001as I said. Good evening. I'd like to call to uh together the call to order the special meeting of the Selen Area Schools Board of Education for Monday, July 14th, 2025. Uh so standing as you are able, we'll begin with the pledge of allegiance. And I'm going to ask, who can I ask to start? How about Stella? Two words, Stella. That's all you have to say. You ready? You going to start us off? You did a great job, Stella. I gave you zero warning. Thank you so much. Um, public comment. We have no public comment. Is that correct? Uh, we do have public comment. I'm seeing a lot of pointing. There is no public comment. Thank you. So, we will get on. First of all, there's one line that was left off and that was
002the approval of the agenda and I need to make a few edits uh modifications with the approval of the board. Please uh action item A uh the human resources part. I would like us to remove that please. In addition, we have one uh candidate, one applicant has removed her name from consideration. That would be Christy Ellie. So, if you could please remove that name from your list. And also, we have some spelling issues. Uh uh Marco Celsius Magabetang and I'll give that for you Dr. Kowalsski. Uh Marco without an S. Celsius is spelled C E L S I U S and the rest of the name is Magpang. And uh that would be it. So do I have a motion to approve the agenda as amended? Is that working? So move. Jennifer Stein support from
003anyone support. Thank you. All in favor, please say I. I. Thank you. So, we have six. We have an agenda. This is a very good thing. That means we have a meeting. Uh, tonight we'll be uh meeting with our candidates. They're all assembled. You may not be able to see that right now. They're in assembled in the room with us with their various entouragees. And um I I just want to quickly state that of the six board members up here, four of them have been in exactly the same position you have been in. Uh putting yourself throwing yourself into the public eye and stepping up to uh to serve the community. And I have to tell you, no matter how this all turns out, we are grateful, grateful, grateful for the time that you have
004spent uh your willingness to step forward. So what I'm going to do now is ask I don't know the order. I guess we should do it alphabetically. I could ask everybody to leave. Um, and we we'll go down we'll run it down this order. Uh, Ryan Davidson, Nate Hansen, uh, Julie's not here this evening. Uh, Celsius Magbetang, Luke Schmurberg, and Kelly Van Single. So, I'll ask Ryan Davidson to stay behind. And if the rest of you will be escorted out by uh Superintendent Kowalsski and communications director Jackie Martin to uh your fabulous green rooms that we have scattered throughout the building. And as you figured out already, Ryan Davidson, you're first in line. So if you want to come up and uh would you like her to sit right up front with you? I'm not
005sure if that would be She can do laps. I don't care. We're happy. We're here just to to hear you. We've each uh designed one question and we'll give you some time at the end of the 15 minutes or so to uh wrap it up with a a thought or a statement or if that works for you. Uh and I'm afraid I didn't warn anybody about that, but I'm giving you a little bit of time. So, we'll just go down the list of the the questions that as they're written here on the papers that I handed you all. Starting with Stebon Austin. Unless it's going to mess Ben up. Is that gonna mess you up, Ben? If we The questions are going to be different board members. Groovy. All right, I will pass this over
006to Vice President Steman to ask her first question. Thank you. All right. Hi, Ryan. Thanks for coming. And um I think you have some family members. So, appreciate that as well. Um my question is, how are you connected to Selen Area Schools? And how could you describe your involvement with the district through committees, other volunteer activities, etc.? Yes, Vice President Stein. Um, good evening everyone. Uh, trustees, president, vice president, superintendent who left. Um, and everybody watching on on YouTube right now. My name is Ryan Davidson. I've been a Seline resident for coming up on four years now. I came here from Washington DC. My wife and our our four little ones back there, who some aren't so little anymore. We moved here uh October 2021. We had a little bit of rough start there as
007I I've been here in front of the board three years ago or so and I relegated that story to you then about how our house wasn't done before the school year and I had to drive the kiddos from Port Hiron to here every day for school and back. Um but that's I mean that's why we moved here because of the school district. We knew before we even left Michigan we were coming back to Seline. So it was not a it wasn't even an option in our mind. We were still top I think we were four. Seline was four at the time in in the state I think. and number one for academic athletes or student athletes. Um, my connection to the school district, I coach quite a few sports. Um, I'm very involved in the
008community in the school district. I I take the kids to every event that I can go to. I am on the high school PTO now. I got on that over the summer uh because they needed someone. And I even coming here, I was only here for three months and I saw that there was a need for a trustee and I put my threw my name in the hat then. Um I knew I hadn't I really didn't know anything about Selen Bailey at the time, but I knew that I you know I'm active and I like to help out with people as much as I can. Uh I see a need and I like to like fill that need because that's the reason I do everything that I do. Thank you very much. I'll hand this
009over to uh Treasurer Austin. Hello, thanks for coming. Um, what is your motivation for applying for this position and what unique qualities will you bring to the board? Yes, sir. So, I have quite a few unique qualities, but my motivation for coming to the board is like I had said previously three years ago, I was looking into this um didn't really line up to actually run the electoral way um that later that year just because of my work and everything that was going on. So I I figured, you know, I would put a pin in that for a little while and then readress it further down the line. Um I I really feel like there's a lot of good in Seline and there's a lot of good that can still be done in Seline. There's
010a lot um that I hear, you know, I'd say that I have my ear to the grindstoneone, but like I I'm out and about in the community a lot and a lot of organizations um some people have some some heartburn about certain issues. So, I feel like I can help with that. Um, I'm a federal agent. I've been a federal agent for 17 years. So, I'm very good at investigating. I'm very good at looking at large sheets of data and drilling that down to what what's needed or what's not needed, where the issues might lie. Um, I I love obviously I love public safety and I was a Secret Service agent for 11 years, so I'm big on safety and security. Uh, that's my big thing. I worked for the Postal Inspection Service for a
011couple years and now I'm an office of the Inspector General, the Defense Logistics Agency over in Battle Creek. So, it's a it's a vision of the Department of Defense, but we deal mostly with workplace violence with um fraud, waste, and abuse for the federal government side of the house. So, I think all those skills combined um make me a very unique individual when it comes to this. And I also am starting in the fall PhD at Eastern in cyber security. So, I'm then knock out that education side of the house as well because I'd like to teach in retirement. Thank you very much. I'll pass this over to Trusty Gold. I just want to What would you want an alumni of Selen Area schools to remember about their education and experience in the district? Oh,
012that's uh that's that question was asked three years ago, so I can't use my same answer that I use for that. But I really did like my answer because some some teachers make an impact forever for life. So that's that's one thing I said back then as a few of you would remember maybe. Um but it's just it's amazing when you have those memories to look back on. I try to tell the kids all the time, you don't get another shot at this. Like this is not a dress rehearsal. this is the it's not the best years of your life, but it's these are years of your life that you're never going to do these again. Hopefully, you're not going to repeat a grade or anything like that. So, you need to make the most
013of it. Play sports, you know, make friends. Um have those teachers that give you that aha moment because that's that's my favorite thing. It I said three years ago there was my teacher, Mr. Lki, down in Sanduski, Michigan, which is a little teeny tiny town. Um I still call him Mr. Lki, even though, you know, we're like only 10 years apart now. So, it's it's just that level of respect that I have for somebody that so influenced my life for the three years that he was my math teacher for all three years. He was also one of my references to go to the Secret Service as well. So, he knew me better than most people. So, as an alumnest of anywhere, it doesn't matter where you're from. I I want people to look back fondly
014and they I want to feel like, you know what, I had an impact there. That place impacted me. Sometimes it's not about the product. It's what leads to the product that makes the the whole product better. It's the steps you take. So, it could be like, you know, hey, yeah, I graduated as a C student, but now I'm going to Harvard. So, I mean, there's there's always a win there. So, I was a C student and I'm going to go get a doctorate. Thank you. I'm going to pass it over to uh Secretary Burwick. Hi. Thank you. The board strives to center students needs and outcomes when making decisions on behalf of the school district. The primary way in which we do that is through policy. Please discuss any experiences you have with policym and
015or your approach to building consensus when creating policy. Yes, I understand that there is quite a few stakeholders involved in the whole policy formation. You have obviously the number one priority is the students. I mean that's why we're all here is for the students. You have the parents, you have the administration, and then you have the school board and and the community. So it all has to be a consensus as much as possible. Um I have quite a bit of experience in policy when it comes to um I wrote policy and created policy when I was in the Secret Service for different things that I did along the way. Um, as the board would probably know, I submitted a policy revision for the hiring policy here in Seline, uh, for the school district because of
016things and I've actually reached out to state legislators as well to, you know, address the hiring for school districts, especially when it comes to safety and security issues of our students. So, it's not something that I fear at all. Like, I I love I love learning new things and I love doing new things. things like I didn't know how to write policy like at a school level. Hey, it's the military. Write a policy. Yeah, that's easy because it's the military like ABCD. You know, hey, Secret Service, it's federal government. You know, this is how we do policy. Okay, cool. This was totally new for me. But I mean, you you just learn it and you do it and see what happens. So, I mean, I have some movement with the state um legislature trying to
017get some stuff in front of the state um to change some of the hiring practices because some states have different rules um when it comes to school hiring and I and I like them. as a member of I'm the mayor a member of the American Threat Association professionals. So I reach out to those co-workers a lot um those my peers and say hey what do your states do for you know for this what does your school district do for this? So, it's very important to me. Um, but like I said, it has to be a balance. You know, you listen to everybody, you compare everybody's notes, but like ultimately it's the students that have to be the person that the people, the group that is the most important in all the policies. I mean, I
018can't say, you know, hey, I want this to happen, but it has to happen because I said so. That's that's not the way it works. Could I ask clarification? Did you you said the American something officials? Yes. American Threat Association Professionals. Threat Association Professionals. Thank If you're done, I'll pass this over to Jason Tisidus. Hey, thanks for joining us tonight. Uh, sitting on the board means that you may have to vote on controversial issues. Describe how you work through information regarding a particular topic and what your process is for making difficult or controversial decisions. Well, as as members of the community and members of the board know, I I don't particularly shy away from controversial topics. Um, I just I am I'm fact-based. Um, I do understand that when I came here a few months
019back to speak on an issue that um it was seen by some as a more of a personal attack than I was just trying to relay facts and I appreciate Dr. McVey understanding what I was trying to approach there how it wasn't a personal attack and I if I had more time I probably would have tried to frame it a lot better than what I did. Um but that's that's me in a nutshell. Like I don't run off until I have all the information at hand. Um and then I'll even I have soundboards back there. Um I talk to my kids. I try to talk to them kids but you know I have a teenager back there so it that doesn't go very well. How was school? Fine. Um, but they have they know they're
020in the school like, "Hey, what's going on in school? What are you hearing about?" Like, I see these weird trends. Oh, you know, there's a laptop trim. I want to blow this laptop up. So, I mean, I I talk to them about these things because they know more than I do. And I found if you just ask a little bit every day, every day you get a little bit more like the transactional communication. So, I mean, I I try to weigh everything I possibly can. I I don't I wouldn't say I wear my heart on the sleeve all the time, but I definitely I feel if I feel something is wrong, I'm going to address it even even if I have personal stake in it. Like I'm the first one admit when I'm wrong. Like
021I have no issue with that whatsoever. So I expect it from everyone to have the personal accountability. Thank you. Yeah, you can speak, but that doesn't mean they'll listen. That's for sure. Um I have the last question and it's uh so the superintendent board relationship is an extremely important one. How would you help to ensure a collaborative working relationship with our superintendent? I think I have a unique situation with our incoming superintendent because we're going to be neighbors, I'm pretty sure. But beyond that, it's open lines of communication. Like you don't have to let things I feel like we get blips on the radars a lot like, "Hey, we hear about this or we hear about that. There's a little issue going here. It's not not a big deal. Not a big deal." But at
022that point is like the lines of communication need to start like, "Hey, did you hear about this? Did you hear about that?" Because eventually that's going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. And if you don't have those open lines with your superintendent, if you only meet I I know it doesn't happen here because I you know obviously I've I've been around the town enough to see and and the district to see that the superintendent and the board have a very good working relationship. Um but that's that's key to the whole thing. There has to be mutual respect. There has to be a two-way street. Um bounce things off each other just to see how it goes. I mean I know there's conferences and meetings that everybody goes to to learn the new topics and
023new AI type stuff like Dr. McVey just experienced a couple months back. But I mean, it's it's all about that. Like, you're going to learn from each other. Like, everybody has a unique experience. Everybody has a unique way of looking at things. So, if you bring that all together, it usually works out. Okay. Um, but obviously the superintendent is the administrative head and the school board is an advising board, if you will. So, I just think it has to be a complete two-way street with 100% transparency. Well, thank you very much, Ryan. Um, if you don't mind, you you've got a whole uh two minutes left. Uh, if you want to uh make a sort of closing statement or comment, that would be fantastic. You'd have the time for that. Yes, sir. Um, so like
024I said, Ryan Davidson lived here almost four years now. Uh, we love it here. It's it's why we moved here. I just really want to help out as much as I can. And even if no matter what happens today, um what happens tomorrow, like I'm I'm not going anywhere. I'm always here. I've always offered my services. If if it needs to be a board, a committee, anything along those lines, I'm I'm always here for that. Um I obviously even friendships and personal relationships I have with people don't stop me from speaking um out on things. So, it's not you're going to get 100% truth and honesty with me um for better or worse. And I think my daughter's probably running around behind me right now. I can hear the flip-flops. Um, but yeah, I like
025them too, obviously. Um, so it's it's just very important to me that things keep going in a forward direction. We we've, as Vice President Stein could attest to as well, we've had five or six people move out of families move out of our neighborhood, our neighborhood alone this year. So, I mean, that's not great that people are leaving one specific subdivision at that rate. So, it's not I don't know if it's a transparency, it's a trust issue. You know, what's going on with individuals or maybe it's just just life happens and that's the way it is, isn't it? But if you drive around town, there's a lot of houses for sale and I don't like the fact that people are leaving Seline when we need people to come to Seline. So, any more questions for
026me, ladies and gentlemen? But if that's it for your wrapping up statement and your conclusory statement, thank you very much, Mr. Davidson for being here tonight and uh for sharing your insights and uh we'll certainly get back with you as soon as we've deliberated. So, Thank you very much. One thing we while you're settling in, one thing we neglected to do the last time was have you just uh say hello and let us know who you are. We at the very start before we dive deep right into our questions. So, Green light is on. That means you can start. If you could just let us know who you are in a word or two and uh then we'll dive into our questions, sir. Okay. Very good. Just briefly, my name is Nathan Hansen. I've met
027several of you. I relocated to Seline about 18 months ago. been a commercial pilot for Delta Airlines and Endeavor Airlines for the past 23 years. Grew up in Iowa, moved out to Colorado for a while and found my way back to the Midwest, lived in Minnesota for several years and uh through several circumstances, we had a great opportunity to move to Seline kind of on a whim. Took a big leap of faith and here we are 18 months later. So, the other thing is you've all got an envelope there. I'd like you to take the envelope out, look at what's in there, and then just set it aside. And at some point, I'll address something that's uh very important to me on that picture. So, with that, I'm ready to get started. Great. Well, we'll
028start with uh Vice President Stein with the first question. Thanks. Uh Nathan or Nate, what would you prefer? It's Nate, unless you really need my attention. Then it's Nathan. Okay, let's go with Nate. I'm gonna go with Nate. Um, Nate, welcome and it was very nice to meet your family earlier. Um, my question is, how are you connected to Selen Area Schools and could you describe your involvement with the district through committees, other volunteer activities, etc. Very good. Thank you very much. My involvement with Seline is a quick and faithful path. So essentially 18 months ago, I was traveling with a colleague of mine and we were flying overhead. Selene, he looked down at the uh town we were flying over and he said, "There's my house and that's Seline." Pretended I was interested in
029some capacity. He looked down and said, "Wow, that's pretty cool." And then he proceeded to talk about the school district and the athletic program. And that was kind of the end of the conversation. Essentially what has happened since then is we have made a huge commitment and a big move to Seline. And part of what drove me to make this switch to Selene and kind of get on track to the question was what drove me to be sitting here this evening was it was really three events that happened since we moved here and when the vacancy came open I really kind of wasn't that interested but I felt compelled to do it based on kind of three things that that we've experienced since we've been here. And so I put in my notice of interest,
030filled out the application, talked to a lot of people about it, talked to some fellow board members, and felt really good about the decision, but I wasn't quite to the point where I was all in. And so this past weekend, I spent some time talking with some other board members. I looked up a bunch of past meetings and trustee Tazitis kind of shook me up a little bit with one of the answers to your question is when you were first applying you had mentioned that it's a very thankless job and that your friends told you why would you do this and that was enough to motivate you to do it well that wasn't quite enough to make me go allin it was enough to make me pause and so I had a little bit of
031concern and thinking do I really want to put this on on my plate right now. And so I woke up Sunday morning and I just really felt most of my big decisions get shaped in some natural form. And I just felt like there was something missing, but I knew I was going to apply. And so we go to church and I'm sitting there and the sermon is picture of a servant. And I'm just sitting there looking around like I'm on candid camera or in some capacity. And not only that, but the uh preacher was very engaging. And he ended with the first four words of a book and he said, "It's not about you." And at that point, I walked out of the service. I'm all in. Big weight off my shoulders. And I just
032felt I'm really excited to move forward with this. So that leads me to three unique experiences that really drove me to apply for the position. And one had to do with students, one had to do with staff, and one had to do with the administration. Uh last fall, you're all aware of the issue with the football team. And that was my first exposure to the school board coming in here and watching these kids. And and I remember sitting uh just back here just about where my kids are. you know, these kids 16, 17, 18 years old get up in front of the board and they fight for what they believe in. They fight for each other. They fight for their coaches. And for them to get up in front of the school board and to
033take that type of risk to do that really moved me. And I just felt I was so proud of these kids for what they were doing. And I know the end result of that whole issue 25 years that's not going to have that big of an impact because they know they won those three games. What's going to have a big impact is the maturity and the leadership that they learned by going through that experience. So that's what affected me with the students. What affected me with the staff is when we made a visit here, we were so moved by the welcoming that we got, the touring of the schools, a high school, middle school, and my son was so engaged that he wanted to move mid year of his freshman year of high school to
034Seline. So, he moved March 1st and my wife and I, we just simply could not move here till April 1st. And he insisted, I want to get here for track. And so we talked his grandparents into coming, babysitting him basically for a month and new school on his own, no parents. It was a dream, right? So he had a he had a rough first month, but the way that went so well was a staff at the high school was so welcoming and so overwhelmingly receptive to what he needed. And I have to call out coach Corbin Brown. He just kind of went out of his way and I've never seen somebody just exhibit such leadership, the principal, the teachers, and I just felt so compelled to basically pay it forward. That was what really struck
035me with the uh staff. As far as the administration goes, I figured, okay, I've got six, seven years in the district with our children still. And so I got involved with the superintendent search. And what I find is I was really engaged. because I was really interested and I found myself kind of going back and forth with some of the candidates and what I was so moved by was your comments that you made after everybody interviewed that they were so spot-on and they were so accurate and they were so well thought out so that when you got to the final two and then uh I made the decision I'm going to come and do the meet and greet and I was kind of in the camp of someone else and Rachel just absolutely blew me
036away with her how candid she was, how genuine she was, and I was so excited about the her communication style that I was sitting in the back and I was thinking, man, that's an A player right there. Like, I could work with her and made a lot of comments um really felt my voice was heard and I was so impressed with the transparency of the whole process that I want to pay it forward not only for Dr. for Kowalsski but for the board because I was so impressed with the way everybody handled themselves. There was some differencing of opinions. Everybody was so respectful and so that's why I'm here. Some issues or some qualities that I think I bring to the table is I'm new to the area. I'm a fresh face. I have no
037bias. I don't have something from two to five years ago. So, for example, we were in I'll give you an aviation story is we were in JFK probably 15 years ago and there was a snowstorm. It was one of those days that everybody's late. There was a lady uh had spent an entire day in JFK and she was in tears and I get to the airplane and this is when I was a captain at a regional airline. So I was the one in charge and she was just in absolute tears and I came out got explained to what the story was. So all the ground agents, they she had this gigantic um dog crate, but the dog was only 6 months old, so it was a fairly small dog. And everybody was like, "We can't
038get the dog crate on the plane." Because I flew a regional jet at the time and it just didn't fit. And so the only solution was that they were going to get her on a bigger plane where the dog crate would fit, send her to Miami or no, to Atlanta, spend the night in Atlanta, and then go back to Toronto. And I'm looking at everybody like I asked the lady, I said, I introduced myself and I said, "How important is the dog crate to you?" And she goes, "I could care less about the dog crate." I said, "Throw the dog crate in the trash bin and put the dog on the plane and let's go." And off we went. She didn't even care about the dog crate. Now I made arrangements for it to go
039to Atlanta and Toronto, so I know it got there at some point. But that's a pretty simplified example. But that's kind of what I bring is I don't have some of this baggage from issues that have happened three to five years ago. I will say you tell you in the time that I have been here, I have witness some things that are very concerning and so I'm aware of some of the issues that the district is going to be facing. Uh I'm a really good problem solver. I work in a very complex dynamic environment that requires some solutions to problems in a really quick way. others I have more time. So I'm really good at seeing solutions to issues. And thirdly, I feel I've have a really good knack of getting along with people, building
040rapport. And if I look back in the history of my life, when I was in finance at Maril Lynch, when I was at Endeavor Airlines, I've always ended up in some type of teaching or educational position. I was I became after three years at Maril Lynch, I became the I was in charge of new hires. When I was in Endeavor Airlines, I became an instructor. And at some point I became a Czech airman which I'm the one that evaluated pilots. And so I feel I have a very natural connection to people. I know how to build relationships. Treasurer Austin, I have a feeling that we're going to speed through this real quick. That that question was answered. It probably was. Yeah. My question to you was going to be what is your motivation for applying
041for this position and what unique qualities will you bring to the board? But I think you've already answered those. We can go on to number three. I appreciate your flexibility. Um, Dr. Gold, how would you like an alumni of Selen Area schools to remember and reflect on their time and experience an education in the district? Thank you, Dr. Gold. What I'm going to want students to go out into the world and be good collaborators, good critical thinkers, creative and be very good at communication. All four of those are on our little compass. Now, that's pretty lofty goals. So, I was thinking about that because I looked back in some of the past questions and I thought, how would I feel about my high school and what are trying to be thoughtful about some issues that
042I went through and so I thought about and something that comes up at my 5y year, 10 year, 15, 25, 30 year reunions. And this story always gets told when I was in high school as a senior. Uh, in third period we had accounting and I was really good in accounting. I was good with math but two of my best friends were really not very good in accounting. The next class was study hall. So it was just an open class. You could kind of do anything you wanted. But we had a really strict teacher. She wouldn't let us talk. She wouldn't really let us do a whole lot. So what I applied some critical thinking in my opinion is we came up with a plan to get out of that study hall. So, I went
043to our accounting teacher and said,"Look, all three of us are in this study hall. Can we come to your class and work on accounting and he said, 'Th that's a great idea. However, I'm not going to be there. No problem. I'll take care of it. I'll make sure these guys get their homework done." So, needless to say, we hand in our three passes at our study hall and we go to this guy's class and we became really, really good cribage players for the next four months. So we learned about communication, critical thinking, we worked together and we were pretty creative with our solution. So really what I would like alum to look back on is I want them to come to their 5, 10, 25 year reunions for one because if they attend that, they
044probably had a good experience and they're not going to tell stories about any type of class. They're going to tell really fun stories that, oh man, remember when this, remember when that, remember when that. So, I have those remember stories because I had a really good high school experience and that's what I would like them to be able to come back to their reunions and that's going to be a good barometer of how the school district is doing in my opinion. Thank you, Treasurer Berwick. The board strives to center students needs and outcomes when making decisions on behalf of the school district. The primary way in which we do that is through policy. Please discuss any experiences you have with policym andor your approach to building consensus when creating policy. Uh with policy I've been
045in two very regulated industries in finance and aviation. Everybody's got their policy manuals. What we call in aviation is our FOM. It's our flight operations manual. And they're very strict guidelines of policies that we have to find and we have to follow. And some are pretty loose and sometimes people cut corners here and there. But what the risk is if you start cutting corners and you don't truly follow a policy and I know Trusty Bird I really respect the fact that you are the policy enforcer in some capacity because it gives you a lot of credibility and I love the the comment you made that that gives you credibility in the community is if you follow the rules. You can't just pick and choose when you decide to follow the policy. So, we had a
046phrase called normalized deviance in aviation. And it's basically it's a way to get yourself in a crash because what happens is every time you do something that you know is wrong and you get away with it, it normalizes that behavior. So, you have to take a strict approach to stick with policy. So, I've spent 22 years dealing with policy. in both of my professions. As far as building a consensus, my approach to that has always been I've got to establish some rapport with all of you in some capacity. I have to find some common goal because there's going to be disagreement. So, at first we spend a lot of time building the relationships between us. Then we can start tackling the issues. And what I'm really find is that as long as you can express
047your opinion and not tie something else to it, some type of behavior to say, well, if you don't agree with my position, then you're this, that, that, or the other. Just simply state your position and then listen to the other position and then you can move forward. That's how I would build consensus. Thank you, sir. Uh Jason Tisidus, sitting on the board means that you have to vote on controversial issues. Describe how you work through information regarding particular topics and what your process is for making a difficult or controversial decision. That's going to be an area that I feel will be a strength is there are lots of can be controversial decisions in the flight deck. not only just with the pilots but with the flight attendants and not only that with the passengers as
048well. The whole key is at least in the school district but I think you have to start with is you just start with safety. You have to make sure the students are safe. You have to make sure the staff is safe. Check that box first. Then you can start hearing arguments. Uh I know you're very data driven. I am as well being in the industry that I am. is that numbers don't lie. And I think you it's really important to collect data and figure out where is the problem. Really truly identify the problem. Then once you've made a decision of the direction you're going to go, you have to stick with it. You can't just soft throw it out there. You have to say, "This is the decision that we're making and this is why."
049And you have to be willing to take a punch because you're going to get some blowback on some decisions that are not popular. And if you can just sit there and take that punch, I really feel in two or three weeks down the road, that conversation is going to change to I got a lot of respect for that guy that he made that decision and he stood up in front of people and took a punch. And that's what I'm willing to do. I've done that um in my career as an evaluator. I've had people come in for their annual training completely unprepared, thinking they were just going to get a free pass from me because of our relationship. and I've had very difficult decisions to let them know that they failed their event, not me.
050So that's how I would build difficult decisions. Thank you. Um, last question and then a wrap-up from you. So the relationship between the superintendent and the board is an extremely important one. How would you help to ensure a collaborative working relationship with the superintendent? I feel I've already started that process with Dr. Kowalsski. When she got the position, I sent her a nice email, welcomed her to the area. In addition, I sent uh Nick an email thanking him for the time that he spent because it's a big commitment to do that. So, I thought that was important. And I took uh with no agenda with Dr. Kowalsski. Uh she made herself very transparent. I've exchanged a few text messages with her. Uh I've shared with her that our dog Slate is now an alliance of
051does pet therapy in the town. And so we've got this connective tissue now. And I know you've got a couple pups. I'm not based on uh let's see. I think it's really important to keep uh to not share too much information. So I'm not going to say their names, but I know there's some them dog people on the board. So once you build that connective tissue, then you can start with the real issues. And I feel like one of my motivations for doing this is I really like Dr. Kowalsski. I think she's just going to hit it out of the park. And I think with the right support from the board, she's going to do great things. Well, thank you very much. If you have anything you want to say to uh wrap up your
052time with us, I don't think I've missed anybody. No. If you have anything that you want to say to wrap up your time with us, feel free. floor is yours. I do. The last thing I've gave you all a picture and that picture is from 32 years ago. And just a really quick story, I was in aviation officer candidate school in Pensacola, Florida. And it's basically boot camp for pilots being in the Navy. And so we're in our fourth out of five months. And every month you get a what's called a room locker and personnel inspection. So the drill instructor comes in and looks at your room, your locker, your uniform, your knowledge that you're supposed to have at that time. Our class started with 34 people. We ended up with 17 and at that
053point there was only 17. So we were really tight. And so I'm in a room with three other candidates. The drill instructors next door. We've got literally two minutes before he comes into our room. And I look straight across from my colleague and he sticks his hands in his pockets and he pulls out a handful of leaves and dirt. And at this point, you're toast. You're not getting through this inspection. Now, he had struggled with training in some capacity, and I had fortunately not had too many hiccups. Without even thinking about it, I take off my coat, walk across the room, take a coat off, I put his coat on, he took my coat, drill instructor comes in, pass, pass, pass, gets to me, I think I might pull this off, deliberately goes into my
054pockets, the very last thing. Pulls out the dirt, throws it across the room, walks out the door, Hansen, fail. He leaves the room, we all high five because we survived. And two months later, we all graduated. So that's my graduation picture. And what I found out later that night, it just kind of registered with me is that if you graduated first in your class, you got to fly any airplane in the Navy fleet. And if you've seen Top Gun, it was the F-14 Tomcat. That's what I was going to fly. Because of that failure, I graduated second. And it was devastating because and it's haunted me for 32 years for the most part, but it's also been a blessing to me as well. And so if you look at that picture after we graduated, we
055went down on the beach and if you look at that post, there's a blue flag on that post. And while I didn't finish first and I didn't get to fly 14 Tomcats, the drill instructor said to me, "Staff Sergeant Wilson, can you come to my office?" So I go down to his office and he slides this across the table to me. This is the flag that we carried around our entire officer candidate school. And this is probably one of my prized possessions. And as you can see, it's all folded up because I keep it in the bottom of a tote that I share with very few people. But the reason I think it was appropriate was that message that I heard on Sunday is that picture of a servant. And this reminds me of this
056was probably one of the mo emotional highs of my life and it was probably one of the emotional lows because this guy the fact that I earned his respect that he gave me this flag and it's a reminder to me. how important it is to pay it forward. And with that, I'm really impressed with the candidates you have. You're going to make a great decision. Whether I'm in that seat, out in the crowd, 10,000 ft directly above you, I'm going to support the district. Uh I'm super excited about the future. I'm thrilled. I've been so We're so happy here that Thanks for your time. Well, thank you very much, sir. I appreciate it. And thank you. Um Thank you. It's very nice to meet the whole family as well. Thank you. Dr. Kowalsski will meet
057you at the door and escort you out. Oh, thank you. I would Thanks. I just Everyone's drinking water and I thought, what am I missing? Oh, fluids. Thank you. Um, I'd like to uh I' So, you're our next applicant. I'd like you, if you don't mind, to start off by just introducing yourself and then we uh briefly and then we each have a question for you during the next 15 minutes or so. And uh if you want to wrap up with a statement that you're welcome to do that as well. I'm sorry I didn't warn you about that in advance, but uh sure you can roll with it. No, it's not. Hello. Hello. Now it's on. Um as you heard, my name is Marco Celsius Magang. I prefer Celsius and I'm a heim. I recently
058moved from Pennsylvania, Allentown, Pennsylvania back in January. Um, some might see that as a disadvantage that I don't know much about the Selen area schools. I did I do know a little bit because I I am a resident here now and I have a lot of neighbors in my new community that send their kids to um Woodland Meadows and are quite happy. And uh I, as I said, I have a four-year-old son and my my wife. Um we're extremely happy with our neighborhood and and the community that we chose. and that's the primary reason I'm here. Um, I'd like to be on the board because as a former middle school teacher, math and science, fourth grade teacher, primarily English language learners in in Lancing, Michigan in Allentown. I was a science um consultant for N
059uh NGSS, Next Generation Science Standards. I was a trainer throughout Eastern Pennsylvania, suburbs of Philly and Allentown. I feel I have a very unique perspective when it comes to how what how and how I can contribute to the school board. Um having fresh eyes and being part of multiple districts gives me that opportunity to ask questions and making sure our processes are followed and and we're accountable to all of those processes. Um, as a as a Filipino American, I am also here for people of color because I want to make sure that there's representation within not just the educators, but the leaders in the in the educational system. Um, as a young man, a a young child growing up in Canton, I did not see many people who look like me in schools until I
060got to 10th grade in Canton and then again at Eastern Michigan. Um, so I would like that to be different for my son and for all of his friends and all of uh the students here at Seline Area Schools. Uh, I'm currently a stay-at-home dad. For the last handful of years, I did the consulting as a part-time um thing. My wife I My wife is an incredible attorney. She started her own practice from home. So in Allentown, um we made the decision to move closer to my parents here in Canton and her friends that her best friend also moved here. So we have our our built-in community. So uh I have the time when it comes to evenings to be very hands-on in in this educational setting. I was telling my wife I wasn't really
061too nervous until this morning. But as I walked into the building, this is familiar to me. I've been in schools for over a decade. I've consulted with many superintendent and school districts on implementation of NGSS. It brings me joy and passion to do this work. And this is the next level. Although it's volunteer, it's the next level I believe. in in creating an impact in the community that I now live in. Although I don't know much about it yet, I would love to be a be a part of that. Well, thank you very much. I'm going to pass the first question over to uh Vice President Steman. All right. Hi, Celsius. Thanks for coming tonight. Appreciate it. It was nice meeting you earlier. Um my question is how are you connected to Selen area schools
062and could you describe your involvement with the district through committees or their volunteer activities etc. Yeah this was very brief to answer in the initial questionnaire. Um I don't have any connection at this moment. Um being a new resident having a young child who's not in preschool or kindergarten I don't have any uh volunteer opportunities per se. Um, as a stay at home dad, I'm with him in the community. We're at playgrounds. We go to the farmers market. We go to the library all the time. So, I'm around but not actively involved in the the school system yet. Thank you, Treasure Austin. Hi. Um, what is your motivation for applying for this position and what unique qualities will you bring to the board? My main interest is that as my son continues his education, I
063would as a priv as a public school teacher, I would love for him to be a public school student. Um, I do have so one of my primary reasons is I do have a concern knowing that there was a teacher negotiation that happened recently and is still potentially I don't know the results of it. Um, having been in two very sour, strenu stressful teacher negotiations in my past two districts, I saw the effects, the unintended consequences of educators feeling devalued, not being compensated, leaving the district on less qualified teachers filling their roles. student cla uh classroom sizes increasing, student achievement decreasing. I don't I've seen it. I've been through it. I don't think it's going to happen here. And I think I have a a perspective that can help make sure it doesn't in ways
064of retaining the highly qualified teachers that you already have and then attracting any of the best educators in the in the county or even around the around the state. So that's a a side tangent of why I want to be part of the board because I know the board helps with the negotiation part and the teacher helping the teachers feel valued. compensated and possibly even ascending into further administrative roles. What was the second part of that question? Um, yeah, I think yeah, I was also a dean of instruction, so I know the administrative side of school leadership. So knowing all the compliance issues and the all of the legalities, um my wife being an attorney, we talk about things to make sure that everything's on the up and up and not not going to be
065a a case later. Um so I believe I have that part that can help. Thank you. Uh Trusty Gold, please. Hi. What would you like an alumni of Seleneria schools to remember about their education and experience in the district? That's a great question. I believe most students want to feel like they were welcomed within their class every day along with being academically pushed and supported in order to achieve their potential. I know that it's hard as a former teacher. I know that's hard to accomplish having limited resources in many many ways. But the student should never I believe the student should never feel that they're a burden to the teacher, to the school, to the community. Thank you. Um, I'll pass this over to Secretary Berwick. Hi. Thank you. The board strives to center students
066needs and outcomes when making decisions on behalf of the school district. The primary way in which we do that is through policy. Please discuss any experiences you have with policym and or your approach to building consensus when creating policy. I've been part of two different school communities where I was in school leadership positions. One as an administrator and the second as a science team lead. Um I'll speak on both parts. As a administrator for a charter school, our policies were able to be changed quite quickly. We had a short process in which to discuss with the community and stakeholders and present it to our leadership team and then our board and within less than a month we could enact new policies whether it's safety related or academics. I I my school was in Lancing, so
067I had more urban setting issues where um I was the administrator of the middle school a lot different than what I previously did with fourth grade. So I dealt with weapons, drugs, things of that nature. And then fostering those parent and staff and stakeholder relationships during those times. um and recreating policies to ensure it doesn't continue for future students. And then as a teacher leader um at Waverly, part of the policy as NGSS was being adopted in the state of Michigan, I was a pilot teacher. I was piloting a program within my classroom before the rest of this uh science department in the eighth grade curriculum and worked with the curriculum director, the superintendent and the science team to um try and get the next pilot the next curriculum so that we have it cohesive
068through K12. Um that took months and months and schoolboard meetings and presentations um which all happened to be very successful and then I ended up moving for my wife's uh position and did the same thing in Allentown because Allentown or sorry Pennsylvania adopted NGSS three years after Michigan did. And so in that three-year time span, I'm piloting it in my fourth grade classroom, working with the science center, the local science center to get more professional development, became a a next generation science trainer, and then then I became a stay-at-home dad during the pandemic. And so I I became the trainer for the eastern part of uh Pennsylvania. So policy I was able to I've been I've done that many times recreated it rewrote it. Uh luckily I have a a legal help at home when
069uh when we write something I I'm able to run it back through her obviously also with the school's legal team. Um implementation I am very good at implementing things. I as a middle school administrator by the book kind of leadership code of conduct just follow that. um as a classroom teacher had a lot more kid gloves on. Gave a lot not in a negative connotation at all like uh more like wanting to support the student and reinfor and retach over punishment before until it becomes a point where it's a disruption. Thank you. Um, I'm going to pass this next one over to Jason. Trustee Sis, sitting on the board means that you have to vote on controversial decisions and issues. Describe how you work through information regarding a particular topic and what your process is
070for making those controversial decisions. Great question. through my coursework at Eastern Michigan through undergrad and my master's degree coursework. My frame of reference is through as an administrator, it was through the legal realm to make sure everything is compliant. As a schoolboard member, I would definitely make sure I'm legally compliant, but then also the classroom teacher framework comes in where students should feel, students, families should feel they are heard, valued, and then understand if that policy, how that policy may affect them or not affect them. And as I go through the decision- making process of which way to vote, I would definitely pick a side that's more in favor of supporting students and their academic achievement and their and strengthening their relationship with the school because I don't want students to have negative feelings towards
071education. That's why I became an educator. I don't know if I answered that whole question. Okay, thank you. And I get the last question in the remaining few minutes we have. So the relationship between the board and the superintendent is an extremely important one. How would you help to ensure a collaborative working relationship with our superintendent? From my experience, the board sets the vision and the policies for the school district and the superintendent plans the way to ensure that all the vision and the policies are met. to hold that person accountable. We would need I I believe I've never been part of a school board. I believe there would be a a framework, a rubric as to how to evaluate that each of these procedures are met and to what level a grading rubric as
072a teacher. Um and then rooms room for improvement like checking quarterly, checking monthly how towards the progress of each of those policies and knowing that the superintendent has a very large job um compartmentalizing each of those policies and breaking it down into different segments so that if that superintendent might need more assistance or guidance in or is is needs has a lot of room for improvement in a certain area that we as a school board can find ways to support that. Superintendent, I believe that's possible. And if it's not, then um as as in the case in other school districts I've worked with, school boards have released um superintendent from their position for not meeting policies um adequately. So that I don't based on what I've read about Dr. Kowalsski, I don't see that as
073an issue. Um, but I do know that it's a possibility. So having a framework rubric as to making sure she she or he in the future is compliant with meeting those goals and policies. Pardon me. In fact, there are 42 separate rubrics that we look at. So, I think that was the last count I saw. So, did you create those? Did we the board? Oh, okay. Oh, no. We we um embrace those from the Michigan Association of School Boards. Thank you. Um if you could just uh sort of wrap us up and thank you very much for for meeting with us this evening, but in you've got like about a minute left if you don't mind uh just sort of Yeah. tying a bow in it. Um I'm extremely excited to be interviewing for this
074position. I know that it's a It's it's a thankless job and I know you guys all of you work so hard in for the community and I would love to be part of it. Um my passion for schools and educating students and helping families navigate through the system. I've done that. I I I would love to continue to do that as a school board member. Um and thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for your time. Well, it was a pleasure to to get to know you. you were a name that I was not familiar with and then welcome to Seline and thank you very much for applying tonight. Appreciate it. So, Dr. Kowalsski will uh escort you out and uh appreciate that. Thank you so much. I don't know. There's a lot. Oh, hey.
075Good evening. You seem ready, sir. So, so um if you would start us off, pardon me. Let me just make sure this is not as hot as it feels. Uh good evening. Thank you very much. if you could just start us off with a very brief introduction of yourself and uh we are each going to fire one question off to you and at the very end if you uh could wrap things up in a statement or so which of course I had no did not give you any warning about my apologies. Um that would be great. So I'll let you have the floor for at least the next 15 to 20 minutes. All right. I'll try to be respectful of everybody's time. Thank you. My name is Luke Schmurber. I am a resident of formerly
076the city of Seline which is where I had the uh pleasure of meeting Mr. McVey when we both served on the city environmental commission and a couple years ago I moved out to Loi Township. a just a hop, skip, and a jump away, but still within the school district. And that was something that was important to me because my wife and I didn't know it at the time, but we then had a daughter, and now she's going to be coming into kindergarten in a couple years. I've always been interested in staying involved in the community, and as I have been out in the township, I've noticed that the all the great things that I was able to do within town, not really available. But being within the school district, I think that this is something
077that is a big part of the identity of this community. It's a big part of my identity as somebody who went to school here. This was my middle school where we're sitting. It was my dad's high school. I found out that there's a vault in there where hopefully he wasn't tossed for being a bad kid when he was in high school. But that's something that has been an important part of my decision to remain here after were growing up here, going to college in Ann Arbor and then law school in Madison, University of Wisconsin, and then coming back. So, that's who I am. I'm kind of a, as you saw from the pack, I have a pretty short resume. It's kind of got one entry on it, which is uh kind of the the blessing
078and the curse of working with your dad when uh you get out of school. So that's the the thing that I like to think of myself as is as being from the community, from the area, and even though I don't live in town anymore, looking for a way to contribute to the community, and hopefully this is a way that I could do that. Well, I appreciate that. Thanks for the introduction. I'm going to pass the first question over to Vice President Steman. Thank you. It was nice meeting you earlier. Um, my question is, how are you connected to Selen Area Schools? I think we heard a little bit about this. Um, and could you describe your involvement with the district through committees or other uh volunteer activities? Sure. Thank you. The most recent work that
079I did, and I'm not just going to try and rely on 2001 when I back when I graduated. I was lucky enough to work with the high school mock trial team a few years ago. Unfortunately, that kind of petered out because our teacher coach, Brian Bose, he had his plate full track coaching kids of his own. But that was the last thing that brought me into the schools. And I know that that was a very self- selected group because it was a group of high school students who went to Mr. Bose and said, "We want to start this club." And I knew Brian through involvement with the track team back in the day. and he roped me in for a bit. So, I know that the group of students that I was working with were
080it's a subset being in high school and it's a subset of a subset being kids who wanted to not only have a club but wanted to go out and find an adult who could help them with that. But I was still blown away completely by the initiative that they showed, not just in getting the club organized, but in reaching out to people at the county courthouse to say, "Hey, we want to come in and use one of your courtrooms after hours. Can you do that?" And uh that's something that came from them. So that's the most recent volunteer activity that I have, which unfortunately ended back a few years ago. But the thing that I really found impressive and really enjoyed with that was seeing how much there is a space for the people that
081are the, you know, or the the consumers of the product or whatever you want to call what the school system provides. They really took an active role in making that group what they wanted to be. And the more opportunities I think there are to communicate with the people that are affected by the decisions this board makes, that's really leads to good outcomes for the people making the decisions and the people who are the subject of or the beneficiaries of those decisions. Thank you. I'll pass the next question over to our treasurer, uh, Tim Austin. Hello. Um, what is your motivation for applying for this position and what unique qualities will you bring to the board? Well, as I said, the thing that I'm looking to do, my motivation is to have some opportunity to provide
082some service to the community. Um, my kid is now three, so we are calming down a little bit at home, just a tiny bit. Um, so I'm sleeping through the night generally and I'm apparently not busy enough. So that's my motivation is my motivation to to serve on the board is to find some time and space in my schedule to give something back. As far as the skills that I bring, I know that I don't have a particular background in education and I don't have any experience in a classroom. But I think the things that I do have, the skills that I do have and what I would try to bring to this board would be just very simple listen and talk. That's what I do a lot of at work is I listen and
083I talk. And the types of conversations I have vary and the people I have the conversations with also vary quite a bit. where I was on a Zoom call today and I I think it was deliberate that the attorney I was talking with made sure to get up and open the blinds so I could see yes, you are on the 20th floor of your office and yes, you are in a very nice office, sir. And then I talk to clients who will come into my office of a tractor. So being able to listen to people and talk to people across a wide variety of experiences, wide variety of educational backgrounds, that's something that I really take pride in. I think I can bring to this board because if I remember correctly the under the philosophy
084of the board section in the board policy manual it said that the very first thing under the philosophy of the board before setting policy I think that was B but A was maintain two-way communication with the citizens. So maintaining two-way communication with the citizens of the district is something that I think I can I can handle that something that I I enjoy talking to people. It took me a while to to realize that kind of I don't know if they called introverted extrovert or extroverted introvert whatever that is but it's something that I enjoy doing and I can do and that's the main thing that I would try to bring in terms of my particular skill set. Thank you, sir. Uh, Dr. Gold, I'm going to take the liberty of changing my question a tiny
085bit since um my question is, what would you want an alumni of Selen Area schools to remember about their education experience in the district? I actually think you might be able to have a slightly unique perspective. So, I'd like to ask you, what would you like to see improved from your experience for current alumni? What what did you take from it that you appreciate and what would you like to see done better? Thanks. Well, the things I took from my time here at Seline that I appreciate are there are I'm not trying to speak ill of any other district or anything like that, but there are a lot of good school districts that prepare kids for college and that's something that is I think by most a lot of rankings will focus on that. And
086I know that that's an important part of the mission of this school district and any school district is to prepare kids for college and I appreciate that. had that. But the thing that I also appreciate is that there were other opportunities by virtue of being in a in a small town but also being so close to the resources of a place like Ann Arbor. I remember being aware of my my teacher Dave Walters was my music teacher in sixth grade and it wasn't anything that was a formal part of the class but he made us aware of what was happening just the concept that there was a university musical society that's something that I really appreciated as a student was getting a sense that this place that I was spending the next several years of
087my life getting my education. It was a gateway to a broader sort of cultural experience, not just educational experience. And by the same token, when I was in high school, there was still a day where the kids from FFA drove tractors into school. And I don't know if that happens at Novi or Detroit Catholic Central or other schools that send a lot of kids to college. So that's something that I greatly enjoyed too was seeing that this is a community that has a culture of its own. It has a history of its own but it also has a chance to open up to a larger broader world. So that when you do go off to college, as I did, or even if you don't, when I went off to college, I knew that I could
088kind of had a little bit of a leg up because I went to school just up the road, but I had a leg up at knowing how to navigate a system where some of my friends in college who were really good students, but they didn't have that ability to communicate and work through a system that perhaps I did. As far as what I'd like to see more of, I would think that the two-way communication, there's a lot of people here that are people that are my age that either went to Selen and are now having their own kids come in or um there's somebody here I know in the audience who married one of my friends from high school and now they have a kid in Seline. So I think communicating with parents about alumni
089alumni and also the idea that economics and the the way that the affordability of Seline has changed pretty dramatically from when I was in school. And I think that finding a way to communicate to parents and alumni, people that are now of that age where they have kids, to try to find resources where it's not just you send your kid to school in the morning and you get them off the bus at the end of the day. There's community education programs. Senior Center has its space over at the middle school because the schools are such a huge part of what the community thinks of itself thinks of itself as the district. Providing a chance for bringing those alumni back in to offer those opportunities to them and also to tap their talents to come in
090and offer programs through community education or just find somebody who Now, maybe there's somebody else out there who has the time to go and be an attorney coach for the mock trial team. And I got that call because I was an alumni and I hung around the track team when Bose was there. So, reaching out to people to kind of let them know that there are opportunities here and to bring them in to provide not just to give, but to get from them. I think they like that. I'm gonna pass the next question over to Secretary Berwick. Hi. Thank you. The board strives to center students needs and outcomes when making decisions on behalf of the school district. The primary way in which we do that is through policy. Please discuss any experiences you have
091with policym andor your approach to building consensus when creating policy. Well, with my day job as an attorney, it's a little bit of policy in everything I do, but on a very small scale. I'll acknowledge that I don't have experience in I have experience working with the Chamber of Commerce board. I sat on the board of the Chamber of Commerce. I've had experience with the Board of Social Services where I sat on that board for a while. But I don't have experience in, as I mentioned, education policy. I don't have experience in writing laws or any legislative thing like that, but I can see the value of the best outcomes. The ones that I'm the most proud of, they're not where I've convinced a judge that I'm right. And the person my client is going
092against, they're wrong. I'm most happy and I think clients are as well when the outcome is something that everybody can feel like they have some sort of investment in. A compromise that makes everybody a little bit upset is always going to be better than something where one person's really happy and one person's not. I'm not necessarily saying that all policy has to involve making people a little bit upset, but the idea that somebody is going to dictate what's going to happen is not a recipe for success. Because if somebody feels like this is coming down from above, they're not going to feel invested in it. Whereas if they feel they have an ability to again through the ideal this ideal two-way communication be involved in the decisions and the policy that's being set then they're
093going to be invested in its success as well. Thank you. I'm going to pass the next the next question to Jason Tis. Sitting on the board means that you have to vote on controversial issues. describe how you work through information regarding a particular topic and what your process is for making difficult or controversial decisions. Well, I don't feel like I I think the thing that is most appropriate to say right now and the way I approach these sorts of things is the it depends. And that's something that I say a lot quite frankly in my job. I say it depends a lot when people come in and ask a question. They'll say, "Can I do this, that, or the other thing? My neighbor did this, that, and this thing. What's going to happen? It depends.
094I I say that a lot to my kid. It depends. Is there a treat in the car? It depends. And I think that that approach, saying it depends is really, it's really powerful because it shows that you don't have all the answers when you walk into a room. Nobody has all the answers when they walk into a room. and finding a way to listen to the people that are invested in the decision you're making, saying it depends. Hearing from people, that's the best way to get to a conclusion. In terms of how to make a decision on a controversial topic, there's really no substitute for when you move beyond it depends. Just staking out your position and then saying that's it. Because if somebody is, you know, wishy-washy all the way up to the decision,
095wishy-washy maybe is the negative way of thinking of it, but gathering information, saying it depends right up until the moment that you know, okay, I have thought this through. I have listened to the people that have things to tell me and now I'm going to make my decision. moving from that sort of it depends to this is it that I think lends a lot of credibility to the decisions you make if everybody knows you're going to listen you're going to take time you're not going to prejudge the issue but then after you've listened to the people that have what have the things you need to know to tell you those things you need to know then you say that's it that's I think the way that I would approach a controversial topic is it depends
096right up until it doesn't and then it That's it. So, is there a treat in the car? Um, the I'm going to try I shouldn't I shouldn't I shouldn't depend on how old the It depends on how old constitutes a good goldfish in your mind. I guess my question is uh the last one and then we considering the time we will wrap it up quite soon after that and we're a little seems a little high. Thank you. That's much better. Uh the relationship between the board and the superintendent is an extremely important one. How would you help to ensure a collaborative working relationship with our superintendent? Well, I think that if I remember the policy manual, it says the board establishes and then the superintendent implements. And that's a that's a a dichconomy sort of
097a split that I'm familiar with in my job where the client sets the goals and I in that case I guess in that metaphor the superintendent where they set the goals and then I make it happen. Knowing that that's the distinction that's spelled out between establishing and implementing. I think the best way that the people on the board can help the superintendent is to make really clear what the the values are that are motivating the decision because a policy that is established or implemented from on high as I said is not something that's going to get buy in. So if the superintendent is being given direction from the board and the that person knows not just what the board wants them to do but why it's important that the board has come to this conclusion
098I think that will arm them with the sort of talking about controversial issues the sort of maybe certainty that they need to make a decision that could be controversial knowing that the board has their back not just in terms of that they have the authority to do this, but they have the the imperative to do that. Well, thank you very much, Luke. Nice seeing you again. It's been a while. If uh you wouldn't mind if take about a minute or so to wrap up if you have anything you'd like to uh anything you should have said and didn't get the chance. That would be great. Um, nothing much that I can that I can really think of at this point except the thing that has changed in the past few years since moving out of
099town and moving into the country is getting a three-year-old in your life. And I don't know if this is true of everybody, but I'm finding out that a lot of people are kind of toddlers at heart. We all really are. So that's the thing that I am the most happy about in my myself the past few years is learning that we're all toddlers and we all just kind of can be, you know, just are you cranky? Are you hungry? And um with that in mind, I would really look forward to not just seeing that self- selected group of super high achieving high schoolers that I saw a few years ago when I was doing the volunteering, but getting to, you know, see the the and the the people in kindergarten and the little kids all
100the way up through. I really would enjoy the idea of getting to be involved in that and making their education be everything it could be. Well, thank you so much for your answers and your time this evening. Uh, Superintendent Kowalsski will escort you out and poses for a while. All right. I just will I'll keep my distance. Well, good evening. Good evening. I think what we're we're the plan is as follows. If you would please uh spend a very brief moment or so introducing yourself to the to the board assembled after which time we have uh one question each for you. Okay. And at the end if you could just want to wrap it up with a statement that would be fantastic. And uh you have about 15 to 20 minutes max. Good. Thank you.
101Thank you. Okay. Um you all probably know I'm Kelly Van Single. Um and you may or may not know that I ran in the previous election um to be a board of trustee um and really value that experience and the camaraderie amongst those running. and um we have been in the district since 2013. I've been in a county resident my entire life. Uh previously, uh we were in Ann Arbor public schools. Um I have two students in the district, Magdalene and Jillian, um ages 20 and 23, respectively. They both have autism and they attend the young adult program. Well, excellent. I'm gonna pass the first question over to uh Vice President Stein. Okay. Hi, Kelly. Good to see you again. Good to see you, too. Um, how are you connected to Selen Area Schools? You
102talked just a little bit about that. Um, and could you please describe your involvement with the district through committees or other volunteer activities, etc.? Yeah. Um mostly to this point most of my um close um collaboration and activity has been with the special education advisory committee. Um we um I first started serving on the seak oh I think in about 2015 or 2016 and then as a building representative and then during COVID things we really became very inactive at that time and um we went virtual and so when things started to kind of come back to be in person following COVID we really wanted to relaunch our group and I'm very happy to say that we've got six or seven uh very dedicated um parent volunteers. We seek to have um representation at each of
103the various building levels. And what we really seek to do is serve as parent mentors to other families who may be in need of special education services, helping um navigate that diagnosis. um helping with parent education when it comes to understanding um IDEA and Mars and um their uh rights and responsibilities when it comes to being an equal member of the IEP team. When you first receive that diagnosis uh when your child is younger, the process is very very overwhelming. And that is one of the things that I've always felt a servant heart to do is How can I mentor and advocate and educate other families going through what I went through once went through as well? So the CF we uh we meet once a month with our special education administrators. We are not
104um a board sanctioned committee. So we we do not follow OMA but we will occasionally um do extended public commentary or board updates so that we can share with you all the things that we are working on. Um one of the things that we've really tried to do um really inspired by our new special ed director Julie Vulkar is create um a stu like a parent guide with information with what all the acronyms mean what what is the process and so we've been working on that at a local level. Um, but I've also been working on that for quite some time at a county level as well. Um, previous to being on the SEAK here in Seline, I was on the parent advocacy or the parent advisory committee if you will in Ann Arbor as
105well for about seven years before we moved here. Three of those years serving as a co-chair um for that group. And um we would meet with administrators. We would give occasionally board updates to that board as well. Um and once after moving to Seline uh became very interested in becoming more involved with the WISD parent advisory committee. So a few years ago I was appointed by the board here to represent Seline as one of our um representatives. We have representatives from all of the outline districts within the ISD. Um we partner with the ISD administrators with the superintendent there to um review the annual um ISD plan also on parent education issues and also to share information such as the millillage um just to help people understand the importance of um doing what we need
106to do to service our students. And um they also share with us a lot of resources too from OEP and from the Michigan Department of Education resources like Michigan Alliance for Families which is a statef funded organization to again help families navigate the special education process. Um as well as uh we get an annual update from the SEMS office which is the special uh special education mediation services office which can help um teams at times around the state that may feel stuck in their um IEP process. And the whole idea behind SEMS and what we do on PAX and in the C act through our parent mentorship is to help um strengthen uh collaboration and consensus building and really try to have a mediative spirit so that we can prevent due process because once we
107go to due process it's very expensive emotionally as well as financially for everybody involved. Thank you. I'm going to pass the next question over to our new treasurer, Tim Austin. Thank you. Um, what is your motivation for applying for this position and what unique qualities will you bring to the board? Yeah, I've been thinking about this for a year or so. It was about a year ago that I remember going down to the courthouse and turning in my my uh paperwork to run. Um, really my biggest inspiration is first and foremost my own students, my own children. um their experience of being diagnosed and living with a disability has really um led me over the last 10 plus years to get um to further my education. Um, I am a 1996 graduate of Calvin College
108with a bachelor of fine arts in in music in vocal performance and but I really feel like that liberal arts education prepared me for a vast array of experiences and um that led me to uh work at the University of Michigan in conference management services and after my children were diagnosed I became very very interested especially in assisted technology and how can assist of technology help our young people with disabilities to not only communicate but to improve their executive functioning. And also how that assisted technology is laid out for us in IDEA and the IEP process and the assisted technology consideration process that you go through annually at the IEP. Became so interested in that that I began volunteering with a nonprofit out of Toledo called IT Talk Autism Foundation. I became an iOS assisted
109technology professional development presenter for them as well as serving on their board. Um, and also began studies at Bowling Green State University to obtain my graduate level certificate in assist of technology. And I wanted to do a full masters, but I was really waiting for the right compliment to finishing out and fleshing out that degree. So it was six or seven years before I finished my masters. I returned to my alma mater which is now Calvin University. Um in the last three or four years they've really begun offering a wealth and breadth of um online masters programs and they have a masters of education program with an emphasis in literacy development and also inclusion. Most of my studies were in literacy, the science of of reading, how you develop literacy because we do have a
110literacy crisis, not only in the state of Michigan, but nationally. Michigan ranks 43rd in fourth grade literacy scores. And I really feel that literacy is like one of the most powerful life skills that you can instill in anybody. And I really have the faith and confidence that anybody can learn to read and write. It does not matter what their disability is. is a matter of helping them discover the right tools to make it happen uh so that they can really live their life out to their full potential. And so most of my secondary studies really play a role in parent education, parent advocacy, and being a resource for um for professionals and other families and caregivers. Thank you. Thank you. And I pass the next question over to trustee Dr. Gold. Hi, Kelly. My question
111is, what would you want an alumni of Selen Area schools to remember about their education and experience in the district? When I think about something like that, I think of the word gratitude and just being so grateful for all of the many opportunities that our district has to offer, whether it's sports or performing arts or our everex expanding CTE collaborations with the consortium and the county. um as well as the way that we are starting to really try to embed all of those experiences to be prek to 12 and not just you know oh I'm a senior I'm graduating now I need a post-secary transition plan I think um our teachers passion for STEM and for um nextgen classrooms and for um really developing students that um have experiential learning opportunities is is really paramount
112and stellar in in our district. Thank you. I'd like to pass the next question over to Secretary Burwick. Hi. Thank you. The board strives to center students needs and outcomes when making decisions on behalf of the school district. The primary way in which we do that is through policy. Please discuss any experiences you have with policym and or your approach to building consensus when creating policy. Right. I probably do not have a breath of experience in policym as those who have already served on the board, but um I really appreciate the work that the policy committee does and um have really enjoyed always watching the meetings online when they're broadcasters or showing up in person. Um policy work is very very um important work because we are looking at um what is best for our
113staff, for our students, for our family and how our district as a whole relates to the surrounding community. So I probably have more personal experience with with the concept of consensus building and collaborative interactions. That's really what is at the heart of um parent advocacy when it comes to to special education because each student that qualifies for special education has an individualized education plan and it's a very specific document. So in in some ways you could almost compare that as being like a policy book maybe for each student. It becomes it becomes the guide with how we're going to access the GenEd curriculum and how we're going to adapt and modify and which supplemental aids and services are needed to help that student as much as possible access that GenEd curriculum because there is one
114curriculum. There's the GenEd curriculum and all students are gened students first. they may have um a disability or um other learning challenge that makes it necessary for them to be also a special education student. And through that work, we um we empower parents and the teachers and the administrators and everybody in that building team that's supporting that student in so-called policy work, if you will, in in doing what is individualized best practice work for that student. Thank you. I'm going to pass the second to last question over to Trusty Sis. Sitting on the board means that you have to vote on controversial issues. Describe how you work through information regarding a particular topic and what your process is for making difficult or controversial decisions. Thank you. Yes, there's board work is important work and that's
115why there are seven. I would be one of seven. And for me, just in following various issues that have been important issues to our district over the last couple years, preparing for those kinds of thought processes is by doing research, by seeing what um published um research says or what what uh media says. um what what are what are some ways that other states or even federally have we tackled this issue? What are some ways um corporations are handling these sensitive issues? And I think you your of course your your own personal experience will guide a bit about um those challenges of decision- making but ultimately being a board of education trustee is a nonpartisan role and I really view it as a role of public service to my community and to the students and
116to the staff. So you really need to be thinking beyond self. You really need to be thinking about the whole and you really need to listen to understand versus listening to respond in your interactions in your deliberations and then you collectively work together as one of seven to to to tackle difficult issues at times. Well, thank you very much. I I have the uh last question and then we'll wrap it up. uh this the relationship between the board and the superintendent is extremely important. How would you help to ensure a collaborative working relationship with our superintendent? Yeah, I think um I would obviously first and foremost look to the wisdom of the board president because it seems that that role has the closest working relationship with the superintendent and it's very clear that the board's
117role is is supervising the superintendent in terms of giving an annual annual review. But there's also um many points of collaboration along the way where we're bouncing ideas off of one another. the superintendent themselves may be giving an update or a presentation or looking at other um staff members who may be giving um presentations and I think again it's that um spirit of collaboration and consensus building even when decisions are difficult it's it's working as a collective rather than self-promotion to um to to accomplish the work for you. Well, thank you very much. If you uh have any final statement before we usher you away from the table. I've been doing a lot of um just personal reflection in the past few days with um these interviews coming up tonight and was kind of just
118looking at if I if if let's say the election were this fall versus last fall, what are some touchstones or things that might be um on my platform or areas of concern might you say? Um previously it was very much literacy again with the graduate studies and you know Empowering our teachers to know about the science of reading and and how phmic awareness and instruction is instrumental in helping our children learn literacy skills and how that life skill of literacy leads to so many things vocationally um the personal journey wise and being able to communicate with those around you as being a part of a community. Um, I would say an additional area for 2025 might be um a real big interest in our continuing educ programs. um really inspired by the um the document
119that the ISD has recently um put on their website for CTE and just describing how you know experiential learning opens up access and opportunity for for all of our students and how inspiring it is. I went back and and viewed um Ryan Rose's presentation to the board from last summer in which he was laying out some of the the the highway to come, if you will, for for CTE throughout the county and the the coming mill in November. Um I really was inspired his about his focus on um looking at CTE from prek through grade 12, not just oops, I'm I'm a junior in high school. What am I thinking about? I think there was a statistic in there of, you know, 10 years ago or something, 80% of high schoolers really didn't have a
120post-secary vision. And I think there's just great great potential for looking into CTE not only from a multid-disciplinary learning perspective but how we can be harnessing those skills about self-discovery and self-exloration for what do I want to do after I am done with school. um very very inspiring to me and I think also in this time of of budget crisis that we may or may not be in depending on what's coming down the pike with a millillage not passing or things happening at the federal level. I think exploring all the different ways that CTE connects to our local universities and our local businesses is really really powerful. There was another statistic in that booklet about uh the 127 where you know we say you have one position like a doctor and then under that you
121would by focusing on CTE and making CTE available you then have two then related semi-professional um service positions but then under that there's seven. So you think about the ripple effect economically and selfeducation wise that CTE would really bring for our students. And I I also liked the um the little nugget about the I think it's like every dollar that's invested in CTE would really result in a $5 um payback to us to the state economy. I I think um as public education entities, looking at those those business partnerships and those uh possibilities with our local university is just a very innovative way to to be connected to our community and um be creative budget-wise when we need to. Well, thank you so much for joining us tonight. It's nice to see you again. It's
122been a while. and uh our our superintendent Rachel Kowalsski will either escort you out or lead you to the back of the room. All right, I'm I'm going to take off. So Oh, thank you. And uh for the rest of us uh without objection, I hope we can take a five minute or so recess uh for body stretching and hydration. How's that? Thank you everybody. Thank you so much. Well, thank you everybody. Um, if you're coming here to watch the deliberation uh to determine our next school board member, you have reached your destination. See how here we go. Uh so we've heard from we've heard from five candidates in person and one uh was unable to make it this evening but gave us a lot of material and I'm want to make sure that we
123all have that material uh at the front of our mind as well as our many notes that we took for the other candidates. So uh so in total we have six and as we discussed in a standing meeting as we were leaving an organizational meeting as we were leaving here last week uh one of the ways we thought we would try to narrow down our focus to a handful of candidates is to ask each of you to to share which are the three candidates you really want to hear more about or want to really discuss you're anxious to discuss. And um I actually I can't even follow my own advice at this point, but I I I think I have the three that I would like to have a conversation about with the rest of
124you. And I'd like to hear from the rest of you as well. So we could either do this uh by making a note on a piece of paper if you want, but because this is a public um forum, I would just invite you to share your the three names that you would like us to uh talk about first. And I could start at uh the Jason end or I could start at the uh Tim end or we can just ask you to uh speak up as a name u comes up. And another po just a point of clarification. If uh one name doesn't show up, it doesn't mean that that person is completely out of of consideration. I just want to make sure that we're all clearly aware of that. All right. So, uh how
125about we start with you, Jason? Do you have a three in mind? I do. Can I make two comments first? Am I allowed to? You can make three comments if you want. Okay. This is us deliberating. Microphone's mine. This is us deliberating in public about who is going to be our next board member. I just I just wanted to point out uh that everybody on here knows and everybody that that interviewed wants to interview. Uh putting yourself out there is a difficult thing to do. So, I want to personally thank everyone that put their name forward. Um, second thing I'd like to point out is, uh, as I'm taking notes, which most of them are mental, but I did write down a few things. Interestingly, three of the folks that we had interviewed tonight have
126been part of our community for four years, 18 years, or I'm four years, 18 months, and six months. I just thought that was interesting because we have those people that are the newest members of our community stepping up to serve. So, I want to point that out uh because I think that's uh I think that's important uh and I think that's important for everybody in our community to see and hear and witness. Um because these are these are folks that have not been in our community um very long. As a matter of fact, uh Kelly uh 12 years and she has a couple years on me being in this community. So, folks that haven't always been in Selen are stepping up to serve. So, I just want to point that out for clarification purposes because
127you mentioned the name Kelly. The other candidate is Julie Kelly and we have a Kelly Van Single. Kelly Van Single is who I was. So, I suppose we should make sure that we use last names or first names or very clearly point out who we're talking about. Yes. Thank you. So, so Miss Van Single is who I was referring to. 12 years. Um, but I think that's important to point out is that we have folks that uh that are not tenured uh Selene people that are stepping up to to serve. And I think that's I think that's great. I think that proves that people want to come to this community uh and want to grow with the community. So I think that's awesome that we see that. Uh so the uh the three folks and
128I was having a hard time uh narrowing this one down. So, uh, in the spirit of keeping the list short, um, and these are in no particular order, I would like, uh, to discuss more, uh, Mr. Davidson, Mr. Davidson, Ryan Davidson, Mr. Hansen, uh, Nate, and, uh, could not be with us this evening, Miss Kelly, Julie Kelly. Thank you. Uh, I can either ask Lauren to go next or anyone who wants to speak up. I'd like to ask to not go next since I was not at this organizational meeting and I'd like a moment to consider. Of course. Good point. And I and I and in hindsight, I'm quite certain I never let you know what this process was going to be. Sorry, my my oversight. My bad. Thank you. I'm still reviewing my notes.
129So if Tim or Darcy or you is ready to go, that's great. So I guess I'm kind of a little open on my third, but I mean I guess for right now I'm I'm at Nate and Julie Kelly right now. And um some of the other ones, I mean, like like uh Jason said, takes a lot to step up and do this. And um they all bring unique qualities. And so um so I guess I'm just going to stick with those two at this point in time. All right. I appreciate that. Uh Darcy, Lauren, or me? I'm happy to go. Um, I would like to talk a little more about Nate Hansen. I'd like to talk a little more about Luke Schmurberg. I'd like to talk about Kelly Van Single. That's And again, as you
130pointed out, not to this is not to to disparrage any of the other candidates and everyone has a skill set that they're bringing to the table. Okay, I'll go next. Um, again, in no order, and I think I have to put out the initial statement as well. Um, this is really hard to do. It's hard to be a super Rachel's, she just went through this. It's really hard to do this. It's really hard to talk about people when they're watching or in front of you. Um, I would encourage all of these excellent candidates to please consider running for election. It's even harder than this process. I will not lie. Um, I'm happy to answer any questions, but um, campaigning is is is challenging, but I saw such an overwhelming desire to give back to the
131community, and I think that that's so uniquely, Seline. So, I really appreciate that. And again, I'm not closing the doors here either. I want to hear what people have to say. Um, but I'm going to um, mimic what Michael said. So, that's Nate, Luke, and Kelly. This is really difficult because everybody has had so many great qualities and I think they would all do well here. Um yeah. Um, so I would do Kelly Van Single, Luke Schmmerberg, and Nate Hansen. Sorry, your finger is hovering over the button. So, anytime. I was sort of smiling because um those were uh the three candidates I wanted to talk about but I also wanted to discuss so I'm just for clarity um Van Single Hansen and Shmearberg I also wanted to acknowledge uh Julie Kelly and it sounds
132like since she was on others lists we be chatting about her and Ryan Davidson. Yes. All right. Well, my job is just to facilitate this discussion at this point. And those of you following along at home, yes, uh, six of us said we wanted to talk more about Nate Hansen, but that is not our vote at this point. Uh, so let me open up the floor then to any comments you want to make about any of the the applicants or I'm not sure if it's applicants or candidates. Let's just call them applicants at this point because I sure have a lot to say. Since I sort of uh delayed before, I guess I will go first. Um so uh when I ran for the board, uh I thought it was important to look beyond your
133own kids. I think um in my profession, I sort of look out for and take care of other people's children. And I think it's pretty easy to um to care deeply about your own kids and your kids' friends, but I'm really looking for someone who student focus beyond uh the kids in their backyard. Um and so I'm looking for that. Um I'm looking for someone who understands the role of the job and its limits to the best of your ability once you are here and can work on a team collaboratively. And I also um was looking for someone who might bring different skills or perspective to the board outside of um those of us that are sitting up here now. Um so with that, uh just a few thoughts. Uh, first of all, um, I
134have such a heart for special ed and so I think Kelly Van Single's dedication to special education um, you know, is um, not a perspective we have here and uh, necessarily like as openly and also her interest in literacy would be um, a really a great addition to this board. I actually think any of these people would have done great on the board. I was really impressed by the quality of the candidates tonight. I want to say that it was hard. Um I really appreciated uh Nate Hansen's interview as I guess we all did. um he just uh strikes me as someone uh who's thoughtful and collaborative and I was um impressed by his um input during our superintendent um you know search for somebody to take the time that he did give us his
135thoughts from behind the scenes and really be willing to change his mind which is a great candidate in leaders to be able to listen to others and change their mind I think is impressive. I have noted before and during the superintendent search that I have great respect for veterans. So, I like that. And we um we don't have anyone with a finance degree, I don't think, directly. And so, his experience there, I know we have people with financial experience who know run businesses, but I thought that was a great um uh addition. And he's new to the district, which I don't think necessarily has to be a bad thing. Um, I think that whole fresh eyes idea is a good one, but maybe has enough experience here um to, you know, have an idea of
136what's going on in the district. Um, I would say uh Mr. Schmarberg was not um a person who jumped out at me on paper immediately, but I was really impressed by his interview and I also looked down our table and we all are probably around a similar age and I think having both an alumni of a relatively recent alumni of the schools, somebody with the legal background, which we certainly have needed at various times, someone with a small child, um and you know, someone of a slightly different generation, ation could be a really big benefit. And I thought he um had a very measured responses with the um I wrote down humility uh which I also think is important in uh people seeking to be in a leadership role. So I don't know. I'm struggling.
137I'm interested to hear what other people say. I'm struggling too. Um so I appreciate hearing your comments and can't wait to hear everybody else's. Um I did want to talk about Kelly Van Single for just a second because I wrote down something. um um very important that I think that we should talk about first before we talk about um that particular applicant. Um she does sit as a board appointed uh in a board-appointed position that would need to be given up. H has anybody um are we I don't think we're able to like do a follow-up question, but I'm I'm thinking in my mind um because I I can clearly see how much that advocacy work means to her. And so like Brad and like Darcy with substitute teaching, there'd be a choice there. Um
138I was chair and coach and all this stuff before it was given up. Um, so I I think that's something we need to think about and I don't know how to answer that because it wasn't part of the questions that we were going to ask everybody. So I was just wondering if we could talk about that. Let's talk about it. My understanding is that any board from the policies any board member can serve on any in any capacity in any school activity or even board activity uh except to be the chair of or the leader of that organization. So, if you were chair of your PTO, that's why you had to step down from that. Um, but I don't know precisely what the nature is of the SEAC in relationship to this board. She's not
139receiving payment. Correct. So, in in my understanding and my perception because they present to the board on an annual basis, um, she is one of the chairs of that organization and she was appointed by the board. So, to me, that's a conflict of interest. if we're appointing her to do something else. It's kind of like the rule about how this team shouldn't be on the other side of the table like because we shouldn't be involved in something else. It's in the board operating procedures written as chair. I think there's a lot of terminology in depending on the club or organization, but it says it's a conflict of interest. It's a conflict of interest. Thank you for pointing that out. That can be easily resolved by having her step down. I I and I would always
140ask what she would want to do about that and wouldn't assume she would go one way or the other. And I don't know. I I think Jen what you're asking is since we can't ask her if she's aware that she would have to step down if she's a chair of the SEAC, right? Is Yeah. Okay. Right. So, I I just want to because I I I don't want to make that decision for her obviously and we need to make a decision. Uh but I do know like Darcy now substitutes in a different district and that's that's always an option if she wants to continue that that type of service too. So, if she's listening hopefully, you know, she she knows that. But, uh that is that is a uh yeah, that was a good point
141to bring up that I didn't catch. Are we going to lay in the plane on that? Oh, sorry. Just to that just to that matter. Did I thought she said it wasn't a boardappointed position and like the WISD is? Yeah. But she's on the CK, right? And I'm looking at the website and I can't see. It's under the BOP. Hang on one second. Let me um because I'm sure the people following along if they are at home wouldn't know the BOP quite as clearly as we would and I don't either. I just I specifically thought she said it wasn't. So the way it's written it doesn't have to be an appointment. It's any club, any activity, any endeavor is is the way it's written and I can log in and um pull it up, but
142it's it's pretty clear. you had just mentioned it was a board appointed position and I think she said yeah one in the past was and I think she might have one at the ISD and if she did have one at the ISD that would need to go too it's Daisy Charman and Tara Hayes now. Okay. All right. Let me um sounding to me like it's a non-issue. It's not to me. I think I'm saying if she's not in any of those leadership positions that's where I'm saying it's not an issue. So, under um under uh page on page 27 of the BOP, board members cannot chair a committee, a subcommittee, a club, or even those of a board member, student of any district endeavor to avoid potential con conflict of interest and perception of undue
143influence. Yep. That's pretty well exactly what I said. If she's the chair, she can't be the chair. Okay. But I think I'm saying she is in a chair position. Yes. Which is changes easily. And as as I said earlier, I already made my point earlier, so I won't reiterate it, but she could step away from that quite easily if need be. And uh yeah. Okay. So, um I mentioned Julie earlier. Um I would like to I thought she um obviously she could not be here today to uh do the interview and it would have been great if she would have been able to do the interview. I think um with her re recent retirement uh the idea of her coming on the board could bring a unique perspective to a um for the for the
144staff members. I think that would be very helpful for us. I think we've all kind of heard some of the staff members kind of grumbling a little bit and the climate and culture and I think that perspective on the board would be very very helpful. So, I I really like that about Julie. And then you just read about um how she worked with with the kids and um yeah, I thought I thought I thought she would be I think she'd be very well uh be very good for this position. Nate really impressed me. Um the uh things that he said uh were impressive. I I reflected back when I saw his name first come up uh similar to um Lauren did with uh the way he communicated through the uh superintendent search. He was at
145the at the meetings. I thought that was impressive or the interview sessions and then kind of just seeing him work through the more he heard he was willing to um make some changes. So, so um and then kind of his selflessness is really important to me. I think that's important to be selfless in this position because, uh we have 4,700 students. It's not about us. It's about it's about um them. So, he he really he really impressed me with that. And um I think his uh finance and his critical thinking I I liked his answer with the uh question number four on the policy and um normalized deviation and I think that was uh that was that was impressive. I like so yeah I noted that phrase as well. That was a that was a
146great phrase. Um well, if I can speak for a few seconds, I don't have my notes clearly laid out for um the two people I wanted to talk more about, but I did want to say from Kelly Van Single's perspective. Uh I have there are in education there are a lot of acronyms. There's a lot of alphabet soup. And uh not only does she know that alphabet soup, but she's actively been engaged with it. Uh and I can just run down some of the ones, the SEAC, of course, the IEP, the uh she mentioned the OCP, the Michigan Department of Education, the IDEA, the ACT, um and CTE several times, STEM, etc., etc. she has a a solid awareness of a lot of the issues that we grapple with uh or discuss even at our
147board meetings and in fact just in this past just looking at the notes that I took uh these are things that have been discussed regularly at our our board meetings. Um, I appreciated the contact. We haven't heard enough about assisted technology in this district, but I was really glad to hear that that was an interest of hers as well uh and literacy development and um she had a very clear understanding of uh the nonpartisan nature of our of our work as a board members. So, I'm I I was I was very impressed with what she brought to the table in that respect. Not just talking points. I mean it's not saying the other people had talking points but clear grasp of the issues that are before us and the various stakeholder groups that we're we
148have to interact with. Michael, do we want to just because we're kind of going all over and some talking about all of them and some talking about a few of them. Do we want to kind of go through the list and go through indiv and talk through an individual or because we're kind of jumping around. What are you re what are you recommending? Um well we I heard some names listed so we could kind of talk about those individuals at a as a group. We said it doesn't necessarily mean we're taking anybody off so we could talk about it. I just I didn't know how we wanted to move forward to kind of build consensus. I'm open to suggestions from the rest of the committee, the board. Um, I guess since Lauren and I have
149already kind of gone through the process in which we thought it was going to be where we would talk about the candidates that we kind of wanted to talk about and I still would like to make notes on the the candidates that I would like to and we can circle back if we want to. I mean, I'm fine with that. Sure. I don't have uh I like I said, give me a minute or two to get my notes and thoughts together about Nate and uh Luke. Do you want me to to go above the three? Okay. Um and these are not in order. I'm just going in order of my notes. Um so I'd start with Nate. Um, I think one thing that I learned being on the board of education is one of the
150best things that you can try to bring um to a situation is calm and steady leadership and decision- making. And I I saw that in the recommendation letters. I saw that in the conversation tonight. So, I wanted to elevate that. Um, like Jason, I thought the whole spread of applicants was really interesting because on one hand, I was super excited and I think Lauren, you made the point about seeing somebody who is perhaps in a different generation than most of the people um at the table and being an alum, but that I was also really energized by having new faces and having having um people involved in the community that haven't had an opportunity to do so. And one thing I struggle with a little bit is um kind of the new Seline, old Seline.
151Where does everybody fit in? Did you go here? Did you not go here? And and that kind of like the sorting hat starts with are you from here? And I I sometimes I love that commitment to the community and the um the desire to give back, but sometimes I think it is a little bit of a barrier to people who are newer to the community. And so, um, with Nate, that was one of the things that I was, um, impressed with because he was newer to the community in 18 months, but in those 18 months, he dug in. And I I thought it was very interesting the story about how they they had the conversation about his son who was in high school, which is two high schoolers is very hard to move in high
152school. um and the child wanted to be here so bad that um the child it must have been the son um came early with the and the grandparents like that's commitment and I think it just proved to me how much he wants to be here and how much he wants to give back. So I thought that that was really interesting. Um I obviously thought he was very authentic in his delivery. I think we would need to coach him on how procedural operations of the board of education work. Um, so we we don't have such long meetings. Um, but I could I clearly thought he was excited about the opportunity. Um, if I look at um I said one thing about Kelly just because I wanted to get it out there and get us thinking about
153it. But going back to Kelly, um, you know, obviously I I know her a little bit from the campaign trail and um, appreciate her commitment to special education students. Um I thought that uh the literacy someone else um mentioned that I thought that that was very interesting. She clearly knows um those two particular facets. I paused a little on the last two answers. Um when she talked about she said she wanted to talk about like what her platform would be or her areas of concern would be in 2025. They didn't sound like areas of concern to me. they sounded like positives, but she had mentioned um the science of reading at all CTE and budgets related to CTE. Um some of that answer um was more of Cara Davis's role within our district and not
154a board member's role. So I think that there would be some education around um roles and responsibilities of a board member. Um, I loved her answer on gratitude. I thought that that was really good. Um, and I I really see her authenticity and gratitude coming forward. Um, putting kids first. She used the words collaborative twice, consensus building twice. I thought that that was really good. Um, I didn't really love the answer on how to build a good relationship with the superintendent was to look to the board president on what to do. Um, I thought that was a great answer. I'm sure you did. Um, as a former board president, um, because I remember having the exact conversation with Mr. Brad Gerby. As I said, it's one person, one vote. We are all equal. You need
155to develop the individual relationships. You need to make like we all need to make decisions in our own different ways and appreciate all of our differences and our strengths. Um, so I was pretty surprised that she said that after talking about collaboration and um, consensus building. Um, Luke, going back to him, um, I agree with Lauren was a surprise to me because on paper I was like, "Oh, okay." You know, I see a lum recent small child. I appreciate us needing to have some different ages of children and interactions. I I like that. Um, three years old. we don't have a three-year-old. So, that was that was fun. Um, and I thought it was really interesting that in his professional life, he gave back with the mock trial. Um, I thought his answers around listening
156and talking to people across many backgrounds. I wish poor lawyers would think like that. It was very calm. Again, going back to the calmness and leadership and the stability. Um, he had read the board operating procedures, which I kind of liked. I thought that was really nice. Um, he talked about Seline having a culture of his own, but a perspective uh and a larger picture a little bit more globally and I thought that that was put really really well and I thought it referred to our compass a bit. Um, like Kelly, he talked about gratitude which I appreciate. Um, and I thought his closing was very um, uh, just reflective and measured and I think he'd be interesting at watching his decision making on um, some controversial issues. Um, all of the applicants, those were
157just the three I talked about, but I would love to talk more about Ryan. I'd love to talk more about Julie that other people had mentioned too. Um, it's interesting because some of the things that I liked the best about the applicants were in total opposition to things I liked about other applicants. Like, oh, he's an alum and he's, you know, of a different generation. Oh, Nate's new. He's been here 18 months. Like, but they both have qualities. So, I guess I'm I'm struggling a little bit in my head with um what's the most important with this team mix and how we might be able to work together. Um, those are my reactions. Could you just clarify something? You and Lauren, when you mentioned generations, are you talking about the fact that he's homegrown versus
158No, that he's young or old. I don't know where you I I I'm not trying to be agist. I mean, I'm trying really carefully not to be agist, but I mean, he graduated from high school and college well before I did, and I'm assuming well before anyone here did. Who is that? Luke. Luke. Did he before? after after I wish after and and having a three-year-old is just something I'm a little bit further away from and being at that stage and having that perspective and excitement to to be I mean when he went to high school he had computers in the classroom presumably I don't think what graduated a year after yeah so so we could be replacing Susan's youth um anyways I'm not trying to be agist it was just something I noticed and
159somebody who's willing to serve and I also noticed noticed that about uh Celsius. Somebody who's willing to serve in a different generation is going to have had a different educational experience, a different parenting experience, and most of our administrators and leadership are going to be of a certain generation. And so I just think building younger leaders is important and it's not something that happens enough. So if somebody and he's also very qualified. He's not, you know, and so at least in my view, he seems very qualified. So I thought he had a lot to offer for someone who So Lauren, I just needed clarification on what you meant by generations because it sounded okay. I I understand now. Thank you so much for clarification. Yeah. No, I was Yeah, I'm sorry. It wasn't No, no,
160no, it's fine. So if I can throw my two cents in on uh so Nate and and so just a couple notes. So I I don't want to double down on things you all have said already, but I did appreciate the references to the compass uh which meant awareness of the compass. Uh this is regarding Nate now. Uh sticking with the decision, this is true indeed. Uh and sometimes we do have to make some difficult decisions up here at the front. And uh I did appreciate this is before Dr. Kowalsski was had even before Nate was even aware that there would be an opening on this board, he did go out of his way to welcome Dr. Kowalsski and I appreciate that and he did stick through all this and that's where I had opportunities
161to meet him. I also met him once or twice uh during the Scott Robertson when he came to visit. Nate was one of the parents who showed up to uh participate in the parent listening sessions. So obviously even being here such a short time without knowing that this position would be open on the board, he was he he he's showing a trajectory toward rapid engagement in the district and I greatly appreciate that. If I could talk about uh Luke for a few seconds. I did get a sense of his understanding of ed policies. Uh a he understands the idea of compromise and I appreciate that a great deal. Uh I appreciated his comment about also sticking with the decision regarding controversial issues once we arrive at our destination. And finally, he does seem to be
162pretty well aware of the role of the superintendent, especially from a perspective of values and uh the rationale. He mentioned the values and the rationale and decision-m and that to me was was very important. And I had a couple more things to say about uh about Kelly Van Single, but I think they're all things that you all have said and I appreciate that. Thank you. I will jump in then. Uh so listing off uh my three I just going to throw out a couple things. So, uh, I listed, uh, Ryan, um, so, uh, Ryan shares a, uh, desire to build a safe and secure environment for kids and staff. That's something that is important to me. I can assure everybody on this board that within the next several years, you're going to want as much
163safety and security knowhow. I can just assure you that that's going to be a top priority over the next several years here um and in most school districts. So his uh his experience there uh which is more vast than mine uh would be certainly ideal. Uh secondly, I had brought up uh Julie Kelly who didn't have an opportunity to interview uh unfortunately with us. Uh I went through her packet. I thought it was very interesting to have uh building administrators, right, or building administrator write a letter of recommendation. I thought it was excellent to have a student uh an alum uh an alum write a letter of recommendation. Uh I like that. Um you know, we I had heard a number of times that a lot of times we want to replace an outgoing member
164with someone that's similar. Uh Brad, dedicated teacher. Um, that's certainly what Julie is. Uh, Nate, um, if he's an airline pilot, he can think quickly, critically, problem solve. Um, I can't think of a more ideal candidate for a board position than someone that can that can make decisions and make correct and accurate decisions quickly. That's uh, vitally important. Um, something I was I was thinking about though because uh Ryan and I actually both stood for interviews a few years ago when there was a board position open and uh I had made a comment at the beginning of this process to Michael that I was the only one that had done that but that's not true. Lauren had done it, Darcy had done it and Tim did it and interestingly none of us were selected. And
165interestingly, all of us have been elected. I think that is a lesson for us on the board here that we don't always get it right. And sometimes our first choices, second choices, third choices might might not be the best ones. Um, I would I would look at that from a reverse angle, too, in that we we want to look at folks that have had the opportunity uh to serve previously on boards um and and see if that's a fit there as well. Uh but that would be those would be my comments on the on the three uh three candidates that that I think were most ideal for us. Oh, you want to speak or is Darcy ready? Darcy hasn't had a chance. I know. I'm waiting for Darcy. Is Darcy ready? It's a really hard
166decision to make. I I saw so many great qualities in everybody who applied. Um, and I did want to note, uh, because obviously PTO has a special place in my heart, um, that that Ryan has stepped up to to be a part of the the community in the short time that he's been here. Um, so I appreciate that. Um, and I don't know Nate Hansen except primarily from the superintendent interviews. And I went back and it was I remember that night really just being impressed with someone who came and came consistently. So commented on the first round, commented on the second round, stuck around, went to talk to the candidates. To see that decision making uh almost in real time was impressive. to see that uh he took in new information and adjusted his thinking
167and came out with a different decision. So that was um that was pretty amazing to be able to see. Um and Julie Kelly is a vulnerable teacher here. She was my kiddos's teacher way back when. Um and she would bring a lot to the table as well. Um you know, Celsius seemed uh also well verssed in education uh and excited to be here and they've clearly moved here and u both he and Luke have little ones coming into the system. Um it didn't I I did not know Luke but I was really impressed with his interview that uh I found him to be we talk about calm and steady and very measured but also very thoughtful. Um, I think that his answer on policy and Nate Nate's answer on policy were my favorites. But Luke
168talked about controversial issues and coming into that room with humility and that you have to acknowledge you don't have all the answers. you don't know everyone's perspective and you need to listen and learn and converse and then come to a consensus and honor that. Um so that really stood out for me. Um the fact that I had not thought that we were all similarly aged, but we really are. And so um so you know having someone who is younger is probably an asset and something that's missing from a voice that's missing from this perspective from up here. Um Kelly spoke to two things that are very important to me which is the special ed population but also literacy. Um and when I and we talk about literacy and it's not necessarily we we talked about
169reading and writing but literacy as far as comprehension is concerned because not every kid is going to read or write and and that's what she talked about with the adaptive communication. Um I was in a classroom today where one kid was verbal, one was signing and one was using their what we call the talker which is the the iPad with the software on it to communicate. Uh and so students show up differently. Uh and we need to be able to see them as students first and educate them uh to the best of their abilities. So that I think that she's got a unique perspective in that regard having um two kids in the special ed program and we have a lot of special ed kids. There are I went and looked at the numbers and
170I think we average about 15% in our district have IEPs and someone who knows that process and understands the policy because uh when I you know when I go to work as a parapro I'm one part of that team but the parent is a different perspective on what they want student has their needs and then this what the staff can provide all need to come together uh and work successfully for that student. So, uh, having that experience, uh, is something that she brings to that table. Again, I'm really struggling with this. It is, it's a really hard decision to make. I also, you know, you talked about what they bring to the board, but and working with the board, but I really I'm still thinking about this, but I want to make sure that we're
171picking someone who's right for the community and and just not necessarily a compliment to what we offer, but as someone who's going to work for the students, whoever they are. Jennifer, very good point. Thank you. Um and Jason, thank you for your reflections. It's so interesting because um Michael and I weren't the two that went through that process and and I think it's interesting for us to reflect upon that process for you all and um and the fact that you're sitting here um I think that that's very astute. So, thank you. Um, I also wanted to just um stand still and appreciate Ryan and Julie and Celsius because I didn't speak specifically to them and I appreciate that Darcy did some as well. Um, the energy, you know, that that Celsius has a small child
172and time to give and he picked this because it was about kids um and had that educational background. I really really appreciated. Um, Celsius, please consider running for the board of education in the future. Um, Ryan, um, you're so eager, and I'm looking at him because he's sitting here. You're so eager. I And I also noticed that PTO thing. Shout out PTO PTA. Um, so eager to be involved in such unique capabilities that were so captivating earlier as well. And to Jason's point, such a important thing with safety and security and and things like that now and and coming up and um so respectful of us in the process. I really appreciated that. Um Julie, I've been struggling a lot with. Um I adore our teachers and all of our staff. Um, and so for
173me it's it's it's very challenging because she has such foundational trust created with so many of um our families in our community. So Darcy brought up the community um and deep expertise. I I guess you know I I I don't know for me it's how do we partner together with those subject matter experts? It has been advantageous to have previous teachers from um well Jenny taught in Selene a while ago and then she was obviously in another district Brad and Manchester and now Seline. Um there's positives on both sides like having somebody uh at the table with us but also respectfully partnering with them and leaning in to their their um their thoughts always. I mean, we were just having a conversation in the back of the room about a teacher that I won't embarrass
174up here. Um, but it's just so important. So, this has been a very challenging process, and I'm reflecting on all of your comments, too. So, thanks. I think it it sounds like we've all had an opportunity to talk about the people and I think I need to be a meanie here and put this to have us do a what might be the first of one or two votes or it might be the only vote. So I would like us to please uh ponder for a second. Just pause for 10 seconds and if you're ready, uh, I'm just going to go up the table or down the table starting with Jason and ask which candidate you would Jason. Why not? Well, well, I can start at Tim Tim's end, but I've got no problem. All right.
175Um uh reflecting on everything uh that that everyone has said, um [Music] I would I would say that if I were to have to cast a vote for one of well and one of the the six, yes, but if I was if I was forced Oh, if I was forced to make uh make a one decision, I would I would vote for Nate right now. Lauren Gold Kelly. Julie Kelly or Kelly Van Single? Kelly Van Single. You Jennifer Stein. Um, really hard, but at this moment I would say Nate. I'm going to cast my vote at this point for Kelly Van Single. You're not allowed to say it's really hard. Darcy, it is really hard. Um, Kelly single and Tim, I would cast it for Nate. And this is why supposed to be an odd
176number. That's exactly Well, that's true. Now, um by the way, as I was as I have been reviewing a lot of other districts, uh some of them are really hard when it comes to or harsh when it comes to uh talking about vacancy votes. They only allow two if there's a deadlock. And if there is a deadlock, uh that's when we call in the services of Naomi Norman, superintendent of the WISD, and she would very likely make have to reach a decision between these two candidates. But since we have it narrowed down to two, let's let's go back and just comment and uh all it takes is just one person to say, I'm going to change my vote to the other person to uh end the deadlock. Well, just as a point of interest, this
177position is only going through 2026, right? So, it's about a year and a half to clarify when they have to run. Yes. To clarify, it's uh November 2020. December 2026 is when it ends, right? And that was very, but they would have to run in 2026 if they wanted to. They would not have to run. They could run if they chose to. Yes. Can I ask a question about that, Mike? I meant to ask it a a couple meetings ago. Um because this was taking over Brad's seat, which was four years. Is is there um is there in our board policy that I didn't that it's it's actually in the Michigan compiled law. So the deal is Brad I'll use my fingers. Brad was uh elected for four years. The electorate chose him. He sto
178he served half a year. The next t and it's the next time we have an opportunity for the electorate to select or to vote for a board member is uh November 2026. at that p at that point and that's how in fact that's how Lauren was elected. She filled a partial term a partial six-year term. So she's filling the four years uh vacated from Armaday Boatswain who who who moved out of out of the district. So that's how that works. And I'm sure we'd be very clear with that. Whomever we chose tonight, we'd be I'd be make sure that they understood that clearly. Tim, I just go back to Nate's interview. Um, and then kind of the what everybody else has kind of said about Nate as well, the calm, steady. I I was just
179really impressed. I I think he would be phenomenal for this position. Um, Kelly I think would be great, too. I think uh she has um done a ton with Seak. I also think you know looking back at the uh process in which we've gone through this before um we have had board vacancies after an election before too and it and and just because like one person has run for the board doesn't necessarily mean that person because I don't think we've ever picked somebody that was that for a vacancy that had just run for the board. So, um, so anyways, so I I think, uh, that doesn't qualify her anymore and it doesn't disqualify her anymore. Um, but I'm just I I I I really I like Nate's demeanor and and the way he handled himself
180through that superintendent search and then uh even Michael, you had mentioned uh how he's actually communicated with both of the superintendents afterwards and developed started developing a board superintendent relationship. Believe he called it the connective tissue. Yeah, like I said, I was it was very interesting and heartening to see his thought process as we went through. Um I would say that I did take a you know a lot of people submitted a lot of different things and I did go through all of them and uh Kelly did have there was a lot more to what Kelly um gave to us. uh you know and to be uh I guess upfront there's a there's she's more of a known quantity for me. She answered several um candidate questionnaires, participated in a couple of community forums. So
181I think she's been pretty well vetted and you can see sort of what her she provided her answers from those forums previously and and filled in. you know, we only had a few questions here, but she filled in a lot of uh other information that sort of solidified her for me because, you know, and reading her things that, you know, not sure she and I are on the same page with everything. Um, but I thought that she talked a lot about consensus building and collaboration and working with different parties to come to uh positive outcomes for students. Uh, and not to say that Nate can't do that, but I think that she's had actual experience doing that. Uh, and has, you know, we did receive a letter of recommendation from several parents. So, while I'm
182excited that there are are, you know, Luke and Mark, uh, Celsius and Nate are and somewhat Ryan are are fairly new, um, she can hit the ground really running. That's pretty well the phrase I was going to say that she would be able to hit the ground um, pretty quickly and uh, and get going. She's been thinking about this position for a long time to to your point, Tim, that that she had run before. Um, she's been asked a lot of questions uh of me, not this time, but when she ran, she learned a great deal about the workings of the district already and the board board work. So, I think she would be really fast to get going and up to speed if if I could pop in. Um, and I've had I've had
183the opportunity to talk to Kelly a couple times. I think uh I think she's terrific and she is uh definitely a huge advocate for a special ed program. No doubt. Um I look at it slightly different. The electorate had their opportunity to elect Kelly and they didn't. Um they had the opportunity to have her come in anything but seventh in a sevenperson race. she came in seventh. So if we're looking at it from that perspective of what what the electorate wanted this time around, she wasn't one of them. Doesn't mean that she's not qualified. Doesn't mean that um doesn't mean that she wouldn't be a fantastic board member. I'm just looking at from that perspective since uh something like Darcy said, we all answered those questions and you know made you know made the decision.
184Um so I mean she is a known quantity. I like that because you know we we've had a chance to talk to her. We've had a chance to uh to learn about her. But I'm looking at it from a perspective of the I don't know. It's it it's a difficult it's a difficult decision. My my main concern was her advocacy is so strong it almost seems like she's one topic. She's singularly focused only on the special ed program. Not the CTE that she talked about at great length and not the literacy that she talked about at great length. And I stopped counting, but she mentioned special education 17 times before I before I stopped counting. Well, obviously, yeah, that's that's a major frame. I got that. And I'm a huge supporter of CT as is
185Darcy. Uh, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm just saying that it one of the things that a lot of people thought previously of the board was that it became too singularly focused on certain things. special ed is certainly a good thing to be seniorly focused on for sure, but I'm just looking at it from from that perspective that how much how much of it is going to only be focused on that. And whereas someone fresh coming in can have completely different perspectives. I mean you make a good point but at the same time for example just to use your your background in security and so forth is you have a great deal of expertise there but that doesn't come up in conversations at every single board meeting all the way through the board
186meeting nor will special education all the way through. So I mean I don't not trying to make it personal. I'm just saying using your your expertise as an example. So, um we've had literacy specialists and they been able to function on a lot of other areas as well. And we've had a Title N expert who's able to function in a lot of other areas as well. So, and we've had a pediatrician, but that's all she talks about. We still do. I've heard as as a coordinator of this this deliberation, I don't think I've heard yet from Lauren Gold about your uh your choice and if you wanted to pitch in and or me or you if I'm I'm again I don't know how uh rock solid your uh your support of Nate is versus Kelly.
187I am not rock solid. Um, I so I just always go back to like someone who cares deeply for special ed and the students who are most vulnerable about among us is someone I want to know more about and have a a degree of trust. But I do also I'm have some expertise in that matter. And so I mean I could, you know, I'm I'm thinking about Nate and the finance part, which is something Brad, although he wasn't trained in finance, brought. So, and I looked up the vote numbers as well and that is difficult because I believe in democracy. Um, so I don't know. I'm struggling. I can't make I mean, I still am team Van Single, but I could be Well, girl, I think we all know running a campaign is a different
188game than being I mean that is true. A trustee. It is a process and um one that is different for everyone. Yeah. And we and we have had we have had someone who was appointed that um lost an election in the past. I think either of these candidates would really bring a lot to the district and to this table. So, I'm struggling, but I still lean toward Kelly who has uh done some probably pretty thankless work uh advocating and I don't think being an advocate is a a bad thing as long as you can also be able to see things and collaborate with others. So, um, and I think in one thing I also wanted was somebody whose interactions with the district have always been sort of respectful and positive and collaborative. And I I
189think that and I I'm not doubting this is just something positive about her. I have no doubt that Mr. Hansen would be exactly the same. And I would normally question a little bit vetting, but I'm assuming that pilots are very well vetted. So, yeah. In the Navy. So, I don't know. I you know I still I'm I'm still I'm not going to change my vote at this moment. Well, let me if I can help chip away at your your reluctance to move over to Nate. I'm not prepared either at this point, but there are a couple of things I wanted to point out and G I hope I can remember the two. Uh one interesting point is that he didn't want to reach out to me at first. I know he reached out to you,
190Jason, at one time, but he he actually approached the the principal of the high school and asked if and I hope I'm not telling tales at a school here, so to speak, but he asked, "What are you looking for in a board in a board member?" And and Teresa Stagger said, "I don't think I'm supposed to answer this, right, McVey?" And I said, "No, you're not." Uh, so he was so nervous because I just want to stand still by that because why wouldn't the leader of the district have voice? And and also just to clarify, I've never I had never met Nate until this and I'd like to prefer to keep going through to the end of the story and then feel free to to to rattle away at it. Um she's not sure she
191was not sure she should be the person uh she's not the only enemy. The point is Nate was concerned about overstepping his his bounds and he and when I called him and I wrote to everybody all the candidates and said would you would you like to sit down and chat about the board and he says that's okay that's acceptable and I said yes in fact it's expected to have a conversation about what the board work is so I get the spec the sense that he's going to be extraordinarily respectful of the process and the procedures so if that helps a bit and the other is talking about Kelly Van Single hitting the ground running of having a finance background is helpful. We right now we have one pretty good two pretty good uh people who
192are interested in engaged with finance and that would be Jason and Tim and it would be nice to have a third person. So if that uh in and I think that as board president that's probably where I would put Nate. Um so so if that helps at all chisel away your perspective. I just want to clarify. I mean, uh, Jason and Tim are on the finance committee, but I don't think they're the only people on this board that are interested and engaged with finance. They were just chosen by you to be on the finance committee based on their their I don't want to speak for her, but she's been on it before. I spent five years on the finance team and manage a huge budget at work, but you know, I'm sure I don't know
193as much about finances. It would be nice to have a woman on the committee as well. Just two cents. On which committee? Finance. Are you are you saying are you asking that if she are you asking that if she's on Are you asking that if she's on the board that you'd like me to put her on the finance committee? Jennifer. Oh, Jennifer. Yeah. Works at a business school. Well, I was under the impression that you did not want to serve on that committee any longer. So, okay. So, getting back though, um I wanted to share that I reached out over email because I had Kelly's email and asked and she would be willing to resign from other positions should she be chosen. And I do think somebody who has a degree in finance and was
194a financial consultant like Nate would have a lot to offer as do our finance committee members. I just don't I just disagree with the assertion that they're the only ones sitting here who are interested and engaged with finance. My point was that of the two candidates coming in, there's someone who could hit the board quickly on the finance committee. And if that wasn't clear, my apologies. I really don't know where to go. Even though we sort of settled on these two, I really just go back to the fact that um we had a lot of great candidates and this is a really hard decision. Michael, I you know, looking back at my notes, uh that Nate wrote and you know, I already mentioned the selfless uh kind of his story at the end. Um what
195he did there was that that was really impressive. But it, you know, it's not about you. And um I that that was impressive to me because I think it you have to have that mentality when you run for the board or you put yourself out there. Um so I'm still well in the Nate um camp. So I guess again one thing I would think of is and you know I'm not saying you have to have spent years volunteering for the district or anything but we are saying a certain thing to the community if somebody who is new and to give us great feedback at parent one of our questions was what have you done for the district and way how have you volunteered and served already? And I wonder if having a history of service
196does I mean I just think that's that shows a real commitment and Nate just hasn't been here long enough to serve and I'm sure he seems like he's great and he'll find other ways to serve and I'm not saying that this position should be a reward for service but the other hand stepping up time and time again in you know a few different capacities has some I don't know I'm done talking I've been talking a Either one would be fine. I guess one other thing that is stuck out with me from Nate and I as I reflect back when our district was kind of going through that kind of tumultuous time with the um football uh team and all that stuff going on. Nate was Nate would sit back at every one of the meetings
197when all the students would come and talk and then one time he got up and spoke. Um, and I think he kind of alluded to it here when he said he just kind of when he saw the all the kids standing up and speaking and he decided to come up and speak and he spoke with a different kind of um in a different way. He was very calming and he he because some of the parents were pretty aggressive when they were speaking to us. He was not that way. he actually ca first came up and shook all of our hands. Um very engaging when he spoke that that that has always stuck out to me as one of the many people that stood up and spoke. He he stood out to me from that because
198of that. I was just going to piggyback on something that Warren said. um you know kind of like uh I I don't I don't like the question of like you know what have you done what have you done instantly it's a it when I was given that question I kind of rolled back and because you know what what have I done you know you know what have I done besides you know sacrifice to move here so my kids could be in the district and work as hard as I possibly can and as a result of working as as far as I can. I didn't have as much time to volunteer and you know, so does that make me less worthy of of trying to have one of those positions? And I don't know if this
199is what Lauren was saying, but something I took from it was, do we want to say to all the new families moving in that if these kind of opportunities come up, you better have four or five years of volunteerism in before you can step up and put yourself out there? And I I don't want that. I mean, I was here in the district for only five or six years when I interviewed to be on the board. Um, and it was a tough decision to decide to run. That it's it's always a tough decision to decide to run and made a lot of personal sacrifices to do that. But I pointed out again that several of us went through that process, didn't get appointed, ran, and got on. So, um, I I I I look at
200it from, you know, fresh eyes are a good thing. Celsius was really energetic. I I did I I did like that he was very energetic. He will be a great part of the community. Um I I I I I don't I don't want I don't want a volunteerism or what committees you've served on to be a litmus test to someone's dedication of what they would do on the board. So, I'm I'm not looking individually at that. I'm looking at at a complete package. And when I look at it from a complete package standpoint, Nate is who stands Nate stands out to everybody in the field to me as far as a complete package goes. Well, and I and I don't it's not like I sat here and tallied like what committees people volunteered for. Um
201but again and I would agree looking at holistically it does tell me um sort of how they collaborate with others and that they're successful in that enough that they have done it in several different uh committees or appointments or volunteer work. Uh it shows sort of the depth of their um capacity and commitment. Um, and so, you know, like I said, it's not like I tallied things up, but that to see that someone is consistently showing up. Um, and like Ryan had, you know, stepped up to be on the PTO before this came up, like people do volunteer even though they're working full-time. Um, and you know, and I was working full-time, but had a weird schedule, so I was able to do PTO the entire time. So, it's not a it is a holistic
202view of someone. And when I look at what the work that Kelly has done in consistently and you know has done it previously in in other districts um so I I just want to make sure that it's not you understand that it's not um an additive process. It is looking at what she's contributed holistically to the community and and again this is an appointment. It's you know you're not going to get this job forever. you're going to have to run in a couple of years. And um I don't think that we're sending a message to the community that you have to be a volunteer to get appointed should an opening come up. Lauren and I have something to say. We were just trying to be who wants to speak first. Um so I hear I
203hear what both of you are saying. I I've had family in this town for a century. I didn't go to high school here though. And I remember when we moved in and I was meeting people and getting involved PTA um foundation uh and all this stuff. It it was a pause. It's like well what have you what are you involved in? What are you I'm like I don't know anybody. I just moved to town. You know I I remember what the story used to be when I was a kid growing up. I would visit grandma and grandpa but I don't like I haven't done anything yet. That's kind of why I'm talking to you. Um, and it it was just a little a little hard to to kind of chip away at like what do
204I want to do and what are these groups and um so I I do want to pause a little bit about having somebody who's a little newer to the community. That's that's a big sticky one I think for me. Um, and he he is involved in things. Okay. Not. It's definitely not what Kelly's involved with or others or us or whatever. Absolutely not. Um, but he did have a letter from a former superintendent about the work that he had done in the partnership in the old school district, which I'm not surprised hearing what he did with Rachel. I did not know that. Hearing that he sent Nick, who was the other candidate that we had down, that means something to me that's respectful, that's empathetic, because that's a hard thing to go through. And that
205means he's continuing to learn about the process of hiring a superintendent, which was something a lot of people in the community talk a lot about when they're mad at the superintendent or they love the superintendent, but they don't really get involved when we're hiring them. Um, because I know how many people are in our school district and I know how many responses we got when we asked for different things. Um, so to know that he did that when that came out tonight, that that that made me pause. I was like, "Okay, that's that's pretty pretty classy." Um, okay, the dog story. You know, he likes to tell stories clearly. Um, uh, need to watch the length of board meetings and deliberations tonight apparently. But um at the end of the day that story actually was
206impactful for me to I wrote he got inventive and he knows what's important because it wasn't like okay the logistics sometimes we get so mired in and rightly so in the procedures like I've had a lot of conversations around Julie Kelly and why we didn't interview her last week. Um and I'll have that conversation. and I I made a vote and I'm happy to talk about why I felt like that's what I wanted to vote at that time. Um, and it it was a lot of details and it was a lot of good conversations that the policy committee can have around what to do um if this happens again with appointment. But his story was like a reminder to me it's important we get mired in the details, but it's also important that we focus
207on what's going to get us over the finish line to serve what's the most important thing. And in that story, it wasn't the logistics of the size of the crate moving from one place to another because of the size of the cargo hold or whatever it is. Um, it was you can take this dog on the plane, put in a seat, like let's just figure this out and make it work in a safe way. And I was like, okay. Because I didn't know where he was going with that story. I have to totally be honest with you. Um, but I was like, okay. And and we talk about stuff like that at work in leadership. like how do you protect what's important and how do you how do you serve them in creative ways that
208gets the job done and maybe it's not the most conventional thing but it you're listening because you heard what a problem was you thought through it and then you provided a solution so I actually thought it worked and I didn't know where he was going to go with that but that's all I wanted to say you're going to say something and then I think we need to try to cast a vote. Uh I kind of forgot what I was going to say. Sorry. That's okay. Um you know, we have a great letter from the CAC parents. I would say in terms of being inventive, you would find few people who are as inventive as the parent of two children with autism is my guess. But uh I just have great uh admiration and I mean
209I don't know Kelly really personally, but you you know that I'm guessing she's had situations where she's had to be pretty inventive, too. Um, it just occurred to me that what I was going to say is is that I was not saying that you have to be a volunteer in the district in order to uh get picked or run or whatever. But it is very hard to choose between uh so many intelligent we we're blessed in this community with lots of engaged, intelligent, talented community members. And so one of the questions we asked was how have you volunteered in the district? So I was only referencing it because it was a question that we felt was important enough to ask. Michael, may I ask a question? So, um it seems like we're fairly well split.
210Is the process uh is it straight up just a vote? Is it someone makes a motion? Is it what what is the process? My understanding is that we will take a vote and um if it is split again, uh we'll see what happens. Um and then u once we've decided on a candidate, then we'll take a vote. then we'll make a motion to appoint that person. Okay. And Michael, if it's still split, then it goes to Naomi. No, what I was pointing out earlier is that some districts are very harsh and only allow two votes if they're both uh deadlocked twice. I don't think necessarily that we need to go that way. Uh, I'm I'm prepared to uh to throw possibly throw my vote over to Nate just in order to move this on. Uh,
211if we take this up to Naomi, uh, Na Norman, I don't know what her process is. I don't know how many times she's had to do this. But, uh, Kelly Van Single is a known entity to her and Nate Hansen is not. I'm but I'm just I don't know how that's going to work in her office. So if you any more no if you if there are no more questions let's put this put this to another vote right now and uh see what happens. I know I know big I heard deep breaths. Um I'm going to start at the other end this time. Uh Tim Austin me thank you. Uh Darcy Berwick Kelly Van Single me I'm not really sure anymore. Uh I'll just stay with Kelly Van Single at this point. Jennifer. Uh, Nate,
212uh, Lauren, Kelly, Jason, Nate. Okay. Uh, considering that Kelly Vanzingle is prepared to uh, run again and she's quite looking forward to it and I know she's a a known entity in the community. time at this point. Uh I could change my vote at this point to Nate Henson and that would break the tie and uh get make us decide uh that this is Nate Henson was going to be our next uh board member. I hope so. You've cast your vote. You're saying I'm ch I'm changing my vote. If we have another vote right now, I will I will vote for Nate Hansen as opposed to Kelly Van Sea, which would mean four to two. So So as to not have another vote, I can just put forward a motion then that the board appoint
213Nate Hansen to fill the vacancy left by Brad Gerby. Okay. Because I was going to make a motion for Kelly, but we said that we were going to take a vote. Oh, do you want to do the vote again? I guess because um like that's I guess that's why I clarified what the process was because I was going to make a motion. I the only reason I made the motion was so that we didn't have to be another vote because Michael can't change his vote. We would have to do another vote. That's the only reason we can do another vote. That's fine with me. I just Okay. Because I thought that was the second vote. That was the second vote. If you'd like a third vote, we can do that right now. I'm happy to
214for it to go to the I think we're fairly well split and would like a third party, but Sorry, Darcy. I'm just clarifying you you'd have it go to the ISD. I mean, you know, Jason had talked about it at the last one that we didn't have to to make the appointment that it could go up. So, what what I heard is that Michael would be willing to I don't want to speak for him, but I I heard to not have it go to the IST. So, I think procedurally someone for one of the candidates has to call for a motion and then we know where we're at. If you'd prefer to have a vote, again, a third vote, that's fine with me. Or I can just simply say I have changed my vote from
215one person to another. Are there any other board members who have changed their votes from one person to another? So at this point then there are four votes for Nate, two votes for Kelly Van Single. So Jason's motion then. So that's the rest of my sentence. Uh so the I'll second that then. So could you would you please uh state the motion again please? Uh Jason, I will make a motion to have the board fact. Don't we have a statement up here? Oh, we don't. The recommended motion is to appoint Nate Hansen uh to fill the vacancy left by Brad Gerby. Should we put a date in? uh effective until December 31st, 2026. Oh yeah. Yeah. To fulfill the have Yes. I'm sorry. I thought you been would start and I'll second that. Yeah. I
216don't know what has to the 30 days has to do with that motion right now. Is there any I sorry I was just saying I think um it it probably is a good idea to have an effective I think it would be effective immediately just to I think what you're saying is to make sure that we are within the 30 days. Yeah it is that would expire uh my point is the expiration on December 31st 2026. Uh, I wonder if we need a voice vote on this, but all in favor, please say I. I. I. Opposed. Thank you very much. So, uh, I will reach out to Nate. I will reach out to the other candidates, unless you all want to do that. If you want to send them messages yourself in the next day
217or two, that would be great. Uh, but give me until tomorrow morning to resolve that. The next board meeting will be uh, August 12th, 2025 at 6:30. Uh without objection, I'd like to uh adjourn tonight's meeting. Public comment. Oh, we have a public comment. How did I miss that? Thank you. All right, Libby, would you be comfortable standing sitting at this table? Is it still on? What is still on? It is. I think it is still on. Yeah. I think I was waiting for I can go. Okay. I was debating whether or not to even make a comment because it's a comment about a sensitive topic. Um and it doesn't matter anymore because you guys have already voted. But um I there wasn't a particular candidate at all that I didn't like. Um, but I
218was there was one particular comment that it rubbed me the wrong way. Um, and it was, "I'm a parent who's admittedly non-religious currently. I'm a parent, sorry, I'm a parent who's admittedly non-religious currently." Um, and I was concerned when one particular candidate wavered on their decision to pursue the position until what sounded to me like a revelation in church. Um how a person comes to a decision is of course their own journey to make. However, the perception of religion or decisions being made with religion as a deciding factor concerns me. Um it's not meant to disparage anyone's religion or the importance of religion in one's personal life. Um but I believe in particular areas with diverse and um public populations um and the various backgrounds and beliefs that in the school that it should have
219remained a personal one. Um I realize he's telling a story and he's sitting here in front of you guys. It just it it concerned me. Um, and I know I'm not the only person who would think that, but I wanted to bring it up because I feel like if I didn't, I'd be doing myself and other people who might have that way a disservice. It just it's just because it rubbed me the wrong way. Um, but that's all I wanted to say. It was just just my personal opinion and comment and it's not meant to disparage anyone or even him. I he's nice. Thank you, Libby. So without objection, I'd like to uh well maybe just we'll we'll actually have a motion. Motion to adjurnn made by Yes, please. Motion. All in favor, please. I
220thank you very much.