001e e e all right good evening and welcome Schoolboard candidates students teachers and parents to Carney High School I am Jacob Dylan senior at Carney High School involved in National Honor Society track and field football and the senior representative for student advisory the Board of Education plays a sizable role in the community and the decisions that they make impact us as students here in Carney School District although many students cannot vote we are determined and eager to be a part of the process to learn about some of the candidates running for these positions we would like to thank all the candidates here tonight all board members donate their time and make decisions for our school community and we are grateful grateful for all they have done for our district and all they will do for
002our district Emmy Gates will Begin by reviewing the format for tonight's program hi I'm Emy Gates I'm a senior here at KSD I'm a member of the soccer team a member of student council and a senior represent representative on student advisory I first just want to thank all of you for being here as a member of the student body I can say that I along with the rest of the students appreciate your contribution to making the school a better place with all of that being said let's begin this program will consist of opening statements from each candidate and a series of questions for the candidates the purpose of this format is to allow candidates to comment on areas of interest for those in our student body and for the citizens of Carney the program has
003not been designed for audience generated questions or for the candidates to engage in dialogue with one another instead our goal is to provide a forum for candidates to clarify their positions on a number of key educational issues and for audience members to listen carefully we ask each candidate to remain respectful of moderators and other candidates candidates must only respond when directed to do so by student moderators all candidate responses will be timed and you will be limited to 90 seconds for your response each candidate will have an opportunity to respond to each question we ask that the audience and attendance to remain respectful and to remind each other of the audience to refrain from participation and engagement in candidate responses and student moderator questions no new questions will be asked after 7:30 however all candidates
004will be able to respond to the current question the order of speaking will begin with Mr cook and will move from left to right down the candidates this is the order we will follow for the remainder of tonight each candidate will have 90 seconds to answer each question however we will start by allowing each candidate three minutes to deliver an introduct introductory speech addressing the prompt okay so why are you seeking a seat on the board of education for Carney for the Carney School District Mr cook the time is yours well I think uh the reason I'm here um first of all um I think that the the school district people move here for the schools uh in my opinion and and I think um as a business owner one um that is a if
005if the town isn't growing my business doesn't grow um two my wife is a uh as a teacher here in Carney so is my my mother-in-law is a perah um I've put one kid through the district um I have a sophomore here as well um and and I think that that you know if if we don't if we don't take care of these things if we don't U I have I think I've um got more of a rounded side of of or a rounded reason to to run with all of that um because like I said if this doesn't grow if this doesn't flourish um um there are multiple things in this town that won't and and I think think that's a very important important thing for us to uh to take care of thank
006you for your introductions um the next question will begin oh sorry well I want to thank everyone for being here as well um my reasons for running are more to bring more transparency more Community Eng engagement I don't particularly want to impose anything I believe I have my beliefs but I I don't want to bring them to the Forefront I would rather take the community's engagement and give their I want to be their representative I'm a transplant I've been here for 14 years my wife's employed by the school system my daughter's at the junior high I have a vested interest in the schools I would love to see them flourish bring more diverse curriculum in um but for most part for me it would be more um transparency financially and what the school district is
007doing for the public well first of all I just want to thank Amy and Jacob for doing this thank you guys for putting this on thank the high school this is you know it is important to it's important to be a voter it's more important to be an formed voter so thanks for this opportunity to talk to others who are looking to learn more uh my why is actually just sitting right down here in the third row and that's my second grader and my fourth grader who I've just thoroughly embarrassed uh and and so I'm running because they're in school and I want to make sure that we continue to have a great uh School here in carne you know whenever you talk to people they will tell you the reason they moved to Carney
008is because it's got a great school system it doesn't matter if that was 30 years ago or last year you hear that repeatedly so uh that's a big big part of it when I've I'm not I always make sure to tell people I'm not mad about anything sometimes people run for Schoolboard because they're mad about something and I I'm not that what I have told people is when they say what are you interested in and I say you know one of some of the reasons I'm running is because I want to make sure we keep our kids safe and I know we'll talk about that at some point during this forum I want to make sure that we keep our good teachers here it's one thing to attract teachers we also need to do a
009good job of retaining them and then I also just want to make sure someone is providing transparency and fiscal responsibility with the budget so look forward to your questions tonight thanks for having us well again thank you Emy and Jacob for this opportunity this evening and for those that are here and very similar my name is Christina Lindsay and my husband and I moved to Carney for the schools so we had our oldest which is now 13 when she was going into Elementary School we had to make that difficult decision where do we want to put our Roots down and where do we want to stay and after researching and looking into all the schools we decided this was the best fit and actually all of our extended family actually followed us here as well
010and there's a lot of positive things about this school district but there's also a lot of things that are being the school districts are being faced with in the future with a lot of changes and decisions that are being made at the federal and the state level I think overall for me I have four children um my oldest which is 13 she's in seventh grade getting ready to go into eth next year two of them that are in elementary school and then a 2-year-old who is going to be here and this is also his future and how do I help continue to support them and how do I help support the school district and the community and making this the best school and the best community for those that are coming here I think if
011you look at the school district they had a Five-Year Plan made back in 2022 and a lot of those same things are still on the Forefront today safety security how do we have transparency and communication and how do we make sure that we have the best teachers in the staff and I would say I want to continue those focuses and make sure that those stay at the Forefront of our priorities as a school district and as a community thank you all for your introductions uh the next question will begin with Mr hickey with the 19th Street interchanged and proposed housing developments within the school district what plans would you have to ACC comminate the district's future growth that is a good question um from what I understand there is two new subdivisions slated to go
012in out there um there's a industrial park out there the 19th Street overpass gets used a lot I didn't think it would at first um it's going to be a challenge to expand the footprint of the bus routes the size of the subdivisions that are slated are quite large but it's uh bringing tax bases into the city that's going to help and the tax dollars on the referendum budgets that will help with the growth of our buildings the growth of our teachers the 19th Street overpass is a a large change for Carney the old one entrance town is no longer as long as we can keep our security up and keep our kids safe um I think it's just going to be a good growing good growing paint to have thank you Mr Clint we're
013up to you thanks um I think it's important to so Carney is growing that doesn't necessarily mean that the school district is growing Christina and I served on the boundary committee where we redrew the elementary boundaries and so we had the demographer come in and talk of us one of the more interesting stats that I heard was that 52% of the people who are moving to Carney are 65 and older those are not folks that are bringing kids with them and so we need to make sure we understand what type of growth is coming to Carney and that we plan for that I think the best thing we can do is keep in touch with those that are actually doing the building out out there um you can pull the city permits you can also
014talk to the builders they know what's coming they know what subdivisions are coming I was talking with some folks at lunch today that one of the things they're waiting on out here is a water uh pipe to be extended before they can start the subdivision so understanding what kind of growth there is but then just staying make sure we're staying in tight communication with those who are actually doing the building and the planning so that we can stay ahead of that growth thank you Mr Lindsay yeah like Jason said we did have that opportunity to sit on the boundary committee and it it was very enlightening because we do see a lot of the growth and the developments happening but with that like he said the demographic ages increasing and also children are having or
015people are having less children so with those two factors we've seen and we're predicting that the numbers of growth for the school district is actually remaining flat and so one of the commitments that we made on that committee was how do we try our hardest to make a five-year commitment for the predicted growth based off of those permits that have been filed or that were anticipating being filed because we all know that changes are difficult for everyone they're difficult for children they're difficult for parents and for the teachers and the staff and so we made recommendations that were very difficult but also making sure that they were around those five years so I think if we look at the question of the future growth I would say that the school district has done a phenomenal
016job of trying to evaluate what those future growths look like and how do we make sure that we're best set up for Success um at least for the next 5 to 10 years thank you very much Mr cook I think I think the first thing is um teacher retention and safety um that's uh that's a giant thing uh we want the best teachers here to teach our kids um and we want to make sure that once we get them we find ways to keep them uh we want them to make this their home as well and and that's going to be you know being able to to work with the city and provide and then and the developers and provide um housing that they can afford um um it's hard for them on you know
017beginning salaries whether you're a teacher or just a young professional starting out to to afford to live here and I think that's that is important um to to get in with the city um help them plan ahead um and and to make those you know help make those tough decisions um the the the growth of this town like Mr Clint said it is growing um and and the age of the people that are moving here are um you know beyond probably the years where they're going to have kids in this school and so we need U I think we need to um as we grow uh we need to be focused on the businesses that come in here as well to to kind of help maybe take some of the the burden off of the
018the individual taxpayer um I think that's one thing that we're running into right now we want safety we want this we want that we want the best teachers um but we just haven't come up with a great way to do it where that the people support and I think it's uh it's going to be important to to get out with the with the the people in the city um engage with them and and see what uh what kind of ideas they may have thank you for your responses the next question will begin with Mr Clint what safety precautions do you believe would be the most beneficial for the district to implement yeah no thanks for that question um and I've talked a lot about this uh in when I've talked to voters right now we
019have seven schools uh three Administration buildings uh 3,000 plus students you know upwards of of four and 500 staff and we have two uh SRO for that and I think that is embarrassing to be honest with you I think it is something that we need to really put a focus on there's about a 10-minute response time on that and so I think we need to you know we need to get more sro's and I'll be happy to go through the budget line by line to find find that because we have to you budgets are about priorities and so if that is a priority then you have to figure out how to fund your priority and so for me I think it's one of those things that I think Carney is really falling behind on um
020and I think we can I think we can get there uh you know the city has a proposition a that will help with uh SRO so we'll need to take a look at that but either way we are going to need to make that a priority and find the funds to get that done go ahead I I would definitely say safety and what precautions do we have in place is a huge factor and so I I first first want to commend the local law enforcement and their support and so I know there's many mornings we pull up to those schools and those are the first people that we see are those officers and so I know that it's reassuring for myself and for my family and um you know two two sro's or one SRO
021which we have one budgeted and One support from the city but I would say with that how do we expand that because if there were something to happen and even if we had more I know there are the concerns that you know are they going to be there at the right time but we want to make sure that we're setting ourselves up the best possible way I think in addition to that is just spreading awareness and so if something were to happen does the staff do the children do they feel confident in what to do where to go and um being personally involved in a situation it you really want to make sure that you're in this situation of what do I do and and your mind kind of goes blank and I want to
022make sure that it's repetitive when we know exactly what that looks like and we have that confidence in in those procedures and those policies to make sure that we can keep everyone safe um and that everyone in that building feels secure during those moments thank you Mr cook I think first is uh we need a really good plan of action um we need to know uh what we need to do in those times um and so spending the time to to put put that together which I'm sure you know the school does have um we do need more school resource officers and we do have to figure out a way to do that whether it's through um the tax or whether it's through going uh through the budget and finding ways to do that um
023I'm sure that there's there's excess in there that that we could find uh to to to allow that to happen um you know we've gone through the schools had technology grants um having secure entrances and exits um the proper cameras the all you know whatever we can do to do that I think I think that is very very important um and and I I think we underestimate the the need for the for the officers and so I think it's going to be very important that that the board uh once this election happens um that we sit down and we we do go through and and take a Tak an action of of looking at exactly what goes in the budget and and finding that thank you I completely agree with the fact that we do
024need more sros but I understand budget constraints um we are currently in the process of upgrading buildings are we contemplating what could happen and putting that as part of the construction upgrades are we adding the films to the windows are we adding more security to the back doors right now we're making the front of the buildings look beautiful and more secure but are we building a a fullon plan from start to finish for the whole building because right now with only having two SRO the only security is that building around our kids so if we could put together an actual job plan that would show each building needs this each principal needs needs this training each gym teacher needs this training and here's what we're going to do while we're waiting for our SRO and
025the building is capable of protecting us this long then we know exactly how many SRO we need um but yeah the budget has to be looked at tight and clean up the excess and probably be able to afford a couple more SRO it would be great to have four but we still have 10 total buildings so let's just put a plan together and everybody work together thank you all for your responses um Mrs Lindsay we'll begin with you the levy increase to help raise staff compensation and additional funding for the district failed in August of 2023 do you believe this is an important issue for the district if so what ideas would you present in order to help a similar levy pass in the future I absolutely do believe it's an important event and if
026we think about what we're faced with coming up with the freezing of taxes for those that are 62 and older that is going to have a huge impact on our budget and I excp that's okay no I appreciate that but I think oh no it's okay so if we if we think about the levy and what happened at that point in time I think talking to board members and being in different discussions at the board meetings there was a lot of conversation of how do we do public education how do we make sure that we're communicating being transparent about what is up for voting and making sure that we're having a kind of a communication drive to be able to get that information out there it's an absolutely important resource for our schools for that
027for our teachers to be able to retain and to be able to um acquire top talent within the schools but then also for those security issues that we just talked about so we are faced with you know things in the future and we're going to have to figure out how do we communicate around those so we are having the freezing of taxes but it does sound like if we were to make changes with the school district that that would still increase the school funding so those are all things that we have to educate the public with as as we have those conversations and if there is a future change or proposition that's going to be placed on the ballot thank you Mr cook I think first of all um engaging the public on that is
028is super important because so many people that were on the for um with their complaints said I would have voted for it if it if I would have understood what it said if it said this why did it say that um so that we need to you know for them to understand why the language says the the things that the way it the way it does and and be able to get out there and and address them yeah we can go to this you know they can go to the Schoolboard meetings and they can sit and listen and they can try to figure it out but if we as a district and as a board would work uh a little harder to set up some more maybe Town Hall style question answer sessions or um
029different things like that we could we could um probably help some of those pass um I also think we need to look at maybe restructuring the pay scale for the teachers um because certain certain groups may may not benefit from um the you know being here early so we want young great teachers um but we have to be able to retain them through matching them on the pace structure scale and I don't think at this moment that that that scale really benefits them um and so I would I would look to uh to try and and fix that or to help fix that thank you the reason I feel the bill failed last time was they put too much in it um I don't want to say it's the easy way out but putting out
030a document that is hard to understand that has so much in it is very very hard for just everyone to bother with if we were to break them apart do the work as the school board and do it individual this bill is just for teachers pay this bill is just for this and keep it as transparent as possible I think it has a much much better chance at passing once people understand each individual line item they're usually for it but when you have so many line items that it muddies the water up it is what it is that's all thank thank you yeah so I voted in August of uh 2023 I did I did vote for that and but I hope we learn the lessons I think of that campaign and we mentioned a
031couple of them up here the wording I have talked to voters who were confused or thought that there weren't enough Protections in it to make sure it was done I thought the timing of it was odd if you remember it was in August it felt rushed and I think when voters feel rushed I don't think they respond very well um we do need to make sure that we reach out as it was mentioned down here that we need to make sure seniors know that if they are that if they do have their property taxes CA that it's not going to be a tax increase on them and so we're going to have to run an actual campaign I think the days of just putting things on a ballot and assuming it will pass or over
032I think the school board and all of us I I don't think it's just a school board I think all of us are going to have to engage in an actual informational campaign so that folks know exactly what it is and why it's needed and that transparent and that hard work are going to be what help gets it ped thank you Mr cook when looking at the school district's budget and financial situation what are your priorities when it comes to spending money in the district I think first and foremost we've mentioned it several times it's the safety of our kids and our teachers um I think in a safe environment um our students will learn better our teachers will educate them better um and and if they don't feel safe they won't that we won't
033accomplish that um I think second of all we've hit it already as well is the teacher pay and retention we have to do the best we can to keep the teachers that that the quality teachers and and make them feel like they are um like they are needed um I think that that is those are the two big ones um I also think we need to look ahead because the school district will grow the school the city is growing the school will grow I think we need to make sure that we are on the Forefront of of of the plan what what sort of buildings will we need what sort of modifications will they need what sort of um changes to our uh facilities uh whether they be you know inside here or athletically do
034they need um um because this is a great place and to continue to keep it the great place that we know and and and to keep people moving here we need to provide them with that Carney School that they are accustom to thank you number one priority would be of course school safety keeping the kids safe um for me number two would be the curriculum um I currently have like I said a daughter in the junior high who has dyslexia I had to go to the state to get Carney to buy a program just to teach her because it needed to be done um most people in this District don't know the new curriculum that is that is out here within our district that they could utilize Iz for their kids I've talked to two
035or three different families that needed it and they now get it um there is more curriculum out there than just the old school here's your textbook here's what you need to learn why can't we just get with all of the other districts we tried the stem program um that no longer I don't believe is going to exist um and then keeping our budget as tight as possible at all times thank you yeah I I think budgets are about priorities um and so what are our priorities and that's what you need to look to first and so you know what I've talked about and what I think we've all talked about now is security making sure that we are doing everything we can to keep our kids safe and then I think my next priority is
036making sure that we're doing things that are impactful in the classroom and that could be anything from teacher pay to supplies to training I'm interested in spending money in the classroom and on our teachers and making sure that our kids are learning and that they're well taken care of um from that so those would be my priorities for the budget thank you I would say it's going back to that plan and what are our focuses and how do we start there and so we said safety security making sure that our teachers and we have quality teachers and we can retain them and let's start there and then work our way down with the budget that we have if you look from I looked at the annual survey from 2020 to last year 2024 the cost
037per pupil went up about $1,000 a year so the cost is going up inflation's happening and so our budget may be staying the same for most of that so we have to be more fiscally responsible with the money that we have and we're going to have to make some hard decisions and that's really just starting from the top and working our way down with those priorities and then as we get and run out of those funds how do we make those decisions on what is important and what's not as important for the district thank you all for your responses the next question will be with Mr hickey what are the major facility priority priorities you see as needs in the district you say facility facility priors yes major facility needs I have a different Outlook
038than most people I have a construction background from years ago and when I see a a district that has a single high School a single Junior High and a single middle school but we have five elementary schools I still can't wrap my brain around why we keep adding on to each individual Elementary School when we own property as the district around one of the buildings that could expand exponentially and become the singular easy to secure um it's hard to put into work words as far as facility wise um I love that we have a great football field I love that we have a just great amenities period um a pool would be a nice thing to get for these kids but that's a budget item that probably isn't going to come around um that's enough
039for me thank you you know I think again security upgrades would probably be where I would start with facilities I mean I think need to probably go back to our safety Audits and see what things are needed um and that can be funded uh we always are going to need deferred maintenance right buildings aren't getting any younger so we need to make sure that we're keeping up on deferred maintenance um you know when I look to the Future uh you know the facility that stands out to me the most and I have to say this because somebody's going to love it uh I have not been in the middle school so there's a chance that it's a that looks a lot better on the inside than it does on the outside but it seems to
040me that that would be the facility that you would need to start looking at I did have lunch today and I was told that it's will built and the insides are are amazing so maybe I'm wrong uh but those are the types of things that I think we need to look out but yes it's about planning for the future we need to continue to think ahead understand where our growth is understand what those needs are so that we can plan and make smart decisions thank you I have been in the middle school so I think they do need a little bit of upgrades in there but they did get new sixth grade bathrooms I think with the last Levy that was passed so if we think about that deferred maintenance and the facility priori so
041as we continue to bring on the amenities that we have there's the maintenance piece to that and so how do we make sure that those maintenance costs are in our budget and that we're not investing the money in these added things that look shiny and new but we're able to maintain them and keep them at that same level ongoing I think the other piece of that is there are several different security aspects that we can bring into play I think someone mentioned cameras or different um window Securities and so forth and are there things that we can add into the schools with the technology that's out there today to be able to ensure that the students and the staff feel safe um but also that is setting us up for success in the future for
042both growth but then also making sure that we can maintain for those deferred costs that we're going to have ongoing thank you um I mean G to we're basically going to repeat a lot of of what each other said I think is is because we are on the same page of of the secure buildings uh technology upgrades both for uh use in the classroom and for the safety of the kids um and I think utilizing some of the space in these buildings that that may not be used um you know from my understanding in the Middle School itself there are places in there that aren't being used right now and so so what ways can we enhance the education process what what ways can we think outside the box and educating our kids um to
043get them out of a classroom and out of their chairs um and and and utilize that money the best we can also um you know I'm an athletic guy and and I think you know Joe mentioned our football field is great um minus the the light pole that just fell down the other day um but but I think there's there's ways that we can you know a school this size shouldn't have one one batting cage for their baseball and softball teams we shouldn't have one place to practice for our track and our soccer and and and those teams that utilize that we need I think we need to start to think about using some of that um not only to use for our kids here in the school but it could be used by the
044community as well I think EX Springs does a great job with using um the facilities that they've gotten from their from their tax dollar there um to to allow the city to use whether it be the track the football field if you re redo a baseball field um but but I think there's a lot of different uh different ways that we can use it and I just think we need to be smart and sit down and figure out what's best at that time thank you for all of your responses Mr Clint we are back to you um in your opinion what is the biggest non-financial issue in the district and if elected how would you address it I think I think the biggest non-financial issue in the in the district is really communication and transparency
045I think that you continue to hear that from voters and just everyday parents that still you know and I wish I could find the Rosetta Stone uh for communication because you know Ray is back there Ry does everything he can uh I think this forum was on Twitter Facebook there was an email I think there was a text message and yet there'll still be people say oh I didn't know that was going on and so I I think trying to understand how we can do a good job communicating with our all of our patrons whether they be parents or whether they just be community members and making sure that we increase that transparency if I could figure out how to do that then I would have really have accomplished something um but the only thing
046I will say is Ry if I hear your voice at 5:30 on Thursday morning I'm not going to be happy I just I just want to make sure that I say that now I would say one of the biggest non-financial issues that I seen that I would love to bring to the table is we've done an amazing job as a school district focusing on those childrens that are really excelled and also those childr that need a lot of help but what about those kids that are trending those directions and how do we help the parents identify those and and be able to build an action plan so we can prevent them from going down to that bottom or to getting too far behind and so just making sure that we're continuing the focus on the
047individual needs of those childrens and building plans for them and that partnership with the parents and the community so we can continue to grow and have them be successful thank you I think that um mine is I think we need to promote our kids um use your Twitter's use your Facebook use or your your Instagram whatever it may be get out there and and use that and promote the kids in the district and and show the people kind of why why we want to be here and why this is a great place um that in in itself would would help uh to increase some of that communication with the parents would help to increase the communication as we talked about earlier with the uh the non-passing of the previous uh um amendments that uh that
048uh previous propositions that that we tried to pass uh before um engage with the community um you know let the kids do it make that part of you know maybe one of their classes um you know have the board do it have our admin Do It um we the the more we communicate with each other and the and the more that we are there to answer the questions that they have think is uh will help Propel us forward thank you I completely agree with Mr Clint um the transparency via communication it is everything from the referendum that didn't get passed having too much verbage to raise voice at 5:30 in the morning it could be kids it could be a a school driven communication program people may be more apt to look outside the box
049and think I'm going to listen to these kids talk because they're the ones that are there they know what's going on we could use our kids for that um the social media aspect of it is I feel atrocious um not on the school board part of it but on the Carney groups that like to do nothing but bash um it does muddy the waters up greatly again I mean it it makes things look so bad and we could just keep it clean and everybody get involved and let their kids advocate for the schools it would be a great thing thank you for your answers Mrs Lindsay what plans or efforts do you have to support and improve the mental health of our students and how do you see the school board's role in addressing issues
050like stress anxiety and access to me Mental Health Resources for our students that's a great question and I would say the first and foremost is letting our kids feel safe that it's okay to bring these concerns forward and so I think whether or not it be Stress and Anxiety how do they have that Comfort level to be able to go to those the staff and the teachers to be able to bring that forward and feel that it's in a safe environment um how do we also have the designated time that we can ask those questions I know the school is working on surveys to be able to identify those students that maybe feel like they want to hurt themselves or cause harm to themselves and so it's continually having conversations with the students continually having
051conversations with the staff to be able to identify those who they feel that it is okay to bring those things forward um I think in addition to that some kids have gone through traumatic events and so maybe they're they're like okay I'm I'm scared of this my daughter for example she's scared of helicopters that come over the the um at recess and what does she do if a helicopter comes over and how is that going to impact her based off of past incidents and so it's really having those conversations with the teachers um the teachers opening up to say hey I it's okay to have this what can we do to support you having the conversation with my daughter that this is what our plan of action is so as long as they feel that
052support and we're providing those tools and resources to allow them to open up and continue every Avenue possible to to allow the students to feel that it's okay to bring those issues forward thank you I think um teachers and coaches are more than just that right they're they're more than just the person you sit with for an hour or that you go to practice with uh and and spend those two hours with um um and I've seen that firsthand with with my kids um there it's much deeper than that they're more than that and so I think we need to to do something we need to find ways to provide them the training to help deal with that um we need to have a great Avenue set um to to help um um them deal
053with it help help the teachers get them to the the students to the right place and and for and to make sure that every student feels important every student matters um you may not be the starting quarterback you may not be the valedictorian but you do matter and and we want everybody to feel safe we want everybody to matter and we want everybody to know that that every day you walk in people are glad to see you and so I think it's important that that the teachers and coaches and administration um have you know four or five points of contact for each student when they walk in the door every day somebody needs to say hello to you and ask how you are and and when that happens smile at you because we don't know
054what goes on we use this analogy in my office all the time we don't know what goes on in the four walls of somebody's home um or what kind of Life they're leading but in that inside our office for that 20 minutes that you're in that appointment you are the most important person there and this is going to be the best part of your day and I think we need to make sure that when those students come into these four walls that this is the best part of their day that they know they are going to be safe they know that they're going to be listened to and people do really care about them thank you training for all of the staff everything from the janitor to the coach to the lunch lady should be
055Forefront for this um every school building should have a small group of paid Personnel that have a meeting regularly in our company we have safety meetings we have designated people that discuss things that have going on things they've seen everything should be kept confidential but that kid that the janitor meets at the door every morning to shake his hand and say how are you doing if he sees something with that that would be a great thing to discuss on a Friday afternoon meeting with that small group of people that are all trained in kind um what better way to point out the possible kids that may harm themselves or may harm others before it happens but it's going to take take a plan and it would take a small school board to do it um
056to lay out the plan for the training and facilitating something along those lines thank you those are all great responses and so I'm going last so I'm going to try not to repeat all of them um but other than to say that I agree that resources and training are the key to that um having a culture where it's not seen as weak to uh to raise your hand and say that something's wrong wrong um but then this is also where it goes back to having great teachers great teachers aren't just the folks in the classroom who know algebra better than the next person they're folks that care about kids our teachers care about kids and they're the ones that are going to notice when something is off and they're the ones that are going to
057reach out hopefully to that child and and try and and and get them some help if it's needed so um you know I think carne is is working on all those measures I know that we got a lot of plans in place and that we have certainly the policies of the procedur but I think it's continu of continuance of resources and training and continu to have a good culture and great teachers thank you Mr cook what suggestions do you have to make KSD a more welcoming and inclusive culture to our diverse student population I think it goes back to partially what what I said just on the question before um every student every student matters um socioeconomically um whether you are up here or down here you matter um it's important and you can make
058a difference um I think that um the diversity of of the school isn't as isn't as as great as it is um in some others it it's um and my son had mentioned that uh too when he went to college and he came back and he's like wow it's really different uh there's so many other uh types of people and so many other um from from so many other walks of life just on his football team that he plays on and and and I think we need to make sure that we teach th our kids respect for all of those um they need to they need to respect where this person comes from just as much as they need to respect where you come from and your beliefs and everybody has a voice of matters
059and if we listen to them if we listen to each other through that um I think that that will help um that will um I think if we listen more and talk less um that's a that's a big big thing to teach our kids thank you I'm all for talking less um it's it is back to the last question um teacher involvement Administration involvement everyone being kind to their kids Carney can only be as diverse as its population we are as diverse as our population and I don't see a lot of issues within the district there's you don't hear of the fights that you see in other areas I can remember being in Junior High my first day at a brand new school pull up to get introduced to the school and there are three
060kids at the front door brawling I mean brawling Carney doesn't have that um it is a great place that's why we moved here 14 years ago it's it may not be the most colorful school but it is a very very inclusive place for you to drop your kid you know they're going to be accepted thank you yeah cardi has a lot of different University I mean and there are all types of families out there single parent homes uh you know people who have a lot of money and people who don't have a lot of money um so there is a lot of diversity and it's important for us that uh we have that all of them feel welcome no matter what their socioeconomic status or or uh other situations may be but for me respect
061and decency start at the home the school can certainly amplify that but it's not clear to me when it became uh the school's job for parents to come and drop their kids off at school and then it was the school's problem to figure out uh you know to teach them from there it it starts at home and so we can certainly the school can be a part of it we can amplify I know we've had programs in the past and probably will have programs in the future to help with bullying and other uh other problems like that but to me it's an issue that really starts at home thank you I would say welcoming the diverse population and and like Jason said diversity can mean anything it can mean color of hair it can can
062mean the socioeconomic can mean a lot of different things but how do we welcome those differences and how do we celebrate the wins and successes of each person so I think it's that way of two-way communication if there's something happening or that my child's not respecting others how do I know that as a parent and how are we com communicating that information back and forth between the schools and the parents because it's going to take a partnership there for those successes but then also celebrating the wins if someone has a choir concert outside of the school how how are the schools recognizing that and sharing that with others to say hey you know what this child's inquire and we're really excited about it and let's see what those celebrations are how we can um reward
063them for those those wins that they're having in their lives so I think it's just continual respect it's continual being able to feel like they can open up and that everything that they're doing in we're recognizing those differences amongst the schools thank you all for your responses Mr hickey what qualifications and ties to the school district do you possess to be on this board and what community service have you participated in to prepare you for the service on the board of education uh see a little bio I'm currently the seated vice president of the pipeline Association of Missouri which is a damage prevention and a safety which allows me to meet with emergency responders all over the state I've just joined the Common Ground Alliance board which basically meets up with all the excavators on
064that same aspect I am a planner by trade I do job plans I build entire projects on how to work a job from start to finish and my prev previous life I was a business owner I ran my own construction company I built houses ground up for 10 years loved every minute of it and it's the small things that make a difference you don't make money if you don't know how to pinch your pennies and not cut corners but do things right um all those translate well to the school board um especially the financial side of that and the planning everything needs to be planned from start to finish thank you so I'm not from Carney but I got here as quick as I could um I currently uh serve on the board of regions
065at Northwest Missouri State University so I am a region up there which is essentially a small school board uh well it's a large school board uh but have been doing that for uh eight years I serve on the academic committee the chairman of the academic committee there and we do a lot of the same things that a school board does right so I've dealt with the personnel with curriculum with budgets have worked on that um I did receive my MBA from Northwest Missouri State by the way go barats um and so that's something that I use a lot when it uh comes to reviewing financial documents uh I here in Carney I served on the Strategic Review Committee in 2022 uh that put that plan out and as I mentioned earlier Christina and I served
066on the boundary commission uh just this last year so I feel that the skills that I have would help translate really well to the school board thank you I'm MAC I'm a pharmacist by trade so I went through pharmacy school and I practiced Pharmacy for about 25 years and a majority of that time was multi-unit management so overseeing about 40 to 50 pharmacies within the local area and it's a lot of listening and a lot of understanding and um problem solving and so really trying to understand what's the situation with in your Pharmacy how can we continue to be better for the community how can we continue to provide that best level of service and care for our patients in addition to that um I spent eight years on the Missouri Board of Pharmacy and
067so I was appointed by the governor to serve a five-year term and then it extended additional three years and I absolutely love being able to give back to the profession and to the community and during that time we were faced with a lot of challenges it was when covid came and we had to make some quick decisions that were faced with us of how do we EX expand the profession how do we make sure that we're supporting the community and the needs that they have during that time especially when pharmacists are sick and can't come in and how do we keepes open so definitely have that ability to come in and be a critical thinker understand from the top down and asking those questions and listening to those answers and being able to kind of
068put together a plan that's going to be the best for the community and those that we're supporting um first of all before I went to uh to chiropractic school um became a business owner here in this town I spent 15 years as a as an electrician where um you know we had to run H we had to run million-dollar jobs and and and devise a plan to to get those built um um like I said I'm a business owner here um my wife is a teacher here um I'm invested in this community my sons are here um and I've uh spent 15 years as a wrestling official for Misha um so I'm in out of the different schools and talk to the different uh principles and athletic directors and coaches um and and have coached
069both youth football and uh and baseball here as well um member of the Chamber of Commerce member of the family Foundation uh um a member of the quarterback Club um and so you know I think that um you know everything that that we do here and everything that that you know is in is in my bio revolves around um these kids in this town and and I'd sure like to find a a different way to uh to serve it thank you as for Jacob and I during our time here in the Carney School District we were unaware of who was on the school board and what was happening in the district Mr Clint what actions would you take to decrease the disconnect between students and our school board members oh good question um you know
070I think it's important for school board members to be active to be visible to be visiting the different buildings to be visiting uh the different classrooms the events that go on whether it's football or whether it's tennis or whether it's robotics I feel like it's important for Schoolboard members to be attached and understand what's happening in the school so I would make it a part of what I do to make sure that I attended as many of those types of events that I could um you know in the campaign I've spoken to the pto's um I think that's an important thing to do to understand you know talk to your stakeholders so they you understand what it really is and isn't going on in the district so I think it's up to the Schoolboard member
071to do a good job of being visible and being present and listening to all the different various parts of our school thank you I would say the key piece with that is making yourself available and um attending as many events or activities as you can attend communicating with many as many different people as you can and um and just listening to what their concerns are and asking open-ended questions what are concerns that you have or what would you like me to know and understand and so we may not agree or we may agree on those different things but I want to hear what everyone has to say I want to hear and understand those concerns so I can truly be able to take those to the table I think this entire process regardless of the
072outcomes of it has been an extremely rewarding time for me and I've been able to learn the amount of amazing things that the school district does and the amount of people that it touches and I think even connecting with the students and getting their thoughts and their opinions has been very insightful so it regardless of that um I think it's been exciting and being able to have that opportunity to learn more and to dig in deeper and I think the the board members should continue to do that throughout the entirety of their term thank you Amy could you repeat the question I could not hear you minute ago yes um I said as for me and Jacob during our time here in the Carney School District we were unaware of who was on the school
073board and what was happening in the district what actions would you take to decrease the disconnect between the students and the members of the school board um I think um you know I look at it from from my perspective as as you know my business sits right next to the uh to the puppy pound and you know we come in contact with a hundred different people every single day and so um I can get a hundred different opinions in that day and and you know I think that's a great thing because my my opinion may be one thing and and that day I may encounter somebody who's in my office uh um um who uh who can change that um I think again being active at the different um at the different activities um if
074you're going to serve on this board or if you're going to be part of this District I think you need to be you need to be there you need to support the kids um support the teachers uh support the staff in any way that that we can and and it could be a football game it could be a it could be the the play here or the different musicals they put on there's so many different ways that that we can interact with our with our people it might be might even be at the grocery store and be willing to have those conversations they may not be at the most opportune time um but I think be open to to hearing that person out and and then maybe scheduling a time to to sit down with
075them or and and discuss it over you know some coffee or or what have you and and um and and let them know that you'll always be there thank you volunteering um being at the football games the track meets um there's nothing that says a school board member I don't think there's anything that says a Schoolboard member cannot go sit in the lunchroom at a building and have lunch with the kids um used to do it when my daughter was in elementary it was fun it was it was entertaining and it was enlightening the things that are said um I have no problem doing that that sounds like a good afternoon for me um I've never done it at the high school I think them kids would have more input more back and forth banter
076with you um the junior high a little bit I'm all for trying to get to know some of the kids not just the parents the kids are the product the parents are the checkbook thank you we would once again like to thank all of the audience members board candidates and staff members that have made this event possible we hope that the information presented here will allow all voters to make an informed decision on Election Day we also would like to remind all audience members that election day is Tuesday April 2nd and we encourage each of you to vote thank you April ail 8 what oh sorry April 8th you turn this off