001you guys are now quickly ah awesome thank you are you guys ready as we're done sure all right all right well welcome to the 2022 Milan Board of Education meet the candidates forum your candidates are George Elder IV Sarah Murray Murphy payer and Betty rosen-leacher thank you candidates and thank you community for taking your time to be here whether in person or watching live my name is Angela Thomas the Milan Area Chamber of Commerce board secretary and I will be your host for this evening the format tonight is as follows each candidate will have 10 minutes to respond to five prepared questions in speech format these five questions will remain on the screen while all candidates respond there will be a two minute a one minute and a 30 second warning for the candidates during
002this section it will be right down here in front follow following the prepared responses questions were accepted from the community using a Google survey each candidate will be allowed up to two minutes to respond to each question there will be a 30-second warning for the candidates during this section as appropriate similar Community questions were combined into a general question on specific topics there is a two-hour limit for this forum so it's possible that we won't get all of the community questions answered we are ready to begin Mr George Elder IV you are going to start with your response to the five prepared questions hello I'm George on the fourth I'm 43 years old and I have been a modern resident for 12 years I grew up in a small town of West Sunbury in Southwest
003Pennsylvania after graduating from monitor High School in 1998 I joined the Marine Corps and I'm going to be honorably retired in 2018. four years after joining the Marines I also received my bachelor's in computer forensics from Slippery Rock University I am a single father with two daughters one biological and one adopted they both live with me and attend Maryland Middle School in addition of being a passionate parent I was also a foster parent of 14 children from diverse backgrounds I'm a disabled veteran I started public service when I was 18 years old and I went to continue Public Service here on the school board the roles and responsibilities of school boards in Michigan is spelled out by the Michigan Association of school boards these include gold setting both short-term and long-term establishing and developing curriculum
004Staffing and evaluating policies as well assessing and determining the facility needs of hiring and evaluation of per that person's and reviewing a budget submitted by the superintendent to ensure that it satisfies both the district goals and the funding priorities I believe the key to the successfulness of any school board management depends on establishing and maintaining a civil and demand Democratic working relationship between not only the board members and the superintendent but also among our community including our stakeholders teachers staff student body and their parents Stanford e will has been quoted as saying the details create the big picture Pastor Charles he swallowed the difference between something good and something great is attention to detail in that Spirit of detail our district is made up of collection of details our teachers our students our parents our
005curriculum our programs our objectives and goals and our social and behavior needs individually and collectively must all be considered when making the big picture decisions it's simple it means that we must take the time to understand to research and to analyze and identify the array of details that and the ways in which policies are affected by the relationships between these details and then if you and now these details and policies are configurated or changed they would improve the existent practices this type of education discipline in the policy transformation recognizes the importance of the con constituents and incense Essentials and the invites everyone in the local community to the modern School Board table in doing so it represents the big picture details not only come into Focus but they hopefully for the purpose of benefiting more
006Bountiful education Harvest for all of our students and their families based on some of the critical revaliant details and comparative data shared below I believe the biggest challenges facing the modern school districts K-12 are two very dependent and integrated social realities that should be acknowledged and that need to be tracked together one has to do with the stakeholders and parents and to a lesser degree of students especially those between six grades 6 through 12th who seem to have better grasp on the modern educational reality coming into grips with the difference in the funding between the niche grades for modernity schools and the summaries of the modern School quality survey the others has to do with developing strategies and should incorporate in school out uh in and out of school activities designed not only to raise
007the overall Niche grade but also importantly and notably to improve the proficiency rates of mathematics and reading in grades third through 12th in high school graduation rates and college preparedness for example our over Niche grade and modernity schools is somewhere between a B and B minus for the 10 categories evaluated equated suggesting there is much room from Improvement even where the the only rating above a B plus was an A minus for sports and when it comes when it comes to test scores Proficiency in mathematics and reading at the elementary middle and high school levels all test scores reading was it only at 57 if it proficiency and it was below 50 percent in math similar to the high school graduation rate was 89.5 and the college readiness was only 23.4 compared to michiganders Statewide
008rates as 80.5 percent and over 33 respectfully by contrast a summary of the modern served summary of the modern survey for the five areas surveyed academic Sports student support School leadership family involvement and safety and behavior revaliant to the campus-based staff and parents and the students between grades three and six tend to all overrate the quality of myelin area schools performance while the students between six grades 6 and 12 tend to rate the quality more in line with the actual Niche grades that the area Perfection scores some other useful academic data includes expense per student modeling is nine thousand one hundred fifty dollars compared to the average expense Statewide at 12 958 to the percentage of students eligible to participate in the federal free and reduced price mail program is only at 21 compared to
009the Nationwide average of 51 percent and three the teacher to student radio and myelin is twenty one two one compared to only 1801 Statewide foreign because my daughters and I have taken interest in the Middle School's 360 program it provides the students to congregate with their friends hang out play basketball elect for an hour after school two days a week I believe that the students enjoy this free and in uninterrupted time together I have also found it useful as a incentive for my two girls to build social responsibility and mutual trust with their peers thank you Miss Sarah Marie okay is that you're good I'm sorry uh hi good evening and thank you so much to the Milan Area Chamber for organizing this important Community event tonight my name is Sarah Murray and I'm honored
010to be seeking election for our school board which I regard as the next phase of my servant leadership to this District I've been a resident of Milan since 2014 and my wife and I and my daughter live right around the corner I'm a parent as I said of a spunky vibrant almost nine-year-old daughter and I am also a former Milan teacher my personal and professional backgrounds make me uniquely suited to serve in this role and have taught me how to speak and listen in multiple languages the language of a teacher that of a student the language of a parent and now in my new role the language of instructional leadership for the past 15 years I've been a classroom teacher in Upper Elementary School in Middle grades I served the most recent five years of
011my career right here at Milan Middle School Off Script a bit it was the most profound five years of my career so during my classroom teaching career I served diverse groups of students and in a variety of contexts from public to Charter School in districts similar to Milan and those vastly different from Milan outside of my classroom I've been a member of the negotiation team and a building representative for our myelin Education Association two experiences which gave me valuable insight into our District's structure its operations and financial concerns and opportunities that we have to better serve our teachers and our students additionally I've worked with the Grassroots diversity equity and inclusion team that was formed by teachers and staff within the district I've had the great honor of also coaching our Middle School drama club
012and working with those students to support their personal growth and realize our shared Creative Visions in the spring of last year I made an incredibly difficult decision to take a professional leap to follow a goal that I'd almost given up on to support other teachers and teacher leaders this meant leaving behind the school that was to be my forever home unparalleled colleagues and all of my beautiful students and most uh profoundly perhaps my comfort zone it was a Bittersweet move but it's one that has allowed me to develop new insights into special education and the implicit biases in our structures and our school systems and where we can better design our learning environment to meet the needs of all students I also work in the area of technology and instructional design so this is an
013opportunity to serve our myelin students at a higher level in my new role so all of these work and life experiences have also taught me to enter each new situation each dilemma with what I have learned to call beginner's mind it's the attitude that I can learn in every context and that I will not have all the answers and that each person is the expert of their own experience and their own Journey so as a board member I'll continue to Value relationships and the varied perspectives in our district if elected as far as the roles and responsibilities that I perceive for our school board that is outlined as according to the Michigan Association of school boards we partner the school board partners with the superintendent it guides the district by setting policy on matters involving
014our budget goal setting long-term and short-term Staffing curriculum facilities and evaluation of both our programs and our superintendent in my view a local school board must stay focused on these duties as outlined by the masb and make decisions that are just Equitable and grounded in research on solid pedagogy even if those decisions are sometimes politically unpopular I do not view the school board as a service a customer service model for example where the aim is simply to satisfy a customer our job as board members is to facilitate dialogue collaborate research innovate and problem solve with our community our students our staff as well as any outside experts we may engage to support our work a school board's primary responsibility is always to serve the diverse student population and sometimes sound educational decisions may run contrary
015to popular opinion so in thinking about making decisions on Big Picture issues and how I prepare myself to fulfill that Duty as a member of our Board of Education my decision making will be grounded in equity and social justice as well as robust research and data I will strive to make choices as I did in my classroom setting aside personal beliefs or emotion as much as possible and focusing on finding the path forward that best supports the well-being of all those involved I also believe in the power of collaboration and seeking ideas from outside our usual silos of experience and information as a board member I will value our community and collaboration with other districts seeking support and guidance from others facing similar challenges while continually engaging in the practices of self-assessment and reflection our
016board is also governed by rules and processes that give structure to decision making and ensure the equitable distribution of power and voices the votes will not always fall in the way that I feel is best but that is part of the process and I will trust the wisdom of the group in those situations the biggest challenges that I see facing our school district today are many it is difficult to identify just a few I take comfort in knowing that we are not the only school districts facing these challenges and there is wisdom in our greater organizations so in addition to the cluster of issues surrounding Equity inclusion social justice another area of great Challenge and importance to me is the attraction hiring and retention of quality diverse staff for our schools during my five years
017of service in this District many of my colleagues left Milan in search of greener pastures in other districts in fact as of our most recent board meeting two more teachers have left our Middle School colleagues that I held in high esteem and worked with during my time it pains me greatly to see yet more attrition from our district and it is an awkward position for me to sit in because I represent one of those people who had to make a difficult professional decision this attrition though greatly disadvantages and disrupts our students and staff although we made strides with our last contract negotiation and partnering with the board and our superintendent Milan is still in my opinion not the competitive attractive District it could be and there are still issues that exist of pay Equity within
018our staff these salary discrepancies turnover rate and ongoing vacancies in key positions such as Behavior Support and special education contribute to worsening morale Place additional burdens on our existing staff and ultimately disadvantage our students diversity and social justice are also intertwined here because we have a responsibility to provide Windows Doors excuse me Windows mirrors and sliding glass doors to our students and to bring in quality professionals who represent our student population so this would be a key area that I would like to focus on as a board member and I would be committed to pursuing innovative solutions um finally another topic that is of special interest to me um it aligns with our current strategic plan goal of expanding relevant and individualized learning opportunities for all of our students I believe that our career Readiness
019and vocational training could begin earlier in our district our high school has an impressive variety of programs from robotics to FFA and computer science and programming experiences for students but those types of programs and Hands-On experiences are less robust in our middle school and our elementary schools they exist but tend to be piecemeal or more ad hoc or non-continuous so as a board member I would advocate for expanded offerings and wider variety of courses at these lower levels Middle School especially in my experience is a time when students are searching for a sense of identity and belonging and while many find it in writing or math or perhaps band or choir students whose strengths are best expressed through building or creating their potential lies largely and largely untapped and I believe that expanding programming in
020these areas could have a positive impact on student behavior and engagement as well and allow us to be more responsive in this post-covered educational era thank you Miss Marie Ms payer okay hello and thank you for having me thank you to the Milan Area Chamber for hosting my name is Murphy payer looks way fancier than it is pronounced just like the fruit I have been a Milan resident for 13 years I am a mother and wife my wonderful husband Greg and I have been married for 10 years and we have two beautiful children our son Tommy is eight years old and he currently attends Paddock Elementary and our daughter Maureen is two and a half years old I was born and raised in Saline and I am a 2001 graduate of saline High School I
021obtained my degree in criminal justice with the intent of joining the police academy and working in public safety however God had other plans for me while I was in the process of applying to the police academy I found out I was pregnant with my son and I have had the privilege and honor of being a full-time stay-at-home mother ever since I do not hold a degree in education I do not have experience working full-time in the classroom what I have is the privilege of being my children's first teacher I taught them how to talk and walk I have taught them their shapes colors and numbers I've taught them to be kind and respectful I've taught them manners morals and self-confidence and I've taught them to always give more than you take all while continuing to
022enrich their learning and support their education by helping with schoolwork and projects chaperoning field trips and donating needed items to their classroom being a stay-at-home mom also means I have experience in accounting I'm the one that creates and balances our budget pays bills and identifies cost saving opportunities I have experience in mediation negotiating and bargaining as anyone with children also does as well as managing multiple priorities planning and organizing problem solving and teamwork all of which I feel are strong skills that I would bring to the board there are many responsibilities and roles of a school board such as providing for the safety and Welfare of our students and determining matters related to school employees and contractors just to name a few however what I perceive to be the most vital role and responsibility of
023the school board is ensuring the connection between parents and our school system is a relationship centered on our children that are dishonest open and transparent relationships are powerful foundations for Mutual achievement they also require people feeling empowered to speak up and share in responsibility and transparency this is not always easy and it is not always comfortable which is why the board must be aggressively committed to providing strong leadership and be both facilitator and arbiter of consistently building and maintaining a healthy relationship between parents and our school system we do not achieve this or build Excellence with a war behind the door that leaves most in the dark as to what conversations are being had or what opinions or concerns are being weighed we must instead set the tone of openly engaging each other and our
024leadership in honest scrutiny and respectful discussions and debates which are representative of the various views questions concerns and ideas of our community and of its parents when feedback and concerns go unaddressed invalidated or parents are shamed for having them it undermines the parent board relationship that is so critical for our success people need to see Mutual accountability play out they need to hear themselves being represented ensuring that this happens is what I perceive to be the role and responsibility of our school board I was asked how I will prepare myself to tackle the big picture issues you know part of being a big picture thinker is considering other perspectives of course we live in a world where plenty of people have plenty of opinions and that could be overwhelming I believe this causes people to
025make rushed emotional decisions based on incomplete information and oftentimes we regret those decisions down the road I will take the time to understand another point of view but also stay focused on my purpose and goals and the issue that is at hand to prepare myself to make these big picture decisions I'm going to ask myself two questions these are important questions number one does it add value to our district and number two is this decision keeping us focused on our mission our values our vision and our goals I will talk with the other board members staff and the community about these matters I will make sure I have with closely at what I do know and I have sought out answers to what I do not before deciding on the issue at hand you know
026the late uh Kenny Rogers gave us some really great advice in his song The Gambler you have to know when to hold them fold them and walk away when preparing myself to handle the big picture issues I will hold the line when the issue is an ethical one or when the best interests of the students are clearly not being considered I'll fold when the issue does not directly affect the students and staff and quite frankly won't matter a year from now and I will walk away when the issue at hand has been voted on I will support the board's final choice no matter which way I voted I support the legitimacy of the choice however this does not mean that I will pretend to agree with it if I don't but I will maintain the
027Integrity of my descent and when things do not go the way that I hoped I will remember that success is getting up one more time than I am knocked down I then have to trust myself and know that I've done everything in my power and position in my excuse me a little nervous in my power to position the district for success part of setting our district up for Success requires acknowledging the challenges we currently face I want to First acknowledge the amazing loving and nurturing teachers paraprofessionals and administrative staff who are doing the very best that they can with the circumstances and tools that they have been given but our district is facing serious challenges when it comes to the retainment of our teachers and our students as well as our district test scores which
028are to be quite honest embarrassing another problem that we must get turned around is the bullying issue going on in our schools particularly our Middle School now these issues while extensive and complicated are all issues I believe can be fixed with the right leadership but first we must acknowledge that these are problems in our district sweeping these things under the rug only amplifies the problem and I'm gonna end tonight speaking about the school related project excuse me school related topic that holds a special place in my heart and that is our students who have special needs IEPs and 504 plans as the mother of a child with an IEP I want to thank our special education department all of you from Lan Lisa Tammy Sharon Paris and everyone in between these individuals have made my
029family's experience with the special education department an absolute Joy I want to make sure that every family and every student has the same outstanding experience that mine has students with disabilities should absolutely be provided all the support they need to be successful this is difficult to do when we have a significant and ongoing paraprofessional shortage in our district the paraprofessional pay was finally increased recently but it's still not enough in my opinion to be competitive these dedicated people are essential to the success of our special education students when elected to the board I will do everything in my power to support our special education department with greater pay and benefits for our much needed parenting thank you thank you Miss payer Miss Rosen liacher good evening everyone I am Betty rosen-leacher and I'm very happy
030to be here this evening with you to share why I desire to be elected to the milanary Schools Board of Education our family has lived in Milan for the past 17 years our two daughters graduated from Milan High School in 2010 and 2013. we moved to Milan in 2005 shortly before I accepted a position with Saline Area Schools at that time we had a choice for our children to attend the schools where I worked or stay here in their hometown we knew that the right decision was for our children to stay here in Milan the family atmosphere the small town environment was what we desired and chose for our daughters throughout our children's education I was involved in all activities that they participated in and even some that they didn't attending theater programs sporting events
031sporting events that they didn't participate in because they wanted to be there too help providing team snacks all the things that parents do for their children all year round I have over 25 years of experience in education including as a middle school teacher and at-risk instructor an instructional coach curriculum director assistant superintendent and building principal my greatest joy was serving as a building principal and probably as a middle school teacher those children are something special I have served in three different communities Melvindale Northern Allen Park Public Schools Airport Community School District and Saline Area Schools I retired from my position my principal position in Celine in 2020 so I could be a full-time caretaker for my mother who passed away this past December it was with her passing that I was looking for how I
032could give back to education in a new and different way which is what brings me to the table here this evening I continue to be involved in education also through an organization called opportunity Thrive that focuses on the health and wellness of our Educators in our schools here in Michigan in my role with opportunity thrive we focus on the health and wellness I assist with training new coaches to work with teachers throughout the state I lead two small group cohorts of coaches throughout the year to support their learning and their coaching practice I believe the primary role of the school board is to set policies and goals as indicated by the Michigan Association of school boards in support of our district vision and Mission that is to educate all students that are served by our
033district the board of education has one employee it is the superintendent and together with the superintendent the board is charged with reviewing and setting budgets addressing curriculum issues ensuring the district continues to meet the vision for the school community so all students in milanary schools thrive in and beyond their time in the district it's setting them up for Success whether it's College vocational education programming the military or the career the career Force Workforce as a school board trustee I must be knowledgeable about issues that face schools today as a retired building principal I continue to stay informed through my state organizations I regularly read briefs not just from the state but from All State organizations that I have been a part of I continue to gather information on best practices in education today and how
034we might be able to utilize those best practices here in Milan area schools and focus on doing our research on education issues that specifically impact our community and our students as a board trustee my role is to carefully read each and every board packet seeking Clarity on unclear items and ensuring that I am informed on what is happening throughout our district I attend events throughout the district and will continue to do so participating in as many activities as we can possibly participate in and really focus on spreading the good news of our schools that is one area that I think we can do better we have so many great things happening but it gets overshadowed sometimes when things aren't going well it is not my role to micromanage individuals employed employed by the district should
035I have questions about things that are going on in the school things that I hear happening in our schools I need to seek information and find out more is it rumor or is it fact and how can we address those facts openly and publicly I believe one of the biggest challenges facing our school district today is the impact that kova 19 pandemic had on our children and their academic progress we must continue focusing on where our students are and what they need to help them grow academically versus focusing on a deficit model focused on what they have lost over the last two years where are they today and how can we help them to grow at greater and greater strides over the year the more the board must continue to support our faculty and staff
036to meet our students where they are by by providing appropriate Staffing curriculum materials and programs to meet those needs the board's key role in achieving these goals is to be a good fiscal Steward of the districts and communities dollars another challenge facing our school today is the division we see in our community we must find a way to come together even when when we disagree on issues Public Schools role is to educate all children in the community regardless of their race their Creed their differing abilities gender sexual orientation socioeconomic status Etc today more than ever we must unite for the good of our children our schools and our community we must find way to lift our Educators and support staff who work tirelessly to serve our children as a board trustee I will place our
037children staff and faculty at the center of decisions that come before the board as a former School administrator I continue to be concerned for the social emotional health and wellness of our students faculty and staff that we serve our students feel stressed when adults in the system struggle with stress anxiety and mental health due to the division that has been sown because of the pandemic and political issues I really feel it's important that we have disagreement amongst ourselves and amongst our community but attacking one another whether it's from this side of the board table or from that side of the board table will get us nowhere and there are many good people in our community that want to do right by all students in Mylon area schools I am also passionate about working toward a
038more socially just community I do believe there's a place for every student in our schools and as a community we can provide for all students and find Equitable solutions to the challenges that are most marginalized students face in closing I would just like to thank Ms Thomas and the Milan Chamber of Commerce for hosting tonight's forum and our community members who submitted questions to the chamber I look forward to sharing my thoughts on matters most important to our community thank you thank you Miss rosen-leacher okay now we are going on to the questions from the community there will be two minutes to answer each question per candidate we are going to start with Miss Murray and we'll go down the line we'll end back with Mr George I'll do report okay if you need me
039to repeat the question when it's your turn please just ask question number one well covet dollars provided one-time funds to support delayed learning and other coveted related issues what budgetary decisions would you make to provide an excellent education for our students when covid funds are no longer available thank you that is a challenge that is going to be facing all districts across the state as we work to reevaluate our budget in light of differing funding from what we've gotten used to I do believe that one thing that milanary schools has consistently done well is do more with less be creative with our funding we have been a small District in comparison to those around us and that affects our funding so in terms of budget decisions that I would look to make it would be
040taking a look at you know where we have expanded our funding and what levels we are staffed at and making those adjustments as critically and responsibly as we possibly can one thing I believe we have going for us is that we have done a massive infrastructure investment in terms of technology and some building improvements and so those would be areas of funds where we can take a step back and reallocate we know that we will not need to spend a great deal of money in those areas within the next one to three years um but we also need to be cognizant of our per pupil count and our enrollment because those are going to determine our funding as well so this is an area where I look forward to learning and participating in the dialogue
041with the board and the community and our superintendent thank you Ms payer do you want me to read the question again uh no I think okay I think I think I get it um look I'm very concerned uh with our current budget especially with our declining enrollment the Esser funds are no longer going to be available that was a one-time to the best of my knowledge that was a one-time allotment of money that we were we were going to get um I don't I'm not really sure and I'm gonna be very honest with you um I don't know what my stance on this will be yet because I don't have all of the information I'm not on the board I don't have um all of the numbers it is definitely something that does concern me
042um my big fear honestly is that it would involve Cuts with staff I hope that's not the case I hope that's not where we're headed but um for me to sit here and try to persuade you with a bunch of answers or something I don't know that's just just not true so I don't um I'm not really sure yet what my stance will be on this particular issue until I'm on the board and I can I can see all the true numbers and everything like that something I'm going to have to learn so I don't have a great answer for anyone at this moment um but if elected I promise you I will find out Mr Rosen leacher thank you so I really have kind of a three-prong um priority for it for our district
043one is continuing to look at and provide competitive salaries for all of our staff whether it's the classroom Administration our support staff our bus drivers every single person that touches our children are equally as important sometimes we forget about our transportation department and as a building principal I always said they are the first person our children see every day and the last person they see they make a difference they can make or break and usually they make because our students love their bus drivers it's just something really special and unique that children get to have with their their bus drivers they often see year after year so we need to make sure that we have competitive salaries for all parts of our district um we also have to make sure that we have the right
044programs and services offered for our students for our special population students our special education programming and that they have the resources and materials that is a priority without the right resources and materials it will make it more complicated for our teachers to teach and finally and probably most importantly is the safe and secure environment safety continues to be a huge issue in schools all around the country it hit really close to home here in Michigan this past year and I think that that's something we need to really get a lens on is making sure that we're providing safe and secure environment for all of our staff all of our students thank you Mr George Elder IV this is concerning to me because of redone uh declining enrollment and it's going to be a huge challenge
045I think we should just keep our money with the people that provide for our children the bus drivers the teachers the child ladies you know the custodians and make it a priority to teach our kids and all these extra activities you know we gotta you know my house we got a scrape pennies and make ends meet but we do it you know we gotta make sacrifices but you know I I don't know what's all involved with the uh budgeting right now because obviously I'm not on the board but they would have to have to take some huge cuts somewhere thank you question number two we'll start with Miss payer what is your stance and or plan for incorporating or not incorporating programs experiences and education surrounding lgbtq plus students minority races and other marginalized groups
046I'm going to ask you to read it for me one more time if you don't mind thank you what is your stance and or plan for incorporating or not incorporating programs experiences and education surrounding lgbtq plus students minority races and other marginalized groups big question because I don't know why we're singling out certain groups of students um I don't look at our students based off of their color shape sexual orientation so I'm not really sure if that is a fair question um do I I'm going to assume that these would be extracurricular I I just don't I'm gonna be very honest I don't like the idea of separating our students by by a class like that um I think you know that's just I'm not I don't really know how to answer that to be
047I'm going to be completely honest I could give you guys you know a fluffy answer I don't know I don't know how to answer that um is there a need for additional programs that I don't know about my children are still young so to me that seems a little bit more maybe for the middle school high school um I I I'm not I'm not sure I'm gonna vary I don't know how to answer that question I am all about adding programs and adding advantages for all of our students um I don't know how I feel about separating them out by class thank you Miss Rosen liacher thank you first of all it comes down to materials that we have available to our students books are a great resource for having those windows mirrors and sliding
048glass doors for our students so when a child of color black or brown child reads a book that has a black or brown lead character that they can see themselves in that they see them as strong and independent um an lgbtq student exactly the same when they can see themselves in the materials that they're reading that they have access to it helps to have them feel included specialized programs I'm not certain that that again to separate out but they have to see themselves in the curriculum and the materials that they have access to in Washington County we have a very robust social justice program which many teachers across our County and teachers here in my linary schools I know have had the opportunity to participate in and are continuing to do so I've been fortunate
049enough to be able to attend a first round of that training and hope that if I'm on the board that I will be able to go into the second level of that training as well because I truly believe in learning side by side with our teachers um social justice is an important piece it's not that any group or individual is wrong or should be wrong it's understanding all of our history and we need to really expand on that so we can improve and Foster a safe environment that supports the academic social emotional physical creative and cultural needs of every individual that we serve thank you Mr Elder IV my answer is we must consider if it's age-appropriate we should work with our families our parents know our children more than the teachers do I don't
050think any child should be singled out and asking a third grader to identify themselves as a pronoun is totally crazy in an art class if we're teaching this stuff it should be in a history class or a health class that should be and get involved with our math or reading our science classes our art classes this should be done in like this you know history or health class but to sit there and talk about in a math class or science class or a class is totally absurd you know that's the reason why our kids are failing because I think we're putting more attention to these pronouns than we are the education thank you Ms Murray so this is a really important question for me both as the person I am and as an educator and
051as a person who has made a significant effort and commitment to examine my own implicit biases the lenses through which I view the world um because it directly impacts the work that I do and how I move through the community um one of the big missions when I was on our diversity equity and inclusion team here at Milan which was started again by teachers and staff who recognize the need for creating as I said earlier Windows mirrors and sliding glass doors those are not my words sorry the words of a found educator whose name is escaping apologies whoever you are but it means that we have a responsibility to make sure that our curriculum everything from our storybooks and our libraries to our history textbooks to the conversations that we're having in our classroom are
052had with the recognition that we all have not just one identity we don't exist in one space in our world for example I'll share my overlapping and intersecting identities I am white I am middle class ish depending on inflation lately um I am cisgendered which means I match the gender identity that culture thinks I probably am and I'm able-bodied and I'm queer so it is important to me that my daughter sees herself her family me and others who are very different from her in all of the texts that she sees in school from again the storybooks to the conversations to the history we are all people with diverse backgrounds and that needs to be seen in our schools thank you question number three is going to start with Miss Miss Rosen liacher what role do
053you see parents and Guardians having in the education of their their children and how do you think parent input could most effectively be collected and applied within the educational system thank you without parent and teacher and guardian relationships we will never succeed as not just a school system a community but as a society so I I feel very strongly we need to find ways to invite our families back into our schools the last two years took a toll and and really pushed that division families and and teachers couldn't be together couldn't sit together couldn't have conversations together we need to find a way to return to that when our teachers and our families can sit down together can communicate with one another talk about their differences what where they have agreements where they see differences
054to support the children that's when our children will succeed the most so it is about building and rebuilding those relationships that have been lost it's not just a myelin thing it is a school problem everywhere and I don't know that we have found the solution on how to say to our parents we want you back we need you back because our schools only succeed when our parents are a part of the building and the community thank you thank you Mr Elder of the foreign absolutely what role do you see parents and Guardians having in the education of their children and how do you think parent input could most effectively be collected and applied within the educational system I think the parent should have what to say in our kids education you're a taxpayer you know
055for me you know it took me sixty thousand dollars you know to adopt my one daughter and to get custody of my other daughter I was proven I'm a safe parent I you know my whatever my kids are thoughts or their thoughts but to sit there and say that your child's not a saint or your parents not safe it's I think it's inappropriate and I think that parents should be able to voice their opinions at school board meetings and be glad about it yeah the squeaky will gets the attention thank you Miss Murray um when I was a teacher in the classroom uh really early on my very first principle and it was written all over our building but her Mantra our motto was relationships rigor and relevance and there was a reason that the
056relationships came first and that has been what I have led with in my classroom and my relationships with Mike peers and colleagues and the parents that I serve um they're critical if we don't focus on building better relationships between all of the stakeholders in our district and make sure that the quality of our communication and dialogue is at its peak then we are going to continue to experience issues of division and lack of understanding amongst all of our team and we are all on the very same team in fact reasonable people on the same team can disagree but it is incumbent upon us to make sure that were taking the step that we need in order to be sure that all voices are heard and all perspectives are considered and valued so I am like
057Miss rosenleacher I am looking forward to tapping into those Community Resources again and getting our parents and our Guardians our caretakers back into our schools in whatever capacities we can possibly find that has been sorely missing and it's what makes our schools strong is when we do partner together so I look forward to innovating around that cause and inviting as much input from our stakeholders as possible so thank you with that all possible thank you Ms payer I'm going to ask you to repeat it one more time just make sure okay thank you what do you see parents and Guardians having let me start over what role do you see parents and Guardians having in the education of their children and how do you think parent input could most effectively be collected and applied within
058the educational system I had it I just wanted to make sure before I answered okay this one is um very important to me because obviously I'm a parent and I'm an outspoken parent um we are our our children's first teacher we are the primary caregivers um beyond graduation I don't think to be honest that it's how do we get them involved parents were involved the truth of the matter is you pushed us away the school pushed us away when you stopped listening to our concerns when they didn't follow the masses when you have an opposing view we got pushed out um there was a divide there I don't know any parents that voluntarily separated themselves from their child's education what we need to do is acknowledge that the parents make the decisions the parents come
059first and that you are going to actually listen to our concerns and not sweep them away a lot of trust has been broken um I think everybody kind of sees it there's two very big sides and unfortunately our students are the ones left in the middle um so what I think we need to do is we need to there needs to be some healing going on there needs to covet brought out a lot of really ugly stuff you schools took things away from the parents they took her decision making away they they took that stuff from us to the schools I would like to see them you know we get all these other things by phone call email text message send it out the same way and let us know hey we want to build
060this this relationship back we want to mend these wounds you are important to the kids education and frankly we can't do it without you we need the parents thank you question number four is going to start with Mr Elder IV the recent school quality survey outlined an issue with bullying and unfair discipline as a board member in what ways would you address this issue to help create change I think that we brought this bullying issue up to the to the board and we were called a bunch of liars uh you know I've dealt with bullying with both girls my one daughter being bullied my other daughter doing the bullion you know I have to you know I have to teach my daughter that was bullying there are consequences when you do bad things and just
061for instance two weeks ago my daughter had an issue with bullying I worked with the principal I worked with her volleyball coach and I worked with myself to show her that this will not be tolerated and there is a bad behavior issue especially in the middle school and it's crazy but we have to do something and I think it starts with the parents they have to keep our kids under control and they got to show them that they're there are consequences for doing bad things thank you Miss Murray thank you um yes as a former Middle School teacher here in our district um I can absolutely attest and agree with the fact that bullying has been an issue in our classrooms I've seen it I've had to intervene in it and in my estimation a
062lot of it especially recently it has escalated just due to the overall pressures and stresses generated by covid covid as Miss Baker stated drove us to the to the brink it separated us it divided us both physically and emotionally and our students are feeling that too our teachers are feeling it everybody is we are still very much in deep recovery from that and our students don't always have the the language or the processing ability to communicate their stresses or their feelings or their fears in healthy ways and what ends up happening is they externalize those stresses or anxieties on others because they lack the skills to communicate what's really going on um they're also witnessing divided communities both in the media and here in our own City so it's natural to see that reflected in
063our students so what I believe we need to do and what I would work for as a board member is bringing back and strengthening our social emotional learning programs at every level I think Paddock does an amazing job when my daughter was a student there they work tirelessly to embed empathy practices throughout their entire building and I would love to see that continue through the middle school I think our middle school students could really benefit from some direct instruction in empathy and compassion for one another and healthy problem solving that doesn't result in name-calling and more division as a board member that's what I would work to support thank you Ms payer well I'd like to I'm glad that somebody else acknowledged that there is a problem with bullying in our district um me I'd
064like to see a zero tolerance policy brought back I find it absolutely unacceptable that the way these kids speak to their teachers their staff I've had multiple staff members come between the last few days about the middle school and I'm like what what is happening over there why is it like little animals I mean I get it they're 12 and they're all little animals but I was really concerned and I'm like so what again my son is eight he's still a paddock so I don't I'm like what happens when this is going on and I've got parapros telling me and a student tell me well we get five warnings like what's a warning like well you know like stop or talk to you in the hallway like okay then what then we get a call
065home what you have five chances to be just rude bullying disruptive and then all it leads to is a a call home so I think really there needs to be zero zero tolerance Zero Tolerance policy in my opinion especially for the aggressors because I've also and again this is hearsay this is just parents talking to me at pickup don't quote me don't come back to me on Facebook this is just what they're telling me a pickup that the known aggressors are not getting in trouble it's the kids that have finally been pushed and pushed and pushed and they finally snap back and they're the ones that get in trouble and that just doesn't make sense to me so I guess for me what I'd really like to see is consistent enforcement of a zero tolerance
066policy um with the bullying it's just it's not acceptable and unfortunately these kids are seeing it at home they watch their parents do it so it's okay we need we need to stop that we need to learn you don't have to all like each other but you have to respect each other you're in school respect your your staff respect your teachers um but really my warning would be hey parents your kids see you thank you Miss rosenlacher thank you um again I really do believe that bullying in these issues of bullying come down to the relationships that we have or don't have in our schools we know that when students have trusted adults within the schools their desire to turn to negative behaviors tends to decrease um we also know that bullying often stems from
067some form of trauma students act out and become a perceived or a disciplined problem due to some kind of trauma that we may or may not be aware of and that we need to get to the root cause of that and again that comes back to those relationships it's that not that we ignore bullying or that we dismiss it we cannot do that as a school principal I had contracts that we would have with students who demonstrated or exhibited bullying behaviors that were written to protect both the child that was offended as well as working to help the child who was exhibiting those behaviors to find ways to correct the behaviors and it was done in conjunction and collaboration with the family as a school board member I would support continued investment in restorative practices
068something that I think we've not had the opportunity to really participate in the last couple of years de-escalation strategies for our staff alternative educational opportunities and training for our staff in all of these practices when we do our undergraduate studies in education trauma informed is new and we haven't gotten there yet we need to invest in our teachers and our administrators so they have the tools they need to be able to de-escalate and attend to the difficulties that so many of our children are facing today thank you question number five is going to start with Ms Murray what do you believe the district could do differently to better support the academic and post graduate needs of all students including students with special needs thank you could you read that for me one more time yep
069what do you believe the district district could do differently to better support the academic and post-graduate needs of all students including students with special needs okay thank you so um this is an area that I am continually gaining more capacity in being able to look at our district through through this lens as a general education teacher um it was certainly always a piece of what I did but now in my new role I work in the special education department for the wisd and it has already broadened my perspective and given me the ability to look at our systems and processes here in Milan through a lens of Universal Design really um so first and foremost what I think the board and what I would support is we need to address our significant staffing issues with
070within our special education and intervention programs we do not have the number of TCS that we would like to have obviously we work to be in compliance to have the correct number but correct is not always enough and as was mentioned earlier tonight our paraprofessional staff is woefully undersupported in many ways and is not um as populated as it should be we need more peras we need more one-to-one supports for students and those staff members deserve the training and the benefits and the support so that they can effectively serve our students um secondly I feel that we need to really improve around our cultural cultures and attitudes around inclusion it's not enough to Market this District as a full inclusion District we have to live it in all areas it means we need to take
071a critical look at our operations and instructional methods through the lens of inclusion and begin to more fully Implement our best practices so as a board member I would encourage our curriculum leaders our teachers our administrators to pursue a shift toward Universal Design for Learning which means that what's good for a special education student is probably also very good for a general education student so we can be looking for things in our technology that we can leverage and things in our curriculum and inclusive classroom practices thank you Ms payer yeah for me it would be our counseling department at the high school should be expanded uh there needs to be a lot more guidance and communication with parents and our students on their post uh graduation plans thank you Ms rosenlacher yes thank you um
072I don't know how many of our community is aware especially if you have younger children in the schools right now but we are a member of the Southwest Washington Consortium which provides career Readiness and Vocational programming for our students I do believe we need to expand those opportunities through the Consortium so we can reach a broader you know cohort of students and we have welding and culinary arts and nursing and it's wonderful that we have those opportunities but what else can we provide them um we're also blessed that our high school students can attend Washington Technical middle college at Washington Community College early on they can participate with the Early College Alliance at Eastern Michigan University they can duel and roll through local universities and those are all exceptional opportunities but as a district we
073need to also make sure that we're communicating and bringing greater awareness to all of these opportunities for our families support career Readiness and Vocational programming and be intentional with our Communications and when we think about our young adult students who are that learn differently have differing abilities what are the transition programs that we're offering so they can find their way to the world of work there's many programs out there and are we offering those to all of our students that need that opportunity thank you thank you Mr Elder the special education needs is very important to me because you know I my foster brother that I adopted she special needs and to see her go to school and come back crying because she's called because she doesn't understand something because there's not no IEPs a
074short there's a shortage of ipes that can't help her so she's not learning nothing so I you know I think that we should hire special needs especially IEPs I think you know we should retain them I think we should change our operations methods because again my daughter's special needs so she has to wait till August 26th to get an education she sat there in class with the education they're given she does not understand so and in order for this program here at Milan they have to set up a meeting with you and you have to sign paperwork that way they get their money for their IEPs so again I it's the system needs to be changed thank you question number six is going to start with Ms payer can you offer your opinion on Milan
075area schools current strategic plan including some facets of it that are of particular interest to you um I have seen it they actually gave me a copy of it at the or I received from somebody a copy of it at the big red board chat and I haven't had the chance to look over all of it honestly so I'm not comfortable giving an answer yet but I will look into it I will put my stance on it and I will make sure that it gets out whether it's on my Facebook page or whatever for for whoever asks that question I appreciate it thank you Miss Rosen leacher yes thank you I was very pleased when I first saw the Strategic plan I think it's very targeted and specific and I'm excited to to know that
076the board is looking to align uh how they conduct their board meetings in alignment with that strategic plan so it starts to make more sense to the board members and to the community at large because everything will be connected right now it feels like it's been somewhat disconnected so they're looking to make a change there when I look at the five big areas I'm not sure that we can set one above the other when you look at because they're focused on academic achievement and fostering safe environments but then you look at the operation is you know looking at our facilities and supporting a safe environment again Safety and Security comes up time and time again and that's such an important critical piece for families in schools everywhere so to pick or choose I think all
077five are equally as important and that's why the districts at those goals so thank you thank you Mr Elder IV I think that uh all five are you know good I think the important ones is the education and the school safety and what I like about it is they're getting parents involved to help them make these or show them how to make these decisions but you know on the big red chats there you know we always get sides tracked with you know everybody wants their input and so we get sidetracked so we haven't even really went through all of them except for the education and safety because they were the two topics that were brought up thank you Ms Marie okay thank you um so just a brief list of the five for those in
078the community who may not know the five tenants of our school strategic plan um it's academics and programs learning environment and culture communication Community engagement and personnel and Leadership so I agree with Miss rosenleacher that it's really difficult to place one ahead of the other because all five of these components are critical for our district to address and we can't just go down a rabbit hole of one of the five we have to somehow juggle all of them I've already kind of spoken a little bit about personnel and Leadership obviously that is an area of a chief concern for me learning environment and culture I think go hand in hand with community and Community engagement I go back to our school's mission and vision our mission states that we want to create supportive caring inclusive
079educational community and our vision is that we partner together as a community so when I was at the board chat where this strategic plan was discussed I was really encouraged about just the very healthy dialogue that was occurring between the three board members who were present and the community members who had attended I think that that continued effort and the continuation of those board chats is going to allow us to move this ball down the field with all of these five tenants of our strategic plan being considered for me as I spoke about earlier learning environment and culture I think is probably the one that's deepest in my heart I addressed it a little bit earlier with the lgbtqia question because I do believe that when we Silo our students or only look at one
080Identity or one facet of their being then we end up contributing to the Erasure of all of the rest of their identity so I look forward to the conversation around that particular part of our strategic plan but again all of them are going to help us move forward as a district thank you thank you question number seven is going to start with Miss rosenlacher do you have an opinion on the use of personal social media accounts by board members to discuss school district business that's an excellent question um I think we have to be very cautious because as a board member we are one voice and our singular opinion can't be weighed or measure outside of the voice of the seven-member board so as we think about items and issues that come to the board
081table and discussions at the board table it's critically important that we have that discussion openly and publicly with one another particularly around difficult and sensitive topics that arise and in doing so walk away and I think Miss payer said it quite eloquently in our opening statement we may not always agree with how the vote goes but once that vote is taken we must support the decision of that seven person board so to utilize social media to have a debate or a discussion personally or I wouldn't see myself wanting to participate in that kind of conversation thank you Mr Elder IV ah you know our board is seven members and we have to you know live with the the vote that comes out of a thing but I think it gets people involved if an open
082Dialogue on social media you know uh there's everyone does it you know they keep her private with their own friends or something but you know it's a social media Network you're supposed to advertise social things or what's on your mind so people can help to get through them so I don't think there's a big deal thank you Ms Murray thank you um yeah this is a a pretty loaded question and I certainly will not pass judgment on any other person's use of social media I will simply speak to my attitude around social media and how I would conduct myself if elected um as a teacher it has been drilled into me for the last 15 years and it continues in my current role that our personal social media and our school personality or our school
083Persona are separate personal and professional uh can't help but intersect but it matters how we engage in our dialogue especially in our outward facing channels right so um when and if I am on the board that is how I will conduct myself um I also am a deeply interpersonal person and so I don't tend to engage in a lot of discussion and debate on social media just because that I would much rather have that discussion in person I think that is a much healthier way to approach um and gain perspectives to be honest um so with regard to my opinion on that that is just how I would plan to conduct myself with social media thank you Miss pair I want to have you read it just make sure you get all the parts do
084you have an opinion on the use of personal social media accounts by board members to discuss school district business okay just wanted to make sure I heard you say personal social media accounts first of all let me say social media I truly believe is the demise of our society in my opinion um I don't have a problem with the board members posting anything on their personal Facebook pages and here's why it is their personal Facebook pages if I'm friends with a board member this is just me I don't accept everybody on Facebook I'm not just friends with everybody I post pictures of my children every day um things of that nature so I know all of my Facebook friends but everybody's entitled to their own opinions board member or not and if they want to
085put on their their private page um their opinion about something great go for it I think that's fantastic I don't know what you would hide it for board information shouldn't be hidden shouldn't be something that's secret um you know I've I've had social media issues myself I didn't scrub my accounts I have nothing to hide I stand behind everything I post so if I School Board member posts something on their social media that they 100 stand behind and are willing to express to people face to face that not really sure what the issue is no problem no problem on my end thank you question number eight is going to start with Mr Elder IV as a board member how would you support the district's employees as they continually hear and read about public schools being
086portrayed negatively Nationwide you know I think this is a huge thing in every school you know I I honestly feel bad for our teachers they go through a lot you know I you know I was talking you know that I think our veteran you know we should utilize our veteran teachers to help him out because our you know they're getting discouraged you know that no parents ever going to agree with a teacher it's obviously but you know I I think to talk to the teacher personally before you go and raise some kind of Hell about anything you know I just I feel bad for our school teachers I they go through hell thank you Ms Murray would you mind reading the question one more time not at all thank you as a board member how
087would you support the district's employees as they continually hear and read about public schools being portrayed negatively Nationwide thank you well the Nationwide portrayal of our teaching staff and faculty for our schools is a difficult issue and it's one that I have experienced firsthand but I think it behooves us more to start looking at our climate and culture here in our community first because that's where we have the greatest sphere of influence we can do very little about what is happening outside of Milan outside of our personal Facebooks outside of what is said at our public comment periods at board meetings those things are not in our control but what is in our control as a community is how we circle around our teachers how we bring the wagons together and how we address one
088another as a teacher in the district for five years there have been a number of times where um out of you know frustration and concern and sometimes fear or misunderstanding things are publicly said that indict a teacher not always by name but we're a small enough District that if you are a certain grade level teacher there's only one of you and so it is very easy to know exactly who is being discussed and done in a public forum that is extremely damaging to the morale of teachers we need to be having these discussions face to face shoulder to shoulder partner to partner team ever to team member and we need to make sure that we are uplifting and elevating our staff here in Milan at all times we need to look at how we are
089supporting our social emotional needs of our teachers not just our students we know that educators are under a profound and unprecedented amount of strain so what are we doing as a community to support and shield them because they're the ones that have to go into the classroom every day and do this important work and if they feel that they're going to be attacked singled out or publicly criticized then they will not feel that they have the emotional Safety and Security to do their jobs for our children effectively thank you thank you Ms pair yeah um so to me I feel like this this is a nationwide thing I think we all hear about it a lot you know horrible things said about our Public Schools um and I think that's because things have gotten off
090track we have a lot of political stuff coming into schools um that I don't believe belongs there and I feel like it's become a teacher versus parent thing and I don't think that is true here in our district um I appreciate every teacher that my son has had they have all been fantastic all the parapros all of that I have my issues with the school district but never once has it been a personal attack on a on the teachers by any means we couldn't do it without I couldn't do it I don't know how you guys do it you and in education kudos to you because I I absolutely could not do it but I think what I'd really like to see for our district I can't speak Nationwide just I'm just going to speak
091for our district if we could just get back to school or Georgia must steal your son let me just get back to basics a little bit and maybe leave all of that other stuff that really doesn't matter it doesn't matter our kids got the rest of their lives to deal with that if we could just get back to teaching our kids basic stuff math writing all of that I think really a lot of that negativity would would go away I don't I I just don't I don't I think if we could just get back to the core subjects and leave all the political stuff outside and allow parents to come back into the building be back into the classrooms build those relationships with the teachers for our district ourselves we wouldn't see those kind of
092issues personal opinion thank you Ms Rosen liacher thank you this one hits really close to home as an educator wellness coach I've seen the harm that has happened because of this Nationwide negativity I see great Educators wanting to leave the profession every day and our best way to combat this starts with us it starts with each of us as individuals in how we address conflict that we have with the schools and conflict is not bad it could make us better but we need to do so in Mindful and respectful ways something that I will strive to do am I perfect goodness no but it is something that I strive to do each and every day I think we also need to do a better job of celebrating the successes we hear always hear when something
093horrible happens what about the successes have you had the pleasure especially lately I've personally not met Mr Adams but I'm loving what I what I see his kids doing and I know he's not the only teacher out there doing that so we need to find a way to celebrate those things and celebrate our students who are coming to school every day with joy in their hearts because they're here in their present and that's really how we help to combat that thank you question number nine is going to start with Ms Murray what is your motivation for running for the school board well that's a really good question um and one that I'm probably going to struggle to succinctly State um as I said in my opening statement I was a teacher here for five years
094and I can't ignore that I'm one of those teachers that experienced the burnout and the need to do something different and when my my new role came along and the opportunity presented itself I I did not undertake that decision lightly um because I knew that it would mean that I was walking away from a career that I thought would be a 30-year one that I would close my door after you know 25 to 30 years I go okay now what um I didn't foresee the need to change careers but I found myself sitting squarely in it after two years of pandemic teaching and and 15 years in the classroom I was ready so it pained me greatly to walk away um because that's what it felt like at the time but then as frequently happens
095in my life the universe brings about different opportunities that I couldn't have found myself unless it smacked me in the face and for me board leadership is my next why we've always been coached as teachers to Define our why and my why has always been well if I don't do it someone else might show up and do it with less passion um and that's true for this situation also I really do view this next chapter in board leadership as my next opportunity to serve our students here in Milan and I'm thrilled that I might not actually have to walk away but I might get to come back and promote the growth and health of this District in a new way and serve our students in a greater capacity that's my why thank you Miss payer
096my why is really simple I don't want to be a politician I hate politics it's not my forte but I had a choice to make I have been attending board meetings for two years I'll be honest before that never that not even a blip on my radar it just wasn't my kids were young it wasn't something my parents attended or that I remember them talking about just wasn't something I thought about the last two years I've really um and I apologize my aunt's here and she is a retired educator of years and years and the fact that I just told her I never went to board meetings she's probably shaking her head but it's the truth I didn't um but then there were all of these things going on and I wasn't being heard and
097I wasn't happy with the way the district was going and you know I I chose for my son to come to my land because I thought it was the same environment of the high school like I attended it was a small close community and I I loved that I wanted him to have that experience and then when it wasn't quite going that way I felt very defeated I had a choice to make the choice was I can pull him from Milan schools which I didn't want to do he's got great friends I loved the staff I could pull him um I could homeschool him I could send him to a private school or I could fight for him and I could fight for the other parents who are not as loud as me and they're
098not as vocal as I am and I had people call me and say we need you to do this I can't do it I don't have it but you do it I'm like I don't have it I can't do it but I had all these people and my eight-year-old son looked at me and said mom if not you then who you want to talk about a parenting moment or what you say to your kids comes back to hit you he was right what do I say to that if not me who so my goal or agenda or whatever fun fancy word people want to twist is I just want to make the educational experience for my children and everybody else's children the absolute best that I can that's it that's why I'm doing it thank
099you Miss Rosen liacher thank you as I said in my opening statement my why was looking for a way to give back to education in a different way than serving in the classroom or at the building level or central office level Malala said let us pick up our books and pens they are the most powerful weapons one child one teacher one book and one pen can change the world I'm hoping too that one board member at a time can change the world and and bring us to a better place here in Milan we I have two daughters who are products of Mylon area schools that are incredibly successful humans and I couldn't be more proud to be their mom and I give so much credit to the teachers that they experienced here in helping to
100form and shape who they are now I get to give back in a different way as a member of the Board of Education to do that exact same thing and one little proud mama moment which I never saw coming our youngest daughter has decided to return to school to become a teacher herself kind of a highlight here and she did she did so really because of the teachers she experienced here much more than her mother at home for sure thank you Mr Elder IV my motivation is because I don't think I should be politics in the classroom like one of the prepared questions asked on the uh the questions the whole picture it's it's a reflection of all the students not just a political affiliation the classroom should be ran in a non-partisan environment that's
101the reason my motor on my school thing is is back to education whether you know we pay taxes for our children to uh read write you know do Science History mathematics you know get back to that so I'm hoping that if I get elected I can bring the politics out of the classes first thank you question number 10 is going to start with Ms payer if elected what current board committees would you want to be considered for and why well that's a really good question and I don't have an answer for that I'm gonna tell you why because I don't know I don't um I knew a question like this was going to come up so I like wrote down I did I'm not gonna lie buddy I wrote down a cheat because I don't
102know I don't know what committees are there but hopefully if I'm elected um you know the other board members will will help me learn all that stuff I'm making stuff like I said earlier I can give you a fluffy answer and that's that's a lie I'm not sure I don't know I'm sure there's one I would love to be on and if I get elected um to the board hopefully somebody Kirsten will I will in I will call Kirsten Freight and say I need all of the Committees can you please help me and and she she's she I'm sure she will I'm sure Kristen will help me so I cannot answer that I don't know that's another one that I will look into and I will put out on social media to answer whoever took
103the time to submit that question thank you Miss Rosen liacher thank you um I have to be very honest I'm fortunate that right now as an appointed member of the board I get placed on the communication committee with the board member who resigned her seat and that has been one of the most wonderful experiences that I've had thus far the members of the community that serve on that committee are thoughtful considerate challenging um but solution oriented and that would be a committee that I would want to to continue to stay at because I like that there's challenging moments but they are coming with Solutions too that we can try to put together to better our district thank you Mr Elder IV I'm not aware of all the Committees that the school board does but I
104would prefer to be on a committee where it takes care of the school teachers show them some recognization and try to retain them and try to show them that the School District Council on them so if there was a committee for the teachers I'd want to be on that one because I'd take care of them Ms Marie I'll start by echoing the communication committee I don't know if there's an opening currently but um as a relationship driven person and a person who really believes that the dialogue and the connection from the board to the community and to our students and our teachers as well is going to be what ultimately moves us forward in a healthy and productive manner I would love to be a part of that dialogue as well and got a taste
105of that at our latest board chat also it really was similarly encouraged by the healthy and productive dialogue and the honest questions that were asked and the the commitment to talking through the the issues that we are facing so communication would be an area but um as part of our strategic plan we're looking into our academics and our programs so that is an area of strength for me my master's degree is in curriculum and instructional design and pedagogy so when it comes to talking about our programs and how we are bringing in the resources for our students the materials the curriculum all of those aspects of how we reach our Learners that's an area of strength again for me so I would love to participate in any of those committees or discussions that pertain to
106our academic programs thank you we've made it to the final question 11 is going to start with Miss rosenlacher what attribute attributes are essential for school board members that's a great question I love this um I think we have to be open-minded we have to be really good listeners we have to be measured in how we respond to issues um when we react in a knee-jerk fashion we haven't taken time to pause and think through whatever the concern is so being measured being thoughtful open-minded and listening are the most important attributes in my opinion thank you Mr Elder IV I think the most important ones is to be open-minded a good listener and be able to take negative feedback thank you Ms Murray could you read the question one more time I think I got
107it but just to be sure what attributes are essential for school board members okay thank you uh I alluded to this a little bit earlier in my opening statement I think about the Habit that I practice of approaching situations with a beginner's mind beginner's mind is a Zone Buddhist term I think but again it means that you enter into each new situation each new conversation or dilemma with the um the sense that you are starting from the very beginning not that our experiences and our education our degrees all of those things don't matter but it's important that we're able to suspend those things because they can sometimes bias us to a certain decision or a certain outcome and starting with beginner's mind means that we can hopefully look at whatever's before us or listen to
108the conversation that we are a part of with the ability to hear the full perspective of the other person without jumping to a conclusion based on our previous experiences or education or whatever and um just to Echo the other sentiment too just that listening capacity is so so important we often listen with the intent to respond not with the intent to hear and as a board member I look forward to using that scale it's a skill that I do believe that I possess is being able to Value the perspective that's at the table with me and lead with the assumption that that person is the expert of their own experience and that they are coming representing the best of themselves in that moment and from there we move forward together so in closing yeah just
109uh that openness of perspective and then valuing all of the voices at the table thank you and finally Miss payer I'm going to start with I'm agree with everybody else open and honest I think it's important that we admit when we don't know something like I've done many times tonight but that we find the answer the willingness to learn and and to be humble I think being humble is very important and that we remember that we are representing our community and our students thank you very much this concludes the 2022 Milan Board of Education meet the candidates Forum thank you very much candidates and thank you Milan community [Applause] [Music]