001okay i'm going to have each one of you try your mics before we start john you want to try your mic hello everybody billy hello martha welcome dean hello try that again dean i want to make sure we hear you hello oh that's we hear you loud oh pretty loud yeah how about that is that better you want mine again yeah good good too yep natalia hello can you hear me yeah just a little bit louder maybe a little bit louder yeah is that better yeah is that good okay all right good evening everyone and welcome to the meet the candidates event for the city of saratoga spring school board election all candidates on the ballot were invited this event was organized by the lee the saratoga springs school district and moderated by the league
002of women voters of saratoga county it will be recorded and posted on the school district website league rules require that if a meet the candidates event is recorded it must be broadcast or rebroadcast in its entirety my name is kathy kobrik i am a member of the league of women voters of saratoga county i live in the town of malta and i will be your moderator tonight the league of women voters of saratoga county is a non-partisan volunteer political organization dedicated to the informed and responsible participation of citizens in government the league never supports or opposes any political party or candidate that has been league policy since 1920. membership is open to anyone who is eligible to register and vote so please consider joining your local league we have received questions from the public in
003advance these were reviewed by league members and questions were selected to be representative and to avoid redundancy questions of a personal nature are never included candidates this is your opportunity to let voters know your stance on these topics and how you will address the issues facing the saratoga spring schools please do not waste time valuable time tearing down or labeling your opponent deal with the facts and in your closing statement don't put anybody on the spot by saying something that other people won't have an opportunity to respond to we have timers for this evening's event cards will be held up for the candidates to glance at green means one minute left they're going to show you right there yellow means 30 seconds left and red means your time is up a bell will also ring
004when time is up and it turns out that i have a handy little mute button too so instead of um banging on the gavel i might just mute you so please respect the time we have a lot of questions to get to and we want everybody to have a fair chance um for those of you in the audience we have pretty strict rules about recording this event it can only be recorded by the school district and like we said it can only be shown in its entirety so if i see anybody recording i will stop and we'll wait for you to put your camera or whatever recording equipment you have away okay so i'm counting on you all to follow our rules we've had a problem in the past where candidates or some of their
005followers have used snippets against each other and that makes it it's not fair because then people don't want to participate in our debates so thank you for your help with that okay the six candidates for three open school board seats in alphabetical order are john breugerman martha devaney you can raise your hand if you like dean colligan natalia loctakia billy mccann and edwin spickler now it's time to hear their two minute opening statements they have drawn lots to determine the order and i want you all to remember you've got to push your button before you start talking and then when you're done push it again so the first to speak is going to be john breugman okay john you're on hi everyone i'm really glad to be here to join in a productive conversation with
006my fellow candidates i want to thank you all for being here i want to thank the league of women voters i like how you all do things and i'm thank my neighbors who came here tonight and everybody who's watching at home i've been a teacher for 30 years my wife's a pediatrician we have three kids who have been in saratoga schools since kindergarten and they've had a really good experience we think there are a lot of ways that our schools can be improved and i'm mindful that not every family has had the same positive experiences that we've had the most important challenge in our district in in my opinion is socio-emotional well-being our schools should always be ambitious about reading writing arithmetic challenging students to learn as much as they possibly can but it's hard
007for students to learn when they're struggling with mental health issues anxiety isolation addiction or special needs the various issues related to social emotional well-being were challenging before the pandemic and have only gotten worse the key to it is good governance that requires board members who know what the job of the board is and what it is not it also means studying best practices and making sure we have good processes in place when you have good processes you're gathering input from everyone who cares getting the best evidence possible listening to experts and following sound procedures if we do well on any given topic with good process we've got the best chance of taking productive action during my first term i have worked with a bunch of school board members from across the pool spectrum who cared
008about governance and sound procedures and were there for the right reason it has been an honor and a privilege to know them and to work with them and i would love the chance to serve again okay thank you very much john uh billy it's your turn okay thank you to the league for hosting this forum tonight i appreciate the opportunity my name is billy mccann my husband and i have twin sons that attend caroline street elementary school next year they will be at meeple ave i'm actively involved in the school community as part of the pta i have served as classroom parent for years as well as on the building leadership committee i've been a pediatric ot for over 20 years and a certified life coach for the last four years i have a passion
009for supporting children to learn and to prosper to the best of their ability i have experience working in public and private schools i've also held a contract with saratoga county early intervention for years i most recently owned and operated a small private practice called healing in motion where i provided life coaching and reiki healing to parents and children with and without disabilities i'm motivated to serve our community in the school district to the best of my ability student safety mental health and quality education will be my priority you can trust that if i'm elected i will work diligently to bring curriculum and policy transparency forward to foster communication channels between the school district and stakeholders i feel that my professional experience paired with my compassion communication skills ability to think independently be open-minded and work
010collaboratively would serve me well as a board member thank you okay thank you billy next to speak will be martha devaney thank you do you remember your first day of kindergarten i do and i do because that day was so much fun and as i run for school board i recognize my belief and in the ideal that school should be fun and it should be welcoming for every student i am running for school board because schools are the cornerstone of our community having spent my adult life building this community i'm investing and serving our schools and our students for them to be the best that they can be i began my career in community mental health where i developed the gestalt outlook which is the ability to look at the big picture in finding solutions
011i live in wilton and both my children graduated from the saratoga schools i have worked in education for 20 years 10 years in administration and 10 years in the classroom teaching business and marketing i now work as a director of finance for a not-for-profit healthcare organization that serves people with disabilities as a finance director i manage budgets i do grant writing i was also a small business owner that managed budgets and finances and organizations hired me to solve their problems i've served in volunteer boards including saratoga arts fest and wilton wildlife preserve i stand for building strong holistic and welcoming schools which in turn builds the same in our students i'm running for school board to add my voice and yours i stand for focus putting students first my priority safety and wellness i support
012diversity equity and inclusion and i'm here interested as a candidate to build community as a builder i promise to listen to your input and serve as a team builder as a trustee on the school board thank you thank you martha next is dean colligan good evening as kathy mentioned my name is dean colligan my wife aaron and i are the proud parents of four children madison who's 20 peyton who's 17. catherine is 14 and carson is 11. our oldest is a graduate of saratoga springs high school and a sophomore currently at siena college the other three attend the high school the middle school and dorothy nolan i'm currently the vice president at the at one of the vice presidents at the adirondack trust company in charge of security and facility operations of that organization my
013primary responsibilities on a daily basis include facility management and the oversight of 14 branch locations and 20 total buildings on a day-to-day basis i'm tasked with the physical security of each of these locations which includes hundreds of employees and thousands of customers that enter these facilities on any given day additionally i'm responsible for our emergency action plan and our crisis management plan aaron and i are also partners in a family business in the town of wilton we own and operate a commercial office park that houses 14 different tenants in nine buildings we manage approximately a hundred thousand square feet of professional office space some of which is utilized by educational businesses i'd like to take this opportunity this evening to talk with you all about why i'm running for re-election and a seat at the
014board of education as i discussed three years ago for the first time i'm looking to make a difference as i previously mentioned i'm the father of four amazing children three of which attend three different schools here and in the district my wife erin has been a coach here for nearly 15 years with the girls varsity lacrosse program she's also a third generation alum our family has a lot invested in the educational system and i would be proud to continue to be a small part of the group tasked with overseeing this process i'd like to continue to utilize this form this evening as an opportunity to discuss all of the concerns that i along with many others may have when it comes to share to share when it comes to the educational system of the saratoga
015spring city school district those are educational quality health safety and security including mental health and long range facility planning and infrastructure monitoring i would also like to take the opportunity to continue to work with teachers oh thank you thank you next ed spickler thank you to the league of women voters for this opportunity and thank you all out there who are listening my name is ed spickler and some of you have come to know me as coach ed a native of mechanicville i moved to saratoga springs with my wife karen and our newborn son because we thought it would be a great place to raise our family for the next fall our boys will enter sixth and ninth grade in the district for the past eight years i've coached three different youth sports leagues and
016i'm also a co-founder of the saratoga nfl flag football league i'm running for the board of education as i've come to know many of the students in our community and i want them to receive the best education we can give them i've i i'm running prior to excuse me it's my first time doing this so i'm a little frazzled but anyway prior to becoming coach ed i worked at various large financial service firms state street corporation prudential financial to name a couple i served in the treasury department of those firms and i oversaw very diverse groups of clients and worked with and managed very diverse individuals currently in service with treasurer of my hoa for the past 12 years providing treasury financial oversight is my strong point also working with various clients in servicing their
017needs and acting as a liaison i truly learned the value of collaborating in a team in resolving complex issues and communicating effectively with various stakeholders i'm much better in a one-on-one or fewer person situation than sitting up here on a panel for the first time in a long time i will not i'm running on a platform that's very simple i think that we need to continue to have programs for special needs and i think we also need to continue to focus on public safety as well as complete financial transparency one thing i will not do is i will not call for the banning of books as i believe in free speech but i also support a parent's right to choose what books in media are appropriate for their child if you hear a negative opinion
018of me thank you please ask yourself okay thank you okay um natalia it's your turn hi i am natalia latakia i have lived in saratoga springs with my husband and now kindergartner since 2016. as a special educator i have dedicated my career to working with students of um with students of all ages in the public education system i am passionate about my job and work hard to meet the needs of each of my students making sure that they have a safe loving and healthy educational environment i want that for every student in every district and i bring that commitment to my service on the board especially in my role as policy committee chair in my family education is everything it is what led my parents to come to the united states after i completed my
019master's in speech-language pathology i followed their lead into the role of educator i am a community builder i cook and serve food through saratoga stronger and code blue i volunteered at almost every covet 19 vaccination clinic in our district and many test kit distribution events in our city i am a helper and i love saying yes to as many volunteer opportunities as i can i teach my son and my students to always be kind and respectful and i work to embody these principles myself i have spent my time on the school board conducting myself collegially respectfully collaboratively and with integrity i am a firm believer that the only way forward is together i am a friend of organized labor and a champion for justice education has been a lifelong passion for me i work hard
020on my professional development classes the many courses i have taken on effective board leadership and policy making my weekly voice lessons and educating myself about the world around me i am a person who asks questions and seeks truths thank you to the league of women voters for having this forum for those joining tonight i hope to earn your vote thank you okay thank you all now it's going to be time for questions candidates will have up to one and a half minutes to respond to a question you are not required to respond you may pass if you wish each candidate will be afforded two opportunities to request an additional minute during the question session for a rebuttal or to expand an answer and someone has already asked if they could hold up their card right
021away so you know they're going to add a minute please hold up your red card and wait to be acknowledged by me before you begin your extra minute we want to make sure you get all the time you can this may only be done during the question session and it may not be used for closing statements questions will be directed to candidates in rotation so that everyone gets a chance to respond first so we're going to start with john again then next time billy you'll be first okay what is your vision for the school district in 10 years are there any issues that should be dealt with proactively thank you i think it's a great question i think the uh right now we have some pretty serious problems brewing and i hope that within 10
022years we can um resolve those problems and move on to some improvements i think we are facing a um a very grave situation relative to the shortage of certain positions especially teachers also this is true for nursing it's true for for bus drivers and there's some other positions the um the solutions at that level need to be systemic they need to involve probably the state and other districts but we also have to do everything in our district to try to help with that and i the in terms of moving forward i hope we can really get a handle on the socio-emotional stuff that's part of a national pattern and it's it's difficult here and i think our district devotes more resources to that cluster of issues than most and we're still not where we need
023to be so we need to add resources there and we need to continue to try to add value for every single student bring the best out of every single student in in the district okay thank you john billy it's your turn i sure can any you can all ask any time for me to repeat the question what is your vision for the school district in 10 years are there any issues that should be dealt with proactively um the school district mission is to empower learners in engaging collaborative environments to find their personal pathway in the future rooted in equity opportunity collaboration community and personalization i feel like our vision is impeded by some of the more concerning issues pressing issues that are facing our school district today and at the forefront of that for me
024is safety and mental health the pandemic left our our world in fact and left a lasting impact on student mental and emotional and social well-being and we're seeing the adverse impact of that in the form of increased violence vaping and abuse if elected i would advocate for a multi-tiered approach to supporting this concern in the school i would promote the use of assemblies to teaching anti-bullying empathy and conflict resolution to promote our safer school helpline rely on school counselors ask stakeholders for informed input and ideas increase the number and diversity of our floor monitors and in consider the impact of student schedules and downtime at home i would encourage that we work with parents not only to make them aware of problem behaviors but of solutions and resources available that would support them i would
025reach out to our community and rely on the vast community resources that are available to our school district to create relationships and programs that would foster support of our students and i would encourage the review of the effectiveness of our restorative justice practice when persons violate code of conduct they need to be held accountable accountability may come in the shape or form of community service detention letters of apology attendance or conflict resolution classes etc so my vision for the school district would focus on the pertinent issues that are at hand today namely health and safety transparency of curriculum and policy as well as improving communication channels between stakeholders and our administrative staff 10 years is a long time i think that it's important that we refocus our efforts on academics and excellence in academics and
026merocracy thank you okay thank you very much if you notice she held up her red card and she got a minute extra so thank you okay martha it's your turn thank you and looking forward ten years i can um as i sit here i think back who would have thought 10 years ago what the past two years would have been like so with that perspective um what and knowing what we know now i um would like to see a fully implemented policy for the diversity equity and inclusion i would like to see the mindful attention continued to be paid on the pathways and the pillars of the mission of the school district so that essentially is to do an assessment of the things that we're planning today to implement and to see that they are
027successfully implemented along with the implementation of the diversity equity inclusion i'd like to see a mentoring program that would engage students and to have some peer-to-peer activity and the school level i'd like to look at ways we could recruit staff to address some of the retirement issues and i'd like to see investment in social workers and psychologists so that we can support our every student and continue the upward positive data and outcomes that we see here currently in the school thank you okay thank you very much dean it's your turn thank you um vision for our district in 10 years from now needs to you know continue to focus on quality education that should be first and foremost this happens by having a firm understanding of what are the current areas of need this happens
028by obtaining information through conversations with our current teachers and our current students our vision today may not be the same as it is in five or ten years from now as martha just mentioned covid certainly threw us all for a loop over the last few years who would have thought three years ago that mental health and safety of our students would be a primary focus of just about everybody today mental health is important but i think it has risen to the surface to make sure that we truly have a firm understanding of exactly what mental health means to each and every student you know our focus needs to be on adaptability and flexibility as well as we navigate over the course of the next few years as i just mentioned with kovid we all had
029to take a step back and reassess what the needs of the students were at that point in time quality education mental health and safety should always be at the forefront of what our vision is but we also need to maintain our adaptability and our flexibility moving forward okay thank you dean ed in 10 years i would like to see saratoga springs in the school be a place where we have to actually turn teachers away because our positions are all filled and we have excellent teachers i would like to see that we have to have an overflow of students because the students want to come here and they want to come here to learn that's my vision for the school how do we get there i think i would like to see for safety purposes to
030have intervention and prevention programs and to help those youths that are at risk have counseling and treatment programs also for special needs learners i would like to see them have a mentor or a dean someone that they could go to for their entire duration that they're here k through 12 5th through 12 so that they have one person who is their mentor and is advocating for them thank you okay thank you very much ed uh natalia um i think that my goal or my vision for 10 years from now is for us to be truly preparing students for life i think that students should be coming to our schools to learn the necessary and complex knowledge that they need to engage with those around them with their communities and in society students should be learning
031about themselves their strengths and how to use those to work collaboratively with others their weaknesses and how to learn from others and their responsibilities and how those intersect with the responsibilities of others students should be coming to our schools to learn how to think critically about the world and how to engage within it to work towards a more equitable society for everyone and schools as the foundation for democracy should be preparing our students to participate effectively within an informed and involved way and finally i think that um we should move a little bit away from such a focus so young on sitting at a table and learning and instead be working more on fostering creativity in our youngest learners i think that this isn't particularly a saratoga springs thing rather a nationwide thing that we're
032seeing where we're really asking our students to sit at their tables and do academics from such a young age when what we need for what we need to do is to really foster the innate sense of secure of excuse me of curiosity we're moving on to the second question and billy you're going to get to answer it first what do you see as the goals of public education and how do you understand the role of the board of education in that and its limits okay i think that the goal of public education is to teach core academics to empower our students to learn in a collaborative and equitable environment to teach them functional life skills that will serve them well in their future and i think that um what was the second half of that
033question how do you understand the role of the board of education in that and its limits um this has been a hot topic of conversation at board meetings um recently and to be honest before i decided to run firstly on the board i researched what my role and responsibility would be i understand it that a board provides oversight and not and is not administrative in nature it provides oversight of budget policy and curriculum while adhering to state ed guidelines we hire and evaluate the superintendent and adopt collective bargaining agreements that work in favor for teachers and cse unions and finally we serve as a communication channel for stakeholders while balancing the school needs with what the community wants for the best outcome of everyone if i'm lucky enough to be elected i will bring forward
034my experience of 20 years working with children parents school districts and my understanding of development childhood development and life coaching skills okay thank you billy next martha could you repeat the question sure what do you see as the goals of public education and how do you understand the role of the board of education in that and its limits thank you i see the goal of public education to be a resource for every student and to be as i've described that cornerstone of our community for to reflect the values of our community i see the goal of public education is being very student centered to recognize the unique capabilities of every student and provide a very inclusive environment where students are empowered and that they have the opportunity to develop and grow holistically i think the
035overall goal like billy i also read the parameters on that i believe it's to be an integral part in moving forward the mission of the district to function collectively and to implement the policies that are approved by the board um i think also the uh role of the board is to be in compliance with new york state education department of education while representing the interest of the district community thank you okay thank you martha dean thank you so uh as the goal of public education and then the role of the board education is the focus of public education not only for today but for life as well i think one of the focuses that we need to have is to dig deep right dig deep and learn as much as we can about each and
036every student that we have that walks through our buildings let's focus on strengths and weaknesses let's provide those students with the tools that they need to be successful in life not every student's going to go to college not every student's going to go right into the workplace we have students that will sit back and try to find where their path is going to be we have students that will go and they'll sign up for the military at the age of 18 which is a phenomenal decision that people make it enables us to have you know the ability to sit here today in front of you all and and discuss exactly what education in a public setting is supporting those life skills and those tools that students can utilize for the rest of their lives will
037be the most important thing i think that we should focus on in public education and simply as a role of the board i think we're here to support those folks support the teachers to make sure that they have the tools to teach those students the ability for the rest of their lives okay thank you dean ed it's your turn the goals of public education the way that i see it is to make sure that every child is striving or can meet or exceed the state's standard curriculum with a focus on reading comprehension writing in stem also to encourage and develop critical thinking skills also to teach individual responsibility accountability and how to be good citizens and community members lastly it should prepare the student with life skills for post graduation either college skill or trade
038schools or directly into the workforce but they should be prepared to walk out these doors the role of the board of education should be to communicate those goals to the public effectively we should provide policies and curriculum to achieve those goals and we should create a budget that provides for those goals okay thank you ed natalia i think that the goal of public education is to prepare students for life the board of education sets the direction of the district through a shared vision for future of for the future of education and the students we provide accountability and oversight we adopt and maintain policies oversee the budget and evaluate the superintendent each year in the case that the superintendent leaves the district we are also responsible for hiring a new superintendent we are not at involved
039at all in day-to-day operations of the district nor are we responsible for the translation of policy into action even though we are responsible for the policies themselves we are not district employees we are a governance board and i think that it is our role to support the district in preparing students for life all right thank you very much john i like what i'm hearing i think uh a lot of smart words have been said um i agree with the points have been made about what public education is this is about helping young people develop life skills academic achievement find their way in the world become more self-realized develop psychologically and appropriate ways we owe this to every uh young person in our district that's and and our institution as a district should be a partner
040with other institutions to help uh the community um help move these help children move forward the board we've also heard a good definition of what the board is i just want to emphasize that the board has to be a functioning team and that's something i've always been committed to good governance good processes i've helped people with whom i disagree craft motions so that they could have their voices heard and i think that the board always has to be collaborative when we're not working together as nine people we are not fulfilling the mission of the district and we can disagree on this or that issue and we should we should have lots of different voices but we have to be able to work collaboratively i also think that the board does have to be a conduit
041for communication i have pushed the administration to keep enhancing our communication systems i don't think they're as strong as they should be one of the things where the district is working on now is to um review and redo the website which i think is long overdue and that's going to help a lot but i think the board has to play an integral role to working on those communication systems as well okay thank you john okay the third question martha you're going to be the first to answer this one in your opinion what does diversity equity and inclusion mean and look like to you in a public school setting how do you see yourself contributing to the district's commitment to equity inclusivity and diversity thank you that's a topic that i've mentioned twice already um and
042i'm um thrilled to be aware that uh the diversity equity and inclusion policy has been approved at the board level and that will be undergoing implementation i'll skip a little bit ahead to say where and how i see myself involved in that is if i'm fortunate enough to be elected i would like to participate in one of the subcommittees to oversee its implementation in my current position i do lots of program development and i've done a lot of strategic planning in my career and looking at implementation measuring progress measuring results is a critical aspect of what i believe we need to do to measure its effectiveness what diversity equity and inclusion means to me is an opportunity for everyone to feel that they are part of this community as people that currently live in our
043community and people that hopefully will join our community on the equity is that they get the resources that are particularly student-centered and tailored to what is available for them and the inclusion is is that they have that environment where they feel that they are an integral part of this entity and that ultimately uh that this is a community that embraces everyone and everyone succeeds thank you dean thank you i'd like to start off with respect to what does diversity equity and inclusion look like in a school district and what what does it mean to me i think the focus for all of us it's a very hot topic within the community it's a hot topic across the country i think that each one of us benefits from the opportunity to take a step back and
044learn as much as we can about exactly what diversity equity and inclusion mean i can speak about it on behalf of of different boards that i've been a part of or experiences that i've had and i think as john mentioned earlier when it comes to sitting at a board table with 800 other individuals these are one of those topics that we can learn the most from diversity is important to allow us to have differing opinions from individuals that sit at that table not having nine like-minded individuals is something that's beneficial right the same in a student setting all students within a classroom if they have a diverse mindset if they come from diverse backgrounds they'll provide that teacher and the other students in the classroom the ability to learn from their diverse thoughts the equity
045component of this means that we try to have the we give the ability for all students to have their voices heard in those classrooms when we're talking about diversity making sure that everybody understands the thought process that people have when they're discussing a topic of conversation whether it's in a history classroom an english classroom or an elective classroom inclusion is very important this is something that's been done for a long time within our district when we talk about students with sp thank you team you want to use your red card that's okay okay thank you okay ed it's your turn you want me to repeat the question yeah in your opinion what does diversity equity and inclusion mean and look like to you in a public school setting how do you see yourself contributing to
046the district's commitment to equity inclusivity and diversity well the way that i see it is the way that i kind of grew up uh homogeneous town in mechanicville went to northeastern university and met kids from all over the world and we all came together working together for a common goal that was our education and we worked in different groups and then i went off to big companies and the same thing we put aside our differences and we got to work and then we learned about each other everyone brought the best from their world into the work setting and gave their best and that's how i see it in the school system i think that's what we need to do we need to come together in a common goal and work towards that common goal and
047bring the best of our world and meld them together okay thank you ed natalia i was proud to be part of the committee that crafted our district's dei policy and regulation i want each and every one of the 6 300 students in our district to be welcomed and affirmed in our schools to have their needs met to support them and growing their strengths and learning from others i want us to celebrate our differences for me equity is when each and every student is served i've spent my career working in special education and i think of educational equity in terms of special education special education isn't about what students benefit from dei isn't about what students benefit from it's about meeting their needs so they can meet their full potential it is why when a student
048can't see we get them a pair of glasses we don't get every single student in the class a pair of glasses it's when a student can't hear they get a hearing aid it's when students need speech they get to come see me even though every single student in my school would benefit from leaving their classroom to be in a small group setting for a short amount of time thank you okay thank you very much john i think this is such an important topic and i i want to just offer my full throated support for our district's efforts in terms of diversity equity inclusion i think the the topic that has been most difficult in our discourse is equity and i think you know the standards don't change but the idea of equity is that different
049kids have different needs it's in our mission statement and every child needs the support and opportunities to get what they need to fulfill their to grow to add value let me say something about what equity is not nobody thinks white babies are born racist nobody here thinks that there is no critical race theory here that's not part of district goals it never has been and there's been a lot of chatter about that but it's just not on topic there are racial disparities there are class disparities and i'm really proud that our board unanimously supported a new policy that highlights diversity equity inclusion i helped co-author a resolution a couple years ago that also supported dei work a couple of things that we do that are important we look at every student's exact data related to
050the every student succeeds act every year and what we see is there are different populations that have larger gaps and every year we're thinking about what are the actions we can take to close those gaps we also we also have um lots of different programs um that are part of equity in a more expansive sense it's part of the socio-emotional work it's part of making sure that people have the the the wi-fi or devices they need at home to participate in their education it's part of making sure all students have healthy access to healthy food you can't learn if you're hungry it's trying to reduce all the fees that we have across the district the psat is now free for all students that's a huge jump forward for equity you can sign up for ap
051classes if you have if you have the motivation no matter where you were before it started it's part of our um our partnership with best buddies our award-winning unifi unified sports program snack pack toga toiletries project lift it's reducing the fees for arts theater and sports and all those things equity has to be a part of what we're doing every single day and not just the stuff we're talking about when we're having these volatile conversations that's important and i fully supported but if we think about equity more broadly it should be woven into everything we do in the district thank you okay um wait sorry billy it's your turn thank you got lost over here with the red cards i'm a proponent of diverse equitable and inclusive cultures i think in order for our school
052district's dei efforts to be successful dei needs to begin at the top with our very own dei committee which is not diverse equitable or inclusive i have concerns regarding the lack of information on policy and regulation and implementation strategies of our dei policy it's my understanding that other school districts in the capital region are doing a much better job of providing this transparency using an app called parent square additionally i would like to see dei initiatives focused on providing more resources to the economically disadvantaged students that make up the largest marginalized group at 25 percent of our student population as well as the second largest marginalized group of disabled students i also want to comment that our dei policy supports culturally responsive sustaining education which emerged from the works of gloria ladson billings who is
053a critical race theorist who introduced critical race theory to education culturally responsive sustaining education and critical race theory goals are the same i want all children to succeed regardless of race ability gender and or socioeconomic status i believe that dei can be a successful tool tool to support this endeavor i also feel that the current modalities in media being used under the current dei umbrella requires analysis and feedback from our stakeholders okay thank you billy uh dean you're going to answer this question first the fourth one has there been a change in the level of violence in the schools what is the board's role in ensuring the safety of students at school thanks kathy i'm sorry i was just writing a couple notes down so do i feel like there's been a change in the
054level of violence within our schools the answer is yes and no the answer is yes because social media unfortunately you know magnifies any type of violence whether it occurs within a school or whether it occurs in society i think the types of violence that are occurring within the schools probably have changed over the years 30 years ago when i was in school i think we talked about going outside by the monument if somebody wanted to fight with somebody today it happens much differently it happens all based on social media there's no uh there's no build up to whatever may occur out by the monument 30 years ago that violence occurs directly within the hallways with everybody's cell phone out looking to capture whatever they can capture and immediately it's put on social media i think
055the board's role in the violence within the school system is to make sure that we're supporting our teachers and administrators is really what it comes down to making sure that they have the tools in place to um i'll go ahead and use this now even though i have 30 seconds left to make sure that this the teachers and the administrators have the tools that they need to make sure that the disciplinary actions that should be taken upon students who commit violent acts of behavior within the schools are taken care of violence along with violence i think um is you know we're finding more and more students that are just they're misbehaving they're mistreating other people they're not respecting the adults within the school district whether it's teachers staff members hall monitors uh janitors whatever it
056may be uh the level of disrespect that we're seeing in schools in the community it's growing day by day and again i think a lot of this is fueled by social media for those of you that know me know that i have nothing to do with social media and that's probably why i harp a lot a lot on this going back to the roles and responsibilities from a board member you know one of our biggest responsibilities is the budget and when this disrespectful behavior or potentially violent acts of behavior occur within the school that may damage property or require additional resources if it impacts the budget then it does impact what what the responsibilities of the board members are i think it's our goal to continue to serve as board members to act as partners
057with our administrators and our teachers within the school district to make sure that we're providing the support that our students need so that these violent and disrespectful behaviors start to discontinue okay thank you ed i would agree with a lot of what dean had to say but also i'd go a little bit further to say that i mean we kids came back and they came back to a world that's not entirely what they left and i think it put a lot of stress on them and then some of the policies and some of the other things within the school have changed and that's put another level of stress on them i don't know if anyone took the time or has talked to the kids and have found out if how they're feeling i would like
058to hear from the kids i think that's one thing that we don't do enough of is we listen to the kids why can't we have some focus groups why can't we get conversations with the kids and find out what they're stressed about and what we need to address as adults to help them out thank you okay thank you natalia um we heard about this topic in depth at the last board meeting from our superintendent i think that our students are seeing division and discord when they see adults interacting as well on social media and in real life our students are speaking loudly at committee meetings as well as at board meetings about racism homophobia other sorts of things that are really impacting their day-to-day lives as in addition to the pandemic we know our students
059are struggling and we know adults are as well to me the only path forward is together we need to work together collaboratively and collegially to support the administration the teachers and the staff the people who are working day to day with our students who are here in the schools with them every day and like we heard from our superintendent at the last meeting we need our parents to be joining in in that work with the administration the teachers and the staff we need to be working together as a community because a community that works well together will do well by its students thank you okay thank you natalia john i think uh any single act of violence in our schools is is too many and um that's that's always true and anybody who's involved in
060violence needs to be held accountable in appropriate ways but i also want to cite the superintendent's comments and presentation at the last meeting which was very instructive and what it showed is that there has been no pattern of increasing violence in our schools we see presentations each year we've been watching it year to year and this has been the case we are seeing as many districts are an increase in disrespectful behavior lots of frustration lots of anxiety this was true the before the pandemic and it's gotten worse with the pandemic i think the the board's role is to partner with everybody in the district who has a role in this certainly the sros the grounds monitors health services psychologists social workers and our other community partners this is this is a a multi-dimensional set of
061issues it's not one problem and i want to also echo the point that social media is mostly a disaster there is just so much misunderstanding and misinformation sewn on social media that is almost never helpful or and barely related to what's going on in the district and it would be great when we're when we're talking about bullying among our students to try to get parents to to work in a different direction than bullying or trying to call people out or or posting things anonymously which which to me is really a telling kind of situation that shows you're not interested what's going on in the district thank you john okay billy sure could you please repeat the question thanks has there been a change in the level of violence in the schools what is the board's
062role in ensuring the safety of students at school so um i think i jumped the gun and answered this question preemptively but it's very important to me to get my platform out there i do feel that there is increased violence in our school despite what the vadar report or any other report has shown maybe not violence in the form of physical altercations but just violence in the general sense of what violence means disrespect destruction of school property bullying that's all violence in my opinion so i think that it has increased and i think that it's a big problem i think that it is a multi-tier approach i think we there's lots that we can do in school we've been hearing from our students about the need for more assemblies and anti-bullying and empathy and conflict
063resolution classes um i think we need to improve the communication between the district and our parents the lack of communication instills doubt in us it makes us suspicious that we're not in the loop that things are happening in the school that aren't being communicated to us so i think we have to increase and improve communication i think we have to reach out to our stakeholders we need to speak to the sros the floor monitors and the ground monitors they're the ones that deal with it every single day they have the most inside information and can offer lots of informed opinions and and supports on how we can best remedy this along with our students okay thank you billy martha thank you i think we can all agree that any level of violence is too much
064violence and also that believing in data i from what i understand there has not been an increase in school violence there may be an increased awareness due to such variables as social media social media will get the word out instantly and it can also serve to fuel any of any of the things that are going on um that way um i am a finance person as you know i'm also very data driven and i think the data does suggest that violence is not increasing and i'm also very solutions oriented the u.s department of education suggests that the solution to this is that we invest more in counseling and mental health services that will address the violence in our school it will provide a supportive environment and be a solution to this topic okay we're moving
065on to our fifth question ed you're going to get to answer first what are your spending priorities in the district budget do you think the proposed 2.7 percent tax living increase is warranted that's a very good question and i wish the budget was a little more detailed so we could see where certain things are being spent when you talk in terms of budget codes and things rolling up into big old budget codes and into curriculum it's very hard to look through and find the detail as to what curriculum and program we're talking about i think that there should be more spending and not cuts to programs for the arts for instance music where kids who are most at risk can find their level of self-confidence i also think that you know addressing the special needs
066learners that we need to keep them in classes with their peers and be able to give them the services to bring them to a level playing field so they can learn along with their peers instead of on their own are being sent to services outside the district thank you okay natalia would you repeat please sure what are your spending priorities in the district budget do you think the proposed 2.7 percent tax levy increase is warranted um so every year what we see is that we are forced to make cuts because the cost of increasing our programs or the cost that our programs just automatically increase each year is more than our tax levy it's more than the amount of money that we bring in um and so i do think that the tax levy is
067appropriate that said my priorities are really increasing programs that are focused on our students this year i strongly supported um moving from having co-teaching just at kindergarten in first grade to also having a second and third grade to me co-teaching is better for our students it's better for our teachers as well i also have been a strong advocate for preserving our music programs and that would extend to art and movement as well i think that those things are not just essential to our students they're also essential to our culture when we have a strong music program when we have a strong arts program and when we have strong movement or pe and our athletics programs i think that that makes school into more than just being about sitting at a desk and learning it really
068becomes more focused on preparing our students for life and to be human beings in a culture in a society and those are two things that are essential to me making our school environment better for our students better for our workers and then really preparing our students for um the richness of life not just focusing solely on a few areas of academics thank you okay thank you john um this this is complicated you know the budget is super complicated and uh i feel humble about it i i joined the uh the finance committee to try to help but also so i could learn i've participated in 14 training events as a board member to try to learn about a range of things including the budget a lot of it is guided by state parameters the tax
069levy that we are able to implement is is shaped by a very complicated equation guided by state law i think it's appropriate what we've been doing the vast majority of our budget's money is in people which is where it should be i think the most important thing that happens in our district is the learning relationship between teachers and students and we should always be protecting that and we have enough we have to have enough people to make sure we're delivering uh our curriculum and trying to get everybody moving forward one of the things i've tried to do on the board is to get the administration to present budget information to the board earlier so could we we could understand difficult trade-offs so that we could see the trade-offs and consider alternatives for getting to our
070goals there natalya outlined why there are difficult decisions to make and they are every single year and i i think we do want to try to do a better job of communicating with different stakeholders including parents families and others in the community and the board needs to have a chance to work through the diff difficult decisions before time runs out and we got to pull the trigger okay thank you billy i think it would be helpful for the district to utilize an academic return on investment data informed decision making progress process in order to be reflective of effective and ineffective district practices so that we're better aware as to which programs have the greatest impact on our students success it will also be important for us going forward to review any programs that have been
071created using federal funding that will expire i as if i'm lucky enough to be elected as a board trustee i will rely heavily on the expertise of tim timothy hilker and joe greco for guidance in keeping a balanced budget and helping us to determine what is an appropriate tax levy to place on our taxpayers i think that staff positions safety resources special ed arts and education and music would be areas that i would prioritize okay thank you martha thank you i seem to invert the questions in my responses so first i'll address the tax levy um without knowing every um detail of the budget i have a high degree of confidence and trust in the construction of the budget and that the experts compose something that they felt would be meaningful and effective and do
072well by our students in our school communities i think that one of the ways that we can determine that is also to get information from our stakeholders in the communities to see how people perceive how the budget is being spent and also perhaps greater dialogue on communication to explain the benefits of why the spending is the way that it is some of my priorities would be to support social workers and psychologists and mental health professionals i think it's critical also to invest in staff retention and recruiting because as we know there'll be um many retirements that are coming up and we're also faced with the work shortage um and and i think um another area would be to uh for the schools to engage in outreach uh to engage communities and have dialogue with our
073constituents okay thank you right moving on to the sixth question natalia you're gonna get to go first oh dean i'm so sorry please forgive me i'm easily forgettable it's okay kathy sorry no worries thank you so i'll be brief how about that uh student priorities um from my perspective flow back to my objectives right and those are quality education student health and safety most importantly their mental health and lastly facility infrastructure and uh long-term planning when it comes to our facilities we need to have a safe and secure and well-kept facility infrastructure system in place to provide the most comfortable learning environment for our students to flourish i agree that we should be talking about budgets throughout the course of the year not just during budget season tim and joe as well as mike and
074dave and all of the other individuals that are at our our monthly meetings will let you know that as soon as this community approves the budget they start working on next year's it's not too soon for us to start talking about that the sooner we learn about potential budget cuts the sooner we can engage the potentially impacted stakeholders with respect to the 2.7 percent tax levy i believe it is appropriate we consistently stay under that tax cap which not only benefits today but one of the things that i've learned over the course of the last few years it can impact potentially the next 10 or so years within our community and the tax base that is impacted all right thank you now it's question six and natalya you're going to get to go first how
075can saratoga springs school district encourage and enforce civil discourse on the b board of education and with members of the public um sorry could you repeat yeah that was hmm how can the saratoga springs school district encourage and enforce civil discourse on the board of education and with members of the public all right um so in terms of the board of education we do have a series of agreements that we um create at the beginning of the year where we have our essentially a code of conduct for us to follow however it should be noted that the district code of conduct and all of the policies also apply to board members as well so i think that when we are following our agreements which involve things like coming to meetings prepared engaging with each other
076in good faith leaving our politics at the door et cetera i think that when we do that we are able to engage with each other in a an appropriate manner that is civil in terms of the public um i'll be honest i'm not quite sure how to answer that question i do believe that it is important for the public to be able to come and share their thoughts with us that's why we have two public comment periods um and so i i think that the enforcement that we have on that is the time limit and i think that it is good that our public is engaged and coming to share their ideas with us i always take notes i always learn from the public and i want for more people to have their voices heard
077not just at the school district but also at other levels it's important to be engaging with the different governance bodies in um in your community in your state nationally i think that i'm just going to use my card um i think like i said earlier that a strong education really is the foundation for democracy and i think that we want people to be thinking critically and engaging so that they can learn so they can share their ideas and so that we can grow together i think that um it's you know like um some of my fellow candidates were saying earlier it is important for every voice to be heard it is important for us to talk about our ideas when we talk about what we think and when we learn from each other we can
078work towards a better world and that's what i want that's what i want our schools to be working on so in terms of engaging productively i think that that's on each of us to think about how we want to be treated and to treat others that way that's what i encourage in my family that's what i encourage at work that's what i encourage in those around me and um yes thank you all right thank you john what she said um i i think we've had kind of a perfect storm there's so many challenges in our district and then we've had covid and so we've we've sort of buttoned down uh our organizations and and closed the doors and had things remote and been distanced from each other and all the time we're getting more and
079more frustrated uncertainty has been sort of the mantra of our time and so it's been frustrating for everybody we're all frustrated with this situation and so as we emerge out of kovid we need to open things back up we need more open houses i think we need more committees and task forces that are more inclusive we need to invite our neighbors into the schools we need to have more input more discourse i also think we need better communication systems i've said that before i think an overhaul website will help a lot and i and i think communication needs to always be a priority for the district the third thing i'll say is get off social media it's almost never helpful if someone posts something anonymously ignore it if someone attacks somebody else's motives and character
080ignore it the final thing i'll say is let's extend each other a little bit of grace you know every single board member i've worked with has been here because they care about children every single one of them let's assume that's true of everybody that serves here and let's assume it's true that everybody comes to our meetings let's listen more carefully and let's build on our common ground i am so heartened by this conversation we don't agree on everything but look at all the stuff we agree about let's build on that thank you billy i agree with john i think that the pandemic you know literally closed our school district doors and it kept parents on the outside and because i think that there's a breakdown in our school district's communication to our community and parents
081and all stakeholders i think that it created a divide and so parents are left wondering what is you know being implemented in the schools i've stated before that part of my platform would be to increase transparency in the curriculum and the policies that are being implemented in our school in particular to dei it was a new curriculum or a new policy that was implemented when we came back from the pandemic and a lot of parents including myself have lots of questions about that i think that the the other thing that could happen to improve the civil discourse between members of our community and the board is for voters to elect board members that will bring a balance to this board by offering differing ideas and diversity so that stakeholders feel that when they're attending a
082board meeting that their views beliefs and ethics are being represented by the the diverse board members that are sitting okay thank you martha thank you i was a little thrown by the question um because i didn't i wasn't sure that i heard it correctly in terms of um the question about increasing how can we increase civil discourse so in processing that i think that we're in agreement that civil discourse can be productive um but i think a lot of that has to do with process and that the term of civility um is maintained in the in the process and that people's inputs and people's opinions are valued and processed because when people's opinions and information are valued and processed they can be churned and then come out with a better result so i think that's
083the goal and why it would be appealing to increase civil discourse certainly i support the public comment area and i like the idea of having a task force to look at this in ways that we can expand civil discourse and engage community members and perhaps students as well that classes could study this and the value of civil discourse at the board level and then how that is of value and how we can improve that for everyone's learning and increase productivity okay thank you martha dean thank you so i believe part of the question was how can certain spring city school district encourage and enforce yep but part of it was encouraged right yes and correct correct so i believe that we already do right we do encourage civil discourse we do that in a multitude
084of different ways primarily as some other folks have mentioned that's done through public comment which happens two times during every meeting over the course of the last few years we've had many people who've gotten up to speak about very various things that they're passionate about we don't always have to agree with them there may be individuals at the board table that do and there may be individuals at the board table that do not the key to those individuals that are listening to what the public is telling us is that we are acting with respect and professionalism at all times there's an individual here who was a coach for a very long time named coach johns and you may have seen his slogan on on lawn signs you may have even seen it all the way
085down to duke university and the students that he impacted down there and it's a simple message act with respect always if we're doing that then no matter what the discussion is we have an opportunity to learn from each other i take that opportunity each and every time that i come to the board meetings the bottom line is we should treat others the way we would like to be treated always okay thank you dean ed well with within the board i think you got to be willing to come and look at things objectively be willing to look at the good the bad and the ugly and you got to be able to discuss them and you got to be able to come to agreements and have hard conversations but civilly now when dealing with the public
086i think that yeah the board has to have a continuous open dialogue with the public there should be some mechanism even outside of the open minute meetings and things like that the public should be able to speak to the board and the board has to communicate openly with the public also with the committees get parents involved in these committees the board should approve who are on these committees and make sure that they are inclusive and diverse and have diversity because you can't have a committee that is just full of just one stakeholder or one group or segment of the community it has to be representative of everyone thank you okay um it's about 8 13. i think we're going to make this question the last one and then we'll move on to closing statements i
087guess it'll be this one should and it's going to go to john first we're all the way back to the beginning should the district evaluate purchasing electric only vehicles are there other efficiency options you would consider yes and yes this this is something we've been talking about the board members led this conversation last year and the transportation department was it wasn't really on their radar i mean they were thinking about it they were aware of it but they sort of turned their attention more fully to it and now we're hearing from other players in the state that this there's a lot of districts that are starting to think about this and it would be great you know it's a difficult thing you don't want to get too far out in front of it when it's
088really expensive and and not yet all the kinks are worked out but that's i think that's coming in our future i think our district is paying attention and we're i think we're in a good place there and i think that the state is going to help uh make that easier for for districts i think becoming more green has to be a goal and i wish it was more of a priority for us we're trying to do so many things and we can't do everything but i hope we will increasingly become green and that certainly should be part of it okay thank you john billy um i agree with john that becoming more green is important i think as a school district it's imperative that we work collectively and collaboratively together that we reach out to
089the people who are in the know of knowing whether or not our budget can afford and be looking at allocating funding that would be appropriated to buying electric only vehicles i think that as an individual i don't think that it's ever wise to do only one thing so i think that it would be important for me if i were to be elected to work collaboratively with informed individuals to help shape and um mentor my decision making along this process okay thank you martha thank you i would love that for the school to have electric only i have an electric car and i love it however i don't think it's quite as simple although it would be lovely if it was yes and yes as an answer i think it's definitely a goal and the direction
090that the school district should head incrementally and that that would be a cost savings and just a greener solution i think there are some complications in some considerations such as charging mechanisms heated garages distance that the buses need to go etc i think so that there are some infrastructure considerations that need to be looked at um in the big picture so i while i support heading in that direction i think it would be prudent to study some other districts that have also gone this way and make a decision a commitment to move incrementally toward having that thank you okay very good i want to emphasize that it said should the district evaluate purchasing electric only vehicles okay all right um dean colligan sure thank you uh so the question of should the district evaluate purchasing
091electric only vehicles the answer is simply yes we should always evaluate every opportunity that we have to be better stewards of our community and our environment we should always strive to completely understand all the pros and cons that are associated with all decisions of magnitude this being one of them we took an opportunity a couple of years ago dave and his team through the transportation department uh of communicating with a school district downstate that had started to migrate their their bus fleet over to electric that's really where the focus is i think today not necessarily from the the vehicles or the cars that that administrators or teachers may use within the community but more so on the on the school buses right that's how we get our kids to school every day safely and just
092like martha mentioned there's so much more one of my focuses has the word infrastructure in it and the amount of infrastructure that goes together with electric charging vehicles is monumental however as i mentioned yes we should evaluate this opportunity and again find a way to be better stewards of our community and our environment okay thank you dean um ed yes i'm all for exploring the possibility of purchasing an electric vehicle i know it's promoted as the green solution right now but a very big problem facing this industry is that the batteries are literally hundreds of pounds of toxic chemicals and they have no way to dispose of those batteries the only current proposal of disposing of those batteries is dumping them into the oceans so this would come at a great concern so and how
093green is that i'm a lover of seafood i don't know that i want to have a seafood that's full of these toxic chemicals thank you okay natalya um as has been said before the board did ask for electric bus information and i personally was very happy to listen to the information that we got from people who have expertise in this field it's very very complicated that said we have no choice but to continue to evaluate this because it's my understanding that the governor has set a date by which we must have electric buses in our school districts and so i hear all of the concerns and i hope that we can continue to explore that i also hope that electric buses continue to improve because as they are right now it's my understanding from the
094presentation that we got and i think that's the understanding of others too that we're not quite there yet with the technology to be able to serve our district properly with them but again there is a date set so i don't think that we have any opportunity or any option but to continue to explore um that said we must be taking every effort to do this um i'm sorry we teach our students to take care of our planet that's something that i learned in kindergarten and have carried with me um we as adults must be taking every effort to do this at the district level in our neighborhoods and our community for me it's not just about the electric buses it is truly about taking care of the planet thank you okay thank you very much
095well it's time for closing statements and um each person will have one minute each candidate will have one minute for your closing statement and we're going to go back to our original running down the panel so john you're going to go first okay during my time on the board i have met so many amazing people who genuinely care about the well-being and growth of our students this includes talented devoted employees inside and outside the classroom in visible positions and behind the scenes it also includes neighbors who give their time freely including parents and others who volunteer for different kinds of service and i'm inspired by all of them i think they all know that it takes a village to educate a child they also know that the best decisions in the district will always put
096students first the way to make our schools even better is to collaborate around that singular goal no group agrees on everything but if we keep that goal up front i am confident we can together bring the best out of every single student in the district i love serving on the school board and i'd like to do it for another term okay thank you john billy being a member of the school board is a time-consuming rigorous and important responsibility it is not a position that i ever intended to seek however i feel a civic responsibility to serve if i'm elected you can trust that i will work effortlessly to improve communication channels between the school district and our stakeholders to identify and share with the community the who the what the why of all policy and
097curriculum and budgetary items i believe that stakeholders the parents community students teachers and school personnel are an integral part of our educational system and that as a board member it would be my responsibility to represent those views and not my personal views if elected i will not push the political or personal ideologies of any one group or party i will give 100 to ensuring adherence to our school district mission implementation of developmentally appropriate policy and curriculum which align with state ed guidelines while providing excellence in education and a safe and welcoming environment for all okay thank you billy martha thank you for hosting thank you for being here and to the fellow candidates for being here and supporting this process what i'd like you to know about me and remember about me is that in
098in addition to experience in education and supporting community resources i am a builder i'm a proven professional that solves problems and delivers solutions i'm skilled in board practices and i will add to the productivity of the board by not having children in the school i offer the unique perspective that qualifies me as a trustee you can have confidence in my objectivity and my qualifications to put every student first to focus on students well-being and to represent our community's values i respectfully ask for your vote on may 17th okay thank you martha dean thank you i believe that the saratoga spring city school district as a whole is great and i completely value the public educational school system certain springs is one of the best in the capital district that supports student academic athletic and extracurricular
099aspirations and has very strong graduation rates we could certainly work on a few things we continue to monitor our such things as class sizes challenging educational opportunities within some of our programs and most importantly the health safety and welfare of our student population through mental health support channels i hope that you have all learned a little bit more about me and the other candidates this evening i want to thank the league of women voters the saratoga spring city school district all of you and those listening at home i also uh i'm happy that you were here to listen to all of our concerns as well as as well as my concerns and the concerns of other candidates you can make a difference by voting on may 17th and letting all of your eligible family and
100friends know that they should vote too and the last thing that i would like to say is happy national teachers appreciation week to all of our teachers thank you for all that you do for our students okay ed i chose run for school board because i know many of the students in our community from coaching them over the last eight years and i want to see them all succeed i view the school district much like a sports team educators parents and students coming together for a common goal a winning education for all i will bring my deep financial services background open communication skills and collaboration skills to the board i want to work with all stakeholders in the district to provide an inclusive education transparent financial reporting as well as school safety for all on
101our campuses we need all stakeholders to work together to give our kids an excellent education they deserve it because they're our future and i want to thank all the teachers out there teacher appreciation week i put a post up today honoring one of my favorite teachers a long time and great saratogian miss remyjifoy she was fantastic and she taught me a lot about the world and a lot about diversity so i want to thank her okay thank you very much natalia school is the foundation for a lifetime of positive relationships love of learning and connections with the world i am committed to supporting our district and preparing our students for the future through academic achievement and character development as well as providing adequate resources to our teachers and staff i am a special educator at
102a public elementary school as well as a community builder my personal and professional knowledge perspective and problem-solving skills combined to make me a highly effective trustee i will continue making decisions collaboratively while talking connecting and listening to the ideas of my community since 2019 i have worked collegially with my fellow trustees to support decisions based on research and best practices with every single member of the school community in mind but while there are many stakeholders what matters most is that our schools serve each and every student i will always put students first thank you okay well thank you everyone uh please vote on may 17th ballots can be cast between 7 a.m and 9 p.m at caroline street division street lake avenue geyser road dorothy nolan and greenfield elementary schools applications for absentee ballots can
103be found at the school district website i want to thank the candidates for being so respectful and really doing a great job i think you taught us a lot about civil discourse and i want to thank the audience for being respectful and being here and taking time out of your busy lives to come and find out about who's running for your school board remember if you want to join the league of women voters we've got some flyers right here so good night everybody thank you you