001one and welcome to today's special meeting of the Lancing School Board of Education. As you're aware, tonight we will be interviewing candidates to to u take the position of a of a board member that left. But uh first of all, we're going to stand up for a pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Welcome back, Ben. Thank you. Excuse me, Mr. Superintendent. I know it's right. I was just at the ABA dinner. Uh it was wonderful. So, okay. Uh, can we have um somebody read the the statement? Dr. Rodriguez. Thank you very much, Dr. Rodriguez. Uh, roll call, please. Dr. Kavanaaugh, present. Mr. Herd, present. Mr. Lopez,
002present. Mrs. Moore. Dr. Navar Martinez, present. Dr. Rodriguez, Mrs. Strode, present. Ms. Williams Quorum is present. Thank you very much. Do we have um any public comment on agenda items? No comment. Okay, we'll move on to the uh business of the day, which is to um interview applicants to fill a vacancy on the board of education. Let me um give you the uh the process that we're going to be using so that everybody knows how we're going to elect select the individual. Each applicant will participate in a 15minute interview responding to a standard set of questions. The interview will be facilitated by board president, board vice president or any other one that I can ask to facilitate. Um interviews will take place uh May 21st which today and May 22nd. Voting will take place on
003the 22nd. Okay. So the interviews today, we'll keep our notes and then vote one time on on Thursday. Tomorrow each board member will cast one vote. The first candidate to receive a majority of the votes will be appointed and no additional votes will be taken. Please note if there are candidates you do not well that's it. Um again each board member will will cast one vote. The first candidate to receive a majority of votes will be appointed and no additional votes will be taken. All right we that's the process. So to start off our interviews I am going to call the candidate and our board secretary Dr. Deanita Noarez Martinez will read the questions and and you will answer. Okay. So I want to call Well before that I want to thank all the candidates
004for putting your name up. It's um it's it we thank you for doing that. We need uh uh good people and if you apply that means that you really want to serve. So thank you very much. Appreciate that. Our first candidate is Mark Eagle. If you come forward, I believe the mic should be ready. Do you want to test it, please? No. Good evening. Good. Okay. Good evening. you want to let me pass it on to our our uh secretary and you will commence with uh the questioning and uh I guess uh we we do have an opening statement. You can make an opening statement and then then we can proceed with the questions. Uh good evening to the public, to the board of education, the superintendent. My name is Mark Eagle. Um, I've uh
005have a master's degree in public administration and a bachelor's degree in political science. Uh, I've ran for the board of education twice uh in the past. My p passion for education and making sure that students uh throughout the district and throughout the state of Michigan have a fair and uh effective and efficient education and uh moving on to their goals in life. uh having meaningful employment after high school and after andor after high uh college um and being productive citizens in the in whatever they pursue. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Eagle. So, in your opinion, what is the functional relationship between the board with the superintendent and other district staff? Okay, so um the board of education is the governing board. uh um being the policym uh um mechanism uh and approving the the school
006district's budget. Um that's uh very important as a policym board to make sure that we have sound policy and guiding um the district into its future. uh working alongside the superintendent. The superintendent's the executive officer of the the district and uh runs the daily operations uh for the district and guides the staff. So, um the primary purpose of the board is to direct the the director pretty much um in making sure that we're not micromanaging and making sure that those policies are just implemented properly. Great. um as a board member, what would be your number one priority for the Lancing School District? So, um the number one um metrics to as uh that I would like to make sure that we are um pursuing is making sure that we have a high higher uh level
007of graduation rate and in enrollment numbers. Um, hundreds of our students throughout the district are attending other districts surrounding us. Um, and retaining or capturing some of those students back into the district is a vital um, uh, goal of mine and the the goal of the board. So, what do you think are the greatest opportunities for the district? Uh, there's a lot of different opportunities the district has. Uh but the major one is partnering with uh organizations and businesses throughout the community to provide internships, mentorships, uh work experience, uh just daily learning experiences to provide um you know a a world a different worldview of uh an education to provide um those students that that experience that you know can happen outside the classroom and apply some of those practicum uh experiences to make sure
008that they can use the what they've learned in the classroom and use it in the real world. And what do you think the board should do to attract and maintain students to the Lancing School District? There's a lot of different um ideas that we could do. Um for instance uh I know that this is already part of the current plan but uh to attract students making sure that we have updated modernized facilities uh updating classrooms making sure that the learning environment's safe. So you know upgrading facilities uh with security systems uh in place to make sure that it's a safe place for students and staff to to learn and work. Um, another idea is to make sure that we have um a wide diversity of programming. Uh, we need to realize that not every student
009has the same goals or career aspirations. So to make sure that we have a diverse um programming to technical and career uh um learning. Uh the other one is I have is um uh digital making sure that our our we have digital um platforms in which students don't have to always have carry around textbooks they can have it at their fingertips uh via tablet or um any other kind of uh software or hardware programs so that they can be learning in and outside of uh the classroom. um also uh pursuing um uh virtual learning uh not just in classroom learning. Uh so yeah. Well, thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Oops. I'm sorry. Thank you very much, Mr. Eagle. Thank you for applying. And as I've said before, uh the votes will be taken
010tomorrow. Okay. So there I also have a copy of my comments and stuff if anybody wants that right there. So okay, thanks. Thank you very much. Our next candidate is uh Jeffrey Handley. Good afternoon or good evening one. Good evening. Yeah, thank you so much. Thank you for applying and I'll would you like to make your an opening statement and then we can go to the questions by our secretary. Awesome. Sweet. Thank you. Um yeah, thank you guys a ton um for your service being here, you know, as board members and also for holding this space. Um, I really appreciate the invitation and like the welcoming environment. Um, in a way I kind of feel like I'm back in school. Um, because this reminds me of some of the buildings and you know saying the
011pledge of allegiance and everything like that. So I appreciate that energy. Um, I just kind of wanted to tell you a little bit about myself. Um, I do live here in Lancing now and this is where I grew up. Um, I actually graduated back in 2010 and um, speaking to the graduation rates, I did want to applaud uh, the improved graduation rates. So, that's really amazing. Um, you know, things are moving upward back when I was a senior and I was shocked by how many less seniors there are than there were freshmen. It was literally like a 4:1 ratio at Eastern High School or something crazy. Um, but yeah, nevertheless, um, I am here in the community now and I have a day job at Altus, the Ethiopian restaurant, and I'm also an artist and
012I founded a nonprofit called Art Interactive, and we do art education. And, um, we're about to have our two-year anniversary. We've been really successful at kind of engaging the youth um, and also families. and I'd like to bring some of that energy um to the board and then also um I feel like I can relate to, you know, where students are and and just the current um like momentum in our in our generation and society right now. So, thank you guys for the opportunity to interview. Thank you. So, in your opinion, what is the functional relationship between the board, the superintendent, and other district staff? Um so quite simply um I believe like the board is meant to serve as an advocate for the public. Um our goal like for the school district um is
013like having an excellent education in a safe and nurturing environment and we're really here to serve the students and I believe that's like our our mutual goal and the thing that's most important. Um, and I believe that the the board members are meant to kind of advocate for the student and for the public um, in order to keep everyone accountable and also help build collaborative relationships between um, these different um, shareholders and and people who who make the whole system work. So, as a board member, what would you what would be your number one priority for the Lancing School District? Um the biggest priority that I feel like um would benefit the schools is engagement. Um I I think like everybody kind of understands that when you're in a situation where you feel like you
014have some say over what's going on, um you you're more motivated to be there. And I think that the education um we can do our best like whether it's a board member um or a bus driver or a school teacher um they can do their job the best they can. However, it's really the student who has to be there to learn and you know the motivation they bring um and and their their willingness and their their interest and their their passion. Um that's that's really going to determine their success. So, I think the best thing that we can do um is increase student engagement and and there's there's tons of ideas for that, but but that's kind of just where my my priority is and and I think that's most important for the school district
015success. What do you think are the greatest opportunities for the district? Um, when I saw this question, right away I was thinking like, oh, like what do we have to gain or like what what are the opportunities? And it kind of made me like take a step back and kind of question the motivation of the question and even um like the the direction because I feel like instead of focusing on like what's the next goal to reach for or like how do we improve like etc etc um just kind of taking a step back and realizing that our biggest opportunity are the 10,000 students currently enrolled in the school district and our 20 like 25 buildings or so. And um I don't think it's so much about like pursuing opportunities as much as being um
016grateful and also um focusing on m maintaining what we currently have. um because like each of those kids are are really what matters. And um I I do want to kind of backtrack a little bit um and review some of my my notes. Um as far as student engagement goes, what I think is really important, and I kind of mentioned this is like self-government. Um, so figuring out ways that students can impact their curriculum I think is really important. Um, and also I kind of wanted to reference um I talked about the nonprofit Art Interactive. We did a backpack drive with Lancing Promise. Um, one of my friends is the chairperson, uh, Justin, and he helped us, uh, give away like over 50 backpacks at Morris Park, and it wasn't, um, those those backpacks like
017that wasn't enough. And so many people showed up. It was kind of just blew my mind um, how many like kids and and and adults showed up. Um, and another one of my friends, um, Paul, he was the former, uh, president of Sister Cities and he's their vice president now. And he recently started an endowment to help send um, students to different countries. And Lancing Sister Cities has been I think they just had their 25 year anniversary. Um, so yeah, as far as like priorities and student engagement um and opportunities, I feel like we have so much around us right now in the community and it's really about kind of plugging these different um you know channels and even the the Lancing promise um you know how amazing is it that like students can go
018from you know high school or middle school to LC CC like for free like and I I think that's a a big thing. Um and and the next question is like how do we attract and maintain students? Um so much about that is like again engagement and really like it's confusing to even be in this world. Um sure like there's a creation story you know or there's like evolution but nevertheless each of us are born and we all have the privilege of going through this K through 12 system and so many people right now in Lancing um you know or in this room or who have graduated have faced incredible challenges and difficulties and that goal of the school district to create a safe and nurturing environment for educational excellence. Um, for a lot of
019people, that's like the rock that they have to cling on to. And they might be in a situation where they don't have, you know, food at home. So that's at school, that's where they get their meal. um you know or maybe they don't have anybody that listens to them but they're able to go to school and you know that's where they can raise their hand and answer a question. Um so really I think as far as engagement and attracting and maintaining students we need to shift the culture in Lancing and in the school district because I was confused going to school and I was told this is what you have to do. you do this every day, etc., etc., etc. And I didn't understand that that opportunity to educate myself and learn history and learn
020science, there's places in the world where that doesn't exist. And unfortunately, in the school district of Lancing, I didn't even realize that was the case. So, and I think kids these days are smarter um than I was or you know, past generations. You know, we have a lot more knowledge and access to information. Um, but I think what's what's really critical is just bridging that gap between um I don't want to do this, I'm being forced to do this and despair and moving toward a place of this is hope. This is opportunity. This is how I make a better life for my children and the people around me. And I think the Lancing School District is an in an incredible opportunity to do that. Um, and we have a lot of amazing resources all around
021us. So, well, you did my job for me and asked yourself the last question, which was, what do you think the board should do to attract and maintain students to the Lensing School District? So, thank you very much. Well, thank you so much. And then I did just want to take a moment to ask if you guys have any questions um about my background or if there's anything that I wasn't clear on at all that I should expand on. No, I think we're No, good. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you so much. I appreciate you guys. Thank you. Thank you much. Uh moving along, our next uh applicant is Mr. James Ellen. Good evening, Mr. Alan. Uh like the others, you want to start with an opening statement? Sure. And then uh our secretary
022will will follow with the questions. Okay. Sure. Um, I've received my MA bachelor's degree from Michigan State and my master's from Wayne State in theater and I have spent my 25 year career in education and professionally teaching and working in theater. Um, and so I've been 11 of those years actually Lancing School District. I think you probably recognize me. Um, and so, uh, I think that my experience in education is a really good strong basis for my being able to be on a school board and help to direct the school district and also because I happen to have 11 years and invested in this district. I have a certain in my heart for the district and specifically for Everett where I taught. So, go ahead. Yeah. In your opinion, what is the functional relationship between
023the board, the superintendent, and other district staff? Well, the board is sort of like the governing body of the district. Um, they hire the superintendent to institute or follow through on the the vision that the district has and the board has for the district and in implement policies and procedures at the local at the level and the school level and stuff for for the district. However, I do believe strongly that the school board needs to have an understanding of what is happening in the classrooms in the district, which to me means spending some time visiting schools during the school day, sitting in some classrooms, talking to teachers, talking to parents, talking to administr school administrators, so that you have a feel for the pulse of what's actually going on and how the policies are affecting
024the teachers ability to teach and educate our students. As a board member, what would be your number one priority for the Lancing School District? Well, having seen it, my biggest concern is the stu educating the students numbers like graduation rate doesn't tell us how well we educated our students. It just tells us the number of kids we pushed through the pipeline. And um I can give you a specific experience that I had with a student recently um who's a four-year student at one of our high schools. They happened to have their transcript and showed it to me willingly and this student had failed every class their freshman year was promoted to sophomore. failed most of their classes with sophomore year promoted to junior failed again majority of their classes and now was a fourthyear student
025at the one of our high schools with a gradepoint average of 0.9. This is not educating our students. And so something needs to be done on the level and one of it is responsibility given to the students that if they want to get through high school, they have to pass their classes. We cannot just allow students to sit in the classroom and say, "Ah, there's no big deal. I'll be a sophomore next year if I fail." Um, we're holding our teachers responsible to teach these kids. We need to also hold our kids responsible to be there and being willing to be educated. Another policy is attendance. A student only has to be in class for five minutes out of the hour to be counted as present. Then we're expect the teacher to be responsible for
026teaching that student. So there are some these are things that I think we need to look at and do to help retain our students, make sure our students are achieving and are able to do well on the tests and graduate high school educated. I mean, what do you think are the greatest opportunities for the district? Well, I kind of put that up for once in my opening statement. Um, Lanc School District needs to make good on a promise that they made 20 years ago to create a performing arts school. um districts who have done performing arts schools. I lived in Dayton for a period and my daughter went to Styiver School for the Arts in Dayton. You have to it's a ch school of choice and in order to be enrolled you have to be
027invol enrolled in either theater, dance, art or re creative reading, creative writing, excuse me, to be in the school. That is a performing arts school. And we have the opportunity here. Southside of Everett has all new facilities and arts facilities. We have the staff. All we need to do is say we're going to really create a performing arts school. That can be done. It does not cost the district any extra money. You have the buildings. You have the staff. Um it can be done. And so I'm think that's a should be a priority. The other thing is our students are not all going to college. I mean, that's a given. And so, I really believe in the vocational education programs. Um, when I was here and we had the auto program, I had my car
028service there. A lot of the community did and it was teaching kids skills that they can do. My plumber that was that worked on my house was a teacher. He quit teaching and became a plumber. Could make more money plumbing as a plumber. So, we need to have programs and get these students to understand that if you're not going to go to college, you can get a training and be um successful in life. and not the onus of we had that we went through back some years ago where you have to go to college every high school student should go to college which is a fallacy and that is another way that I think that will help to attract and keep students because they'll find themselves involved in a programs in the arts or in
029vocational that will allow them to you know be successful and be involved in what's going on in their lives. So, finally, what do you think the board should do to attract and maintain students to the Lancing School District? Um, I think those are two um the two things that I think we need to do. We need to get the students um involved in programs that that will keep them involved. We need to make sure that they're not that they're learning. and um programs like the performing arts school in Dayton. They found that people started moving back into the district so their kids could go to the performing arts school. Parents weren't leaving the district because their parents parents could go to a performing arts school. So I think that um those things will help us
030to keep students and attract students in parents who are looking for a get a job in Lancing. Do I live in Lancing? Well, can my what can my student get out of the school system? And obviously, I'm a pretty big believer in the arts. Obviously, I made my whole life living in that. And um it's a rewarding experience and it helps it all the metrics for arts say that it's lawyers, doctors, politicians, people who that education, arts and theater and those backgrounds are all positive things to do for them and will help I think help keep students in the district. Um, I guess. Yeah, great. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Ellen. Yeah. Good seeing you again. Oops. Our next candidate is uh Kyle Rishard. Said it right, Rishard. Okay. All
031right. Happy to be here. Okay, Mr. Rishard, go ahead with your opening statement and then we'll continue with the questions. Yeah. Uh, good evening. Uh, buenos tardes and asalam alaikum. Uh, my name is Kyle Rashard. I use any pronouns with respect. Uh, I'm here tonight because I believe I have a mandate to be here tonight and to call upon this board to respect the results of the last election. 197 days ago, 12,087 Lancing residents bubbled in my name for a seat on this board. In a race for three open seats last year, I took fourth out of eight, and the difference between winning and losing was less than 2%. A little bit about me, I'm an educator by trade. I graduated from Grand Valley State University in 2016 and my first job out of school
032was as a social studies teacher at Ston High School. I taught seventh, 8th, 9th, and 10th grade US and world history. Uh we were not the Jubs when I was there, but you better believe it's go Jayd Dubs to the day I die. Uh I left Sexon after two and a half school years for health reasons. And then I've written here, uh when you're going to school to be a teacher, everyone tells you being a teacher is one of the hardest jobs there is. Uh but all along the way, no one tells you how to take care of yourself while you're in it. Uh working as a teacher in the Lancing School District was and still is one of the most formative experiences of my life. Since leaving Sexon, I worked at Lancing Art Gallery
033and Education Center as operations manager. I've lobbyed Congress on climate change. I've knocked over 7,000 doors to get out the vote for candidates at every level. I've registered students to vote at MSU. I've cleaned houses. I deliver pizza. and I'm currently the onboarding lead for the local tenants union. Rent is too damn high. Uh but my passion is education. Since January, I've been long-term subbing at Eaten Rapids Middle School, filling in for what would be a special education uh teacher co-eing math. Um I'll be renewing my teaching certificate this summer and plan to return as a full-time teacher next school year. I'm here tonight to participate in this vacancy process in alignment with district policy and I'm grateful for the opportunity to restate my case for a seat on this board. And with that, I'll
034pass it back. Thank you. In your opinion, what is the functional relationship between the board, the superintendent, and other district staff? Yeah, I I really like this question because the the first three words in your opinion and the longer I looked at this, I was like, is this an opinion question or is this not an opinion question? And I think that uh you know, we had the there was the closed session uh at the beginning of the month and if you stayed after the closed session, we all got an intimate, you know, understanding of board policy 3112, which talks about the um the communication between the board and district staff. Um, and I think one note too looking at this question is there's, unless I did a typo here, there's no comma after with the
035superintendent. It's with the superintendent and district staff as one subject. And so the superintendent is the go-between. The board, you know, if I if you ask me who runs the Lancing School District, I would tell you it's the superintendent runs the Lancing School District, but the board is the one that makes the kind of the long-term decisions. the board is the one that sets the policy and the board is also the the publicly elected body that holds the superintendent accountable. Um, and so that that's kind of my opinion or mix of my opinion, mix of board policy as a board member, what would be your number one priority for the Lancing School District? Yeah, this question I actually wanted to expand it a little bit because I mentioned earlier that 12,087 people voted for me
036last year and I thought with this question it would be worth it to just share kind of what I talked to people about on the doors. Um, you know, when I knock on a door that my first question was, uh, do you know anybody who works in or attends the Lancing School District? And start from a place of listening and start from a place of, you know, I I don't know everything. I, you know, I I haven't been in the Lancing school district in years and so I want to, you know, understand people's stories and understand where people are coming from. But then on the doors, my big three, number one was teacher retention. um think, you know, as an unretained teacher myself, I'm thinking about how can we take as much off of the
037plate of new teachers as possible because I in the two and a half years that I was a teacher here, I produced an, you know, ungodly amount of binders and for administration and those binders contributed to me leaving, contributed to my mental health fatigue. Um, and I also think with teacher retention, I'm wondering about the possibility of looking at the just the mentorship program in general. Right now, you get paired with a mentor and then that's kind of it. Like you you meet with the mentor a certain number of times is there could I think there could be more. And I'm also curious about potentially having some sort of teacher support group that perhaps for the first couple years teachers are sort of like if not mandated to you know highly encouraged to attend these
038support groups with other teachers who are new and some veteran teachers who can give perspective. Um and so that's number one for me is teacher retention. Um number two on the doors is student discipline through a restorative and transformative lens. Um, I don't know if this is still the case today, but when I was a teacher at Sexton, um, the policy was if you get in a fight, you're suspended for a week, maybe two, and when you come back, um, that's ancient history. We're never going to talk about it again. Um, and that's not education in my book. And, you know, I think that conflict navigation and conflict resolution are important life skills for us as adults. And as an educational institution, the Lancing School District ought to kind of imbue education into everything we
039do. um including conflict. And when I think about restorative and transformative, I think about restorative, you know, can we get back to where we were before that conflict happened um on like a social emotional level. And transformative, how can we not only get to where we were, but how can we actually take that experience and turn it into a positive and turn it into a learning experience, something that we can use to change and grow um and kind of move forward together. And then number three for me on the doors, you may have heard me speak about before is energy independence. Um, thinking about getting solar panels on the roof. I would still love to see a windmill or two or three. Um, but uh, and what but with the energy independence, um, one thing
040that I don't know if was necessarily reported on widely with with that kind of alongside that is I'd like to see the Lancing School District participate in the drafting of or the updating of an emergency community preparedness plan. thinking about the Lancing School District as an as infrastructure buildings that exist centered in our neighborhoods. Um, and so, you know, we just had the power go out for a few days just last week. Um, you know, what if it goes out for 3 weeks? What what's what's the plan for Lancing? And so, the Lancing School District would have to work with probably the city of Lancing, probably Ingam, Eaten, and Clinton County to talk about what that would look like. But if our buildings are energy independent, if the grid goes down and BWL says we
041don't know how to fix it in time, Blancy School District can open its doors and be kind of a safe harbor for folks in a in a time of need. And so, oh, and then to bring it back to, you know, number one priority for if I were to be appointed to this partial term, um, it would just be about learning the ropes, orienting myself to the space, and building relationships with all of y'all. What do you think are the greatest opportunities for the district? Yeah, this question, my notes are the most all over the place on this question. Um, the first thing I have is that uh it's a public school district. I think that being a public school district in and of itself is an opportunity. We're having this discussion out here in
042the open right now. Um, if this was a charter school or private school, you wouldn't necessarily have to do this. And I think that that in and of itself is an opportunity to uh to bring ideas in. And on that note too, I I have under opportunities is diversity is, you know, Lancing School District is one of the most diverse school districts in in the area, if not the most diverse. And um diversity I see it as a strength. I've written here, you know, I uh last last interview I dropped a little bit of Spanish. I'll admit my Spanish is not as conversational as I would like it to be. Um but I've written here as our diversity is our strength. Um, and I think that diversity has a strength. You know, it's been kind
043of there's been a lot said about diversity recently. Um, but I think diversity is good and it is a strength because I know for a fact that each and every one of us is going to bring something different to the table. And if every one of us brought the same thing to the table, how boring is that? Um, and in addition, like I want to be in a place where we can all have different ideas. we can put them on the table together, push them around a little bit to make them into something new and then say, okay, well, what do you what do you think about this new thing that we've created together? And so I think diversity is a major opportunity. And then I've also written geography and the bullet point under geography
044is just field trips. I think that uh geography, we're centrally located here in Lancing. We also happen to be the state capital. I don't think there's any reason that a Lancing school graduate shouldn't have an opportunity to tour the capital, to tour the Lancing history, the Michigan History Museum, to tour the Hall of Justice. Um, we have all these major infrastructure buildings that I think we could easily have access to. And then if we wanted to do a day trip, most of the other, you know, features in Michigan are a day trip away. Um, thanks to being kind of centrally located like that. And so that that's what I have for opportunities. And finally, what do you think the board should do to attract and maintain students to the Lancing School District? Yeah, this question.
045Um, I think the first thing that came to mind for me is thinking about what is and is not within our control. Um, you know, if if all of a sudden for whatever reason, all the jobs were to leave Lancing, all the students are going to leave, too. And we didn't have anything to do with that. That wasn't our failing. Um, but thinking about, you know, what I have here is, you know, if we continue to strive toward a mission to provide a high quality education in a culturally safe and nurturing environment that supports all students to live purposeful and fulfilling lives, and we build a work environment that retains teachers and invests in their growth both personally and professionally, the Lancing School District will become the clear choice for teachers and students alike. Um
046I think it's as the board one thing that is within our control is to continue to strive towards our mission every time a decision comes across um the board's desk to think okay does this or does this not move us closer to that mission and the vision that we have for the Lancing school district and uh I'll take this moment here at the end to just give a couple quick closing remarks. Um I really do appreciate the opportunity to interview before the board this evening. Um, and I would urge you all while working to fill this vacancy to consider the voice of lancing voters and the integrity of our democratic institutions in this country. Uh, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Richard. Thank you. Thank you very much. And our u final candidate is uh Jodie
047Washington. I did not see her. Okay. Um, yes sir. Um, if she's not here, we are going to give the opportunity to come back tomorrow. I'm sorry. If she is not here, Jody, is she going to have the opportunity to be to be interviewed tomorrow? I am not sure. I'm sure she was informed of her interview date. She is not here. I guess we'll just have to play it by ear at this point. But uh I I believe that she was um given a date and time. She's not here. I think she basically, you know, is is is out, I guess. I don't know. But let's get done with the with the rest of the um of the interviews tomorrow. Uh okay. So now we're done with this business. Do we have any public comment?
048Okay. Comments from the board. Anyone? Yes. Trust. I want to thank um all of the folks that we heard from today. It takes a lot to put yourself out there and to go through what can feel like an intimidating interview process. So, we greatly appreciate your initiative and your community-mindedness in applying for this position. I second that. Okay. Yes. Obviously, you know, we u we're very grateful that they put their name up, took the time to come and tell us about their um concerns and good ideas for this district. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Trusty Hart. Mr. President, I wanted to say again because I made a commitment to say in this time I get two times to say um that you can see all of us at home um that we are very
049committed to the success of our district and as we are looking for another colleague to help us take up the torch to continue toward a more excellent school district. If you've been wondering whether or not you should send your baby to the Lancing School District to educa be educated and to shine, um I encourage you to come on home. Well said. Any other comments? Well, there being no other business, this meeting is adjourned. Make it back.