit about uh how that affects why I wanted to run for
014the school district um my concerns are to protect people this is how I have spent my entire career uh and I believe that the schools need someone who will fight for children and be uh out there to come up with creative and innovative solutions to the uh the impending problems of uh the decline in student enrollment issues with discipline and issues with the budget thank you thank you candidate quinland AA hi my name is lenia quinland AA and I'm running along with Andrew in in uh District D I went to bbsd myself and I graduated in 1990 I have three kids who have been through our district I've spent six years teaching sex assault prevention as a volunteer in our schools for Blue Sky bridge and Mesa I currently serve on our Title 9 advisory
015Council here at bbsd I am the best practices subcommittee chair I also uh do restorative justice circles for our da Michael dhy and I am running because when I graduated from bbsd I had the skills I needed for launch and while this is a different time kids still need those skills and um I'm here to support kids having rigorous academics and the safety they need thank you thank you candidate pasara melli hello everyone thank you for being here my name is Anil pelli and I'm uh running from District G I'm a software engineer by profession and I have a engineering master's degree in chemical engineering and an MBA from University of Iowa as a uh day job I solve problems and uh my interest for um pvsd is to create importance for um stem programs
016also expand career uh oriented programs which Boulder Tech offers and um fiscal responsibility of uh the money that is being used in the uh bbsd so I am a member of the community Bond oversight committee that is um one of the contribution that I'm doing for it thank you thank you candidate Lord good evening my name is Stuart Lord and I'm running for school board because I believe bbsd is too good not to be better I'm running to enhance diversity in our education and divers diversity in the representation of our board members when I look at the diversity on the board I was shocked that we had a lack of diversity and therefore I felt compelled to run I also represent African-American families who feel that they are underrepresented in this district and I pledge
017to fight for the disabil students with disabilities Mountain students in the mountain communities Latino students technology bilingual education and I bring over 30 years of experience in and higher education and also placing students in schools I have also raised $150 million to support educational initiatives and through a summer program for free and reduced lunch over 800 students are now in college today I bring a commitment to serve this district and represent all students BBA bbsd is too good not to be better thank you thank you and candidate Chavez good evening it's an honor to be here with you this evening um my name is H Chavez and I'm running for district G um I'm a parent of three students in bbsd and uh I'm also a professor in the school of education human development at
018CU Denver um and I believe that school is transformational uh public education is transformational um and I can speak to that because it had transformed my life I came to the US at 5 years old from Guatemala and could not speak a word of English and I benefit from our public education I was in ESL till I was 10 years old I had carrying teachers and they were well resourced um because of that I've been a volunteer in bbsd since moving here in 2018 um first at my school level in the PTA and the sac and then more recently on the Latino pent advisory Council I'm family Educators together and the district accountability committee I've been chairing that for the last two years and I'm presly the vice chair um so I've got to know
019our families I've got to know our teachers I've got to know our Administration and our district and it requires knowing this District well to help it get better thank you thank you all for those opening statements for the first question uh we will begin with District a candidate fishmen and the question is this bbsd students are quite diverse by gender identity students of color students who are children of immigrants please share with us one example of how you feel bbsd is practicing equity and inclusivity and one example of how you would help the district improve in this area thank you for that question as a gay man I bring a voice of diversity um as well as different life experiences to the table and I think that I represent actually a portion of the diverse
020student population here at bbsd I want to be able to ensure that kids see not just in their school materials but also at the board table the diversity that we seek for them um but present in a variety of ways including present at board meetings and making decisions about um the diversity that we would like to have and to make school safe and welcoming for all kids regardless of their sexual orientation gender identity and gender expression thank you candidate stel uh thank you that's an excellent question uh as you point out bbsd is tremendously diverse both in uh Geographic areas as well as socioeconomic religious opinions U you know race Etc um one thing I think bvsd has done well on the equity front uh is that we received additional munding from uh funding from
021the federal government um as part of the coid Relief act and in doing that we came up with a differentiated funding model where we looked at what schools are really in use uh really in need of this extra funding where we can boost performance and as a result of that um we had you know some of our worst performing schools really lifted in there their performance and it really I think goes to show the success of that particular program um and I would like to continue that if elected to the school board and see if we can do that in a sustainable way as far as what can be improved I think um having uh Schoolboard meetings like this would be really useful uh throughout the district not just held here at the district offices
022but also up in our Mountain communities and in several of the communities around uh the district so that others can attend more easily and we can hear from uh the population of the district thank you thank you candidate Med thank you um I'd like to speak to uh students with disabilities in the district um also a parent of of kids who had um IEPs and 504 plans in my day job I worked to make sure that in all forms of public school choice in Colorado students with disabilities don't face discrimination and I was proud that we uh achieved a win so that now in Colorado no one can ask about a student's disability status prior to enrolling them in a when they exercise school choice Boulder Valley was a quick adopter of that and they
023quickly changed our open enrollment policy to comply with the new state rules and I'm I'm proud of contributed to that I think though it's not enough just to ensure that people get in the door you actually have to make sure that the schools are responsive and effective and a good a good place for all the kids and I I support inclusive policies for students with disabilities I believe every public school should be good at serving nine out of 10 kids with an IEP and it's just a matter of being a good public school and we can we have more to do in that regard thank you candidate Nev yeah um I'll also focus on students with disabilities and I think uh bbsd has done a good job um introducing earlier screening for students of Dyslexia
024who are about as much as 12 of 12 to 20% of the population and um I think we have early screening now uh in first grade and um that should probably be pushed back to kindergarten if possible um and in terms of um other students with disabilities I attended a few meetings uh this spring where uh children or parents with children with autism uh and other um disabilities that required Paras support one-on-one Paras support um during parter all of the day were many of them were really struggling because they um the par there was a critical shortage of Paras Nationwide and when the Paras don't show up the parents were being asked to take their kids home from school early so I think we need more support for those students thank you candidate brand um
025I'll start with a personal story which is that both of my children are identifi as non-binary and my experience within the district has been extremely welcoming and supportive and uh that has also extended to their friends and the the rest of their uh group of people that they hang out with and has been very successful um where I see a room for improvement is that um there is significant uh number of students within the community of us of bbsd uh that are neurodiverse that uh are from uh underrepresented uh groups and that there are disparities in um in the way that discipline is Meed out there are disparities in uh achievement among these groups and I believe that the district can do a little bit better at working to improve those situations for those groups
026of people thank you candidate quinland AA hi uh lenia quinland AA again I think the policies where bbsd has done a great job are on their anti-bullying policy uh JD HB we also have policy ac- E3 which gives our gender non-conforming students and staff protections against discrimination where I think we could do better or what needs review um would be our life Library policy and that is JJ that's instructional materials and selection adoption and that needs to be informed by the American libraries Association and um because we need the freedom to read and so as a candidate that's something I support um and it's something we need to have Ironclad in our district thank you candidate pasara Melly yeah this is Anil PES from District G I think the board has been doing a great
027job in terms of um Equity inclusion and uh also supporting resources for disabled people are the resources for that and where uh we could do better is um U we could reduce the achievement gaps by funding uh appropriately and make sure certain demographics uh they come up to the speed and close the gap very narrowly thank you thank you candidate Lord I F I'll focus on a topic that my colleagues haven't brought up yet and that is the representation of who's teaching in the classroom when we look of diversity and education our Educators need to be diversed I asked my daughter the other day who is a senior has she had a a person of color teacher and she told me know she had no persons of color in all of her education in bbds
028I mean um in the school district and therefore I believe that we need to diversify our staff and make sure that all students benefit from a diverse staff ask my daughter how does she feel about not having persons of color teach her and she said and I hate to say this that she feels she was whitewashed and therefore that that's her words and I think we have a lot to do when we increase our staff we have commitments we have policies but we need to make sure that the people who are implementing these policies represent the greater diversity that's in this District thank you candidate Chavez thank you um our our district does a good job of setting up policy that addresses diversity in the district um and the the issue is Fidelity to implementation
029so an example would be a move towards Resort of justice that we've implemented throughout our schools to kind address our disproportionate discipline problem in the district this is tied to our um academic achievement Gap and inequality in educational outcomes um however to date um our kids who are black and Latino our kids who are um in special education our kids who are English language Learners um our kids uh who uh receive reduced lunch benefits are still disproportionally disciplined and so this requires us to invest more time and resources um and really address that problem because these are long-standing disparities thank you and candidate Angar thanks for the question um as far as I I'm G to uh Andrew's example of differentiated funding I think as I said I taught in a school a very low
030resource school um and funding is not everything but funding definitely matters particularly for kids when they're not coming in with with some of the advantages that many of our students have and so I think that's important that's a something the district's done well it would be a priority of mine to continue that uh it really matters and I like that it's is a top priority um an area where I think we could do better is just I think across the board listening to my colleagues um you know we we do well we have great policies we have strong values uh I just think making sure that implementation of those values matches or implementation matches those values uh one example I'd give is uh at Creekside um Elementary where my kids are at school and I'm
031on the sack we formed a Dei committee um and that's been really incredible and really powerful both for the the parents uh for the staff U to ensure that kids can see themselves on the walls in the library books in all sorts of places around the school and so that I think we could do more to live up to our values when it comes to diversity and Equity inclusion thanks thank you all for the next question we'll start with candidate Stuffle it is if elected how would you help support and obtain the funding needed to make our schools more climate friendly in you'll have one minute that's a good question so I think the first thing that is on uh the ballot actually right now is Proposition HH which would increase the funding to our
032schools um specifically for funding for climate um you know of course we get large portion of our funding from the state some from the federal government we can try and Lobby uh the federal and state governments to uh increase school funding um within Boulder Valley School District itself I think we have a pretty robust education program on on teaching kidss about the climate how uh people and burning of fossil fuels have changed and affect our climate and ways we can move forward um you know by reducing emissions going to clean energy and that that uh type of of Education going forward thank you thank you and just a reminder please lean in um closely to the mic so people can hear you thanks uh going on to candidate medler same question thank you um I
033worked in children's policy and ation policy all through my career including with a Colorado children's campaign and I think Colorado uh has broken Finance in general for Public Finance so I think bbsd should continue the tradition uh Kathy Gard our current chair has been a great leader in the state on trying to change Finance for the better I'd like to continue in that tradition and partner with groups like The Children's campaign and the rest of the people working on Public Finance so that eventually Colorado gets over Taber and acts like a normal state with legislative power to do what we need to do to raise money and spend it until we do that it's really hard to hit on individual priorities like how to adapt to climate change and be more resilient and we end
034up sort of peac mealing things by robbing Peter to pay Paul we really do need to have sub substantial change Boulder does better than many places but that sort of that shouldn't be a a reason for us to be complacent that should be a reason for us to be leading uh to change what's broken and and partner with the rest of the districts unchange thank you candidate nevon yeah well um I actually am a climate Scientist by profession and I have raised probably million Millions well definitely millions of dollars in funding for climate change research over the course of my career um I have not thought of how to apply that fundraising school to or skill to schools but I certainly um have a lot of experience doing that um in terms of um at
035the at the local level I've always supported the trip tracker program that my kids participated in I've been a big advocate for bicycling and public transportation um in the 30 years I've lived in Boulder and so I would and I you know I I find it unfortunate that my own son in high school drives to school with his friend he carpools with his friend at least um so I think maybe educating high school students um on on the importance of public transportation and bicycling because a lot of them still seem to like to drive to school yeah thanks thank you candidate Brandt um so I'm really glad you asked this question because it's a it's of particular interest to me I'm a bit of a solar Punk and have uh photovoltaic panels on my home
036um I believe and and uh am very strongly of the opinion that Taber is hamstringing school funding and funding for all sorts of priorities across the state and I have advocated and would continue if elected to advocate for a complete repeal of Taber um in order to bring the schools up to the standards I believe that we need um we would need to do things like uh increase the number of uh solar panels installed on all school buildings um we would also need to uh improve our ability to um compost waste and uh remove other things that are U recyclable from the schools uh schools have been a hub for recycling materials and I would like them to continue to do that and be a community hub for other recycling of materials and that's it
037thank you candidate quinland AA so Colorado has been uh low on per pupil funding for a long long time and we need to be really careful stewards of the money that is coming toward us um we have a duty to do that as a board and it's also important to acknowledge that our budget will reflect our priorities and if the priority is being careful with our climate for our future Generations our budget will certainly reflect that um in terms of what I can do about the budget uh I do support HH it will uh decrease our property taxes while helping our underfunded schools but it's not a silver bullet so as you think about who to vote for um be sure you put people on your board who will be like Lori Albright or Kathy
038gibart who are down there at our state legislature asking for that funding demanding the funding that our schools need thank you candidate SAR M yeah so um I'm advocate of U the HH proposition like I'm campaigning or telling all my friends uh this will increase something but that's not enough I think we need to push the state and federal level to get more funding but as individuals what we do is be as much climate um social as possible and uh do our part so that that that's that's a primary thing we can do thank you thank you candidate Lord I support proposition HH I think if we believe education has transformative power to help our students to grow up and to thrive in a world of difference then we have to be honest about Taber
039we have to advocate for more funding and that we put together a competitive Grant to encourage schools to compete to be able to have programs that support the environment and I love to raise money and I have done it and I think uh we should uh raise more and get out there and get our legislators on board and advocate to raise money I know some people don't want to increase taxes but if we care about the future of our children then we need to be vigilant because it's a Mor moral imperative that we increase funding for our students thank you and candidate Chavez thank you like many my colleagues here I agree that we need to continue to advocate for increased school funding and resources because we are wly underfunded in the state of Colorado
040um so uh support repealing tabore and propos and I support propos HH in terms of our environmental impact and what we can do as a district um we can continue to move towards going towards electric buses we can have the discussion as we think about redistricting um our attendance districts for our schools we think about our enrollment about ways in which that's going to impact our environment and make that a priority as we make those decisions um in terms of our students I think they're the leaders on this um the students were presented at the board meeting in September to talk about the environmental impact of our the need to focus on environmental impact Investments and I think we need to follow their lead and leverage that energy because we can do this together we
041need to kind of raise our voice thank you thank you candidate anger sure Jason hunger in District a I want to reference Jorge mentioned the the board meeting that students spoke at that was two weeks ago and there were students advocating for the green New Deal uh and the the the way they spoke with the passion and the worry and the concern uh was really profound and and very impactful and so so it's uh it's it's actually shocking that this is the first question we've had in four forums and 12 questionnaires that we've completed as candidates on the climate issue and so I'm really glad this is raised uh I think you I agree with my colleagues on the need to reform uh state level funding where you know middle of the pack at best
042at in Colorado but there's actually Federal funding now there's billions of federal dollars out there to un to get new electric buses to um to install solar panels and so as someone who understands and knows federal policy I would make it a priority for our district to go after some of those funds uh to be able to tell students that we are actually responding to their concerns and their worry and uh and that we're addressing the climate crisis thanks thank you and candidate Fishman thank you for that question first I believe that climate change is our existential crisis that we need to address as a community as a school district um and funding is certainly an is and so I support HH and II and of course doing what we can to get out from
043underneath Taber uh but beyond that uh I I have read and involved with the sustainability pro project within the bbsd and I really appreciate the green bbsd that was put out from that group uh beyond that I have advocated and it's on my website and on my literature that we actually do something about it rather than just look at it on paper and so I advocate for increasing the electric bus fleet um as part of bbsd to 50 by 2025 um and I agree that we need to listen to the students the students are crying out for better curriculum that deals with climate change they're asking for it they're begging for it I think it's appropriate for us to really listen to what they're saying and do something about it thank you all for your
044responses for the next question we'll start with candidate medler and it is how do you define school safety and what is something you would do to prioritize safety for all students at bbsd thank you uh I think uh safety is the primary responsibility of our of anybody who's dealing with our young people um but I do think it is multifaceted and it depends on where you are for where the challenges are there are safety issues within our schools and there are safety challenges from outside here in Boulder we're talking a lot about the encampments and homelessness there I think regardless of how the elections play out we need to have bbsd be a strong partner with all the local governments and work together on things the community want to keep everyone safe we also have
045issues uh like in Monarch High School on their evacuation where their safety there is an issue of roads and evacuation routes meanwhile in the schools we have important issues around student safety from bullying and sense of inclusion where I support the district's approach to um school security Advocates and I I think we need to continue to monitor all those different aspects of safety use data be responsive to the community and keep our focus on it thank you candidate nevon yeah well um I wanted to say that I do support the safe zones to school initiative um as a longtime bicycle commuter I've experienced harassment on the the bike path and I I just don't think that our students should have to um uh deal with that on their way to school um I'll also touch
046on the SRO issue um I um am probably the only candidate who's open to bringing back some sort of security officer officer presence in the schools and I do share the concerns about the um school to prison pipeline but on the other hand I don't think our safety policy in the school can be based on wishful thinking uh that what happened in Denver and we you know at East High School that two administrators were shot and they had to bring back back the SRO so to think that what happened there can't happen here is be lied by what happened just 7 minutes from my house at King Super um a couple years ago so um yeah I think we need to prioritize student safety over other any other concern thank you thank you candidate brand
047hi I'm Andrew brand and I'm very grateful to the current board for voting to remove armed uniformed police from the school I think that the S SSA program the school safety Advocates are doing a tremendous job they are working at um bringing together students and building a community of trust between the safety Advocates and the students in every school that they serve um I also think that the um the the measure 302 is is wasteful costly and will be ineffective um so I oppose the 302 measure uh for that reason um I do believe however that there are that the safety is a multi-dimensional problem and that uh the ssas are the beginning of solving that problem for one aspect of it and that the ssas need to be monitored so that we know that
048they are continuing to be effective in the future thank you thank you candidate quinland AA my goodness I could talk about safety all day um but I guess guess we can we can all agree up here there's there's threats from outside and then there's thre threats that can come into our schools um threats to personal safety I um have a lot of experience in working in this and I think that the way that we can make a difference here is to partner with experts in our community to help us to become safer and let our teachers do the work of teaching our students uh for example Blue Sky Bridge Mesa span all of those organizations who are Community experts in safety around specific issues are willing to partner with us and we need to utilize
049those resources because we can't ask our teachers to be in charge of everything thank you candidate forar Melly yeah safety is uh multiple things one is uh emot safety where kids are uh feeling safe to talk to disclose with the counselors or talk about their emotional being the we should provide that that is one aspect the other one is uh talking about the SRO I think the data that we have is for a year I think we should revisit and I agree with Cynthia to see you know it's we can't give a plumber an electrician job so this SOS I feel like they are qualified but again if there is that pipeline to pris and all that we can regulate that we can do counseling or training as to what what is um necessary and
050up to what level they can be informed and the other one is the safe zones where uh kids who walk or bike to school uh they should have a um safe bikeways Pathways thank you thank you candidate Lord safety requires a multiple approach level and I believe that our students what three out of 10 don't feel safe in coming to our schools and so we need to acknowledge that I think safety is starts with when our students feel like they are heard and they are seen and they are valued and how do we continue to make sure that we have anti-bias training we have culturally responsive education we have restorative justice practices and that we partner with entities in our community to help us think about what does it mean to have safe zones and
051safe schools this is a a project for all of us the school and our Community Partners working together to ensure that our students are safe thank you candidate Chavez thank you this is an important question and and safety is at the center of uh child well-being if they can't feel safe then they can't do well in school um and and I was fortunate enough to be on the district accountability committee when we reviewed the school resource officer program um and at the core of that is um a a safety plan with each local jurisdiction with the schools to ensure that we that their students are safe um but we invested in proactive strategies to address the roots of the problems right developing an inclusive School climate a social emotional development um focusing on restorative justice
052to address to prevent the problems from happening to begin with if we're relying strictly on reactive strategies then it's It's Too Late by the point we react it's already in crisis mode we need to address the address the root causes make sure kids feel welcome and safe to begin with and that will help us address the problem and keep them safe thank you thank you candidate anger um yeah you know we're all we're all parents here on the Das here I have two kids and every day when I take my kids to school I worry about safety I think about safety uh as we all do as everyone in the room does uh so there's really I think as Alex said there's no more important role or responsibility uh than the safety of our kids
053uh and I think we need to be responsive to all levels of safety and concern uh and all um safety concern is raised by parents um over the course of this campaign I've made a real effort to try to meet with parents from all 56 schools and I think I'm at 46 today uh and the safety issues that have come up have really been the whole range of things from Mesa Elementary talking about wildfire they're on the front lines and how do they deal with evacuations similar what Alex said at Monarch High to obviously the known issues around Boulder high that we've all that we've all followed um to the SRO it's come up probably more than any other issue and I think we need to do a better job in terms of um sharing
054what the district has done the with the SSA with the change to the ssas uh highlighting what works and how it's how it's been a positive change and so we need to do a better job communicating to parents what the district is actually doing thank you candidate Fishman thank you very much for that question to start with I wanted to say that I truly support the what the district did in pulling the sro's out of the schools and replacing them with ssas importantly and interestingly enough um many of the ssas themselves were previously the SRO and so there was quite a significant amount of trust that had already been developed between some of the kids and the SRO that was re readily trans transferred um to when they became SSA so I think that's really
055important but safety is truly multi-dimensional and and to feel safe in a school requires a whole lot of effort on the part of everybody in the school and so I I really can't stress enough the need to make sure that uh the policies of the bbsd that are really critical around safety are fully implemented equally across the district and not uh disparately uh implemented um as we C certainly have seen from some of the anecdotal information that we've learned and some of the data that we see in some of the uh the the surveys that have been taken thank you and candidate stle thank you for that question uh safety is of really vital importance as we've all uh agreed with if you don't feel safe as a teacher or as a student or staff
056member you aren't going to be able to learn or teach or perform as you should and so safety for that M reason is just absolutely critical and as we've all said it's a multi-pronged problem that requires a variety of different types of Solutions on December 30th 2001 or 201 21 geez um excuse me my home uh was burned in the Marshall fire along with a thousand others in our school district that fire came within just a few hundred feet of Superior Elementary and both Monarch Elementary uh K8 and Monarch High School uh particularly at Monarch where my kids go there is one road that leads in and one road that leads out and I shudder to think what would have happened had that fire occurred at a time when school was in session so looking
057at at the physical safety looking at actual evacuation plans for how do we get these kids off campus in the event of um an event also with the SSA program uh it's proven very successful so far but we need to continue to evaluate it and monitor that program to make sure that it is having the successful results that we expect and deserve thank you thank you the next question we'll start with candidate nevon is there any circumstance where you would consider the prohibition of materials from school libraries and classrooms why or why not one minute please well there there might be some circumstance but in general I oppose censorship of of any kind um I do think parents should be aware of the pupil Privacy Act where whereby they have the right to review any
058of their child's materials and and curriculum and opt them out if they so choose um and in in terms of of censorship I yeah I think we've seen a disturbing Trend toward censorship both on the left and the right and I'm thinking of people like R doll and Laura Engles Wilder and all the um even the pressure that we had from the Biden Administration to censor um viewpoints during the coid pandemic that didn't um agree with that didn't comport with their policies and there was a recent poll showing that 55 % of adults think the government should be um limiting in disinformation online but who is to Define disinformation I think we need to redouble our efforts to teach children about the Constitution the Bill of Rights of which the uh freedom of speech is
059the most fundamental of all thank you candidate Brandt um I won't spend my minute talking about how I'm a disinformation expert I'd rather talk about um why I oppose Banning books in the schools um as as Cynthia mentioned uh there is the ability for parents to opt their children out of any educational materials that they or the kids choose to for any reason uh do not want to be a part of and um and I support that and in my family we have done that from time to time um where I see that there is a disconnect is when parents decide that it is their right to opt the entire school out of learning materials I oppose that and I would support um uh also encouraging our um our school book provider uh Scholastic to
060uh provide the materials that they currently have as an optin uh that are sensitive uh subject matter uh as an opt out so that if schools don't wish to have those in their book fair uh they can choose not to have them thank you candidate quinland AA so so this last summer Illinois was successful in passing legislation that made it illegal to ban books this upcoming January we very well may see that same legislation which I will fully support I don't support book Banning in any way shape or form uh Andrew is correct that anybody can come review our policy right here in this wonderful facility all of our all of our curriculum is housed here and I totally encourage parents to do that I think that's the right thing to do if you have
061a concern uh but I am not concerned that any of our curriculum is inappropriate I feel like it's age appropriate it meets state standards and uh next year we will be uh the state will be reviewing sex education curriculum and I'm sure we will do the right thing on that too thank you thank thank you candidate farar Melly yeah I uh don't uh support censorship uh books there information and they should not be banned the content inside is also like reviewed by team of uh experts and I'll leave it up to the experts and that's my stand on it thank you thank you candidate Lord I strongly oppose the Banning of any books especially because we have a commit to ensure that our students grow up in a world of difference and have the skills
062and the way to introduce people to literature and books some ways of people finding out about another culture another group of people is through books and we want to make sure that our students graduate with crosscultural competency and we should be increasing the books for our students so I I oppose it and I will do everything possible to enhance more cultural diversity of books for our schools thank you candidate Chavez uh thank you for the question this is a critical question um I oppose all book bands uh the ability to access reading materials is a fundamental right in a Democratic Society and we need to raise our children to be good citizens um this is not something that we're immune to I take it very seriously um from 21 2021 to 2022 uh request to
063bound books across the country more than doubled to over 2 200 um and so we're not immune to this we have to be aware and it's a slippery slope um we have many mechanisms for parent involvement uh for family involvement for review and to opt out we need to take advantage of those but we cannot dictate to others what they can or cannot access thank you thank you candidate anger uh yeah I agree with with all my colleagues here most of my colleagues here on you know our district has a very transparent policy in terms of access to materials and curriculum and every parent has the right to opt their kids out of things that they deem as you for their family to be in appropriate um you know where that right stops is to
064influence or to affect the education the learning the representation uh of other kids and so I strongly oppose book bands I strongly oppose oppose uh any parent right to or any parent um's ability to influence um decisions beyond their own kids and their own family thank you candidate Fishman thank you for that question I also support um that we do not ban books I believe that students benefit immensely from having their school resources their materials their books their videos and things of that nature be representative of who they are I think it's really important that kids feel safe in their schools and safe in knowing that the materials that they are getting somehow reflect who they are as people beyond that I applaud the board the sitting bbsd board for taking a stand and actually
065providing um the uh backing of support for our teachers and our Librarians to ensure that they can operate under their uh own academic and knowledge and judgment to be able to determine what books are available to kids as as including the age appropriateness of those books thank you candidate steel uh let me just start out by saying that the question as was asked was there any materials that should be prohibited from schools that's exceptionally broad of course there are some materials that should have no business being in a school but that said within reason I'm 100% against uh censorship of any kind or book bands as we've all talked about uh as long as materials books curriculum Etc are age appropriate they meet the state standards they are supported by professional education associations and Librarians
066they have every place in our school and what has been hinted at by some of our candidates here is that it's vitally important that students of all different backgrounds uh and ways of living see themselves represented in the books that are available to them the curricula that are available to them in our district and I think we've done a good job of that and need to continue that I will also just say in my final few seconds that it's not true that R doll's books have been in any way banned in bbsd and there's no intent to do so my kids certainly read lots of R doll books in elementary school thank you thank you candidate medler uh thank thank you I agree with most of my colleagues up here as well I am strongly
067against book Banning I believe all materials should be developmentally appropriate I think we deal with hypotheticals that um really don't make sense I will say I believe in science and I believe that disinformation has no place uh in our district being treated as um authoritative instead of Science and that includes on our board and in our policies I um believe that every student needs to see themselves their family their culture their herit her itage in their materials and the books and and stuff before them and agree with everyone that we we don't want to be limiting other folks uh having people be able to limit what other folks are doing because we don't like that for for our child opting out is the way to go developmentally appropriate makes sense and I will fight hard
068to make sure that we are being um thoughtful about that and that we are resisting um ideological censorship or disinformation from creeping into our board or policies thank you uh there is a great audience we have here this evening among them some of our younger students I just want to take one break it's one question for everyone to answer simultaneously from one of our student audience members raise your hand if you own Legos all right there you go the next question yeah the next question is actually about the budget and we'll start with candidate Brandt it will be important for our board to have guiding values while making future budgeting decisions what would you say are the top three values that should guide where these limited resources are spent thank you that's a great question
069and I really appreciate it um my guiding values as I seek a seat on the board are equity inclusion and the um the promotion of high quality and scientifically datadriven um education so when it comes to budget um I think that the uh the board had and and the school district have traditionally uh sought funding from a a set of sources uh that they have relied on uh for many many years and uh as a as a board member I would seek to broaden and divers speci ify where we would look for funding uh to fund different programs and to fund all of our programs um I think um Jason mentioned that there's grants out there in the federal government but there are also um Partnerships and uh and teamwork that we could do with
070Private Industry as well and I would like to explore all of those options thank you thank you candidate quinland AA as we talked about before budgets will reflect the priorities of the board and of our community um academic achievement is a priority for me a value for me and I've been spending some time reviewing that and we are at pre-pandemic levels on some things and not at others and if we look at something like fifth grade mathematics achievement only 60% of our kids are meeting The Benchmark so I believe that we are going to need to continue to put extra dollars where we need to to work through our academics and to make sure that's rigorous and supported uh I also believe that we need to use differentiated funding which means that we give kids
071who need more help more help and that sometimes those kids need more money allocated to them I think I'm out of time thank you and candidate Pacer Melly I just need the same voes uh Lena had so it's uh differentiated funding uh close those achievement gaps in uh demographics that needed also location wise like we were in Netherland uh two days back and the number of students and they have different set of problems but the funding is if it is per person or per student it becomes little harder for um those demographics or those areas so the these are the two and um I'm also part of the community Bond oversight committee so we get different um like the funding that comes from the community the 350 million that is being spent over the next
0725 years is modernization of schools and uh uh other amenities that are for bbsd thank you thank you candidate lord it's been said already that our budget should refect our priorities and so when I think about priorities for our school it's been said diversity Equity inclusion has to be one of our priorities but also teacher Recruitment and resources for our teachers how do we support the teachers and our Educators and be able to diversify our staff and also how do we have depreciative funding to close some of the gaps in our schools which also would lead toward enhanced funding for our Mountain schools thank you candidate Chavez thank you for the question um I I know we're not allow to have any campaign stuff in here but there's I've got campaign Flyers outside and they
073say um Equity transparency and accountability and decision- making um and Equity is not the same outcome for everybody or the same resource for everybody but give making sure every student in school has what they need and that's got to be a value that we have to focus on uh transparency I was fortunate enough to be on the district accountability committee and we recommended three years ago uh to make more data available to parents so we now have data dashboards where parents can access information about discipline about grades about CS scores um and that's important and then accountability um with differentiated funding we've got some pilot schools that have shown promising um progress towards addressing achievement gaps um so that we have better outcomes so we need to invest in th resources in those schools and
074expand those programs districtwide so uh Equity transparency and accountability thank you thank you candidate hunger yeah thanks for the question um you know I'd approach budgeting with with three things in mind uh like Jorge I with the equity lens and a fairness lens making sure we take the needs uh consider the needs of kids across the district and not just the loudest voices and that includes obviously our fast growing distri our fast fast growing areas our Mountain communities um another one would be uh with a with a view towards uh rigor and challenge raising the bar for all of our kids I think I think that's much needed in this District uh we do we have a Challen in curriculum I think we could do more to raise the bar for all of our kids
075um and then a third one would just be addressing gaps and that could be gaps in achievement levels gaps in in how we approach discipline um and so whether we approach that through differentiated funding or just a a deep dive in data to make sure we're addressing those gaps um those would be the priorities I would look at when budgeting thanks thank you candidate Fishman from the perspective of budgeting within the context of course of declining enrollment um there are some values that I think we really need to pay attention to as we work through this process transparency equity and involvement or engagement transparency meaning that we really the the Board needs to be directly working with the community as we work through this process of declining enrollment everybody needs to be aware they need
076to be dealt the the proper data that go along with where we are financially and and student population and the transparency piece I think is is one of the most valuable portions of this whole process because the more transparent you are upfront the less there will be in terms of surprises um down the road and so I would Advocate that the board actually go to schools around the district to have open meetings during their regular uh board meetings so that the parents in the mountains or in the The Plains or in the city all have equal access and an understanding of what's going on and what the board is facing and what they're trying to do to be Equitable thank you candidate stel thank you uh as I stated uh in my opening statement really
077I have three main priorities that I'd like to achieve if elected to the school board and those are to address their students mental health needs their safety and equity and what I mean by those three things is for mental health uh between the Marshall fire the King Super shooting coid distance learning all the online activity our kids have been through a lot there was a recent study that said in 2021 41% of high school students reported feeling so sad or hopeless for at least a twoe period that it's prevented them from doing their normal activities 41% that's incredible and terribly sad and we need to address that in our schools one good way um that we are doing that is by including wellness centers in our high schools started with Monarch uh two years ago
078and has now been applied to other schools we should continue that program safety we've talked about that a bit already um looking at the school safety uh Associates um also I think one way we can look into that reducing bullying programs and uh what is not been mentioned is like bystander intervention programs and finally Equity I think it's vitally important that we have differentiated funding so that kids who need more get more of our limited resources thank you and candidate medler uh thank you this is a complicated question I I would ditto if I had ditto several of the other things out here um I I believe in equity I believe in rigor and I will add another one I haven't really heard and that is fun which we might call engagement or Joy but
079I I believe when we look at achievement and opportunity gaps we always end up talking about achievement and not opportunity and we need to make our schools fun and enjoyable and and as we deal with hard things that are coming up we should not lose track of the things that make kids have a good day and the things that bring the smiles to their faces and we can't cut those things because uh we care so much about the rigor next if you look at the parent survey we need the rigor and parents are concerned that the differentiated kids are not getting the support they need the Excel accelerated kids that want to excel more need support for that um finally on the equity front I would point out things like our fee based structure for
080all the extracurriculars is grossly inequitable and we need to understand the data on participation in things that cost money for the families it's absurd that they have to pay that much to participate in these things that's Colorado but we don't need to have it uh perpetuate in equity of access to what makes kids smile thank you and candidate nevon yeah I agree with what a lot of what I said I wanted to bring up a different issue which was and I don't know if anyone can see my little poster here but how we're funding our schools and our P per pupil funding comes from a mix of uh state and local property tax and in Boulder we have an anomalously large portion coming from local property tax and I know I've always voted for taxes
081for schools but having seen this graph I think we need to reconsider what we're doing because these high property taxes are contributing to the unaffordable housing crisis that is driving out young families and in turn leading to declining enrollment and as enrollment declines class sizes are consolidating from three to two classes in in a number of schools in my district and that's that was really the biggest concern I heard from parents when I was walking my neighborhood um and so my my priorities are small class size and also a focus on on teachers rather than um administrators because I think it administrative bloat is an issue in bbsd thank you thank you all for that uh the next question we'll start with candidate quinland AA uh another topic that's in the news along with many
082of these a lot lately how should bvsd address declining enrollment and the potential need for school closures well I'll start with something that bbsd can't do about declining enrollment which is change our housing prices um what we can do is we can use different levers we could use something like an attendance boundary uh which will be probably a pretty mild lever you may not get a lot out of it could look at your open enrollment policy that'll be an important thing we also um Alex just mentioned the the survey that went out and we have to think about what our parents want and our parents want more rigor they want more uh services for gifted and talented we want more stem education so as we come down to these decisions about what to do about
083in declining enrollment we can use these different levers but there will be some hard decisions to make and you have to uh elect board members you think that can uh synthesize information and make complex decisions and uh do that transparently and with talking to community thank you thank you candidate pasara Melly yeah declining enrollment is uh multifaceted and uh there is many factors contributing some of which we cannot avoid like uh like decreasing birth rate and cost of living which we cannot change much some of the things we could do is like add more uh housing which is also a bigger battle to fight so so that we can have more people who can afford to live here and send their kids here but I came from a School District in California where um the
084similar problems existed like Boulder High Cost of Living like um kids went to college and nobody else is moving in because of the high costs and we had to make tough decisions we included uh like we formed a um trust outside of the school to fund some activities but it could couldn't last long so we had to make some tough decisions U so consolidation of resources and making better use of what we had was the last option we had thank you thank you candidate Lord change is hard and I think if you have an open inclusive process more people feel included and people support what they create and so I support the recommendations from the uh enrollment committee but also believe as a board member working with the superintendent to engage the community in town
085hall meetings I have enrollment advisory committee that reports quarterly to the board and that maybe someone who's a superintendent will have in their portfolio to think about strategies best practices around enrollment and hosting annual School uh reimagining confer conferences around enrollment and management that I believe if we engage the community people can feel included and that local communities if they're able to make the decision about their schools or reappropriate their schools then I think we'll have greater Buy in thank you candidate Chavez thank you this is uh one of the biggest challenges facing our school district we've already talked about to the degree to which our schools are underfunded in the state of Colorado but losing students means losing funding um two years ago the district accountability committee recommended a long-range advisory committee to address
086this issue because we couldn't wait any longer and I support the recommendations from that committee um and they were prescri they were not prescriptive they were they were Pro procedural so um we need to re reevaluate our attendance districts we need to reevaluate our open enrollment policy um we need to have open communication with parents and and inform along the way and I know we started that work um just last night we had a meeting to look at attendance districts to start to kind of look what other districts have done in this situation and how it can be uniquely situated for bbsd so we need to kind of continue that work and and keep Communication open with parents along the way thank you thank you candidate anger uh yeah I agree with many of the
087ideas that uh my colleagues have raised here as well as the recommendations from the long-range advisory committee we definitely need to look at attendance zones I think those haven't been done in decades uh we need to really take a ser look at our open enrollment policy and see how much that contributes to things um but at the as as some of my colleagues mentioned you know some of the the larger issues declining birth rate affordability those are beyond our control one thing that that's come up a lot in conversations with parents uh is that we've lost kids to private schools or to other districts and so that is actually one thing we can do as a district we could try to figure out why those kids have left and what we can do as a
088district to try to bring those kids back whether it's smaller class sizes whether it's increasing rigor and challenging a more challenging curriculum or whether it's just different different level of services that we can provide that is something that is within our power as a district to do and I think we'll make a measurable difference in the enrollment is to try to bring some of these kids back to the public schools thank you candidate Fishman thank you for the hard question of the evening declining in rment is not unique in bbsd but it is a problem that we are facing for sure we're down at least 8 to 9% over the last several years and the projections are for another 1 and a half% for the next 5 years each year and so this is a
089very real problem and we need to address it headon um but to do so I think we really need to think outside the box we've been here before as a district remember Washington and Mapleton schools we had to close them it's time to actually think about things from a different perspective to get a lot of input the longrange advisory committee did some great work um but I think that's not a stopping point that's a starting point that needs to be expanded upon significantly by direct involvement and engagement with the schools so again I get uh the people the the parents and so I get back to moving the board meetings around so that we have direct involvement with school parents in their environment rather than expecting them to come here for all board meetings thank
090you thank you candidate stuffel thank you again uh this is a difficult question and I think long term this is probably the most serious problem that is going to be affecting bbsd for the next you know 5 to 10 years uh declining enrollment is a challenging issue there's multi faets to it it's difficult to address and as mentioned by Jason and others many of the underlying causes of the declining enrollment are really outside of the purview of the Boulder Valley School District so we should work with the community to try and you know solve some of those but really there sort of fundamental reasons are outside of our control where we can have uh effect on this issue is to make make sure that we are transparent and open as humanly possible to make sure
091that we're meeting different communities and making sure that our parents are seen and heard and have their opinions valued by the school board um we need to make sure that we have sustainability in our budgets in our programs and uh the reality is that hard decisions are going to have to be made um Coming forward um in the next few years on this issue thank you and candidate medler um again I ditto many of the things set up here so I'll take my minute to go in a slightly different direction um I think there's two issues we need to deal with one is then total number of students how can we have it either slow down the decrease or actually get people back the second is the distribution of them amongst the schools and the
092decrease in Services as schools get too small uh another point of fact is we have 19 out of our 56 schools are not neighborhood Schools they're schools of choice with special focuses and missions so we're actually pretty good as a district at creating specialized schools that parents want that do cool things we should do more of that we should look at the reasons not why people left during coid but why they're leaving today and why they're leaving in the future and then be creative about designs and schools and support our great Educators and families to be engaged in creating schools that parents want to go to we then need to carefully manage the open enrollment so we're not exacerbating inequalities um and we'll need to adjust plenty of those policies along the way this is
093these the whoever's in this chair in in two months will be talking about this more than any and we can't get to it quick enough tonight thank you candidate neon go ahead sorry um yeah I I agree that I that the property tax issues um um are largely out of our control I think we do have more control over the by my calculations about 20% of students who are leaving because the parents are choosing not to send them to school um and there was a just I think a week ago there was a um presentation by mellan strategies that showed that 20% of parents with young children were undecided whether to send them to bbsd and 4% would definitely not send them and they didn't drill into the details so it's hard to know how
094much to make of that but um I I know that I've had many conversations with parents who have pulled their kids from public schools and the re main reason they tell me is they would rather the schools focus more on academics than on on social issues and I think we need to listen to those parents and address their concerns other or otherwise we're going to continue to lose students from public schools and which will diminish opportunities for everybody thank you and candidate brand um this is a great question and it's obviously going to be the number one issue that anybody who is elected is going to be dealing with for the next four years um how should we deal with it so I've got a long list of things that I want to talk about
095but only a minute to do it so um we we've already mentioned the longrange advisory committee and the suggestions that they've made um that is the model for how the district needs to go forward it involved a ton of community and stakeholder input and um is incredibly valuable um it also had a a long list of uh ways that the district could address these challenges before it got to the very drastic end state of having to close schools uh I know that um uh more than 50% of school districts in Colorado only can afford to send students to school four days a week and we cannot get to that point um it is vital to all of our economic interests that we keep the schools open five days a week and uh to do that
096we need to think creatively and out of the box thank you thank you um time is flying uh we're gonna try to get two more questions in and timekeepers we're gonna do two questions two rounds of questions but only 30 seconds it'll it'll be good so for this one candidates um voters don't expect board members to agree all the time but we do hope we work together well can you turn as you answer the questions to your fellow candidates and tell each other what you would do if you were elected to help address conflict of interest and collaborate with your fellow board members for the benefit of all kids for this question we'll start with candidate pisara Melly and again you have 30 seconds yeah so uh as part of my day job my um
097uh responsibilities are like accountability and uh leadership and which I walk the talk by being a good listener and um collectively listen to Solutions and then propose what we should do as a um team so teamw work is priority and that's what I believe in thank you thank you candidate Lord so I would focus on what we have in common that we are dedicated to making sure that our students have the skills to graduate and be successful citizens and that we find time to have fun that we not take ourselves so seriously and that we're able to build upon what we know about each other we value each other we value the schools and when we have conflicts we participate in deep listening and keep our eye on the prize thank you candidate Chavez thank
098you um you know I've got the chance to watch the board for the last bunch of years by working on the disc accountability committee and by serving on numerous parent roles and my Approach is collaborative and I think that these candidates here are all well-intentioned I think it's a good starting point we all want the same things for our kids and we have to keep that in mind these things aren't personal we've got to make good decisions and keep who we're focused on right our kids our teachers our schools thank you thank you candidate uner sure uh you know I really sincerely enjoyed getting to know my colleagues and fellow candidates up here uh it's we've spent a lot of time together obviously at forums and events and so I think as Jorge said and
099Stuart you know it's I really I think we need to it's it's a group that will work well together whoever's elected um I think it's really important we focus on consensus collaboration um and finding you know even where there's areas of disagreement finding ways to work together um and I think as Stuart said you know while still having fun and enjoying and and keeping the eye on on why we're doing this thanks thank you candidate Fishman thank you so um my involvement with committees has made it clear to me that collaboration is a requirement to make sure that we actually are working together and collaboration requires trust and honesty and openness with each other and I believe that all of us up here have that in mind given that our focus is really on the
100kids and the staff in the schools rather than ourselves individually candidate shef steel thank you um I think one of my colleagues lania said at the Netherland Forum the other night is that regardless of who Among Us gets elected four out of the seven board members are seated at this table right now and so we have a majority of the board that is already here and I think just through our time together we've gotten to know each other and gotten to know our positions I think most of us could give each other's opening statements pretty accurately um by now um and I think you know all of us need to realize and we do realize that we're all here because we're passionate about public education we're passionate about making bbsd the best it can be
101um and that is my time thank you thank you candidate medler uh thank you uh again I have also enjoyed all the people who are here and I enjoy the people who are on the board now um I have have 30 years of experience working on nonprofit organizations governmental entities and chairing and serving on state task forces so I have led Ben and chairs like this before I believe one of the secrets to making it work together well is the efficiency of letting people know you heard them Fe hearing reading back to them what they said so that you can close that and move on to the next thing I also think people have a lot more time to have fun and listen to each other when the meetings are efficient and You by feeding
102back you can actually be so much more efficient so I'm a good chair and I'm a good member of boards and I think I can help us do that thank you CID everon yeah well I think it's I think it's good to have a diversity of opinion and that's really why I'm I'm running I because I think group think is not good for any institution uh with that said I I have genuine respect for people across the political Spectrum I've been both an environmentalist and uh part of the what na Naomi wolf calls the Freedom Movement so I've mixed with people of all different um you know political iCal viewpoints and I am more of a listener and I am always uh respectful and data driven in my Approach and look forward to working with
103um anyone on this U the panel who is elected thank you candidate brand uh thank you um in my professional career I work in two roles in which I am basically the center of a a group of people who all need to steer a ship in the same direction uh I represent my company at a group called The cyber threat Alliance which is essentially the United Nations of the cyber security industry uh those people do not agree on most things but what we do agree on is that we are all here to help and protect people and I believe that is what everybody who is sitting here today also believes in for the school board thank you thank you and candidate Quin Lin hi once again lenia Quin Lin NOA uh and I believe in
104being collegial and professional and I believe you have candidates in every single one of these seats that also believes in collegiality and professionalism and um I also believe it's super important to not come with a Personal Agenda to come with the agenda of the community thank you thank you last um question we'll actually start in Reverse ballot order and I'm going to kind of pause for a moment for people running in the same dist District to just raise your hand so people have a visual reminder of of who's representing which district the question is um the lot of parents who might automatically think they have a reason to vote for board members in this election what is your message to people who are not parents as to why they should consider you for their vote
105um could we have the three candidates from District G raise your hands please thank you very much and we'll start the answers 30 seconds with candidate Chavez thank you you well our schools affect all of us it's about our society we can not do this alone we have to do this together and if we're not invested in our kids if we're not invested in our future if we don't make choices that reach out Beyond ourselves um then we're not doing something right and I think we've got to think about how we can leave this as a better place and so I would encourage those who don't have children who don't feel they have a a hand in the game to look around them and recognize that they're not alone and that I'm here because I
106want to be a part of making this a better place for all us to live thank you thank you candidate Lord education is a Cornerstone of our society and democracy and when we make an investment in our children we make an investment in our future and we've all had teachers who cared for us and caring adults and when students have caring adults and have a quality education we can have a quality society and we prepare people to thrive in the world with the skills to make make a difference and manage difference thank you candidate basar Melly yeah today's kids are like tomorrow citizens and uh we need to invest in our citizens for tomorrow who are going to serve for the country in multiple ways um being building infrastructure building like economy and so these
107are the ones who are going to lead us tomorrow so the Investments that we make into today's students will be fruits for tomorrow thank you and now the candidates from District D raise your hands please thank you very much candidate Quin Lin AA hi uh I would say that my personal belief is that public education is foundational for our community and even if you don't have children we are collectively raising the future citizens of a world economy so if we want our economy to be strong we need to be attentive to the academics of the kids in our schools today thank you candidate brand um schools raise and educate the children today who will be running things in the future and um if you want to live in a just and sustainable and uh productive
108and healthy Society um those schools need to be producing great uh educated Innovative and uh and clever children for the future thank you thank you and now could the candidates from District C raise your hands please great thank you candidate nevon go ahead yeah um two quotes from Abraham Lincoln come to mind here he said uh what's taught in the school room in a generation becomes the philosophy of government and he also said that that public schools are the place where children from all backgrounds come together and learn to get along and I think both of those are reasons why um adults without children should care about what happens in the school and again I think it's important to have a diversity of voices and um stem this um you know tied toward parents deliberately
109pulling their their kids from public schools thank you candidate Butler um I'm going to take a slightly different tack again I think we should make Boulder a better place to be a kid and I think if Boulder is a better place to be a kid it'll be a better city to live in period I also that speaks for all our communities I live in in South Boulder but uh if we were focusing Less on dogs and chickens and bikes and I have all those things um and more on kids and all our de discussions as a community I think this would be a better place to live schools are the Leading Edge of that and uh I I want to make sure bbsd is part of making this a great town candidate steeple thank you
110uh schools are just such vital pieces of our local communities and I think we all can agree on that U and it's true it's an absolute truism that schools are not the only part places where our kids are educated they also learn from the people who don't have kids in our school districts and the people of Boulder County um Gilpin County and Broomfield county have so much to offer our kids so many skills and talents and experiences that they can also be part of the solutions to the problems that we face as a district and indeed unless we engage people who are outside of just having parents I don't think we'll be able to successfully solve those problems thank you thank you and District a candidates please raise your hands thank you candidate Fishman thank
111you I get that comment a lot from people and I'm reminded that I'm passionate about making sure that public schools remain an excellent and viable option well into the future and to that end I believe and everybody who I've talked to agrees with me that we all want and benefit from an educated society and so at the end of the day Public Schools provide that to all of us and we want that to make sure we want to make sure that that continues on into the future thank you canidate anger uh yeah I actually just had this conversation with someone yesterday someone without kids and and I made the point you know we all have an interest in a strong public education system we all have an interest in uh you know it's a foundation
112of our democracy and we can see how important that is you know in in the real in real time I also talked about just how um hopeful we should be about this generation of kids they're so inclusive and welcoming and open-minded and we need to do everything we can whether you have kids or not uh to nurture that and encourage that and so that is uh the message I send to all parents and parents uh all parents or even those without kids thanks thank you all so much on behalf of the league and our partners the Boulder Valley District Parent Council and impact on education thank you to our candidates we really appreciate you for being willing to serve as a leader for the school district thank you to our Forum volunteers if you would
113please raise your hands and wave we appreciate you and to Channel 2 for their essential help thank you to our interpreters and also to the League's 2023 election sponsors James C James love it the Simmons family fund Laura Holloway Maria lores young our corporate sponsors Elevation Credit Union Christina's luxuries GG and Company's pet products Wolf Gang Boulder and R's Consignment and finally thanks to you this awesome audience here this evening both those of you who are here and those who are viewing online it's up to all of us to make sure that we respect and work to protect our Democratic process and encourage elected officials to do the same for more information about the upcoming election and the candidates please go to the League's voter information site vote411.org we hope that this nonpartisan information will
114help inform you and inspire you to vote now audience please join me in thanking our candidates for their time have a great evening thanks