001[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] effects of it to the common council in Green Bay. I promise you it wasn't pretty. The subject of decoupling came up repeatedly in that meeting and the pro voucher folks there said that decoupling will prevent our public and voucher schools from being pitted against each other. I believe this is a false narrative. We are way past that. We are already pitted against each other and politics did that. Some of the political forces that shape public school policy in the state are dead set on decoupling. I personally feel that it will it will just be another way to make public school funding easier to undermine. It will certainly make it easier to hide the enormously negative impact of vouchers on our public school system. It will make the process much less transparent.
002I would ask this question in conclusion. Who benefits from that lack of transparency? It isn't our taxpayers and it certainly isn't our students in the Green Bay public school system. So, I'll be voting yes. Thank you, Laura. Others, Janette, thank you, Laura. Very succinct. I would add to that that this isn't just a Green Bay issue. This is a statewide issue. This past weekend, I was at a statewide um event and talking to a lot of people who live in rural areas regarding school funding and rural areas are hit really hard by the voucher programs because families don't have the choices in the rural communities. So yes, this is definitely impacting the Green Bay schools, impacting our entire state. And for everybody who is passionate about affordable housing, yes, we need affordable housing. But when
003we're constantly going to our citizens for referendum and that's affect affecting their taxes, that undermines affordable housing, too. So this decoupling, creating two separate school systems that are going to be funded separately will increase our taxes. And if people are concerned about that, they need to be aware of decoupling. And the unfortunate thing this weekend when I did bring up decoupling and these people that I were wi was was with, these people were very savvy about politics. nobody else in the room and there were a lot of people in this room, at least a hundred for the rural caucus. Um, and none of them had ever heard about decoupling. So, doing this um, rebuttal is very important to get the word out there. Thank you, Jen. Others? Okay, then I'm going to close the floor
004and on the motion. Oh, one second. I'm going to reopen the floor and I'll allow Andrew to catch up with us just a second. Give us a couple minutes, please. Okay, thank you Andrew. He doesn't have any questions, so let's move to vote. Online voting is now open. Oh, what I can do. All votes have been entered and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. Thank you everybody. Um I do believe that um advocacy for public education is part of our mission and I appreciate the votes. Okay, we're going to move um to 2B, selection and approval of the board vacancy interview questions. Again, all these questions were provided to board members. They had until June 3rd to recommend changes, edits, or additional questions. I think everyone has had an opportunity
005to do that. So, I would just like to or I'll entertain a motion to adopt the questions. Go ahead. I move that we adopt the interview questions for today's interviews as provided to us. Second. Any discussions or questions? All right, Kenzie. Online voting is now open. It's not coming on. I'll vote. I Kenzie McCoy. I'm a mine too. Okay. It just take It just took a moment. All votes have been entered and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. Okay. So, the next item on the agenda is actually the interviews, but in advance of um actually the first interview, which is scheduled for 5:15, um I just want to have a a quick um discussion about the the process tonight and explain it, make sure that we have an opportunity to
006discuss it and be clear before we start. Um I want to start by saying that we have a change to the schedule. We had um one candidate um decide that they wanted to drop from the um from consideration. That was Brandt Pearson. And so our first uh interview starting at 5:15 with will be with Miranda. So tonight will resemble almost exactly the board leadership elections. So we will go through and interview all of the candidates and then after that I will open the floor for nominations at which time if you have someone that you want to nominate one person that you want to nominate please do. You do not have to nominate again if the name has already been said. Um once we um have received everyone's nominations, we'll close the floor for nominations and
007open the floor for discussion at which time you may advocate for the person that you nominated or in in general. Um after we've had an opportunity to discuss and everyone has had an opportunity to advocate for the person that they would like to, um we'll close the floor for discussion and we will put the motion to vote. Unlike the board uh leadership positions, this will be by ballot. So, you have sticky notes. You'll write your name, the person that you're voting for, and a number on it that relates to the round. So, we're guided by policy on this. And we have five rounds to come to a majority. So to um seat a new board member, it has to be a four-person majority that seats a board member. So we will hand these or Kenzie
008will collect them at the end of the vote. She will go um and she will compile them and then she will state board member vote and we'll go around at that time. The justification is when you're voting sixth, right? We you're biased by everyone else's vote in front of you. So, this is just a way so that we can not be biased by each other's votes. Um, but it's not a non-transparent process, right? You will get to hear which board member voted for which candidate questions. Janette, do the candidates have a limited num amount of time for each question? Okay, so that's the voting process that I described, the interview process. So the interview process will start with a person coming and presenting themselves. Um I will state that we have six questions for you.
009Um they're on a piece of paper that has been provided the candidate upon um sitting at the the table. We have 30 minutes for the interview. So that estimates out to five minutes per question. From time to time after a question, we'll do a time check to make sure that if we get off schedule, the candidate has an opportunity to address that because I do want to hit all six questions if at all possible. If there is time left over, right, last year, I think we just moved to end early and potentially start the next one early. Um, I would like to open the floor for follow-ups in the event that there are any board members that want to ask a follow-up question. Um, if there is time remaining. Last year, I think it was
010very rare that um, we had time remaining. It was probably more pressed than it was, but just in case, I want to use the time, right? And then we'll move on. But at the beginning, um, I will have them start by saying, "Please state your name, your primary address, and confirm that you're eligible to serve on the board. Requirements include your primary residence is within the school district's boundaries, you're eligible to vote, and you are not currently employed by the school district." Is there agreement with that statement? All right. So if there are no questions um we can is the person here? Excellent. We can start early then. So yes, let's start with Miranda. And just reminder that I texted everyone um kind of giving everyone an opportunity to ask a question. So please feel
011free once the answer to the previous one has been given, jump in. Good evening, Miranda. Welcome. So, you're see you're you're you're first and we get to learn together. So, when you push the red the button, your microphone will turn red and it turns everyone else's off. And when I hit mine, it'll turn yours off. So, we'll just try to make sure that we understand how to progress. So, I'm gonna give you a minute or two, read through the questions, right? Um, and they're right there in front of you. We have 30 minutes um for the the interview. Um, so consider about five minutes per per question. From time to time, we will give you a um a time check just so that if you've gone along, we can have you adjust because I do
012want to get to all six questions. If there is time left over at the end, we'll just open the floor for follow-ups um until we get to time or we're done. Right. Any questions? No. And I've been giving you a visual thumbs up so as not to interrupt. Thank you. Okay. So, let's start by having you state your name, your primary address, and confirm that you're eligible to serve on the board. Those requirements are that your primary residence is within the school district's boundaries, you are eligible to vote, and are not currently employed by the school district. And if you could just verbalize I meet those requirements, I'd appreciate it. Um, good evening. Just hello everyone. Thank you for the opportunity. My name is Miranda Shornack. Uh my address is 624 Rididge View Court and
013that's in the village of Aloay and I am eligible to serve on the board. Thank you. Okay, so I'm going to start. My question is, please describe your understanding of the relationship between the school board's role and the administration's role in the district. Thank you. That's a great question. Am I heard okay if I sit back in my chair or should I That's okay. Okay, thank you. Um, that's a really important question because sometimes there's a perception and maybe the perception isn't always inaccurate, but sometimes there's a perception that there needs to be this underlying tension between the board and district level administration that sometimes they're operating under um conflicting perspectives. In my experience, the healthiest school districts actually have an excellent working relationship between the the school board, the board of education, and the
014administration. Um, and one of the examples I can share is when I first began teaching at St. Paul public schools, I was active within the teachers union there, um, within within my school at that level. But I did have the opportunity to engage at the district level just a little bit with our English learner department. And this was one of the questions I brought up um was exactly this point is that shouldn't there be maybe maybe as a new teacher I was looking for some animosity and conflict. But what I've learned is that the harmonious relationship allows allows dialogue to happen and difficult questions to be posed and disagreements to happen and still be able to come out on the other end even if we all don't dis agree with the resolution some sort of
015way forward that's collaborative. So, I see it as actually critical that both work in harmony. And that doesn't mean we always start agreeing or that we end up agreeing, but we can come to a decision about what's best for the district and be united in how we put that forward. Thank you very much. Miranda, what are the contributions you feel uniquely qualified to make to the leadership of this district at this particular time? Thank you for that question. So, I've been lucky to have really cool experiences in all sorts of public education settings starting with I taught for seven years within the state con within Minnesota. Um, I worked three years in continuous improvement support also within the state of Minnesota and I supported districts with their continuous improvement to meet Minnesota's state plan for
016every student succeeds. Um, I also earned a PhD in curriculum and instruction, a principal license in Minnesota, and I did most of the the coursework for the superintendent credential. And I am not here to interview for that. I just want to be real clear. Um, I also at the graduate level did some education research. We put forth a a framework for coaching educator dispositions, the ways we treat students, the way we uh we communicate that they belong and they have a place in our classroom. Um, I taught methods courses. I supervised teacher candidates in the field. Um, I've even worked in corrections education and was the education director of Green Bay Correctional for a couple of years. Uh, and most recently in my current role, I support students with earning college credits while in high
017school, dual credit or concurrent enrollment all across northeast Wisconsin and into the upper peninsula of Michigan. So, all of that is to say, I've had a lot of interesting experiences and in each one of those, I've learned what good education looks like, and I look forward to having the opportunity to bring that to the board and to our discussions about um where Green Bay Public Schools is heading in the future. Some areas like more specifically that I think are important right now is for us to talk about financial stability and what our fiscal health will look like in the future. I think I think that's critical. Um, another one is I'm really curious about our plans to operationalize the strategic plan. What are the action plans look like? How do we plan on monitoring progress
018toward goals? What are our benchmarks? Um, and I'm also interested in hearing more about the role of leadership as we understand the strategic directions forward. Um, so there's there's lots I'm excited about and and quite a bit I think I could contribute to the board and to the district. Okay. Question number three, please identify specific examples of situations in which you have demonstrated one or more of these important qualities. A effective problem solving skills, B, leadership skills that have produced measurable positive results. And C, a collaborative, open-minded team spirit. Thank you for that question. All three of those are important. So, I'm just going through my library of experiences to see which one would be the best to share. What what's speaking to me right now when I think on about what might be most
019interesting to you all is the continuous improvement work that I did in Minnesota. I supported districts across about a third of the geographic part of the state and that include Rochester public schools which is quite similar in demographics to Green Bay Area public schools and in terms of student size and the example I'm thinking of is we worked collaborative collaboratively at the cabinet level to um create building level plans for how they were going to make improvements for the areas they were identified as not meeting Minnesota's expectation for their state plan. So largely it was in academics, it would be reading scores, math scores, sometimes it would be attendance, sometimes it would be um graduation rates and then there was always this curveball one I'm going to call it because it gets a little less
020attention when we talk about um student experiences and success in our district and that's belongingness. Now I know that we all know it's important and I know there's some great tools out there to administer the panorama survey. There's there's a variety of ways we can kind of get feedback about that. But one part that that my team brought um and that I think is an interesting example for you all is we brought um a dispositions framework into that that belongingness kind of vein of of school improvement. And so we presented a framework of eight different characteristics that make teachers um that good teachers have and that they they use to be able to establish classroom community and really contribute to student success that shows up in test scores. Um, so that framework fleshes out these
021eight different dispositions or these kind of softer skills or the ways that we engage with folks. It provided coaching questions to use in the classroom. We did some classroom observations and the point we were at when I um made made the decision to to take a different position was we were just about to engage more fully with students on their experiences with teachers that have been engaged with this tool. So, I'm really excited about where that could have gone, but I wasn't able to continue with that work. Nevertheless, I can say it's really promising to think about student experiences and those momentto- moment interactions they have with adults. And that's exactly what that framework is intended to coach educators on. Um, and that's what leads to us developing our own perceptions about what we're able
022to do in the classroom is how what are those verbals and non-verbal feedback I'm getting from teachers and um and all educators. So that I think would be exciting to you all. Um the problem solving part of that just to be clear is it was something in addition to kind of the regular ways we think about student success and academic achievement and it was going deeper into belongingness. So we were trying to access different tools to to get results than than what was typical. So, we saw a problem that wasn't quite being solved by the the new curriculum or the things that we kind of always do and it just seemed to be missing something. Um, and the leadership skills certainly we were collaborating at the district level, but then also we had unique building
023level leadership teams that we needed to implement these tools in. And so, that was quite a bit of collabor collaboration and relationship building um which is also about collaboration. Um, thank you. Hello, Miranda. Um, thank you. Number four, what current district challenges would you prioritize as a board member and what are some possible ways that you would address them? Thank you. Another great question. I see one of the challenges or one of our priority areas is financial stability. And I, you know, we know that there is a budget deficit in front of us. We know that there's unreliable funding from state and federal sources. Um, we know that there's been declining enrollment. So, that taken together is is a priority area that we that we need to dig into. What I would do is hear
024more about the specific ways that's already been talked about because I'm sure this this isn't new to anyone. And so, I'm curious about what you all have been engaged in and how I could contribute to that. And I'm certain that once I know more, I would be able to to give share some perspectives and add to the dialogue that you all have and and put forth some suggestions for for strategic directions forward. So certainly financial stability, financial health, that that is a huge priority. Um, another thing that um I've observed as being a community member for almost six years is that there and and this isn't nec unique to Green Bay. This is something that many urban and semi-urban public school districts face and that's kind of a perception problem is that there's many community
025members um that may question the value of public education and question the choices that are happening within the district. And again, that that isn't unique to Green Bay. That's kind of all over the country and certain certainly in the places that I've worked. Um, so I would look forward to contributing to maybe some marketing initiatives or getting clear about the ways we're doing communications to different groups within the community that would include students, families, um, other community outreach orgs that we have relationships with. I'd be interested to hear what's already happened and see if we need to adjust some of it. Um, because I'm sure there are areas that we could make adjustments. Um, oh, there was another one that just just occurred to me. So, we do have some I'm I'm aware of some
026um kind of unusual circumstances that we need to address like the Office of Civil Rights investigation that's actively going on. So, that would be a priority, figuring out how to to work through that with our community, being as transparent as possible when we can be. Um, but one there's two ideas that I also think I could help us move forward with. And that that's coming up with those action plans to operationalize the strategic plan and create some measurable goals that are working us toward those bigger goals, those enderm 2030 goals. um as well as um how to benchmark and timeline when and make sure that we're using robust data and and not just um maybe the ones that are sometimes that we think of right away, but we might need to get creative and use
027other sources to make sure we're really looking at a situation from all angles. Um yeah, I think those are the the ones that I'm I'm most excited about. So, thank you Uh, what value do you place on representing all community groups in our school district? And how would your work as a board member demonstrate that? Thank you. That's that's a critical question that's critical in all of publication all of public education. uh being a publicly funded and publicly serving institution, we have to represent everyone and that means we have to get really good at having hard conversations about who are we serving well within our community and who are we serving not as well as we want to and how do we know that. So, this comes back to the data that we're using to
028look at our success as a district and our health as a district. And if it turns out that there's groups that we want to engage with better, that we think we could serve better, then we strategize on on how we do that. If we think that the data aren't showing our whole picture, which is also often the case, too, then we get creative about well, what else? What are we not capturing and what can we look at a little differently to get clear about whether these other data are true or maybe they weren't so true and now we got this whole new picture. So, I actually think the the profile of the the graduates that you all put forward is a really cool way to get the community to start to understand a complex situation
029of like a successful student and um using language that makes sense and frameworks that make sense. So, I think that could be something tapped into for any of the further work like operationalizing the plan, collecting other data. We've you've got a nice profile to kind of hook things to and I think that would be really useful. So, what what I would do in addition to kind of taking with me what I shared about my perspective on having good data collection, making sure we're asking the right questions, gathering the right information, I want to be accessible and visible to to the whole community. Um, one of the questions I have for you all is like, how do you do that? How do you do that in a large community? And how do you not feel like
030you're letting someone down? You know, we can get to my question later, but I I really care about that. I want to have equally good conversations with people whose ideas I agree with immediately and people whose ideas I might not agree with. It doesn't matter like we are here to represent the entire community as a public organization and I expect to be able to engage with everyone in a in a mutually sustaining way. It does not mean I will be everyone's best friend or agree with the idea at the end of the day, but I absolutely should be able to talk with folks. It's also helpful I speak Spanish so I can engage with constituents that maybe haven't had as much access to all board members in the past. Thank you for the question. Final
031question, Miranda. Describe your understanding of school funding and how you would balance the needs of students, teachers, parents, and tax pay taxpayers when making budget decisions. Thank you for the question. Um, I'm well aware of school funding in my experiences as an educator and as well as my uh coursework with superintendent licenser things and and principal work and my direct work with district leaders and building leaders. I know that most funding comes from the state level, 70 80% depending on the formula. a lot less comes from the federal government and then right in between is the local funding. So I get kind of how the the percentages pan out. Um I know that over time we've had unreliable funding from state and federal sources. I know that Wisconsin has had some really in interesting funding
032challenges um such as the way inflation is no longer considered and that's created a problem for us. Um requiring districts to go to referenda so much more frequently than other states. So so it makes me think things like legislative advocacy. I'm just looking at Superintendent Byer because of the the letter that was put put out last week. Um things like that are going to be critical for for our work because there's no way we can serve our communities and do our job as a as a public education organization without the funding to do that. And never have I worked in a public education district or in collaboration with them where they were asking for things that were cuckoo bananas and just outside of the realm of norm. We are literally asking to be able to
033do the job that the government has assigned us to do and we can't do that with decreasing funding. So legislative advocacy is going to be critical. I also know things like there's capital funds, there's operational funds, there's line items that have specific funding sources because it's a particular grant item or some other initiative. So so funding has to be used for certain things. And I know that it can feel like we have competing interests when there's all of these things that are important to us. We have to prioritize, which makes that process of prioritization super important and something that we have to be as transparent with our constituents on as possible to to the level that we can be. I also know some things have to be confidential and and that makes good sense, too.
034but being clear with folks how we're connecting the dots between what we're able to share about the money that that's accessible and then what decisions are are put forth. So there's there's a lot of important things wrapped up in in budget and I' I'd be happy to contribute. Um and I'm excited to learn more because I certainly don't have that level of detail to to to be even more specific about Green Bay finances, but there's there's plenty I've done in the past that I'd be happy to apply. Thank you. Thank you very much. Um, your concise answers has means we have some time. All right. Um, so we have about 12 minutes before the 30 minutes is up. So I'm going to open the floor for follow-ups. Any board members have follow-up questions? Can we
035allow Miranda to ask ask the questions she has? Is that protocol or No, we did not have that discussion. So, um let's let's see. Let's I think you had a question out. Did you have a question or you're just Oh, making Okay. Um I'll open it to the board to determine if us answering questions is something that you would feel comfortable doing. Um, yeah. I know. Just very quickly, I just want to kind of go around the room and get head nods if we're okay with you're good. No. And I I would I don't I would see it more as I mean if maybe if there were I would think questions probably would be if they were technical like how many meetings or something but also I would think people should probably be able if
036if time remains they should be able to say state whatever as their time. I agree with Andrew on that. So, let's structure it this way, right? So, you can make some closing statements. Um, and but I agree since we're a board of elected members. Um, I would I agree with the sentiment of the board that if you want to reach out to individual board members to ask questions or what have you, please feel comfortable doing that. All right. But do you have any closing remarks? Thank you for the opportunity and I understand the decision about questions. That's wonderful. Um, let me just review my notes and see if there was anything particularly relevant that I wasn't able to touch on. Yeah, I I think I represented what I could bring in a way that makes
037me feel satisfied. So, so my notes are kind of irrelevant to that. Um, I just want to thank you again for the opportunity to meet with you and um, whatever decision is made will make sense to me because you all know what you're what you're needing and and what you're you're hoping to fit and I will be not offended. I promise. I am united in your decision. Even if it turns out not to, you know, land in my favor, that's just fine. Um, but thank you again. It was it was an honor to be able to speak in front of you and I appreciate being invited for an interview. So, thank you all. Thank you very much, Miranda. I appreciate it. Okay, so we have a few minutes. So, board members um until the next
038time, take a few minutes if you want to just kind of consolidate your notes um from this and then we'll reach out. We're good. So, let's do just two minutes or so and then we'll invite the next candidate in. Okay. Are you ready? All right. Good evening, Alyssa. Um, and thanks for agreeing to to be interviewed. Um, we have six questions for you this evening. um they they are on the paper in front of you. We have 30 minutes for um the interview. So, we're estimating five minutes per question. From time to time, if it becomes necessary, we will kind of give you a time check just to make sure that we are able to get through all questions uh by within the 30 minutes. If there is time left over, we'll open the floor
039so that the board can ask follow-up questions. Okay. So, let's start by having you state your name, your primary address, and confirming that you're eligible to be on the board. The requirements are that your primary residence is within the school district. Um, you're eligible to vote, and that you are currently not employed by the school district. Okay. Um, Alyssa Profett, 1262 Cherry Street. It is my primary and only residence. Um, I'm eligible to vote there. um my my kiddos attend school in the district. So I that definitely verifies. Um I can provide whatever um necessary to support that as well though. Um and what were that was a lengthy question. I apologize. You've you've touched all the bases. Thank you. Okay. I'm going to start. I have question number one. Please describe your understanding of
040the relationship between the school board's role and the administration's role in the district. Um so my understanding is um the the school board is going to see a lot of that comes from the structure of the admin in terms of um policy changes. They'll work in collaboration with certain policy changes and then be the final deciding vote on said policy changes. Um but a lot well if not all of the day-to-day is handled by the administration. Um but we are also um my understanding is uh the school board each trustee takes on certain amount of schools themselves um to be in the school and visible which I think is important for our community to see of our trustees um and to to just be available for any um large constituency for those who may reach
041out for questions or concerns of anything happening in their district as well. So my my understanding it's a collaborative model uh between the two but then the final vote would happen here on any major changes. Melissa, what are the contributions you feel uniquely qualified to make to the leadership of this district at this particular time? That's a great question. Um well I will say um the reason I'm here tonight is I had a really awesome opportunity to attend the first I hope recurring uh ambassador academy through through the school district. Um so that was a monthly held session in which we got a binder and we did a book study called schools cannot do it alone. Um don't know how many individuals included in on that. Um but that gave me a really indepth understanding
042of a lot of different departments if not every department at the school level. Um, I have two kids in the district. Um, and I also sit on our city's city council at the moment. Um, so in in terms of my understanding of how local city government goes, I feel like I have a pretty strong understanding of that at that moment. Um, that would make me uniquely qualified for this position. Um, but really my final deciding factor in stepping up is at our last ambassador academy session, they really kind of had us all get together and what are we willing to do? What's the low lift? What's a medium lift? What's a high lift? One of the things listed under HighIft was, you know, are you interested in maybe running for school board? I said, "Not
043not really at this time." Um, then a couple weeks later there was a vacancy and I just kind of felt inclined after talking with some family um and my kids most importantly talking with my kids because I'm involved in a lot. Um, and I just I felt inclined at that moment given all that I had learned via the Ambassador Academy that I was uniquely qualified in this situation to fill the remainder of this vacancy. Okay. Number three, please identify specific examples of situations in which you have demonstrated one or more of these important qualities. A effective problem solving skills. B leadership skills that have produced measurable positive results. and C a collaborative, open-minded team spirit. Well, it is an interview, so I think to what my day job is when I read this question over.
044Um, my my day job involves working with thousands of clinicians in a large healthcare facility out of six states and working on documentation improvement opportunities for those clinicians. Um, what that means is we're not always going to agree. Um what that means is we have clinicians who feel very passionately a certain way about how certain things should go. Um but I have I have standards that I have to maintain from a regulatory standpoint from our our health insurance payers um from the American Academy of Medical Association. I mean I have a lot uh so to have those conversations are often difficult. I had one this morning. They they often get heated. Um but I think it's most important for people to feel heard. Um, so when I when I look at leadership skill skills um
045that have proved measurable results, oftentimes when I'm met with those heated conversations, especially, you know, from clinicians or even in our community, um, I listen. I think that's the most important thing anyone can do is is to really listen. Um, but then to take that next step, I I often find myself if anyone sees in me in any meeting, I typically have a notebook and pen and paper or my laptop. I'm always taking notes. um because I'm never going to remember any everything and notes helps me keep track of those things. Um because then you can't just listen. There's there's some follow-up that needs to be done, right? And I'm never going to be able to do that follow-up if I'm not keeping myself on track with with note-taking. Um so in in terms of
046problem solving skills, I mean, I'm constantly having to figure out who is the right person to bring to the table um in my day job. Um so that that's another thing um that I think I will uniquely be able to bring to this board. who who is the appropriate folks to have at the table. Um and I think when we look at our community, when we look at um some of the things that have challenged the district, um it's community, right? Um and I think I'm uniquely qualified to to bring some some community to the table with my involvement not only in the my neighborhood association with my community fridge program that we run, but with Green Bay neighborhoods as a whole. I feel like I have a really strong connection there to be able
047to help um bridge that community. Um, so just um I'm looking at that list again, specific situations. I I could ramble for a while, but I know there's time involved here. Um, so yeah, just my day job just making sure I have the appropriate people at the table. Um, and and follow through, you know, taking those questions down and then and then taking that next step after you listen to the issue at hand. Um, collaborative, open mind, team spirit. I think if I were able to bring anyone who works on my team, I oversee a team of 19 people um from all unique backgrounds um in in many states. Um I think if any of them were to be able to give me some kind of letter of recommendation, they would tell you that that's
048what I do. I sit down and I listen and I follow up. Um so yeah, chatted that question to death. I apologize. Uh, number four, what current district challenges would you prioritize as a board member and what are some possible ways that you would address them? I think that's a great question. Um, you guys get a lot of media. Um, I think we see that at the city level as well. Um, there's a wide variety of things that the media chooses to pick up on. Um, but I I think there's that disconnect sometimes between um, what families hear and who families can go to. Um, so when I talk about, you know, building that community, I I do think that there's some work that we've seen over the past couple years, my since I became
049a parent in the district that I think we could continue to expound on. Um, I know I've heard a lot of community feedback about the welcome back parties. Um, I think that's only been two years going. I hope we can expand on that, maybe tap into that throughout the year as well. Um, just different ways to get the community involved. Um but that maybe also expand on potential use of facilities as well to non-families. Um so like the neighborhood associations um and letting them come and use certain facilities to just bridge that gap I think between um I mean ultimately all the taxpayers contribute to our public schools but I don't think non-parents feel as connected or as comfortable at times stepping foot in a in a school district building when they don't personally have
050a connection at that point in time to it. Um, so I think that's one thing that could be looked at. And then of course, um, I'm a big fan of our current superintendent, but I I know that her time with us is limited and that is a a huge decision that faces this board and one I feel strongly about as a mother of a kindergarten and first grader in the district who who's going to stay here for a while. So that's an important decision to make. My PC just was just finishing a force reboot. Um, what value do you place on representing all community groups in our school district and how would your work as a board member demonstrate that? I think it's really important to acknowledge we have at least 43, if not more,
051languages spoken in our district and that represents um families from all different walks of life. Um they are our families in the district, but they're also each and every one of our neighbors. Um so it's really important and it's not something that necessarily comes natural to most. It's really easy to make a decision based on our own personal lived experience, but how do you think outside of that box and make sure um that when you look around you at the table or when you are having community conversations, what steps are we proactively taking to make sure folks are feeling heard? Um I think the city could learn some lessons in how even when I had to call today because I am a shame on me parent that was trying to late register my kids for
052summer school. um when you call the district number, you first get in Spanish a translation option. You know, steps like that where you don't see that from other government entities that are proactively you they say, "Do you need a translator?" But they say it in English, right? Um when you call your district main number, they say it in in Spanish. Um but that could be expounded on as well, right? So, um uh cuz there again there's 43 unique languages and just um what steps are we taking to make sure we're thinking outside of the box to proactively incorporate um everyone from every walk of life. And like I said, it's not the knee-jerk reaction. Um you have to work at it. Um so I it's a priority. Absolutely. It needs to be because they are
053our neighbors and they are our families. So yeah. Last question. Describe your understanding of school and how you would balance the needs of students, teachers, parents, and taxpayers when making budget decisions. I'm going to jump back to that statement uniquely qualified that you had in that second um uh second question there. School funding. Um if you would ask me a year ago how I understood it, nope. Not even not even a little. Um I probably brought that up to like 70% maybe of full capacity. I don't think I'll ever fully understand. Um but I'll what I can tell you is I spent a lot of time learning um as I brought forth a communication through our city council about specifically vouchers. Um I put a a lot of work into that communication so that I
054was knowledgeable on the topic when it questions were posed of me. Um it's unique. It's unique. It's complicated. It's it's frustrating. Um and it's it's not necessarily um meeting the needs. We see that across the state, right, with um I the vision that sticks in my mind is the state capital where they laid out from I don't know what story it was, but all of the districts in the past two years that have had to go to referenda. Um it's not going to change anytime soon. Um and we can we can chat to our state legislators about that. So I certainly have and I will continue to do that. Um, but when it comes time for decisions here that happen in our district, um, I can tell you just stepping foot and volunteer at my
055daughter's school and seeing what they have to do with their their little, um, budgets that they have each year um, and what they're able to produce for the kids. It's important. It matters. Those are the things that need to be funded, right? So, I think it's important that when we make budgeting decisions, we think about who it's who it's affecting, right? It's those kids. Um and and we need to hear from the teachers that are in the room as to what they need from us come budget time. Um and and staff is going to know that at every level what they need. Um and then you have to make those difficult decisions. I know plenty of those have been made at this table um in recent years. Um but when we're talking about a large
056district district under really uncertain funding times um that continues to feel even more uncertain each and every day um it comes back to the kids. What do they need from us, right? Um, so, uh, that's that's where I lean on staff, um, because I've seen it firsthand in the school. Um, they do a lot. They're asked to do a lot and and they they make it work. Um, but we at some point that's going to give, right? So, we need to make sure we're continuing to support them in every way we can and that includes funding. So, everyone's proving that 30 minutes was too too long for these interviews. So, I'm going to open the the floor. And I know I see I see what's happening over there. Um uh I'll open the floor for
057follow-up questions. Any for Alex? Uh yes. Thinking about one of your earlier answers, um, with this term having nine months and then next year's election coming, would you be interested in running for a seat in 2026 after filling the rest of this term or what are you maybe thinking um, you know, based on how you were mentioning that you weren't thinking about running or um, being on the board and then you did and and all these other things? Just kind of wondering where your motivations are in short and long term. Yeah, it's a great question. um spent about two weeks contemplating it, talking to my family about just stepping up for fulfilling this vacancy. Um I think I would have to see how those first few months go before I firmly decide yes or no.
058Um but I I haven't completely ruled it out yet. Um but I am I'm interested in putting my my full capacity towards this vacancy at this moment. So I will give it my all and and see how I'm able to balance that. when Alyssa, do you work full-time and do you work from home? Yep. Um, I work full-time. Uh, I have a salaried position and I have a leadership team that knows in the community and allows me to flex my schedule when needed. Just talking to a constituent earlier today, told her I can make whatever daytime meeting work for her. It would be the same here. Um, my my employer is very supportive and and knows how important all of this work is. Um, but yes, I do work full-time, but always fully remote and
059readily available. Jet, you mentioned that um trying to get the community more involved, which I I know that you personally are involved in the community, but you did bring up people who don't have kids in the school like myself. How would you work to get them involved and aware of what's happening in the school? I think that's a great question. Um, so with my Green Bay Neighborhoods hat on, I think that's one way to start. I don't think it's going to completely bridge that gap for everyone. Um, but to have more of a collaborative relationship between those neighborhood associations that are already established. I've seen at least one neighborhood association that hosts bingo at their school or has in the past. Um, but that's just one that's one school that has been um opened up
060to the public for those things. Um, and I think bridging that gap, we have that that relationship there already. Um, it's just about making those things work for our community, making sure people know um that things like the back to school celebration. It it was in Joyce Park last year, so that's that's our neighborhood association, right? So, we could support it and show it on social media. Um, but to include things like I know our neighborhood association in the past has included 4K registration information on our neighborhood newsletter. Um, because I think sometimes we know that the district newsletter goes out to every address. Um, I'm sorry. I don't know that everyone opens the full thing and reads it cover to cover every single time, especially if they don't have kids in the district, but
061if they start to see some of that messaging um from other community groups that they trust, such as neighborhood association news flyers, um I think we can make make up some ground there. Um do I have a perfect solution to to bridge that connection? No. Um but I'm willing to to listen to others ideas and try and continue to bridge that. And I think opening up our schools a little bit for some of those user groups would help be a start. Laura, Alyssa, you mentioned um the community pro um community fridge project, which I think has been around for a few years. Um can you talk about that project and how that might impact our students? Oh, don't make me cry. Um, so our first one, the at the community policing center on be across
062from Washington. Um, I think if Rise Up were here, they could tell you all about how it impacts their students, but I can just I I can tell you without giving away too much um specifics, it's impacting the students out there. Um and that was a a need that we saw and is is being gapped a bit by um the school meals being provided in our parks as well. Um we have a need in our neighborhood but in this community as a whole where um I mentioned everyone coming from different walks of life. We are certainly seeing that at that fridge. There are families that have, you know, single parent households um where where some kids at at different ages than maybe I was raised to be okay with. Um those those kids are are
063wandering the park. Um those kids are looking for things. Um we've had some really really great conversations and meaningful conversations um with with some youth there. Um sorry, I'm going to try not to get too emotional. Um but that project has been a community builder. And that project has been something that those those kids take back to their parents and talk about and they talk about the people they meet there. It's not just me. I mean there is so many involved in that project faces and names we will never know because they they see what it what the impact is to our community and and that impact is mainly at that fridge kids. Um I will say probably about 75 to 80%. Now come school year 90 90% of those at that fridge are kids.
064um from either East or um Washington. Uh not we don't see a ton of East kids because frankly when um we we make sure it's in there for school let out time and the Washington kids tend to to get most of it before East lets out. Um but that project has been one that builds community and one that those kids take back and talk to their parents about and then in turn those parents feel more comfortable when they see us at the fridge. And when I say us, it's a lot, right, of us who are bringing poxes. Um, and then those are conversations that happen organically then um to just talk about what community means to them, what they want to see in their community. And that from a neighborhood association level because that who
065is who operates the fridge, that's stuff we take back and talk about, okay, how do we bridge that then? This is what we're hearing we that the community wants from us. How do we build on that? Um, yeah, I could go into specific stories, but and I would be in waterworks, but um, it's been a community builder project for sure and one that has has supported these kids a lot. Um, just curious, um, when you were talking about teachers earlier, it made me think about how much weight would you put into teachers voice and experiences? uh in our schools and maybe how would that look like from an action standpoint as a board member? Um I would put I would put a decent amount of weight um especially depending on the topic at hand what
066teachers are asking of us. Um and I say that because I I haven't been an educator but um that that's why I need that voice um from a a city government perspective. Um I'm always going to city staff asking um for nearly I mean more than they want me to I'm sure. um for nearly every decision that comes before us, especially in terms of changes. Um I I know that there has been the teachers union here before to speak on on certain issues that that would carry some weight certainly. Um and I have talked to my own kids teachers about some challenges in their um and what they're facing and what they need of us. Little things like can I please get you some extra expo markers, things like that. But on a larger scale
067in this role um certainly um and and surveys and getting feedback and then bringing that back to this table and brainstorming perhaps with other trustees at this table you know what what could we do to change some of what we're hearing take a lot of weight with that we're good okay so listen you have a few minutes left if you have any closing um please feel free otherwise I just want to thank you for coming out. So, yeah, in closing, I would just say I mean, thank you all for your service um on this board, um for what you've done. Um I've may not have been present in this room a lot, but I certainly have watched and have kept up as a parent in this district. Um and that's really why I'm here, not
068only for my kids, um but for other kids in the district, that the work that happens here matters and is important. Um so, if I'm selected, I promise I will give it my all. Absolutely. And just thank you for the opportunity. Thank you, Alyssa. Okay, couple minutes just to kind of review notes. Good evening, Matthew. So, it's going to be kind of, you know, it's a learning curve, but we'll get it with the with the microphone. So, um, we have six questions for you and we have 30 minutes and 30 minutes is proving to be plenty of time to get through the questions. Um, if we have time left over, which I assume we will, we'll open the floor and let board members ask follow-up questions if they have any. Right. So, um, I'm going
069to give you a minute or two to just read the questions um, and get prepared. But while I'm doing that, just let you know that we'll start by having you state your name, your primary address, and confirming that you're eligible to serve on the board. And those requirements are that your primary residence is within the school district's boundaries, um that you're eligible to vote, um and you're not currently employed by the school district. So, if you just say, "Yeah, absolutely. I I'm eligible," that'll be fine. My name is Matt Ziggert. I live at 2460 Heisra Lane in Green Bay. It is my primary residence and I am eligible to to serve. Van, you want to just take a minute and then I'll start Okay, you ready for me? Okay, let's get started. Question number one,
070please describe your understanding of the relationship between the school board's role and the administration's role in the district. Sure. Uh so it's my understanding that the role of the school board is to is governance uh and not management. So the um the role of the school board and its members in my understanding is uh to to set a vision for the district uh to uh adopt policy to hold the district accountable. And um as a pastor uh in my experience uh I've found uh I'm very familiar with the the need uh for shared leadership uh for clearly defined roles for healthy boundaries when working collaboratively with others. And uh so the uh the big thing I'd say is it's uh oversight and not overstepping or overreaching. And uh so the uh the role of the
071administration then uh led by the superintendent uh be to to implement the policies of the board to to um manage uh the day-to-day operations of the district. Um but you know the school board as a school board member I have the privilege of asking good questions uh uh ensuring transparency in the processes of of the work uh that's being done and uh and provide direction and then um yeah all while letting the the staff then you do their work uh with professionalism and and carry out what they've been uh they've been entrusted to do just Matt or is it Matthew? Which are we supposed to call you? Um, I I I usually go by Matt unless I'm in trouble on my, you know, I'll call you Matt then. Matt, what are the contributions you feel
072uniquely qualified to make to the leadership of this district at this particular time? Yeah. I think in my seven years as a a a leader in a faith community, um I have had a very public-f facing leadership role. Um and uh certainly uh this is a pivotal time in education in Green Bay is uh and I feel you know as someone who was a parent uh of children in the district as a pastor as a person who grew up uh as the child of two uh two public educators Um, and I didn't put in my letter, but I'm also um uh married to a high school Spanish teacher in Manasha. Um and so as uh someone who has uh that passion and the understanding in the power of public education to uh to create a
073more uh equitable society. Um I feel called at this moment to serve. Um, you know, I've, as a pastor, I've had the opportunity uh to oversee budgets, often limited budgets, uh, still able to do amazing things when we use our resources, uh, and we work together. Uh, and, uh, uh, we're able to to serve our community in in some pretty awesome ways. um worked with staff teams and committees and um and so I think those are directly uh applicable to the work of the school board and uh and I think the uh you know to go back to you know just my understanding of public education and and the the the question that I keep coming back to how is this uh sustainable and and for the good of all students. Um keeping that at
074the center of forefront. Okay, we'll move on to to three. Okay. Um, Matt, please identify specific examples of situations in which you have demonstrated one or more of these important qualities. A, effective problem solving skills. B, leadership skills that have produced measurable positive results. and see a collaborative, open-minded team spirit. So, I guess what comes to mind uh right away for me is a a recent uh experience in the church where um it was brought to my attention that a young man who is part of our congregation was struggling with his mental health. Um and so um um working alongside you know his parents and um having built a relationship with them relationship of trust but also relationship of trust with uh with others in the congregation with in the community was able to find
075um support for this young man. We have a another couple who in the in the congregation who had uh who had a son who had similar experiences and they had been involved then in in NAMI and and teaching a class. So were able to to connect and build those bridges between those families to be able to to help support that young man was also able to reach out to the mental health officer of the Green Bay uh uh police department and um and then follow up. So with uh with that collabor collaboration between all of the people and and uh I feel proud of the work that we were able to do to help the this young man uh get the help that he needed needs. I'll just touch on you know effective problem solving
076skills. I mean I don't know what your experience is with churches but we never have any disagreements or um problems within the church. Uh but I think it's always going back to the fact that uh disagreements are inevitable, right? Uh you ever whenever you get people together that they're inevitable, but it's how you handle those disagreements that matter. um bringing people together to the table around the, you know, reminding people of the the shared values, the shared goals, the the common good that we we continue to to work toward. um you were able to to communicate with one another and and respectfully um come to um not always agreement but uh a ways in which we're able to to um to work together and to affect affect effect change and I think that's it for
077now. Yeah. Thank you. All right, Matt. Number four. Uh, what current district challenges would you prioritize as a board member and what are some possible ways that you would address them? Yeah, I think two things that that come up might come to mind are uh literacy achievement and uh staff and teacher retention as two two issues that I think are facing the the school district. Um I mean you can correct me if I'm wrong, but uh I think it's a it's a It's not an uncommon issue. Um, and as far as ways of addressing them, I mean, I know recently that the this, you know, Green Bay schools, you know, did adopt the the K through8 reading curriculum and, um, you know, I don't know all the fine details of that, but I I know
078that we and build on success and we can learn from failure. Uh it's so important that we continue to to to work together to create um and and build the district-wide uh a strong reading program. uh you know that's based on research and best educational practices and that uh excuse me uh and we also recognize that uh you know part of student achievement also comes back to the the whole child their emotional and and social needs being met. Um and then you know connected to that is the other issue that I identified being the the staff and teacher retention you to to get to that achievement. You can't have your best educators uh leaving due to burnout or financial stress or the lack of support. So I think um continuing to create a culture of
079support for teachers and staff um you know finding the ways to uh to show them that they're partners in the work that we're doing and um and uh having fair compensation for teachers I mean obviously is ways in which we're able to to do that. Okay. What value do you place on representing all community groups in our school district and how would your work as a board member demonstrate that? Yeah, I think diversity is one of the greatest strengths that we have in Green Bay. Um, but inclusion takes intentionality. And so um we have to find ways uh to to have to to meet people where they are to to have accessible uh meeting times and places uh you know language interpretation and translation services. Um, you know, and uh really going out and inviting
080people, especially people who belong to communities that have often felt left unheard um or a conversation and um and that it's not a one-off session, but that it's these things are uh continued efforts to build relationships of trust and and have folks uh feel part of the the process that they're being heard. Um yeah, that all right. Last question. Describe your understanding of school funding and how you would balance the needs of students, teachers, parents, and taxpayers when making budget decisions. Yeah. Um, every dollar that's spent in a budget reflects values and so I have to keep going back to that question I mentioned before. or how is this uh a sustainable, you know, long-term way of supporting students and student success, creating an environment that all kids, all students um regardless of their background
081are able to to succeed uh and thrive. Um I know budget decisions are difficult. they, you know, often difficult. They they affect entire communities, neighborhoods, families, and and so I think again um listening first um and and inviting uh people to share, you know, their their opinions. uh but always bringing it back to that that question and so that you know the the difficult decisions are being made together. It's a, you know, a way of making even those most difficult decisions uh more just and um having having that uh going back to the the fact that education is the responsibility of the whole community and that we share together and that we're we're doing this together and and so that there's some educational pieces there. It's also listening and um communication, especially communicating early on
082in the process and and building that trust to show that, you know, these decisions aren't quick fixes. They're they're long-term uh what's good for the students. Uh and always going back to that All right. Thank you, Matt. Um, so I'm going to open the floor if there are any follow-up questions for Matt [Music] Lynn. Matt, if we were to your congregation and ask them, "What is this man's greatest strength in the job that he has?" What would they probably say? Um, I mean, I don't know that I can speak for all of them, but I I think uh the fact that I bring a a calming presence, uh, a steady leadership, uh, that commitment to listening and bringing people together over differences. Um uh and you know probably a bit of a sense of humor
083that uh that helps lower the temperature often times uh and and brings people together. Um and to be honest probably the the musical gifts that I have if you were actually going to ask the the congregation. Uh but I also think that's uh it's been a wonderful tool of bringing people together and being able to uh to make music with others and is that uh the common language that people have just so Laura. Well, now I have to know what are your musical gifts? Um yeah, I play a little guitar um but mostly vocal music uh you know uh experiences uh throughout school and in music departments uh for choir and community choirs. And then um like most recently I was in uh God Spell uh down in Pier at the Bur Theater on Broadway
084there. Uh, so Janette, so you have children in the school and um I'm interested what grades they're in and and what have you seen in their school and if you share what school they go to. What are you seeing are the particular challenges in that school? Yeah, my daughter Olivia is six years old. She uh is uh at Elder Leupold. She just finished her kindergarten year and will going into first grade. Um and then my son is starting 4K. He's August. He's he's four years old. Um, yeah. I mean, I I don't know if I can speak so specifically to the the challenges at Eldo. Um, are you hearing anything from anybody any of your congregants about challenges that perhaps their families are experiencing? Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I was just trying to Excuse me.
085Just trying to think. Um, can I just Can I just interrupt here? I think we probably shouldn't talk about specific schools. Yeah, I appreciate that. I don't know that it was intended to be about specific school just just in in in general, but obviously if I I'm more concerned about people talking to you in confidence um and um you're not feeling obligated to communicate anything. But um regardless, we're kind of at time and so what I'd like to do is offer you a few minutes if you want to kind of make a closing statement um and kind of uh end it that way. Sure. Yeah. I really appreciate the opportunity to to be in conversation with you this evening. um really applaud all that you you do as a school board and thank you for
086your commitment to the to the community to the children uh all the students uh the Green Bay area. Um, I would love the the opportunity to continue working with you uh in a collaborative fashion uh as a board member and I guess um you know if if it's okay to turn turn the tables and ask you a question. Um, I guess for this this coming school year, uh, uh, if I were, you know, chosen to to serve, I would be interested to hear what, you know, what you see as the top priorities and goals for this coming year that you have as a board, uh, for the school district. Um, yeah, thanks for the question. Um, and what I would recommend is that because we're all elected and we all kind of speak for ourselves
087to reach out individually um to board members and I all of us, any of us would love to have that conversation with you, but at the board table, we had made the decision earlier tonight that we weren't going to answer anything but maybe technical questions about process. So, right, but please feel free to to reach out um directly to to board members. Matt, thank you very much um both for your interest uh in the position and coming out and interviewing with us. Um appreciate it a lot. Okay, we're halfway through, right? Um, is the next candidate here yet? Okay. Um, it's 6:23. If anyone needs to take um a break for a few minutes, we'll make this break about five minutes. Is that okay? Okay, we're going to get started with the next candidate here
088in a second. Do you need instruction on how to use the mic, Rick? Good evening, Rick. Yes. So, we have 30 minutes. We have six questions for you. um give you a a minute to look over the questions, but before you do um just make sure that you understand that um after the six questions, if there's time remaining, we're going to open the floor to follow-ups if anyone has follow-up questions and then provide you an opportunity to make a closing statement um if you have one. Um but first, we're going to have you start by saying your name, your primary address, and um confirming that you are eligible to be on the school board. Those requirements are um that your primary residence is inside the school district's boundaries, eligible to vote, and you're currently not
089employed by the school district. Okay. My name is Rick Crossen. I live at 2869 Sussex Road, Green Bay, Wisconsin. I am eligible to vote and uh I am uh not employed by the district. Do you want a minute to just read through the questions before we start? Yes, sir. Okay, I'm ready. All right, Rick, I'm going to start and then we'll go around the room. Um, question number one, please describe your understanding of the relationship between the school board's role and the administration's role in the district. Well, obviously having served on the board, there's been a lot of learning about what a board is, what a board does, what a board is supposed to do, and and what a board aspires to be. Um, the generally speaking, the school board provides direction and focus to
090the superintendent. The superintendent is the board's only direct report. Um and through the superintendent they implement the direction, the policies, the objectives of the school district. Um the board governs based upon policy, community needs and the educational needs of the students. Board members must objectively serve with a perspective that harbors no bias, no preconceived notions, no uh nothing that would start a child out in a hole that that child didn't create, but then expect that child to dig themselves out of that hole. Uh board members seek to clarify, they seek objective truth, and they stand on principle. Board members represent the community that is the school district and not just the people who vote. The entire community board members, the school board, the superintendent are all held responsible for results, quantifiable results, and they should
091never be afraid of that responsibility. Thank you, sir. Um, what are the contributions you feel uniquely qualified to make to the leadership of this district at this particular time? Um, for me, and I'm and again, I I want to preface this by saying I I don't I'm not coming in here trying being cocky or or or so self assured that that that this is something that that should be given to me. I I don't make that assumption at all. So, I want to make that very clear to everybody. Um I have served one entire year from April of 2024 until April of this year as a member of this school board. There's been full immersion on my part in all of the activities of this board. Uh, I have tried to set myself in a
092position where I could do the maximum amount of learning in the time that was available to me. Like the mayfly that only lives for 24 hours or so. There, it was it was a level of um a sense of urgency that I that I dive full force into what all of the things that and learn and then contribute to the school district. So I I built uh upon a solid foundation of my own uh work history, executive level experience and results. I believe I've achieved a level of of wisdom and and I'm not saying that in a in a in a way that that uh kind of props me up. But for me, wisdom is the application of acquired knowledge and then an experience involving understanding and insight and having the courage of my convictions.
093I'm a deep thinker. Some people say I overthink things, but I'm trying to get to the root cause and and what I would consider to be the objective truths. And objective truths, as I've said before, are the things that are the truth, whether we like them or not. Um, but those are the things that we should all have some general agreement upon, and that then serves as the foundation to move us forward. I'm a seeker of common ground objectives and I found them across a lot of uh groups and and I can talk about that later. I try to listen more than I talk. Some days are better than others, but I I I do seek to do that. I connect across socioeconomic, racial, political, and community boundaries. I don't have boundaries. We have more
094in common than we have differences. And I know that because I'm talking to everybody. And the things that we say we want, we the board, excuse me, say that the board wants for its students are the same things that I'm hearing from all of those groups. So for me, that's encouraging. I'm not afraid to talk to those who may be inherently hostile to me or afraid of me. Hate thrives on ignorance and fear. And my way to combat that is to let people to get to know me. You It's hard to hate someone, you know. I am fully aware of my own biases and shortcomings and I I constantly review them. I make that up. I make up for that by seeking out those with the skills and abilities and the perspectives that I lack.
095I'm sorry, it's my turn. Sorry. Um, number three, please identify specific examples of situations in which you have demonstrated one or more of these important qualities. A, effective problem solving skills. B, leadership skills that have produced measurable positive results. and see a collaborative, open-minded team spirit. Well, I'll I'll start with C because that serves as a foundation for for everything else. You you have to work as a team. And I I've always seen this board as a team. Even though we were all elected with different goals, objectives, promises, mandates from our our electorate, um the we we we came together for a common objective to advance the priorities of this school and the district. So collaboration uh open-minded team spirit means obviously getting to know every one of you and I I know every one
096of you. I know your strengths and your challenges. I know uh how you like to function here on this board and for me it is it's imperative to know that about each and every one of you in order to make things work. Um hopefully I've allowed those of you who served on the board with me to know who I am. Hopefully I wasn't a closed book. Um sometimes I can be very introverted at times but uh I tried to make myself available to all of you. Leadership is how I define my life. I'm a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel. I have run large organizations in theation and logistics world. And I brought those same skills here to this school board, not in an overbearing way, but to utilize the skills that I have to move
097the objectives of this district forward. Um problem solving skills. I can cite examples of um the time the the the subcommittees that I have served on. One big one being the uh the strategic planning initiative and the work done with the portrait of a graduate which sits at the core of everything that this district does. Um I feel like as part of the team um we got this thing in in a condition and a state of being where it is it is no longer a document that is completed put on the shelf. Nobody looks at it for 5 years. This now becomes a living breathing way we do business. And the things that I'm excited about going forward is the the implementation of that plan in its entirety. A scorecard for example of how we're
098doing. um full immersion, full accountability from everybody. Um that for me is uh the things that that I see um that that leaders do. Leaders are also not afraid of calling things out when they need to be called come what may. Um but knowing that it there was no malice or nothing malicious in the calling out of things, but it is simply to get after the objective truths that do exist. um and us all not being afraid of having those kinds of conversation. My problem solving skills is I'm a strategist by by definition. I think with the end state in mind and I backward plan to where we currently are and that backward planning process gets us moving and it creates a level of intentional discomfort in our current world to move towards that future
099state. And that for me is is how I always look at things at the way we do business. Um, number four, what current district challenges would you prioritize as a board member and what are some possible ways that you would address them? See, I'm still learning. We have to finish the vital critical work of searching for, selecting, hiring, and onboarding the next superintendent. that that for me was the the uh the primary uh reason why I I want to come back and and and complete that work. We did a lot of groundwork in this last year of setting the stage, the job description that that the current the superintendent is currently operating off of. I contributed to drafting that and the board adopted it and this is the living document that we are working off
100of as is the the job or the u um the strategic plan. Those are the things that will serve us well in identifying what the district needs and wants in its next superintendent. the timeline, the search criteria, the the deliberate overlap between uh the current superintendent and the next superintendent, all intentional strategic planning objectives that that I help set forth is what we're going forward with and and and I personally want to be part of that uh implementation process of that plan. Um there were some learned lessons with past uh recruiting efforts, hiring efforts, onboarding efforts with previous superintendent. It was our intent as a board and my personal intent to not make those same mistakes and learn from the the things that we that we didn't do quite well in in finding and searching
101for that next superintendent. Um the new the some of the other priorities the new curriculum has had one fullation. We have critical data points to review this summer to determine as a board if the preliminary results are taking us in the right direction. We got a lot of um preliminary results and anecdotal feedback, but now we've got one full year of data and it would be really good to know if we were if this thing was doing what it is that we wanted us it to do. We obviously have very real budget shortfall that calls for serious objective prioritization of what stays and what may have to go. And and here again this is this calls upon the board to do some very objective analysis of what of what things that there are. There is
102very real fear permeating through large portions of our community that need to be addressed and managed and cultivated to minimize the fear that exists with large populations. There are things happening to uh what in essence is um at last count 33% of the student student body population who for a lot of them have to walk around with proof of identity. Um, and it's smacks of of days of of of Hitler quite honestly where you had to show proof of citizenship or even in history where you have to prove that you are not now or never were a member of the Communist Party. I mean, these are days that require calling those things out. And we've got a vulnerable population in this district that needs our top cover. The um the board and this district have
103to properly respond to open allegations, mischaracterizations, backlash, and real and imagined perceptions of its performance and actions as compared to as as some people tend to compare us with other districts and to standards of performance. We've got to we the board have to provide our superintendent the top cover that she needs so that she can properly function and the board has to take that that level of courage on to it to to to lead through these things. That requires steady leadership, the courage of your convictions, focus, and like I said, wisdom. And in me, you literally have a bird in the hand who can immediately occupy this seat and get going on all of that and more. You don't have to speculate whether or not I can do it. Um, if past is prologue, you
104know what I will do if I become uh have the the opportunity to rejoin this board. Okay. Um, question five. What value do you place on representing all community groups in our school district and how would your work as a board member demonstrate that? This is an area I'm very proud of. Um here again, not knowing how long I would serve on the board, I put a lot of energy in connecting with all elements of this community. Um it's actually a shorter list to see which groups I haven't connected with, but I I will run through these lists. I'll try to be quick, but I want to give you a sense of the level of contact and communication, effective communication with each of these groups. State senators, state representatives, the state superintendent, the mayor of
105Green Bay, the Aloway Village President, Onida Nation leaders, the Mung community elders, members of the Green Bay city council, the Brown County Executive and its and the Brown County Board of Supervisors, many but not all community associations, current and former local business leaders, key leaders from NW WTC and University of Wisconsin Green Bay local literacy advocacy group achieved Brown County the Green Bay Salvation Army's leadership team political party leaders from both major parties. leadership of the Green Bay Education Association, of which I was endorsed by the teachers union, the Green Bay Labor Association, of which I was endorsed, the Brown County Taxpayers Association, Community Advocacy Groups, Lacassa, Alba, Melanie, We All Rise, KMSA, NEW Latino Professionals, Brothers Helping Brothers, Military Veterans Groups, local military veterans groups, four former former school board members, League of Women
106Voters, almost every school in the district, and most of its current principles of staff and the teachers, parents groups, and individual families, and yes, 14,636 voters, which represent 15% of the voting population. There's more to be done with these relationships, and then there's more to be done with with groups that I have yet to connect with. Um, and so for me this because from all of these groups, you get their input, you get their perspective, and here again, this is where you find the common ground. Last question, Rick. Describe your understanding of school funding and how you would balance the needs of students, teachers, parents, and taxpayers when making budget decisions. As a preface, I have built budgets for large corporations. I have uh implemented um strategic plans for uh for large organizations here in
107the district. Well, let me back up. Budgets, I think, are are outgrowths or should be anyway of your strategic plan. They shouldn't sit apart from anything else that we're doing. In fact, it should be part and parcel of what we're doing. and and I believe that this district is is is is in in very capable hands uh as as regards to managing the dollars that are that that we have. I spent this last year deep diving into the realities of the school district's budget process. It is complicated. I still don't know all of its intricacies and and and but what I what I sought to do was know enough as a board member to ask the pertinent questions that are put before us, how to read that balance sheet. I know uh all of the
108line items that are in that in that budget and its process. um the wacky realities of the budget timeline, the the and the reliance on the state's timeline. This having to make budget commitments and estimations before we know how much funding we will receive is a dance unto itself. There's it's this is the only entity that I've ever worked in that does that. um the inherent madness that is the state's three- tiered equalization formula. It is confusing and complicated and and and you can't compare districts to each other because they may be using a different formula by which they're measuring and and receiving money. There is the federal funding pipeline that is earmarked for specific programs. Um as a board member, I personally worked with the current CFO the wonderfully gifted Angie Robbley. Um, as
109she expertly navigates the intricacies of the school district budget, uh, I'm happy that she knows everything that she needs to know because it it's it's just so wonderful to have someone who has that level of ingrained detailed expertise. equally talented the COO Kale Pochinsky and his I helped and worked with both he and Angie as a subcommittee member as they developed the elements of their strategic plan in anticipating capital or operating costs, capital projects and the like. The more predictability you have in your strategic and operating plan, the better we can make the right spending decisions. It actually makes Angie Angie's job easier if we have a plan. And that's where we were working and and are working. We collectively were working to do just that. I know there's a 10 to$14 million budget deficit
110that's looming that is going to require some tough gut-wrenching decisions from this board. There are a list of items that that the board has to consider making decisions of of of what needs to what may need to go. These are tough. This the um this deficit didn't rise from mismanagement or mis misallocation or bad priorities. And and we seem to always have to keep reminding the the public of that reality. The sad structural realities of Wisconsin school funding set the conditions for this madness. To make those decisions, board members have to have full understanding of these intricacies. They don't have to be experts, but you have to know how to look at it, how to understand it, and how to ask the questions, what questions to ask of the superintendent. That implies having a skill
111set capable of understanding budgeting, and I have that skill set. Thank you, Rick. So, those are the six questions. We have like um eight minutes left. First, I want to make sure that you get an opportunity if you have a closing statement um to make that. Um and then we'll open the board if we open the table if we have any questions, sir. So, what are you going to do first? The the questions or my closing statement? Okay. All right. Okay. Um for me, I I I use that term bird in the hand. Um and I use that in the sense that I'm to you to you all I am a known entity. Um I know that that there have been uh a lot of challenges that we all went through together. There are challenges
112that we went through amongst ourselves. Um there are things that um that are out there in the community by certain vocal groups who are screaming for heads because of this this this situation that created this vacancy in the first place. Um consider everything you know about me. Consider my sincerity, my cander, my integrity, my proven ability to connect across the socioeconomic, racial, political spectrums. My ability to find common ground educational objectives. My strategic thinking abilities matched with operational excellence and quantifiable results. My high personal accountability and my expectation of high accountability for everyone that that is around me. my focus on getting things right for our children. So much of our discussion veers away, unfortunately, from the conversation that should always be center of everything that we're doing is what's best for the children, what's
113best for these kids. We should not be treating whole groups as perpetual victims. That serves as a disincentive for for oper for excellence. And I think if we start having those kinds of positive conversation with all of the children of this district, that will serve to get us better results. We all have bias. We all have fear. We all have something that gets in our way of making good decisions. I've always said to the children of this district, yes, you can. Yes, you will. That implies that that that we have their back. We have we are going to give them the support that they need but on the same hand they have to take accountability for their own educational journey and we have to create the conditions that allow them to do that. I I
114actually thought here this is an example of me thinking more than I probably should have of why not bring Rick Crossson back to this school board. Um, one of the things that I know that uh, this this particular process, this interview process, you are all left pretty much to your your own interpretation of what it is that you want in a board member. So, for me, that means I have to know each one of you. I have to understand and I do know you. Um, uh, some of the things that that that I could see being used is, well, you know, he lost the election, let it go, go do something else. Um, we need new blood on the board. Um, his time on the board may have may give him an unfair advantage to
115the other candidates. And I'm not saying you will say this, but I'm just I was thinking about if I didn't want me on the board, what would I come up with? Other candidates are more likable and less confrontational. Here again, there were folks screaming for the mass resignation of the board, which I think is a ridiculous notion. Um, but I served on the board during that time and so there will be this uproar from those folks who will be made claim of why are you bringing this guy back and I could be that bone that gets thrown to that group to lessen the noise. Um, this claim, some people claim color blindness, which I think is ironic because you could actually use that to not bring me back on the board to prove that you're
116not that you're not biased toward color, which is an it's kind of an weird notion, but here, this is again, this is an example of how I overthink things. Um, not that you will do that. Um, so and again I offer myself as through proof of concept because I've done the work and and you're left to decide whether or not there was quality in that work and in the results. Um, I I respectfully, humbly come back to ask for the opportunity to serve on this board and continue the work that we that we all know needs to get done on behalf of our kids and I thank you for this time. Thank you, Rick. That we have three minutes leftish. Any questions, Alex? Uh, thank you, Rick. The one question I I have um considering
117that we do have some some familiarity to a point, but there are two of us who have not had the opportunity to spend the year working with you as a board member. Could you maybe highlight one thing that we may not know uh or is not common knowledge about a goal or priority that um you have for our district to do something different than what maybe we have been doing? Thank you. And yeah, you're right. Our run-ins were on the campaign trail. Um, as as with uh Janette, so I I apologize for making that assumption that we know each other. We're still learning. Um, I'm pretty transparent about what it is that that that we're looking for. I I'm looking for some innovative ways to achieve the learning objectives. I think the pace of technological
118change is happening so fast that I I wonder if the educational process is able to I don't even know that we we haven't caught up. But how do we advance that in a in a way that is effective but doesn't feel like the flavor of the day thing that we throw at our teachers and administrators to to give the appearance of catching up. Um artificial intelligence is a great example of that. there is so much the pace of change and the amount of learning that needs to happen is huge and we're still teaching in ways that were effective 20 30 40 years ago. So, how do we as a school board, as a school district, get us in a direction, moving in a direction that gets us at least somewhat caught up or at pace
119with that or recognizing that we will never catch up to it, but we should do things that keep us moving so so it doesn't continue to outpace us. That that's that's one area. Um, there are some of the certain schools in the district that have that have market achievement of excellence all the time. And I would love to use those schools as an example of of spreading that that that cultural mantra across every school in the district. So when you say a school's name, it is instantly attributed to excellence and not the way that we have now where you say a name and somebody oh god that school you know so there so some of that is real some of it's imagined but we own we own moving every school into the work into the
120realm of not only real excellence but perceived excellence. Thank you, Rick. It's been a pleasure. Um, and yeah, board members, we'll take a couple minutes, but to just kind of review your notes and then is the next candidate here. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you all. And what she didn't say is when your mic is activated, you'll see the red light. Right. Perfect. Good evening, Aaron. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, we're gonna do this all night long. Don't worry about it. Everyone does it. Um Rick just interviewed. He's been on the board for a year and then he got the mic wrong a couple times. So, um we have six questions for you and we have 30 minutes. Um and if we have available time at the end of our questions, we
121may open the um the table for follow-up questions and also give you an opportunity to make a closing statement if if you have one. Um, but we'll first start with you state your name, your primary address, um, and confirming that um, you are eligible to serve on the board. Th those requirements are that your primary residence is in the school district's boundaries. Um, you are eligible to vote and uh, you're not currently employed by the school district. My name is Aaron Patrick Lee. I reside at 2856 Curry Lane, CUR R Y, Green Bay, Wisconsin 54311, and I meet all of the eligibility requirements. In addition to that, per the request of two members of the board, I have a affidavit of residency signed and notorized and duly sworn to that effect. Thank you. So, I'm
122going to give you a minute. The questions are in front of you. Um, read through them and and when I see you look up, we'll get started. How about that? Perfect. Thank you. All right. So, Erin, please describe your understanding of the relationship between the school board's role and the administration's role in the district. To me, the school board serves as the ultimate guiding fork, I think, is a an interesting way to to describe it. But it's that's the way that comes to mind. The the tool by which policy and intent is set and the essentially the last place that the buck stops. I think with the administration, the administration functions as a separate but distinctly important body that also sets its own agenda and policies. And they these these two groups work together to
123form a cohesive uh engaging set of policies, standards and uh just general rules and guidelines that are ultimately passed on to our schools and lead to the final decisions. Obviously the board also has oversight of ability and commitments to handle final appeals for disciplinary things said final disciplinary policy those sorts of things. And ultimately um the administration and the board comes together to determine financial priorities, approve budgets, those sorts of things as well. Um Erin, what are the contributions you feel uniquely qualified to make to the leadership of this district at this particular time? Well, I'm going to start with my age. I am the youngest person here and that is a distinct advantage because that means that I have in recent memory been in a Greenberry public schools classroom. Not only have I been
124in a Greenberry Public Schools classroom as a student as a student at John Dwey Academy of Learning, I taught in a Greenberry Public Schools classroom. I taught educational civics. I taught human growth and development. And with Dr. Natasha Chong at John Dwey, I co-taught as a uh as a subject matter expert in human growth and development. So I I've seen it from both sides and that's something that no one else has. No one else brings this freshness of experience. Less than a decade ago I was a student under this board's supervision. I am also a passionate advocate for students and for the community. I have been throughout my entire life. Uh I' I've appeared before this board before to speak on issues. I spoke when the board was reviewing the disciplinary procedures when when the
125new disciplinary procedures were brought out. I came in to advocate for them. I was given them a little bit ahead of time and allowed to kind of pick through and find the issues that I found and was able to voice those to the board. This is something that I've been passionate about. And 20 years from now, whether I'm living in Green Bay or living in DC or New York or San Francisco or somewhere else, I'm going to still care about Green Bay. It's home. Okay. Number three. Um, please identify specific examples of situations in which you have demonstrated one or more of these important qualities. Effective problem solving skills, leadership skills that have produced measurable positive results, and a collaborative, open-minded team spirit. When I was a dis emergency dispatcher for the citizen app, uh
126I embodied most of these at various points. I'll I'll I'll pick out a few examples since those are perhaps my most shining moments as an emergency dispatcher. Um effective problem solving skills. I'll I'll start with which was uh a incident where two hikers called in. I was the emergency dispatcher that took the call. They were in Arizona. They had not uh had any water. They did not bring any water. This is the middle of August. So heat index was about 110°. They were in direct sunlight and they were not in good shape. Um these were two people who needed immediate help. They called 911. The local 911 did not have what we would call enhanced 911. Enhanced 911 is what gives you the ability to see a location when someone calls 911. Most municipalities have
127that. This municipality didn't have that. So using my skill set, using the information that I had at hand, I was able to identify where they were using software called what three words, which is a uh relatively commonly used in the background, but not very used in the foreground of public safety, which uh gives you an exact for a 1 m by 1 meter square. There's three words assigned and there three random words and everywhere on Earth has these coordinates. Using those, I was able to coordinate a rescue by helicopter for these hikers. And this was something that had never been done before by this company. This had never been done before uh by the emergency response structure we had built. We were literally building policy. I was helping to write the policy as I was
128doing the emergency responses. Moving to leadership skills that have produced measurable positive results. Uh when I was a student at John Academy of Learning, my senior capstone project was investigating this board's policies. Uh I was a very precocious and student who had identified some issues that I did not agree with and I determined that it was necessary and pertinent to create a board a panel uh the Dwey commission on policy review whose very name and intent was to look into many of the policies including the dress policy and various other policies of this very board and give recommendations on ways that those policies can be in improved and that was in collaboration with the superintendent's office that was in collaboration with the office, legal counsel and various other offices of the district. But there I
129was leading students. So I was also a teacher. I was teaching educational civics as I was leading this educational council. This council that was intended to provide real feedback in a way that hadn't been heard because students don't often attend these meetings. It's not something where you see a line of students wrapped around the the door. So I I had identified this and decided that this is somewhere that we have a lack of input and we really need input. So I worked with my adviserss, I worked with my students to make sure that that input was heard. Moving finally to a collaborative and open-minded spirit uh team spirit. I will go to my experience with Midwest Furry Fandom, Inc. where I served as the instant commander. their designated instinct commander that is one of the
130largest conventions in the area that's in Rosemont, Illinois has a average attendance between 10 and 40,000 people depending on the year. We essentially go in and build a little town in in the town that involves uh in with emergency management that involves integration with Cook County and Department of Emergency Management. Federal authorities are involved because of a previous incident that occurred there where a terrorist attack happened. So, I was selected as the designated incident commander. For those that don't know, that means that if something goes wrong, I would assume control of the entire organization until the emergency was over. I was also the assistant director of first aid and safety there. So, my role was entirely to keep that convention up running and safe and making sure that various policies were enforced as they needed
131to be to keep it familyfriendly and to keep people safe and protected. Part of my role there was overseeing about 40 patients an hour myself in addition to the entire first aid staff, making sure that they were handling patients appropriately and dealing with a wide and diverse set of problems and people and all sorts of different situations that could come up from a role like that. And really it taught me to take what was already a very open mind of mine and make it even even more to kind of learn to drop any preconceived notion at the door. And that that style of servant leadership really brought me into who I am today. Uh, number four, what current district challenges would you prioritize as a board member and what are some possible ways that you
132would address them? So, I have spoken to various members of our district community. I've spoken to our students. I've spoken to teachers. I've volunteered in our classrooms. I These are things that I've done and things that I've seen. I think from this is very much the perspective of a former student, I can say that classroom funding and classroom supplies is a very critical issue. Um, I think that needs to be addressed directly. I think the fact that we still have teachers spending money out of their own pocket every year is a crime in so many words. I think it's a tragedy. I think teachers shouldn't have to do that. I think that the uh crumbling infrastructure we have in some of our schools that yes, we are working to to address. Yes, we've had referendums.
133We've made very good progress, but I think there is still significant progress to be made. I think equity and inclusion and making sure that our students feel safe in school, especially as the climate changes and as things become scarier each day. Making sure that our students can come to school and feel safe and addressing what those issues look like. And I don't think there is an easy way to say I'm going to address them in a specific way because I think it's very naive to think that I as a single person here asking to be appointed for a little more than nine months can tell you I'm going to do XYZ and fix this problem. But I think it's about a finding a collaborative solution and working with everybody to make sure that all of
134our stakeholders are heard from and make sure that we have a real plan in place going forward so that we have continuity of instruction plans that are amazing and well constructed so that if COVID part two happens, we know where we're going so that whatever challenge tomorrow brings, we have a wide base to build from and we have a strong community to build from. Okay. Uh, what value do you place on representing all community groups in our school district? And how would your work as a board member demonstrate that? Every single student in our district is unique. Every single student has individual needs. and every single student is not represented by the board that we have today. That is a reality. That is a reality of an elected position, of a board being made up
135of elected people. That's a reality of the various preconceived notions and standards that'll that end up down the line influencing the staff that we hire, the decisions that we make. Those are critical issues. I think that picking out any individual group is the best way to learn about them. So going and meeting and discussing and seeing how each group interacts with the district processes, how each group interacts with the classroom processes, how each group interacts with district discipline. I think learning from these statistics and meeting these groups and discussing these things is the best way to move forward and to build collaboratively so that we can really get to the heart of ensuring that our district is representative and that our district reflects the students that it serves. I think that as a board member
136really I would be all about listening. That is my the single most powerful tool any of us have in our toolbox is to listen to our students, to listen to our staff, to listen to our administrators because they know what the problems are. They know what the challenges are and a lot of them have ideas of what the solutions might be. And if we listen and make sure that we are representing their most listening to our best angels when we're making the decisions and making sure that every voice is represented. Even if that voice isn't popular, even if that voice yelled, thrown things, destroyed a classroom, that voice is still a voice that needs to be heard. Alrighty, last question. Describe your understanding of school funding and how you would balance the needs of students,
137teachers, parents, and taxpayers when making budget decisions. My understanding of school funding is fairly decent. I I think anyway uh essentially funds are contributed from a variety of sources. There is uh the district's own funding things that come up, things like uh interest on invested funds, uh tickets from sports games, th those sorts of things. The various small line items that contribute to the main budget. You also have funding received at a federal and state and local level from taxes, from legislation, and various other sources that may come up from time to time. In addition to those ad hoc things like referendums which provide a limited generally authorization for the border district to take out a loan more than more than it does a direct or funding occasionally increases in tax levies those sorts of
138things as they the law balancing the needs of students teachers parents and taxpayers is is a really big task. It's not something that is simple and there's not really a great answer to go how do you balance it? I think it's about spending about 50% of your time stopping the bleeding. You do what needs to get done when it needs to get done and you do the solution that works right now and then the other 50% I would say is making sure that you are fiscally sound. Making sure that we're prepared for tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next year and the next decade. I think that listening to the people who are funding your district that the taxpayers is vitally important just as it would be to be listening
139to the students and the teachers and the parents. Um I think really when it comes to to balancing the needs this is can make me unpopular with a lot of taxpayers but the students have to come first. I feel the pain of property owners. I my parents own property. I will someday soon own property in Green Bay. That is not a that that is not a a peril or a problem that I don't see taxes. I understand they are awful. They are high. They're always too high no matter what you do. But at the end of the day, every student has a right to free, fair and public education. Maintaining that right and making right is inalienable and that that right comes with equality that is what parents have come to expect from Green Bay,
140what students have come to expect from Green Bay is paramount above all else. Thank you, Eric. So, um, we have about 14 minutes left. So, I'm going to open the floor to members that have questions. Lynn, I believe you said in your letter that you are studying to be an EMT or it's it's going to happen soon. Could you just tell us a little bit about what you have done, the trajectory of your life since you graduated from JAL? Happily, and I'll be the first to say that it's been a strange path. Um, I graduated from John Dew Academy of Learning in 2017, but from there I went on to the Milwaukee School of Engineering and I'm going to be fully honest and transparent. I fell on my face. And I think that's part of
141what makes me want to be here today is because I have seen firsthand what happens when a student comes out and is not college ready. That was my experience. That was my lived experience coming out as Greenberry Public School student. I was not college ready. I did not do well. while I was on academic probate pro probation from the very first semester or quarter rather at the time which is really hard to do as a college student. It's really difficult. You got to be doing really hard. You had to be having a really hard time to get on academic probation after the first quarter. But I did that it's what my lived experience was. And so I went back and I kept going and I kept trying and I kept failing and I kept doing
142better in some areas and getting worse in other areas and I would adjust and move. I became an employee of the Greenberry or sorry of the Milwaukee School of Engineering's information technology help desk. Uh there I helped students and helped faculty just with basic tech issues and then I graduated or I moved up rather to a tier 2 tech position which was more supervisory in nature. Um and then COVID happened. So when COVID happened uh the university shut down. It was actually so March 13th is my birthday. So that was the day that the world kind of ended. Um I was literally there. I mean I was sitting in my sitting behind our help desk when we got this email from our from from our vice president of operations that the university was closing effective
143immediately. And I walked over to the dean's office because I at the time I was the president of the university sexuality and gender alliance and went what the heck are we going to do because we have students who aren't safe going home right now. And we had those hard conversations. and I I worked to help bring students at the time college students to safely where they needed to be and they laid every student worker off. So at that point I received kind of a a pink slip. You're you're done. We'll call you when we need you. About a week passed and they realized that I the information technology help desk could not run without me to the point where the board of regents held a special meeting authorizing me to be the only student worker
144to be retained through the layoff period. So I was brought on as the only student worker across the entire university and this is a engineering school who has never had an online class ever going into the pandemic. Maybe we had one a quarter we'd have across the entire university to going you got two weeks to get this university completely online. And I did I worked with full-time faculty. I worked with a very small staff to get the university online with various supervisors and everything else. I was meeting with vice presidents daily, vice presidents of operations of finance, trying to make sure that everything was built because we didn't have a model for this. We didn't know how to do this. Then towards the end of my time there, uh, CO was still raging, but it
145was beginning to look like we're going to start reopening. Because of my experience in emergency management and my certifications and FEMA training, they had asked me to create help create the IT department's reopening plan. So, I created that document. That document then went on to become the basis, unbeknownst to me, at the time of the university's reopening plan. And the university was uh the first of the universities in Milwaukee to be approved for reopening by the Milwaukee Department of Public Health. They reopened. I moved on. From there, I was an emergency dispatcher at the Citizen App. I worked there for and a half. Um from there, I moved to Ada Health, which was my most recent position. And I was there for about 2 and 1/2 years before unfortunately layoffs broad came came around and
146they laid off 40% of our staff overnight. That included me unfortunately. And most recently with my experience in public safety, with my experience in emergency management, I came back to EMS. It was a kind of you know this this is something that you've done before. So try it again, see what happens. So, I decided to enroll um and I will be done with that by August. Right around the first weekend in August is when I'll take my national exam. Um so, it's a very easy thing to to work around for for me as well. Lynn, how do you feel about collaborating with senior citizens? I love it. I I love collaborating with everybody. Like I I I love listening to people. It really is my my passion in life, helping people and getting people the
147resources and information that they need. Um I have volunteered extensively throughout my my life and throughout my time as a Green Bear public school student. I exceeded our service learning because John Dewey has an enhanced service learning requirement. you need like it's like 150 hours or 250 hours. I had that done my freshman year. Like I I was very on on the ball with that. Um I was also a member of do something.org's uh youth you youth advisory panel and uh was called Vintage VIPs which was a a program that was identified to help senior citizens get connected to technology. It was something I very happily and joyfully participated in for the three years that that that program ran. Um, I think that senior citizens have expertise. They've got knowledge. They've got things that I
148don't have. And I like to listen to people who know more than me. In fact, I pretty much make it a habit that if somebody knows more than me, I should probably be listening to them instead of talking. Aaron, thank you very much um both for your interest in the role coming here tonight. Um, at your age is an extraordinary thing to do. So really appreciate engagement. So regardless of how this goes. Um respect. Absolutely. All right. So we have one more candidate. Um but before we let you go, um if you have a closing statement, we have a few minutes. Um please if you have something prepared. I've been a student of this district for most of my life in one way or another. It's always been teaching me something. And I can't promise
149that we will always agree. I can't promise that I will be a rubber stamp or that I will be a smiling face at the end of a microphone, but I can promise that you will never find someone who is more passionate about advocating for our students, our staff, and our faculty. I care. And that's really hard to fake and that's really hard to find. Thank you very much. So it's okay. We'll be very impressed if you get the microphone right on the first couple of tries. No one does. It's okay. Good evening, Samantha. So, we have six questions for you. Um, and they're on the piece of paper in front of you. We have 30 minutes. Um, so that's about five minutes a question, but if we'll take a time check and make sure that
150we're not running long, we have it. So, I think we'll have plenty of time. Um, but I will, if we have time left over, open the floor for any follow-up questions might have, but you also have an opportunity to make a closing statement if you have one. We'll start by having you state your name, your primary address, um, and confirm that you're eligible to be on the board. The eligibility requirements are that your primary residence are within the school district's boundaries, you are eligible to vote, and that you are currently not employed by the school district. All right. My name is Samantha Meister. My only residence is 875 Hubard in Green Bay. Um, and I am eligible to serve So, I'm going to give you just a minute to read through the questions and when
151you look up, I'll take that as my cue to start All right, Samantha, please describe your understanding of the relationship between the school board's role and the administration's role in the district. Thank you. Um, I appreciate everyone's time tonight. First of all, I understand that I'm the last in this and this has been a bit of an evening. So, um I just appreciate the time. Um so, this question obviously gets at the heart, I think, of kind of the the the balance of both of those and I do truly see, um the board's role in this as partnership. I think it is critical. Um obviously, the board is elected to be that governance body. Um it's to represent the the public and you know, the the constituents here within the city. Um but also I
152think it's to be a a strong partner with the administration. Um I think obviously from a policy perspective it's important that the board is incredibly knowledgeable of um educational policy and um you know that's where my background is obviously the strongest aligned here with with my personal experience. But ultimately I again that partnership and partner partner partner is what I keep coming back to. Um, I think that it's things work best when everyone is believing and trusting that each is coming in good faith and is coming with positive intent. I know that right now, um, locally, statewide, and nationally, things are getting a little spicy with school districts and school boards. Um, and I think again, we all do our best work for the children of this district when things are positive and productive and
153forward- facing. Um Samantha, what are the contributions you feel uniquely qualified to make to the leadership of this district at this particular time? Thank you. Um I think first and foremost I am an educator. Um my background is in education. Um for seven years I was a special education teacher uh at the middle school level. The school where I worked in the Omaha public school was served grades five through eight. Um so I had had a unique role in that space. I also then moved into a leadership role within my interdisciplinary team uh in that in that time as a public school teacher. Um I think that I also bring a solid background in public education knowhow. Um all of my graduate work has been in reading and literacy instruction or um in just more
154generic curriculum and instruction work. My doctoral uh work actually was in urban education and preparing specifically white women for school districts to teach and that do not reflect them. Um, so working in very urban schools and working on teacher retention and teacher mentorship and new teacher mentorship specifically so that we can continue to retain high quality teachers in our districts. Um, ultimately I think that in terms of strengths that I bring to this, I'm a very organized person. I'm a very detailoriented person. Um, we joke in my current day job um, I'm the get stuff done person. Um, I tend to, you know, get a project, break it down into its its bits and pieces, and just get busy. I tend to keep my head down. I I get to business and I get things
155done. Um, specifically right now, I think that understanding kind of where we are within the landscape of public education, but also understanding the superintendent search on the horizon. Um, I've successfully run uh or been a part of several faculty hires at the university. Um, and most recently just chaired a search there where we again did all of the question development, did multiple rounds of interviews through Zoom, through in-person interviews on campus. um hosted a number of candidates here in person where not only were we interviewing them but we had to sell our best version of us so that we ensured someone was picking us and was excited to come here. Um and I think that that's really something that is needed right now especially as this board kind of steps into the next steps for
156that superintendent search. Um but ultimately I think just you know having that passion in public education. I've devoted my entire professional life to public education and I feel like that situates me well with my knowledge base um as well as you know my organizational skills in this area. Okay. Question three. Please identify specific examples of situations in which you have demonstrated one or more of these important qualities. A effective problem solving skills. B leadership skills that have produced measurable positive results. And C a collaborative open-minded team spirit. I think the most kind of recent in my mind that I I think highlights each one of those qualities. Um so my background currently I'm working at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay in the education program. I am the literacy uh teacher educator. So, I work
157with all of our pre-ervice teachers in um mostly that K through9 lensure, but then some of our secondary folks as well on literacy education um and how to best teach tiny humans how to read. And so, I think that the most recent and probably very prevalent example of this has been my work around um the act 20 legislation. So the literacy law that has just recent well two years ago now passed. Um but I think that in terms of problem problem solving and collaboration um having the opportunity to be in rooms with state legislators prior to that legislation being passed. um helping to convene a statewide network of other professors of literacy to um understand the ins and outs of that bill so that we could effectively advocate for what we know our students and
158our teacher candidates need. Um, and being able to then on the back end of that after that legislation passed, being able to um, you know, get our all of our stakeholders together, our classroom teachers, our district leadership, our DPI consultants, our um, higher education folks, getting everyone in the same room together and on board to deal with the ramifications of implementing that massive piece of legislation um, I think has really been a challenge off obviously a challenge um but has really been a way that I think those statewide and local level networks have really blossomed um one specific example is I had the actual the opportunity to sit here within the district um and learn side by side with your teachers um so that what we were doing at the university was in line with
159what the new curriculum roll out was promoting here to make sure that what I'm teaching in my college classroom is aligned with what my students are seeing in their field placements when they're out in schools. So, I think just the advocacy around that piece of legislation, the problem solving and um the collaboration that was came out of that as well as then the ability to work collectively um to implement that in a meaningful way for all of our students highlights that Number four, what current district challenges would you prioritize as a board member and what are some possible ways that you would address them? So the strategic plan that um you that the board you know passed earlier this year the top three things in there it's academic excellence. It's a thriving student body and
160then it is a thriving workforce. The fourth is obviously family and community engagement which is another huge piece of the puzzle and one that I see is you know coming here in a moment so I won't speak so much about that yet. Um, I think that again coming from my background in the space that I work in in the day-to-day, um, I would say that teacher retention is is a very very pressing issue. Um, specifically with special education teachers, that is obviously a space very near and dear to my heart as that is what I began my public education career as. Um, but I think that the ways that we think about teacher retention has to ex be more expansive. We have to look at that and really consider, okay, if we're addressing things that
161retain our teachers, we are also then supporting a thriving student body, we are supporting academic excellence. Um, we cannot continue to bleed out educators year after year after year after year. I would like to say that there's enough excited, fresh humans coming through our programs at the university to sustain that, but that is just not the reality. Um, and and furthermore, our current teachers are incredible. I've have the privilege of working every single semester in eight different partner schools specifically all within the district and I'm in between 50 and 60 classrooms a semester seeing lessons engaging with those teachers engaging with those students partnering truly partnering. Um, and our current teachers are phenomenal and they're doing incredible things on a daily basis with next to no financial support, understanding truly what we're in times with
162budgets and such, but they're they're working magic in classrooms. And so I think that working to elevate the expertise that this district has, working to prioritize and uplift the expertise of the teachers in these schools already, I think is huge. I think we have an immense amount of untapped potential within our current workforce. Um, and I think that if we can start to really turn our inservice teachers to being this district's strongest leaders and strongest advocates, I think we retain more and I think that's also how we get our high school students excited about becoming teachers. Um, so I again I understand that is completely within my day-to-day that I live in, but I think that that that teacher retention piece is huge and I think that it has ripple effects in ways that impact
163a lot of the other priority areas. And what value do you place on representing all community groups in our school district? And how would your work as a board member demonstrate that? I think that our community partners are critical to success. There there's no easier way to say that they they are critical. I think that those connections that we we forge are what sustains us obviously when we need to go time and time and time again to taxpayers to ask for a referendum. Um, I think that, you know, creating schools that are open, welcoming spaces to all of our community members is huge. Um, specifically, you know, I think sometimes when we think about community engagement within the confines of a school district, we're thinking of our families and our students and that's it. And
164I think we have to actively work to engage people who do not have children in this district, but who are paying taxes in this district. I think that we have some really incredible facilities that to get more community engaged into the facilities of this district. Um, thinking about rental spaces, I think is incredible. Um, and and again, working to create our welcoming and open and inviting because when we do that, we will work to get more volunteers in our schools. I know already just looking at literacy um supports and reading with kids, you know, we have an initiative that we started at the university to get readers into schools and if schools are not welcoming places, it does not matter how wellprepared someone is to enter that space. If they're not welcoming, they're not coming
165in. Um, so I think that that reaching out to the community to really create spaces within our our schools that are welcoming and open to all of our community members is key. I also think it's really important to understand that every perspective carries truth to them. My reality is not the reality. Our collective reality is is is what we are working towards. So, it's important to know when to listen and also when to yield our spaces to others who have more knowledge and who have more insight and more experience. Um, so I think again working to create those connections. Um, I'm in a lot of the schools on a regular basis. I would look forward to getting into some of the schools that I obviously don't partner with. Um, but throughout my time at the
166university, I've had the opportunity to be in all but I think one of the elementary schools and I've been in all of the middle schools. Um, I my kids I have just finished at Franklin and I have one who just graduated from West High. Um, so I've been in plenty of the school activities. I've been in a lot of the buildings. I look forward to that opportunity and to really um engage further within the community that we serve. All right, last question. Describe your understanding of school funding and how you would balance the needs of students, teachers, parents, and taxpayers when making budget decisions. School funding is mathematical wizardry. No. Um, I I think that ultimately I I mean I I I have a pretty solid understanding of uh you know between state, federal, local
167funding opportunities um and and how those balance and again the really grueling timelines that boards like this are under to make budgetary decisions before other budgetary decisions are made for them by the state. It's it is it's a it's it's a ridiculously complex process. Um, but I think that at the heart of all of our decision-m needs to be what serves our mission, supports the students in this district, and what best supports our our staff as well. Um I think that you know having been on the advisory the boundary advisory working group that that committee I think that um you know hard hard decisions have to be made and some of those hard decisions within that group that then recommendations that came to you all happened with schools that I partner with regularly and principles
168that I know on a personal level and those are very very very very challenging decisions and I think that ultimately understanding the realities of where we are within this state in terms of a budget process, hard decisions are going to continue to have to be made. Um, but again, I think as long as we continuously put our students, our educational mission here for the district at the top of those decision making priorities, I I think that as long as we are transparent in explaining our decision-m to the broader community and we give plenty of opportunity for people to offer feedback, I think that that that's how we come to consensus is a nice word for it. I think that uh agreeable discord uh but again I think that those are hard choices and you know
169people are understandably going to have a lot of big feelings. It's they're kids. It's their kids. So okay, just did a time check. We have 12 minutes left. So um I'm going to open the floor for any additional follow-up questions from the board if you have any. Laura, did I hear you um correctly that you were on the boundaries committee? Yeah. Yep. I had the same question. I made a note of that. Um, and I wondered, did your experience on that committee, um, was it kind of your first experience working closely with the Green Bay public schools, not not as a professional, uh, educator of teachers, but I just wondered if that kind of gave you any sense of I want to be a part of this decisionmaking team in the future. Um, I think
170it was it was a really nice entry point into some of the working nuts and bolts of things. Um, I have always been somebody who I think has had an eye on probably a school board role um, realistically within my my personal life and then, you know, this lovely global pandemic that happened and then um, obviously a lot of the things around the act 20 legislation that just drew all of my time and my energy that way. Um, so I think that it was a nice way to start to get into um some some of that kind of of work within the district um to serve in that sort of a capacity. But um yeah, it was nice, Alex. um being a little bit of a newer community member, but then also pair pairing that
171with the um extensive amount of schools that you're spending time with uh time in. What have you learned about the Green Bay community and how does that maybe inform your perceptions of what you think we need as a district going forward? Thank you for that. Um, I think that having been in a number of other very large school districts and school district systems and being in a number of other other cities has helped to give me a broader understanding of the context of kind of public education in a number of spaces. Um, you know, I've obviously been in some areas where it's been very very very very contentious and high stakes. my time in Texas showed me that things can get interesting. Um, and so, you know, being here though in in Green Bay, I
172really there is an incredible pride in this city, in this district. Um, and the ability to be critical of something that you're very proud of is something that I think is not unique to here, but is very present. And I would say that because I think it's easy to be critical when you don't care, but I think it's more of a challenge to be really critical when you care very, very, very deeply. And I say critical in a way that means, you know, this community holds this school and this board to very high standards. Um, and they are quick and ready to call out when things aren't done in a manner that they would like communitywide as a whole. Um, and I love that. I actually really really like that there is this loud advocacy
173within this city and that means people are engaged and people care and they're and they're clued into that. Um, being in the schools that I've had the opportunity to be within during my time here again has shown me that there are phenomenal teachers in this area. teachers who very could go to any of the other surrounding districts but who choose to stay um and who choose to work here within this district. So I do think that ultimately there's there's a really good momentum happening I think um and that belief that you know this is the Green Bay Area public schools. This isn't any of the surrounding communities. they are we are like wildly unique in our makeup of students in the assets that all of those students bring and I think that that pride just
174continues to grow. Um so ultimately I think does that give me things that we can work towards and work on? Yes, I've got an ear always open when I'm in my schools and working with my school partners. Um, but I think kind of tapping into and harnessing some of that advocacy is huge and I do really appreciate a community that is engaged for better or for worse, however you want to take that, who is still engaged in this process, Alex. And then the last question I have is specific to um reading and literacy. I'm just kind of curious in general what your thoughts are on Lucy Cawkins or other frameworks. Um maybe what you think we need to do best to improve literacy and how you feel other factors might um affect our literacy scores
175as that is a primary focus we have. For the sake of time and everyone not needing a nap right now, I'm not going to get into dis discussing specific curricular models with you. I would be happy to at another time. Um, that being said, I think that um I I the curriculum that was adopted and that's in schools right now that everyone is in year one, just finishing year one with, I think has shown some really positive stuff for our students. I look forward to continuing to engage with students and classroom teachers on that. I would also say too though, it's important to remember in any context that curriculum adoption is a huge process and takes time. Um, so and and this is something I'm saying in all of my other professional contexts that like
176yes, we want reading scores to improve ASAP. They need to improve as soon as possible. However, the massive sweeping changes that have been being made are going to need some time to show that. Now, I'm not saying it needs, you know, a generation of kids, but one year of completely relearning for most of our school, like classroom teachers how to engage in the teaching of literacy, it's going to take a little bit of time. So, like I I'm excited and encouraged by what I'm seeing in classrooms. I do think it is a critical area of need and it not just within here in Green Bay by any stretch of the imagination but it long overdue. I think we were doing kids wrong for quite some time. Okay. So you bring a question to mind for
177me. Um you mentioned that it it takes a long time for these things to happen. Absolutely. I agree. So people want to see instant results and a lot of the way we measure students performance is through testing and that's not the best way to measure students performance. So how can we measure those little increments of performance? Like I'm thinking of that child who comes into the school who's a reader in another language and they're going to be a reader, but they're two or three grade levels behind, but they achieve a full grade level in a year, but that's not reflected in the test. Any ideas how we can be creative about showing the progress? I think again this is where we stay very connected to our community and our families. Um on a on a
178classroom level on a child by child level it's a lot easier to put together portfolios of work and to show multiple varieties of assessment data including the like very real time inclassroom assessment that's happening. I think unfortunately the way that things are set up right now, the only outward consistent assessments that are happening are those state level the screeners for our 4K through uh third graders and then the state testing that is beyond that. And I think that ultimately those are the scores that we're all judged by no matter what. Those are the ones that determine the the school report cards from the from DPI. Those are the ones that get reported out um publicly through media outlets. So, I think part of that is advocacy on all of our part to also be sharing
179those positive stories, to be sharing the updates on a regular basis. Um, and to get kids themselves excited about, hey, I had I bumped up this many levels in in Lexia or I had I can name all of my letters now or I can tell you all the letter sounds that I know or I'm starting to out at the grocery store sound out small words or find letters that I know. So I think really working to shift some of the public understanding of especially with our youngest children what that that literate life looks like and to build that in especially in whatever language they're using in the home. Uh I have a question for you. Um, your answer to question number one um, resonated with me because I absolutely believe that the board and the
180district's partnership makes a safe environment where you can have those tough conversations. But what I want to know from you is given the partnership positive intent. What is accountability look like to you? I think accountability and especially looking at something like the strategic plan that just came out, there are a number of metrics in there and I think that accountability is important. I think that partnership with guard rails is important. Um I do think though that a lot of open dialogue happens within that accountability space. I think that accountability takes on a very punitive nature in it in in that word itself. Um, and I would prefer to frame that more as growth opportunities instead of just punitive action. Um, I do think that growth across this district is going to look very different even
181classroom by classroom, school by school. I do think that growth and forward movement is important. Um but I do think that at some point again this is an elected board that is elected to be that accountability role and them for for the school district. So I do think accountability is incredibly important. Samantha, thank you. So, you have a minute. So, if you have a closing statement, we might extend it until you're done, right? You're last, and that's the privilege for being last. That's also the curse, I suppose, right? I'm not No. Um, I just appreciate the opportunity. Um, it has been a joy and a pleasure to work alongside this district in my professional role, and I cannot be more excited about the possibility to continue to serve in this capacity. So, I I do
182think, like I said, we've got a lot of really positive momentum and things are all kind of moving in a good direction within this community, within this city, within the school district here. Um, we've got a lot of amazing kids and some freaking incredible teachers. Um, and so I just I would love the opportunity to be an advocate and a cheerleader for all of those folks. So, thank you for your time. Okay, board. I'm going to give us about 10 minutes um to consider all of what you've heard this evening. Um then so we'll take a short recess and then we'll reconvene in 10 um and we'll um do as we described before we started the interviews. All right. So take 10. All right, we're going to we're going to reconvene. So, I want before
183we open the floor for nomination, um I want to publicly um thank all of the individuals that put their names in to be candidates and to be considered for this this position. Um we had 16 great candidates. It was difficult to get to the interview panel and tonight I'm very impressed with all of the candidates. So, um, this is not going to be easy. We're going to follow policy and that starts with opening the floor for nominations. Laura, I would like to nominate. So, I'm sorry. Before I nominate someone, am I supposed to be nominating my first choice? So, your choice, right? the the person that you would like to see considered. Yes, I'll nominate Aaron Lee. I'll nominate Rick Crossen. I will nominate Samantha Mester. Other nominations. Floor is closed to nominations. We have
184Erin Lee, Rick Crossson, and Samantha Samantha Mester or Meister. I'm Meister. Okay. So, I'll open the floor for discussion and advocacy Andrew. Um, thank you. I, um, nominated Aaron. I've, I've worked with Aaron before and, um, he actually was a finalist. um made it to the interview stage several several years ago even he uh made it to the finals. I think since then he has a a very unique set of life experience and I think he brings um he brings some different um he brings some different perspectives to to the board. He's very um he's very passionate. He's very student um student focused. Um, so I am proud to support um I'll be Aaron on at least my first ballot. Um, I would also uh I could also consider as the process evolves depending on
185how it goes. I would also consider a vote for Rick. Thank you. others. Janette, this was, as you said, James, really difficult. We have we had several very good um panelists here. And the reason that I chose um Samantha to nominate Samantha is we have some hard decisions that are going to be coming up, very hard decisions. um selecting a superintendent top of the list for me, but also I don't know what's going to happen with our budget and we may be facing some significant um financial issues as um the legisl legislators in Madison um who knows what's going to come out of that budget. Um this past weekend I was at a um convention of the um Wisconsin Democratic Party and heard lots of different voices. Of course, they were all leading one way,
186but um I'm not terribly hopeful that we're going to get any more money. Um and maybe we're going to get less. So, we're going to have to make some very, very difficult decisions. And I feel that Samantha's experience, maturity, and um the other thing that shined forward with her that really resonated with me was her enthusiasm for our school district. She recognizes there's issues, but she also spoke very highly in her initial letter and also this evening. So, I think she would be a very good um person to have on board. Thank you, Janette. Others, Alex. Uh, Janette, I do agree with probably most of what you said as well and being the most recent teacher um in our district that is on our board. Um, I really appreciated and appreciate the fact that she
187has the direct day-to-day connections with um what's going on at the ground level in our schools. I think that really is important information and invaluable um to us. However, for the same reason that you articulated, however, in a general sense, I think um Rick, at this point um and there's other things that I that I will advocate for if there's, you know, another round or two, but I think with the gravity of the decisions that we have to make on a continual basis in the next nine months, um he is by far most equipped um to do that. um with the understanding of all of the board um the role of the board member in those decisions. Um and and and the um the mechanics of it in addition to really what the the real
188impact is and and then also how to navigate those conversations with the ground running that we really need in the next nine months. um with arguably no time to spare, especially considering the superintendent turnaround uh search is always a very, you know, back-to-back quick thing. And we could be looking at the state budget possibly in fall and really expediting the need to make informed um knowledgeable decisions. So, um for a lot of those same reasons though, I you know, am and speaking up on Rick's behalf. others. Laura, I'm going to also chime in u with regard to Samantha Meister. Um some of the things that she mentioned um one I'll just quote her. Um it's easy to be critical when you don't care. It's harder to be critical when you care deeply. That kind of
189stuck with me. Um I I I really that resonated. Um she also recognized the really good momentum that we're we have in our district right now. Um and uh the other thing that she said um among many things but um was uh she called our district wildly unique and that I completely agree with that. Um, so I really that those things stuck with me and I um I'll just leave it at that for now. Yeah, I want to take a moment and and advocate as as well. Actually, not even advocate. Um, share thoughts. Um, you know, everything that Rick said, I believe right. I absolutely think that Rick um is what he says he is, right? He's passionate about this district. Um he he is dripping with leadership, right? And ability to confront hard things.
190And Rick and I have had many many conversations. And sometimes when we talk about the priorities and and and um understanding how to connect a problem with a solution, you know, he would use the term once we identify it, we have to get after it, right? and you know just to drive home. So when I'm considering Samantha and Rick I'm I'm I'm conflicted because right in the middle is Samantha when you say define what get after it means the pedagogy and the understanding of what happens in the classroom and how to translate a strategic plan into something that practically impacts a student's um educational experience. she's dripping with that, right? You know, and she completely understands that side of it. And um and so I'm I'm really conflicted. I'm super glad that both of them
191um were nominated. Um and so yeah, I I think I don't know which name I'm going to write down yet. So I'll just back open the floor back for another round of advocacy if anyone wants to say something else. Alex was first. All right. So, I couldn't see you. Sorry. So, um this is a hard choice. It's a good place to be to have hard choices. Uh but it still doesn't make it easy. Um and we've got some really good leadership here, including an Aaron. I was extremely impressed with Aaron. Um despite his uh youth um I was very very impressed with his maturity. But going back to Samantha, um she was very realistic about what happens in the school and her idea of reframing growth opportunities, not not making things punitive, not making them
192so much accountability, um but growth opportunities. And that's a really good way of of looking at things. and she has she has that school experience and Rick has the experience in the community which is so strong and so good and he has a lot of leadership experience yet he doesn't have that inclassroom experience that I think would be really beneficial and yes Alex has been in the classroom Lynn has been in the classroom room. But Samantha is not only in and Oh, that's right. That's right. You were in the classroom as well, but but still there. Oh, I didn't know that. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, I think I think she brings that leadership piece in and um it's a very hard decision. Alex, I'd like to mention two other things um that I think are
193really important. We consider the makeup of this board and the makeup of our community and the work that we have, which is first of all um I'll start with commitment. um to be in Rick's position to step up in the comm community for the community and also part of his community as well last year when we needed somebody to do the work he did then to go through the election cycle and to go through what all has been over the last number of months and still be willing to take the immense amount of time and commitment that it takes to do this work and to show up here tonight and to want to put that work in knowing full well that he will have to run for reelection again next year and possibly the year
194after that. Um, and all the other things we've heard and seen him say, I think proves to be an upper echelon level of commitment that really we need. Um, the one thing I've experienced in this district as a student, as a parent, as a teacher, employee, you name it, is a lot of turnover and a lot of instability. And the opposite of that is not always y does not always yield the best results. But I think in this case having someone who provides a certain level of useful consistency is is is really paramount. Um and then the second thing I'll add is representation. Um and being somebody who can represent a lot of different things in a community that is a lot of different things is really important. Whether it's um culture, whether it's color,
195whether it's demographics, whether it's political spectrum, all of those things. And I think he's shown the ability to not only represent but to also be someone for a lot of people. And and I think that means a whole lot. And I and I think that that also cannot be understated in the work that we do as someone who has to serve a large group of people. Andrew. Um yes. I would I would say uh I would say a couple of you know a couple things about Rick and then I have kind of a broader um they're both they're both about Rick. Um, you know, I think time uh it's it's been stated before and it was an issue in the that was mentioned significantly in the in the um leadership election for for the board
196that having um having time and availability is important and um Rick has that and Rick demonstrated that on a regular basis. His availability is his availability is very high. Um, and that's a that's a demonstrated that's very much a demonstrated quantity. Um, I do you know I absolutely think that um, uh, Aaron earned us earned a spot as of as a finalist among among finalists. Um, I also think there is some there is some value in this process. It's not that uh you know, not that a split vote is an is a terrible thing, but if you look at if you look at if there's an interest in a candidate that everyone can be supportive, there's by my account, there's one there's one candidate who got um got dots in from everyone in that first
197process, and that was Rick. Um, and the only reason he didn't get one from me in the first round is because he had so many I didn't I mean it was already pretty well decided by the time I was I got around to giving out dots. Rick is someone we worked with well and um you know worked well with us put in a lot of a lot of dedication and a lot of energy and I as I said there are if if we're interested if we're interested in getting to 6 if that's important for people and maybe maybe it isn't um you know Rick uh Aaron and Rick are two candidates that I can give my support too others. Okay, I'm going to close the floor and call the question. So, here's what we're going
198to do. Um, you have sticky notes. Please put a number one in the upper leftand corner or wherever you're and then the person that you want to vote for, please. The individual board member votes are as follows. Liarly Crossen, Minnow Crossen, Canel Meister, Gerlock Meister, McCoy Meister, Becker Crossen. So, um, we have a tie. Okay. So, um I'm going to open the floor back up for um discussion. Um, and so if you want to continue advocacy, um, please feel free. I'm sorry, Andrew. uh understanding where we're at with the with the discussion, I had I I decided to make a a change from what what I said earlier. If um I'm I'm if there's somehow Aaron breaks a a deadlock, I'm have support Aaron, but it's not that's not the kind of deadlock that we
199have. Like I mean sometimes a deadlock is you and do we look at a compromised choice. I don't think that's the case. I think there's I think there are I can I can see two options here. I can see everyone agreeing on a proven candidate uh which is which is Rick Crossen who has done a lot so much for this district in his time on the board um and will continue. I mean it is and I'll I'll just I'll just say it. I think it is um while I would never say this to justify an unqualified candidate, it's very easy for me to say when we have a very qualified candidate that it is uh a healthy thing to not have an all-white uh board in this district. Um and again, that I would never
200go to an unqualified candidate, but we have a very qualified candidate that would make that a non a non-issue. And regardless regardless of the regardless of the circumstances, the spot we are replacing is a spot that was filled by a by a minority candidate. And um I will I will unless unless there is some interest switching to uh Aaron, I will continue with with Rick even if it is a a split vote and I feel pretty strongly about that. others. Okay. So, we're going to close um floor for discussion and you can put um another number number two your name and I promise I'll put my name on it this time. Individual board member votes are as follows. Becker Crossen, Manino Crossen, Nil Meister, Gerlock Meister, Liarly Meister, McCoy Meister. With that, the board has
201selected Samantha Meister. All right, I appreciate everyone's vote and everyone's participation. We have a couple more agenda items to go through. Can I Can I ask a question? Is there something we can do as far as um taking a vote that would be um where we could I'd like to show some kind of unity as a board on this. I don't know if people are emotionally prepared to do that. So, um that's fine. It's it was a hard vote. Um so, and I recognize that. Um we do this when we select a superintendent um even if we're not all in agreement. And I don't know if there's an avenue I it's possible that it's not doable. Andrew, um, you you can you can make a motion for unanimous ballot to be cast, and I've been
202the one who's done it before. Um, yeah, but I'm not I can't vote for it this time. This is an opportunity that I I think did Did we select a Did we select a good a good quality board member? I I I think you voted for a good quality board member and I think you I I think an opportunity an opportunity for a proven leader was was missed here and so I can't I can't vote yes on that but the mechanism would be to move a unanimous ballot. Um I'll just tell you that I don't know that that's necessary. I think that yeah, you know, you're you're good. But I think that, you know, the vote stands um and um I think that it's public record and um it is what it is. I understand.
203I just I I do like I I do like um to show our our community that um despite our differences that we can still work together. But it's okay. Totally get it. Understand. Okay. So, um, let's move on to 2E. If you if we need to take a second and make sure that everyone's still logged back into the meeting, um, because we're going to take a couple couple of votes. If so, will someone please read the motion? I move that the employment of staff as presented be approved. Second discussion. Kenzie, online voting is now open. All votes have been entered and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. Thank you. Um to F. Will someone please read the motion referring to resignation of staff? I move that the resignation of staff
204as presented be approved. Second discussion. Kenzie. Online voting is now open. All votes have been entered and the motion is carried with all board members voting in favor. That concludes the business on the agenda. I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. Second. All in favor? I. You have been watching the Green Bay Area Public School District's Board of Education meeting. Please visit the school district's website, www.gbaps.org, for more information on the district and future meeting dates. If you cannot fully access the information on this video, please let us know the accessibility issue you are having by calling 920-4482025 or by email at [email protected]. We will try to provide the information to you in an alternative format and or make the necessary improvements to make the information accessible. [Music]