001e e e the time is now 6:00 I'm sure we are all excited to get started but I would like to start off with the joke a recruiter told a job candidate in this position we need somebody who is responsible the job candidate replied that's great because in my last job anytime something went wrong they said I was responsible we hope to have some fun tonight and remember you will be responsible for your answers I would like to Now call the Schoolboard candidate for him to order everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to flag the United States of America the stands hello my name is Maddie Maser and I am a senior at Hartford Union I have been able to serve as the class of 202's student board representative for
002three years even though I'm graduating I hope that our candidates can create a positive impact on our on our school Community tonight I look forward to hearing from the five of our six candidates who were able to attend this evening Kenneth Mueller had a prior work commitment and regrets not being able to be here tonight we encourage all voters to check out our meet the candidates page at hs.org to find out more about the all six of the candidates hello my name is Jackson rosma and I'm a sophomore at HS I'm honored to serve as one of tonight's moderators I have served Harford as a student board representative for almost two years I look forward to talking with and asking the candidates questions to learn more about them and their intent to help better our
003school and community and I am excited to partner with two of you in the coming months sorry we would we would like to acknowledge some additional team members who will be joining us tonight and helped coordinate this event freshman student board representative Jessica Chen director of communications Katrina cravy associate principal Des Romo and District executive assistant Laura trap to ensure a smooth and constructive Forum we've established a set of guidelines for all of our candidates the candidates have been pre-assigned speaking order for every section of this forum to ensure each receives amble opportunity to speak first second third fourth and last also each section of the Forum is allotted a specific time frame for candidate statements and responses to our questions emphasizing the importance of f focused concise and thoughtful communication we have miss cravy
004our timekeeper positioned in the center of your view for your convenience please follow her time signals if any of the form sections or questions are unclear or need repeating we will happily accommodate your quests lastly all candidates must adhere to the structure and guidelines I've just described in order to ensure a fair and informative session for everyone involved we will also have guidance for our live audience if you have questions to ask the candidates please use cards and pencils that have been provided on the tables near the doors to write them down all audience questions must be submitted by 6:30 p.m. to be considered all the submitted questions we will filter the various topics to limit repetitive responses up to four audience questions are presented in the second to last part of the Forum please
005Focus your questions on policy issues and of course please remain quiet and respectful throughout this forum so that we can all have a positive and informative experience regardless of our views let's begin first we ask each candidate to take two minutes to State their name and deliver his or her opening statement we will say your names and then your two minutes will begin first up Tristan Johannes Mike one two oh don't have to be that close so I get my two minutes now are we firing off here all right well hello everybody I'm Tristan johanes I've lived here in Hartford for about a decade I'm a single dad and my only daughter has been a student in Hartford since kindergarten so her whole education has been here in Harford and she's a freshman here this
006year um I'm gonna be a little cheesy with you uh I am here to tell you why my experience will qualify that I could serve Hartford Union high as the problem solving guy um I just want to justify the reason that I'm here tonight is to ask you for your vote and give me a try so uh I have a lot of experience in uh politics and I wish I had a little bit more time to prepare for this but um I was in politics um I was adopted as a child so I've spent a lot of my time in uh um the court system here and uh a lot of the survey stuff was about mental health well I was in college for marketing I have a lot of experience in surveys and why
007people do surveys and it's a lot of like justifying the questions and why they're asking them and the data that they're trying to receive and then uh I was married to a social worker that was uh in Psychology and has a master's degree so I'm also very familiar with how they handle things in the government on that side and uh I just want to be able to ask questions on behalf of the parents and why the government is trying to come in here and influence children and I can't see the timer so I don't know how much time I have 20 seconds sorry about that um and I really take more time to prepare and uh dig deep because I want to also provide you with the evidence of why and what and who and
008what this funding is for a lot of times they're just looking for data to qualify subjective and not objective targets thank you next is Jenny Gillan hi I am Jenny Gillan a former resident of the city of Hartford and now the town of Aaron for 17 years I'm the wife of an army veteran I'm a mom of two sons Johnny's a freshman here at HS and my son Jax is a seventh grader at Aon school I'm an Elementary classroom teacher with over 20 years of experience in a public school setting I'm actively involved with our youth and Community by being the current president of the Hartford Youth Football Club I'm a board member for the Harford wrestling club and an active member of both the citizens advisory committee and the athletic Council here at Hartford
009Union High School um as a hardworking passionate individual I felt obligated to step up and become a Schoolboard candidate everyone has a chance to make a difference and I hope to use this platform to make a difference by being a voice for kids staff and our community thank you next is Ian grck not even on here we go now my mic's on Ian grck been in the Schoolboard position before ran last year I've been live I live in Hartford for nine years now married 21 years this October I have four children two at high two in high school now two coming up one in seven the two son one in seventh grade when in Rosman the I I've spent U time on a numerous committees in the high school um the human growth and development
010committee citizens advisory committee teaching curriculum committee U and currently the athletic Council committee and one thing that's been impressed upon me in all those committees is that the system the education system Demands a on size fits-all answer when that's you can't give a one-size fits-all um solution to a lot of the issues or concerns that we have in the in the school district and that and that could be um controversial sometimes with with how people approach those things so understanding this I think is a crucial part in working together with the other board members and I'm just happy to be able to represent anyone uh any I'm happy to represent people in Hartford and parents that have the same concerns that I do thank you thank you next is Adam Majerus good evening my name
011is Adam Majerus I've lived in the district since 2005 I currently reside in the town of Hartford South of Pike Lake I have two children Trevor graduated from Harford Union in 2024 and is studying accounting at W Whitewater Josie will graduate with the class of 2026 I'm a CPA and I've worked in finance for 26 years in public accounting Banking and institutional investment sales currently I work as a Director of Business services at Hartford Joint one school district I joined the district in 2019 and I'm responsible for buildings and grounds technology Food Service transportation and accounting and finance for the district I served the Harford Community as a school board member for Hartford Joint 1 from 2008 to 2019 when I'm not at work I enjoy watching my kids and others participate in athletics and
012activities here at Hartford Union I'm a member of the Harford Rotary Club I serve on the board of directors for that organization and will serve as Club president in 27 2027 and 2028 I volunteer for the Hartford athletic booster club and serve as vice president for that organization until next summer I coached Hartford Youth Sports when my kids were younger I enjoy boarding golfing concerts and travel with family and friends thank you to the students and staff that organized the forum tonight it's a great learning opportunity lastly thank you and good luck to the other candidates running for school board your willingness to help guide the district is appreciated by me and our community thank you thank you last is Tiffany Stapleton good evening everyone my name is Tiffany Stapleton and I'm very honored to
013be here with all of you I see a lot of familiar faces in the audience here tonight I am a proud graduate of Harford Union High School class of 1996 um and a lifelong resident of Hartford after attending the University of Minnesota where I earned a bachelor's degree in history my husband and I decided to move back to Hartford to raise our family um we have four children my daughter Madison graduated from Hartford in 2023 my son Aiden is a current senior I have a daughter Ella who's a sophomore and my youngest daughter is Avery and she is in sixth grade at the honor School District um as a parent of school AG children I understand firsthand the importance of providing a quality education fostering a supportive environment and ensuring that all students feel heard
014and seen and valued I've also had the privilege of being an educator uh for several years I began my teaching career at Central Middle School I am currently teaching at the honor District I teach 67th and eth grade being a teacher a parent and an alumni I see this as an opportunity to serve my community in a meaningful Way by contributing to the future of our schools uh Hartford Union has a lot of great things to offer we have a wide selection of different coursework for all of our students um such as AP and dual credit courses we offer early college credit start college now pltw and of course the youth apprenticeship um we have a variety of clubs student organizations Athletics co-curriculars that all of our students can get involved in which are all
015fantastic that said I believe we have a lot of work to do at Hartford while HS is strong in a lot of different areas we need to continue creating an environment where all students and Staff feel supported and empowered we need to maybe expand our Mental Health Health Resources improve communication on the district level and provide more opportunities for Student Success thank you Miss Stapleton thank you for those important introductory remarks candidates next we have three general questions for each of you regarding this year's results of the school leadership team's student survey that was sent out to all students and around 300 students responded per grd level candidates were given these questions in advance question number one student survey results show a fairly consistent response rate across all five questions these questions asked whether or
016not they had a trusted adult at the high school and whether or not they were comfortable asking for academic career in college and mental health questions and what their After High School plans are which one of the of the five do you feel needs the most attention and why first going for this question is Jenny Gillan so the question that I feel needed the most attention after looking at the data was are you comfortable asking for mental health at help at school um when and if you need it I chose this question because out of all of the five questions this one had a concerning response with anywhere from 37 to 47% of students stating that they were not comfortable asking for mental health help at school adolescence is a unique and formative time in
017a Young Person's lives and during these years a variety of factors can make students particularly vulnerable and I think it's crucial crucial that we address these issues headon I believe that mental health promotion and prevention interventions should aim to strengthen resilience and coping strategies among our students by fostering a supportive environment we can help them feel more comfortable seeking the help that they need our district must prioritize creating supportive environments and social networks that encourage open dialogue about mental health as a board candidate I look forward to celebrating or I'm sorry excuse me collaborating with students parents Community organizations and our school team to ensure that students feel safe and supported in seeking mental health assistance at school thank you Miss Gillan next is Mr grbach the question that I found to needs the most
018attention would be the one that is are the kids comfortable asking are the kids have a trusted adult to talk to and I feel that if you can close the gap on this other other gaps in the mental health and the other areas would also decrease because everything starts with one one student one connection one relationship and although that although there is a larger Gap in the mental health I feel that if you can build strong connections with students and adults the relationships made there can feel help the kids feel comfortable to express their feelings the teachers or staff would be in tune with these children and and notice things that may be different in their pattern of life and and be able to help them individually and the students would be comfortable asking for
019you know help with maybe not other other avenues that they already exist for college readiness but they could be that one adult could be the key that got that that would help this individual student succeed and be and plan for uh his career After High School where he may not he or she may not already be planning for that um if so if we can close the gap with the trust trusted adult for each student I feel that each I feel that the other areas including mental health would also decrease thank you thank you Mr grck up next is Mr Majerus I think the trusted adult question is the one I would ask Administration to focus on first because we have a great group of employees up and down our roster there are tons of
020quality humans at Harford Union and I know that they care about kids if a student doesn't feel comfortable talking to at least one adult it probably means the students aren't shares to begin with so I'd like to see us try to assure them that the adults in this building can be trusted to comfort and help them through an issue and so I'd make that our first area of focus thank you Mr Majerus up next is Miss Stapleton the question that I found needs the most attention is are you comfortable asking for mental health at at school when and if you need it uh 43% of our student body responded that they are not comfortable reaching out and this is alarming to me as a teacher I've seen firsthand the negative effects of mental health struggles
021in our students unfortunately I have lost three former students to Suicide um I have firsthand experience with this our students face a variety of struggles including academics anxiety problems at home um personal challenges and social pressures they need a trusted adult at school to help them through those problems um mental health is just as important as your physical health or academic success um we need to treat that mental health and stop putting a stick around mental health issues within our students um creating an environment where students feel safe and supported and ensuring that they know where to go for help and actively working to reduce the stigma around mental health is really important and critical for our student body um training our staff and giving them the opportunity to learn more about mental health is
022also critical for our students by addressing this issue we can help students feel more comfortable seeking the support that they need in turn that'll help them succeed in school and in life thank you Miss stapon finally we have Mr Johannes all right guys so I'm the problem solving guy I solve problems by looking for the root cause so why are we talking about mental health in schools and what who is the person that brought this data to light why are we asking this question is it subjective or objective I went to WCTC for marketing so closed ended questions make for great pie pie charts when respondents are looking for answers that are designed to justify the answers that the survey makers are looking for not the students right objective would ask the students open eded
023questions about what their individual problems are so they could solve the problem not blanket reasons of why the government should bring funding in and counselors in to be more invading into children's lives where that role belongs to parents not big daddy government my state experience knows that it's likely tied to meet Federal funding requirements and programs which if you go on the website for uh the federal funding for the education uh there that's the first thing that pops up you can look for it itself in 2020 I also discovered a lot of stuff what as a state Governor person um when they were looking for disability funding and how did they get it by counting uh uh people that weren't Caucasian as disabled and then all of a sudden what did you start hearing about
024critical race Theory and then oh uh no it's not that it's called Equity so we're going to do an equity audit and count how many students in your in your classroom are not white and then oh you qualify for this Federal funding which comes with conditions of how big daddy government needs to teach the kids these values which belong to parents not the students or not the school so uh yeah I just feel like the uh we have to ask why more often why are we talking about this why is this an issue how did it happen well technology in 2020 we started using computers and now the children are isolated and using social media for friendship we need to look for the route sorry I got too close thank you Mr Johannes question number
025question number two student survey results indicate the majority of our students in all grade levels plan to attend a 4-year University after they graduate from HS per research results you were provided prior to this evening freshman in college are less prepared postco than pre-co how will you work with HS instructional staff to continually improve college readiness efforts first off Ian grck so first we would need to look for um figure out the exact areas of that need Improvement um for postco results and these would be obtained from the principal's reports that she that are given at the board meetings seek opinions of the Educators you know collaborate with those that are the experts in in the matter um I've also suggest I would also suggest reviewing and strengthening curriculum alignment um for college readiness supporting
026professional development expanding dual credit AP opportunities and we do have a lot of these things already in place is there a way to enhance them at all uh some of the comments made in the um the packet that we got were very concerning with professors having to only teach nine of 12 chapters or take um having multiple exams rather than just two three exams he they implemented extra exams and then taking out the exams that were Lo lowest the lowest um around the board and that was just one Professor but there was many examples of this where the college professors were having to just um roll back their normal curriculum so enhancing any of the uh dual credit and AP opportunities would be great promoting college and Care career Readiness programs again we do a
027great job of this already can we do can we do it differently right engaging parents in the community that that's the biggest hardship I think we face in in any district is it's great to see everyone out here tonight most board meetings are few and far between attendees which is normal um they're not the most thrilling but how can we engage parents and the community because excess a successful student gives us a better community and if we want a better community it starts with the students and the teaching staff I'd also implement or try to implement uh peer tutoring and mentoring programs and could we come back with or could we have a alumni panel so those have moved on from high school have done a year of college can they can they come back
028and give us uh a mentoring or a u a one-on-one session with some kids that are going going to be going into college next year thank you thank you next Adam Majerus first I would start by saying that a board member's role is not typically to work with staff directly they govern and communicate through the superintendent having said that I think my personal experiences with students I know including my own support the resarch that students may not be as ready as they could be to make the college transition academically I'm I think our students are more than ready as evidence by advanced placement classes taken tests taken and credit gained by our seniors professional writing could be something to improve upon communication skills can always be improved writing resumés and learning more about how to
029have a successful interview whether it's for scholarships on campus jobs or internships could probably use more attention lastly effective time management is a critical skill for new College freshmen young adults that have more free time time and less supervision than ever before in their lives are expected to prioritize school and perform well in the classroom but success also means balancing school with having fun and enjoying the college experience the better students are at managing their time and prioritizing what's important in the moment the better they will perform I would be willing to work with Administration to understand what things we're doing now to address college readiness and to brainstorm potential Solutions or en an ments thank you thank you next Tiffany Stapleton um as a teacher I have seen the devastating effect covid-19 has had
030on our students um it's affected their College and Career Readiness especially the apathy lack of motivation gaps and key skills like time management organization communication and study strategies um it's evident in my students in six seventh and eighth grade and I've seen this for the past four years um it the way to kind of combat that again is does not fall on the shoulders of the school board necessarily but we can encourage um our staff to work closely together with our Administration to provide targeted support and interventions that address the needs of those students and addressing the skills that they are currently lacking in um parents and Guardians have to be a part of this solution um it can't be just the teachers that we're relying on this has to be an issue that we
031are all tackling as part of this community offering resources and communication to parents and families to support their children at home like exploring different college options helping them continue to find motivation and keeping them on the path that they Envision for themselves strengthening our Partnerships with our colleges local colleges around us we already have some great opportunities with our dual enrollment classes um but giving college or giving our College Bound students that extra um opportunity to explore other careers paths would also help them build confidence and see what their future holds uh working together staff families Community Partners we can all work together to help our students overcome those challenges and ensure that they're prepared for college or whatever their future has in store for them thank you next Tristan johanes all right guys so
032again fixing problems and and looking for the root cause so why uh I want to research data and provide the data and proof on evidence on paper that I can present to the parents on behalf of why this is happening my marketing experience knows that that question um is designed to find a blanket subjective answer not objective which would be direct to the students and it allows the data to provide and justify why Big Daddy government money needs to come in with conditions to fund some counselors to tell kids why they need to stay in school longer right uh my government experience knows that the government can't exist without taxpayers but taxpayers exist without government so that money comes from the taxpayer and it comes with conditions that are taught to Children during the years
033that they are most uh you know Developmental and learning how to be adults I would suggest that my social worker time and and experience with that is that we need to be able to find different solutions that point children back to home and the parents a lot of these problems are coming from this government funded money with conditions um I'm sure that this is going to have something to do with gender stuff or something like that and it's very controversial and it causes a lot of problems when in reality we need the parents to take that role not the government funded school I think that's it thank you finally Jenny Gillan so I think that collaborating with our instructional staff is crucial in developing a strategic and ongoing approach to improve the college readiness skills
034of our students I have four key strategies um that I would propose so the first one would be data driven discussions um we're constantly collecting data on our students and we can use that performance data to identify gaps in Readiness Um this can show and help our instructional strategies accordingly ensuring that we are addressing specific areas where kids may need additional support um I know that our oral time right now is really crucial and helpful to our students in doing that um I my second key strategy is we need to strengthen their core skills so um emphasizing those essential college level skills is vital um we have to make sure that we're helping students develop their writing their research their problem solving their analytical thinking all of those things before we send them out into
035the real world by themselves um the third thing I think that we need to make sure that we're mentoring and Advising our students encouraging faculty to Mentor students is a priority um faculty can play an instrumental role in guiding students through their college expectations the application process and exploring different career paths and then lastly um early in early intervention um identifying those struggling students early on is essential um targeting the support mechanism such as tutoring orial time to assist them in overcoming their challenges um as a upcoming as a potential board member I look forward to collaborating with the instructional staff and leveraging these strategies to enhance our students preparedness for their F future academic Endeavors and together as a team I think that we can impact um on their college readiness skills thank you
036Miss Gillan question number three student survey results include students's comfortability level around asking an adult for mental health help please explain your philosophy on School staff providing mental health help to students first up is Mr Majerus public schools have always been expected to provide Mental Health Services with counselors and psychologists there is even more focus on what schools can or should do in this area as of late the issue is that District budget specifically Revenue are limited and to spend more in one area normally means the district has to spend less somewhere else if the Department of Public Instruction the governor and the legislature believe schools need to do more to address students mental health needs then they will have to increase funding for schools to do that work I know that increasing funding for
037mental health has been discussed at those levels I'm confident as I said earlier that HS employees are great people and care about kids so student check-ins are relatively easy to execute if a student has more complex needs though you then need professionals to do that work which also means we likely likely need more financial resources to do it thank you Mr Majerus up next is Miss Stapleton thank you um first I want to say not all students have a trusted adult at home that they can go to when they are feeling stressed or when they are struggling with their own mental health so our school staff play a critical role in helping our students with their mental health mental health is just as important as physical health and our staff can help provide essential initial
038support when students need it but initial support we can train our staff to recognize the critical signs when our students are in distress um we can help train our staff to to teach our students where to seek appropriate resources for our students um now not all students feel comfortable asking for help due to that stigma so taking away the stigma around mental health and making it okay for students to ask for that help is critical to continue to uh better their own mental health building relationships is key uh strong positive relationships between our staff and students are essential we have a lot of really great staff members who would do anything for our students so making sure that our students have access to those staff members when they actually need help is really important our
039students need to feel seen heard and valued um and it's important for us to take time to understand where our students individual experiences are by showing that we gen genuinely care about those students um School staff should connect students with specialized Mental Health Resources this is not something that they can tackle on their own so providing those extra opportunities to find Qualified resources for our students is critical thank you next is Mr Johannes all right so again solving problems so again why are we proposing that we use taxpayer money to fund programs that enable the government to provide roles that parents should take with children and vulnerable developmental phases of their life why not find solutions that are either parent-based or as she subjected uh there might not be a Barren so a community- based
040program based on volunteers uh like churches or something like that I have experience with nonprofits and raising money for the boys and girls club for the VFW um here right here in Harford uh why can't we allow the choice of people that want to help because there are a lot of people that care and want to help instead of forcing them and the whole Community which causes an uproar just like we just experienced when people don't have a choice in the matter and it's all based on subjective data that is blanketed on a survey that's designed designed to find the answer that allows for funding from the government and qualifying them for that funding which comes with conditions so I want to be able to find solutions that are Community Based bring us together get
041us away from technology and fake virtual realities that are causing these mental health problems and bring us together face to face Hands-On stuff help people find the root cause bring a solution thank you Mr Johannes next is Miss Gillan so I believe that when a student reaches out to a staff member for help with their mental health it represents a significant and positive first step it shows that they're taking initiative to seek support which is crucial in their Journey towards their well-being our school is fortunate to have access to a variety of resources dedicated to mental health support we have quality school counselors who are trained to assist student students in navigating their feelings and their challenges um additionally we have school resource officers who play an essential role in ensuring a safe environment and
042provide guidance when needed and furthermore there are programs available within Washington County that can further assist students and their families I think it's vital for our school staff to be equipped to direct kids and their families to these appropriate Resources by fostering a supportive atmosphere we can help students feel comfortable seeking help and ensure that they receive the assistance they need whether that's at HS or at an outside agency thank you Miss Gillan finally is Mr grck so I found the question interesting because it's asking my philosophy on mental health and if one was to look up philosophy it means your beliefs your values what you what you think is uh your drives you in this in this sphere in this topic so so when I graduated high school in 2003 mental health was you
043know an unknown back then back then not many years ago but um and it was not not a great experience if you brought it up and it wasn't many that did bring it up um as a parent I can I can affirm that everyone desires connection to others and connections are made when we listen to each other Society right now does not teach each other how to listen to each other they teach they teach us how to um one up each other or to listen and listen to respond rather than listen to hear listening to respond and one one up each other does not build a connection to a real friend to someone that will just listen to you and to share your concerns with can we change society as a whole no we cannot
044but we can change those in our sphere of influence so it starts with you the one connection the one student the one player the one athlete the one person that you interact with it starts with you and you and I'm glad to see as a parent I'm glad to see that the stigmas around mental health have lessened compared to when I went to school because it was easy just to write off kids as a bad kid or um you know they're they're not they're not a good person not a good student because that was the easy way to do it rather than take time and consider other options at the time do I do I think that we need to promote I mean sometimes talking about mental health in the wrong ways promotes the wrong
045agenda too so we need to be careful and um concerned about the focus and how it's presented to everyone I I do think that mental health is more than just the choices that we see people make on the outside the it's something that we usually don't advertise well if we're struggling Society teaches us to hide it so it's in it's important that we have a trusted adult for each student and that those students feel comfortable talking to someone maybe not at home but someone else that can see and hear and understand them and pick up on those cues that may not be outwardly shown and as a parent it's vital that we continue to work on this because it will help society as a whole thank you thank you candidates we appreciate your thoughts on
046the student survey's result questions next there are six items in this part of the Forum each question is a forced choice yes no answer without explanations candidates were given the scenarios this evening prior to the Forum question number one if you were on the board during the consideration of the $25.8 million Capital facilities referendum would you have voted to put it on the ballot yes or no Tiffany Stapleton yes Tristan johanes a forc answer uh well I'm just going to say yes I got blindsided Jenny Gillan yes I grck yes Adam and jerus yes thank you question number two hs's most recent ACT results show an average composite score of nearly 20 out of 36 is this data to be celebrated yes or no first up Mr Johannes I don't like forced answers so I'm
047gonna have to say no Miss Gillan no Mr grck no Mr Majerus yes Miss Stapleton no thank you question number three the current student cell phone policy at HS allows students to have their phones at all times and puts individual teachers and staff in the position to create instructional time expectations about phone use do you agree with this policy yes or no Jenny Gillan no Ian grck no Adam Majerus no Tiffany Stapleton no Tristan Johannes no question number four as a Schoolboard member do you believe you should step foot in classrooms on a regular basis yes or no Mr grck no Mr Majerus no Miss Stapleton no Mr Johannes no Miss Gillan no thank you question number five HS is a Union High School District grades 9 through 12 it also has four public k
048through eight districts within the high school district sending students to HS would you support the consolidation of all five districts into one k through2 District Adam aerus no Tiffany Stapleton no Tristan Johannes ah man I really don't like how these are forced answers so um no Jenny Gillan no Ian grck no question number six some degree of work-based education meaning offsite from HS should be a requirement for graduation from HS yes or no Miss Stapleton yes M Mr uh Mr Johannes so uh I'm gonna have to say yes Miss Gillan yes Mr grck yes Mr majer no thank you thank you candidates for those forced yes or no responses Now we move we move to six more questions for each of you stemming from a survey that went out to all HOH students you have
049not received these questions in advance each candidate will have one minute to answer each question question number one please tell us which specific courses offered at HS spark your interest and why Tristan Johannes um I don't have specifics but I would like to say anything that is involved with the trade work I feel like we should be promoting that children do Hands-On stuff or like have the ability to do like work-based programs so anything that does that um I would be celebrating because that gives them the ability to go out into the world and see what they want to do before being forced to you know take a class take a bunch of student loan money out and then find out after they learn about it that they don't want to do that and then
050they're in debt for years um so it would give students the ability to learn if they like something before you know before the fact instead of spending all their developmental years in a government funded uh program instead of uh you know being out there and finding out for themselves and getting the experience that they need to make the decisions to know what they want to do as an adult thank you Jenny Gillan I am completely and utterly Blown Away by our teched department um I think that we are a district in our state that people other districts look up to um I've said this before but while other districts around us are building sheds our kids are building houses um our kids are flying airplanes we have robotics teams um I feel as though our
051teched department is just amazing and I feel as though with um having a large percentage of kids going into the trades we are really setting them up um on a path of success early on thank you next Ian grck could you repeat the question please tell us which specific courses offered at HS spark your interest and why that's what I thought okay my daughter is currently doing AP psych and I'm a I'm a self-help book reader her and the discussion I've had with her have sparked my interest because AP psych seems to really figure out like why your brain does certain things so that one does SP spark my interest my son is in strength and speed um in the club level that sparked my interest the EG classes that we that is offered here
052seem really um uh more more involved than than I grew up with and then obviously I'm as an electrician anything to do with the trades I I I welcome and I would attend and sparks my interest the aviation club or the AV um classes I mean that's crazy that we build a plane and then we go fly it thank you thank you Adam Majerus I think as a finance professional I certainly appreciate the amount of uh business education courses that we have here at Harford Union um I definitely think that the uniqueness of the vision project and the vision program um having students collaborate with people in the trades doing the work but them getting the experience doing the work themselves partnering with an organization like rotary to help with all the funding and and
053securing the land and selling the property um the design work that goes into the next project that's a pretty pretty intricate and incredible program um I think Harford Union in general does a great job providing students again whichever path you decide to go to find something that can peque your interest and you can gain valuable Real World Experience through our um course selections thank you finally Tiffany Stapleton I would have to say I think our pltw program is phenomenal it offers a lot of really great opportunities especially for our students that are looking to head into some form of the medical field I would love to see HS expand on the pltw um area and add stem courses that can help student students explore explore other courses such as architecture um Robotics and those kinds
054of things um I think our youth apprentiship program is topnotch I know we have over 100 students I believe is what the number was that are involved with youth apprentiship and I think that is absolutely fantastic it gives our students an opportunity to explore careers that they may be interested at in After High School I also think the number of AP courses that we have at HS is great um I my son has taken a lot of those AP courses and has enjoyed every single one of them he gives him an opportunity to challenge himself and become the top-notch student that he needs to be thank you as hohos act's test scores are on the rise and a focus on individual academic growth is messaged and modeled to students explain a different area you will
055work to prioritize to further increase learning learner outcomes first Miss Gillan can you read that one more time please yes so as hohos ACT scores are on the rise and focus on individually individual academic growth is messaged and model to students explain a different area you will work to prioritize to further increase learner outcomes um so just so I'm understanding this question correctly you do not want me to focus on ECT and you do not want me to focus on the individual academic growth you want me to find something else yes correct correct okay um I think that for a student there is so much pressure um on academics that it can be cause anxiousness and cause a lot of stress so act is a huge component um not going to talk about that the
056individual academic growth too I love that we are helping our kids reach their goals but I think that um just helping our kids become successful and model human beings to prepare them for the world is really something that we should focus on not all kids are going to go to a four-year school so they don't need that act um some kids are going to go right into the trades so I feel as though as we help our kids focus on being the best version of themselves is really where um another area that I would like to to help kids see thank you Mr grck to help learner outcomes I would suggest focus on Time study manage or not Time study time management skills um to prepare themselves for um how the best use of their
057time um any sort of bridge not summer school but Bridge programs that can that can maybe make the school year last a little longer for some of the kids not if they choose to not mandatory um I have a note here embedded college readiness courses a senior a senior year course focused on preparing students for college expectations so you could also twist it to uh better yourself just and at the beginning of a senior year to focus on well any year really because it's not just the last year that counts it's all four years that count anything that's going to better the student make them a better listener better um use of their time better understanding of what's expected of them and I know that the counselors are already they expect them to do adulting
058now rather than wait four years and do it after high school I've heard U Mr Lynch say that multiple times that and that's a good thing that we do we focus on helping the kids learn to be adults now rather than wait and um anything that helps them understand their role in society and how the their classes affect them today will affect them later the classes that they take today will affect them later in life that will help them uh become better Learners thank you thank you Mr Majerus I think that um the fact that we offer financial literacy and and uh make that a requirement for students I think that's um certainly important life skill um other life skills as we multiple of us have talked about um time management um you know how
059to find information and research so again different than when when I or some of the other people grew up here uh re uh information's at your fingertips you don't have to go to an encyclopedia you can ask Siri where it is and you'll get the answer in about two seconds so but what do you do with that information how do you trust that the information you're getting is real so how do you verify information from quality quality sites and things like that so I think that's a skill that could be taught um you know the other programs that happen here I think um I just participated last week in Mack interviews with students um you know that's an important skill for all of our students to be going through so that they can understand the
060importance of their resume selling themselves being confident so I think there'd be a lot of um takeaways there for students I participate in the career fair that's coming up in March again wonderful opportunity for people to start networking it's never too early it's never too early to show their skills to an employer or potential employer and we' found that we get a lot of contacts through that um so I think there's a lot of great things going on besides again just ATC ACT scores AP scores um those kind of things thank you up next is Miss Stapleton um I think some of the things that I would like to see um us build upon are our College and Career Readiness providing students the opportunity to go in job shadow um and explore different careers outside
061of our classes that we offer here um so they can get a better handle on what might actually interest them when they leave High School um using programs like I know um our school district is using a program called character strong and it teaches kids life skills that can help them um better their communication skills and uh relationships that they have with people outside of our school Community um partnering with our local organizations to help students build those communication skills um identifying problem areas that our students have when they do go out in the workforce can be beneficial to our students as well so just working on generally getting them ready for Life After High School um through any of our College and Career Readiness would be um extremely beneficial to our students thank you
062finally Mr Johannes all right so so can you repeat that question one more time yes as hohos ACT test scores are on the rise and staffs are focused on individual academic growth for students which is managed and modeled to students explain a different area you will work to prioritize um and further increase learner outcomes all right so um I want to talk about making things more Community Based and bringing in uh strengthening communication between like a a student and and an adult like in the Working World um and and push more things about independent responsibilities and how to solve problems by themselves not to rely on others for Solutions because a lot of times they oh well I'm going to go to the counselor I'm going to go to this I'm going to ask the
063question instead of figuring out how to be constructive how to think about why is this an issue why is this a problem how do I solve it and where do I change and where where is the actual Act most beneficial to help me um financial management would be great like a class that teaches kids how to make sure that they're not being foolish with the money like a lot of times it's like maybe they should be working to earn that that college education instead of taking a grant out or taking or not a grant investigating grant money investigating those kind of things being able to be more financially responsible um sales tactics where it's like um being able to walk in and be confident and how to talk to people and how to manage things
064um and then less technology we got to try and figure out a way to get them off the phones and more face to face hands on talking to people shaking hands kissing babies whatever you know but um definitely more face to face less technology thank you question number three when you were in high school what activities Andor Sports were you involved in Ian grck that's a trick question for me I I was the one who sat out I was the one who did not participate in sports but yet I coach I've coached all uh I learned how to coach fast pitch by reading books from a friend because my daughters were in fast pitch so I was the head coach for five years that I've coached baseball even though I never played baseball um I
065co currently coach football right now so it's it's ironic that I'm in very involved with sports now because I was not involved with sports in um in high school and if I was to choose a sport I started in football in seventh grade but I broke my leg so then I just gave up Sports in general did did I answer your question yes it did okay thank you next Adam ma jerus um I was fortunate I went to a small High School L high school so our grad graduating class was about 65 kids 300 in our high school so we got a lot of opportunities to do a whole bunch of different things um I was six-time letter winner in sports three Sports um but we also participated in band I was in band all
066four years got to go to Florida as a senior and enjoy a trip to Disney to perform um I was in forensics uh we had uh fbaa I was in that I was in FFA largely because I didn't have the same reporting requirements for taking a steer to the fair like I would in 4 so that helped me out a little bit um but yeah we we did a whole bunch of things um in high school it was kind of like uh the cool thing to participate so uh we were fortunate we had plenty of things to do and we took advantage of it thank you next Tiffany Stapleton um I mostly participated in Sports I played volleyball basketball and softball in high school um I did some volunteer work one of my English teachers
067Mr rosum I believe it was required us to do volunteer work every year um and I was I did volunteer work I went over and volunteered at Central in a special education classroom um every time that I had him as a teacher I think he required us to do 15 hours of volunteer work which was um actually really incredible experience um I did not get involved in a whole lot of extracurricular clubs or organizations but I don't know that there really was a whole lot to offer I'm really impressed right now with the amount of clubs and cool curriculars that hohos does offer um and the opportunities that kids have available to them because not all of those were available to me when I was a student here in the 90s thank you next Tristan
068Johannes all right so I was a fighting Hornet so I always fought no matter what I was in I was in t-ball as a real little kid um and then I was I played soccer for a little bit it was too much running I did wrestling for a little while until I started um I was too good in my class they put me a class up and I kept losing and I was like I'm out uh then I got into baseball for a little bit I never did basketball but when I was in seventh grade I joined the football program in Wata and they were talking about cancelling it and um they introduced this program called bigger faster stronger it was like a workout program and I got heavily involved in that and my freshman
069class my freshman year uh we were playing High School football we won our first homecoming game since like the 70s and the whole town got really excited and by the time that I had graduated um the football program was on the rise and uh there was two classes behind me uh Jared abaris was the first uh guy that came out of our school that went from W Tomah High to the Badgers to the Packers and he got injured but which was lame uh and he actually lives a couple miles down from my uh parents house so it's kind that's kind of cool fun fact thank you finally Jenny Gillan so I grew up in a very small town on the western part um of the state I think I have you beat Mr Majerus I
070graduated with 32 people um so my time in high school I was a three- sport athlete um all four years I played volleyball basketball and ran track and field I also participated in activities band choir show choir um honestly moving from a very small town to we moved to Hartford because it gave us that small town feel even though it's not small as I I was used to but I am amazed at all of the Athletics and the activities um that kids have to be a part of here um I think it's really important I I Sports and activities formed who I am and I think it's really important that we get our kids involved in something because I truly believe that there's something for everybody here at HS thank you question number four Wisconsin
071State Statute [Music] 115.2 sub 59 requires that Wisconsin school boards establish a framework to facilitate students's academic and career planning to satisfy and even extend this requirement the HS School Board policy 5460 requires students to complete graduation requirements via Career College and citizenship ready experiences starting with my class the class of 2025 describe what you value from this requirement and why starting off Mr maer yeah I I think that certainly again the state recognizes that um we need to make sure we have prepared our students for the next phase of their life um and I'm glad that Harford Union has taken those requirements and even strengthen them further because again I think we're willing as a school district to try to invest in our students a and get them ready for the military getting ready
072for tech school getting ready for college getting ready for the workforce so anything we can do to get young people ready for the next phase I think is important um again it's not all uh classroom work or textbook work it's getting ready to be productive members of our society so um glad that we do that glad that we've extended that policy to make um the requirements even stronger uh may be tough for you guys since you weren't necessarily preparing in that way but again it'll become commonplace uh for the future classes through HS and and I'm supportive of that oh sorry next Miss Stapleton um I think that hohos does a really great job already of helping our students discover career paths that they didn't know that they had available to them um one thing
073that always puts a smile on my face every single year is hs's day of service and that really tackles that citizenship aspect um for all of our students it requires our students to go out and give back and volunteer in our community um my kids have been able to be involved in some really great volunteer opportunities within our community whether it's spreading mulch at Central Middle School or going out to the stru farm and helping deliver Lambs um my kids have had some really incredible experiences through that day of service and they look forward to it every year and as a community member as a teacher I love going out and seeing my former students out in the community doing all these great things to give back to their Community thank you next Mr Johannes
074I'd be interested to find out which uh individual was the one that chaptered that bill because I was in the legislative body for for at least a couple years and I think it was theld that was bringing that forward but um I was heavily involved in a lot of those things and I'd always bring a lot of proposals like that so I celebrate that one especially when it's involved with building and strengthening the Harford Community anything that gets children or um to prepare themselves into being and building part of this community that would be excellent so I celebrate that thank you final or not finally sorry next Miss Gillan so I am really happy that this is a state requirement um when I graduated many years ago I would have loved to have more guidance
075and support on helping me choose the path that I wanted to go down um I went to technical school for a semester realized that wasn't for me so then I went um on to a university after that and I just wonder if um we had something in place not going to age myself but 20 years ago um if I would have had a better idea of what I wanted to do with my life um I think that as as I have a freshman here um I'm very proud and happy to see those career discussions already starting um it's hard to Envision a 14-year-old knowing what they want to do after college or after high school but um I think that we are setting them up on a really good path and providing them with a
076lot of um classes and opportunities and experiences so that um once they leave here we are really setting them up for success thank you Miss Gillan finally Mr gr Beck so I I also agree that it's a good it's good uh for the state to require this and because it it will prepar most students for to be a better Community member um and and although I didn't participate in sports myself when I was in high school I was I am a recipient of this Eagle scut Award which helped in that helped with the vision of a of being a better Citizen and anything that makes um anything that helps students understand that they will be a part of the community either here or elsewhere and their contribution matters in that Community is beneficial to not
077only those around them but obviously themselves and their family um the Day of Service I've heard really great things about it too from my daughter and it's something that they look forward to um I agree that It prepares them for life after after high school this uh this requirement so anything that makes them a better person Better Community member A Better Community member is like I said before that a successful student here will produce a better Community for a thank you question number five you received a summary of specific details about the referendum last week Beyond what has already been identified as plans for improvements to safety please explain an additional Improvement you would like to see regarding safety starting off Tiffany Stapleton um I think that's a really great question there's already a lot
078of excellent things that are being done to update the building and provide a safer environment for not only our students and our staff but any community members that um attend here or come here for any events um the only thing that I can really um think of is adding in um additional safety measures I when I walk through the building I see things like you know obviously our our fire extinguishers and things I would like to see some AED devices I know we've had several incidences where we've had students that have um you know passed out for health concerns or things like that so adding in some additional safety measures that way to help with student safety would be helpful um I think a lot of the other building the safety things that are important
079to our our building are already being addressed within our referendum thank you next Tristan johanes I just would uh want to dig a little deeper and to find out like okay what what are we talking about when we do safety measures and like what the cost in the finance like what what's what is that going to come from taxpayers that's really all I'm looking at is like what's going to be effective and efficient and what what is a need and what is a want um so I just want to make sure that we're being smart about the cost Effectiveness and what we're doing with that referendum money thank you Jenny Gillan um honestly I think Harford Union High School is a pretty safe place um I have no hesitation sending my son here every day
080I think that um I was a very active member of the citizens facilities advisory committee and we talked about different safety measures and all of the things that we are recommending are included in the referendum um including extra security cameras um doors self-closing doors things like that so honestly I unless I got a tour of the school or I needed to spend a day in the life of a student here to see what additional measures or need to have I honestly I feel like we're doing a pretty darn good job here with keeping our kids safe thank you Ian gr back so I'm glad to see the leader of the citizens Advisory Group in the audience and he shook his head when Jenny said that because it reaffirmed that I thought the same thing I
081thought we addressed most things in the referendum the only upgrades that I I can think of just being in that field sometimes in that in that role is there's obviously upgrades to cameras that can pick a voice and can be self um I don't know what the right word is but they can you know um attune to like those specific areas that are there's motion and that's probably the biggest um thing that a lot of schools do lack is because it's so costly is the cameras and an upgraded version of of the cameras they have now and then I know we there was concerns about the front entrance and I and I think we addressed said in the in the referendum as well thank you thank you finally Adam aerus I think um recently I
082experienced trying to find a room in the building and I looked at the building map published on the wall and it wasn't necessarily up to date with uh numbers or location or whatever so um probably a very simple fix in just making sure that the building Maps um that are placed on the walls here in the building are up to down date but you certainly wouldn't hurt to put more of them up just for when again guests and visitors are here trying to find certain places in the building um spending as much time as I do in the concession stand um the single biggest question we get asked are where are your bathrooms so uh not really sure it's a safety thing but um while I know we have signage out in the hallways um
083anything that we can consider um in terms of making the signage for the main bathrooms when our visitors are using the Fieldhouse and the uh the small gym uh probably would go a long way thanks thank you question number six hs's rotary students of the month are asked three questions at that month's Schoolboard meeting tonight we would like to ask you one as a high school senior what were your plans for after graduation and how have they changed if at all first up Mr Johannes okay so you asking me the same question like if I was a high school student yes like when you were a senior in high school what were your plans um to be honest I I really wanted to um be a police officer because I really wanted to help the
084community as and then like um my girlfriend at the time was working to do psychology and all that stuff so she was like in going to be in the court and I was like well I'm going to be a police officer and we're going to take care of the community together and get involved and and be safe and I always liked um a lot of the uh programs that we did there and we would go to the courthouse all the time and I would get to know some of those people so and then here in Hartford um I've offered to do fundraising events for uh the local police officers because uh they helped me out a lot I bartended at the bankshot and there was three times now where I had to make phone calls
085to Save a Life uh of somebody that was in a very critical condition um and they were there instantly they're always there they keep us safe and uh so I celebrate that thank you yeah next Miss Gillan so as a daughter um of a teacher I spent a lot of times after school going to my mom's office and playing school um so I knew in the back of my mind that I had always wanted to be a teacher when I was little um however growing up in such a small community and and thinking about going out into the Big World um I was a little in scared and intimidated um so and and school was hard for me um it was really hard to reach that required act to get into a four-year school um
086so I went to Technical College for a semester realized that that was not for me and that's not what I wanted to do so I got to work um got my ACT to where it needed to be and I ended up graduating um with two Bachelor degrees in three and a half years and I have been in the classroom ever since thank you Mr grck can you just repeat the question yes please um based off of our hoh's rotary student of the month questions that are um asked at every Schoolboard meeting a as a high school senior what were your plans after graduation and how have they changed if at all okay so I knew right away as a junior year that I wanted to be an electrician so I started reaching out to a
087family friend who connected me with um his former employer he stared his own business and I graduated June of 03 December of 03 I was on the job as a Helper and then' 05 I started my apprenticeship and graduated from Marine Park Technical College in 2010 I would change one thing is I would have I would have gotten my gone for my Master's license as an electrician right away at at the seveny year mark and I would have taken um the college the technical college I had then the schooling I had then and and went further in my to get an actual bachelor's degree or an associates degree or something further right away thank you up next Mr Majerus um when I was a High School Junior and senior my goals were to uh go
088into accounting and and become a CPA and so um I went to Whitewater and uh achieved that went got hired at a firm um was hired in October for for the next September start after I gra graduated and did that for four years I think and um the only thing that would be different probably um or that I do different is I was assigned to a group that we were one of the only groups in our firm working on a specific line of business so we traveled a lot so it was difficult from the standpoint of we spent a lot of nights out of town and in trying to think about starting a family and things I just couldn't see myself um doing that so instead of quit uh switching groups inside the firm um
089I audited Banks and Fin and finance companies and credit unions and I went to work for a customer and and spent 15 years in banking so um yeah my my college plans and and my high school plans turned out to be a reality for me thank you finally Miss Stapleton my goal of attending the University of Minnesota um actually started when I was in eth grade I wanted to go and major in architecture um unfortunately I had a very influential adult at the University of Minnesota that asked me if I was sure I wanted to major in architecture because it's really kind of a man's world um so it deterred me from pursuing my dream of being an architecture an architect but um it led me down the career path of becoming a teacher which
090I absolutely love so if you would have asked me in my senior year would you ever become a teacher I probably would have said no um but I absolutely have no regrets and absolutely love the job that I do thank you those were all really important responses to hear thank you candidates we've now arrived at our final section of questions here there will be four questions posed by members of tonight's audience each candidate will be asked each question and we'll have one minute to answer each question okay uh never mind we will not be timing you question number one from the AUD audience how would you as a board board member work to solve budget constraints Jenny Gillan um I think that working to solve budget constraints I think is a is a huge issue
091with all school districts across the state of Wisconsin right now um and I think it trickles down to the funding that happens in Madison with that being said um we are responsible for what we can control here so I think having open honest conversations between the superintendent our board um and seeing where we can exactly cut down what needs to be cut down so that we can you know stay within our budget um just comes down to those healthy honest conversations thank you Ian grck I it would it would be a collaborative effort with the whole board to solve budget constraints and I would do what I would try hard not to make the teachers and educating staff suffer as as sometimes they have they have in the past um it's a difficult choice and
092it's hard it's one of those things that is going to be a hard decision for whoever gets on the board but um a lot of the funding depends on the state or from Madison and we can we'd have to have a serious discussion of of if there's things that are out there that can be done away with or Consolidated or uh other areas of Revenue thank you Adam majeres um The District's financial position is out there I've looked at it um kind of loosely I'm aware generally speaking of the current position for the district what I'd say is um again enrollment drives a lot of what happens here in in relation to the dollars and I know our district is um losing students I think this District over the course of the last six or
093seven years has lost students so knowing that Staffing um is somewhere between 70 and 85% um of the district's expenses overall I think that has to be the first place that you look um how can we do things more effectively are we right sized in terms of a staff uh for the amount of students that we have uh obviously we love each and every one of our instructors um but we do have to make choices from time to time especially when we're losing students we need to make sure that people are um kind of working at capacity so um it just it's a necessary evil um I think the district has looked at Transportation so I know that's um getting worked out um you know the facilities are being addressed and I'm I'm sure we're
094picking up some Savings in terms of Energy Efficiency and the way we deal with um things inside the building so I mean really really the largest parts are Staffing um transportation and facility maintenance and so there's not a lot of wiggle room and so um I did appreciate from the other night that um you know a conversation has to happen as it relates to how do we expect services to get delivered in this district and are people willing to provide you know information and and be part of the process to determine what's most important um because the fact of the matter is the money is a finite amount and so um unless we're willing to consider operational referendum which is a tough pill to swallow usually for communities we've been able to dodge that bullet
095so to speak um you know if we can't figure out how to make ends meat that might be a real possibility thank you next Tiffany Stapleton um budget constraints are a problem that um almost every school district in the state of Wisconsin is facing so costs as we all feel at home costs are rising um which means that our costs and our expenses here at the school district are also going up however funding at the state level has not kept up with that that rate of inflation um so we need to look for different opportun unities to cut back on our waste wasteful spending um looking at uh building enhancements that can help us reduce energy costs we're already addressing outdated HVAC equipment um to help our HVAC equipment run more effectively and help reduce
096uh costs further down the line um one issue that I see as being a huge problem Mr Majerus just addressed is the number of students that are open and rolling outside of our district we need to look at what we can do to retain the students that are in in the HS district and keep them from open and rolling outside of the school um when I was a student here people moved into the Hartford Community to be a part of this school district and I want to see that thing happen again I want to see people come to Hartford move to Hartford because of all the incredible things that we have to offer here um we have a small town feel and we have a lot to offer because we are not that small um
097so increasing enrollment I think will help offset some of those Rising costs as well um that's it thank You Tristan johanes okay so budget restraint stuff I'm always thinking about return on investment right so what is the reason why are we using this funding what is it for what is the effectiveness of it I'm gonna be the guy that's going to dig into it and say okay we spent a million dollars on ABCD so what was the return on investment did it work was it a positive outcome was it a negative outcome are we just kind of throwing it over there because we did did that policy two years ago and uh it was an ice cream thing and uh you know that was a hot deal at the time but we're still funding it
098why uh so just making sure that we dig into that stuff and find uh real answers that I'll also provide and I want to make sure that I'm providing that to all sides so that we can not have a conflict about what we're spending the money on it'll be like hey here's the data it's not subjective it's objective here's the answer this is why I'm taking this action to justify the action that I'm taking do you agree and um also if we do need more money I would try to build community Solutions why don't we have one of the restaurants come down and sell pizzas or wings or whatever and half the money that is raised there goes towards fixing the football field or whatever the thing is that we're trying to raise money for
099why are we always trying to get it out of taxpayers and forcing it why can't we find other solutions to the problem so that's that's where I would go thank you question number two from the audience where do you believe artificial intelligence fits into the education landscape of hohos in the next five years first Ian grck um well that's it's something that we should start to embrace in a safe and acceptable way for staff and administration it's also a tool that can be misused and has been misused I feel like it shouldn't be pushed away just because if we don't stay on top of the current um system like that we would be doing ourself a disservice to us and n and the students so I see AI being integrated in different aspects of high
100school and and the education or the staff itself um just for one example they're talking about at my work they're talking about using AI to create a quote I give them basic information and then it will write it for me we haven't you gotten that far but that's what they're talking about so it's something that we need to embrace in a safe and effective way for everyone to use the right way thank you next Mr majeres um ai's tough one I think you you you certainly want to embrace telling the story about what AI does and how businesses and um organizations use artificial intelligence but in terms of um our students and again trying to measure how what information they have how they um access information and demonstrate their current level of knowledge um I
101mean I think it's difficult uh I think we don't want necessarily to be encouraging our students to be using AI products again we're trying to measure what they know um and even though information's at your fingertips on the Internet or wherever you digest it I you still have to understand and put context to the information you're looking up does this seem right um you know critically think about the information you're seeing is it from a trusted Source again if I see it on Facebook probably not super trusted if I see it in a National Institute of Health um research paper probably trust in that one so um again I think we do need to consider that um students might have access to AI programs and and they're not truly demonstrating their base of knowledge they're
102they're getting something from somewhere else um but I do think we need to talk about it in like Social Studies classes or um uh computer science class and things and introduce it because the facts are it will be an opportunity for a a career path and so I think our people need to know what it's all about thank you next Miss Stapleton um this is an interesting question because I'm an Ela teacher um so I have had to deal with AI in my classroom already this year several times um and I guess the thing that I want our students to understand and parents to also understand AI is not going away it's available on your cell phones it's available on the computers all students have to search is AI help me with this answer and
103it's extremely readily available to all of our students um I read through an essay earlier this school year um it was obvious that it was not the work of a seventh grader so I had to have a separate conversation with that seventh grader and that seventh grader's parent I explained why using AI for a thematic essay was not the appropriate thing to do the student understand they handw wrote an essay and I was able to actually gauge the students work that was not being used with AI the student completely understood after I showed them the difference between his AI essay and his handwritten essay and he understood that being a responsible student and a responsible citizen they have to use AI tools appropriately as Educators we can teach our students the appropriate way to use
104AI and when we should avoid using Ai and measures where teachers are looking for your progress your knowledge students should not be relying on those AI tools but as Educators we need to inform and teach our students when it's appropriate to consult Ai and when we need to leave AI in the back room thank you Mr Johannes I'm a little eing about the AI like I said about the technology right like so I I'm I'm going to be a little bit of a push back on that kind of stuff um because I'm kind of you know the all the problems are kind of coming from We're replacing real friends with fake friends so um and I think that's a lot of the root cause for a lot of the mental health issues that we're talking
105about as well uh so um I'm not sure how I'm standing on the AI I'm gonna have to dig deep and but I'll be I'll be kind of pushing back on that one a little bit thank you finally Miss Gillan so kind of like many of the other candidates said um AI is here to stay and it's only going to grow and become more of a I don't want to say monster but more of a monster when it comes to um our schools and our classrooms and trying to teach our kids um we need to embrace it we need to accept it but we also need to teach our kids how to use AI appropriately and we need to monitor their ability to access it um I think that the AI also doesn't help with
106the career and School Readiness skills as like Tiffany said it's right at their fingertips they can fill out they can do an essay they can do whatever they want with AI but then when they go into to college and they go into that classroom um that's when you're going to see some of those Readiness skills struggle a bit so I think um like I said it's here to stay we just need to teach the kids how to use it appropriately um and just monitor their ability to access it thank you question number three from the audience what is a school board's impact Andor responsibility for addressing bullying in Schools starting off Adam Majerus um certainly I would um expect our administrative team our staff um to have policy which I know they have regarding bullying
107and and codes of conduct for students um so as a board member we should be um well versed in either the policy or where to find the policy when you need to to brush up on the information um I mean it's certainly happening um do I think it happens um nearly as much as it's reported I certainly think that students um cannot be as effective as they could be in terms of how they communicate with each other and so then it escalates to yelling and screaming and tag teaming from other students and things like that so I think it uh situations flip really quickly um social media of course course doesn't help but um generally speaking I think the school board has a responsibility to at least talk to Administration and try to get a
108handle on you know what do we think the environment is I think the fact that you guys do um you students do take um surveys in terms of different things um you know the information can be trusted coming from you um you know as high school students I I think you guys are going to have the awareness and capabilities to answer truthfully about whether you feel you're bullied or whether you think other students are getting bullied um so I think as long as we monitor those things the the things that we're already doing I have checkin conversations from time to time at the board level just to make sure we're okay um yeah I mean I think it happens but I also think our staff and our Administration is more than willing to jump in
109and hold students accountable to keep it from happening thank you next Tiffany Stapleton um I guess bullying in schools is happening whether we like it or not so making sure that we have clear policies regarding bullying and that all stakeholders a staff admin building Administration District administration teachers parents students are all aware of what that policy is and having a clear um consequence for the those actions I think is really important um students have to understand that there is a consequence for every action that you take and oftentimes we try to brush bullying under the carpet and we don't necessarily address the problem at hand so making sure that everybody is aware of what those consequences are what um you know the appropriate way to handle um conflict resolutions making sure that they have a
110trusted adult in the building to go to when they are feeling like they're being bullied is are all really important pieces and making sure that our policy reflects that so working together with District leadership to make sure that our policy is clear and concise and that everyone is aware are all important things that we would have to do as a school board to make sure that we tackle um bullying in schools thank you next Tristan Johannes um so I grew up in a biker bar um and there were a lot of fights that went on and usually like it was all right put them up put up your dukes you know I'm not saying that's the best thing but but I would try to bring to the tables a little bit more of like the
111usually when you stand up to a bully they back down the reason that they continue to bully is because you do nothing about it so I would want to like do something to build the confidence of people to stand up I also feel again like the social media it's easy for people to pick and pick fun at and do that stuff because they don't have to look at your face and they can say whatever they want and if they were standing in front of you they wouldn't say a thing so like conflict management and keeping like your keeping your cool but keeping your confidence and and standing um obviously not to you know promote violence but I'm just saying that like standing up and having confidence or learning to ignore people on social media like
112having having constructive things to to find the answer and fix it at the root of the problem thank you Jenny Gillan I believe that all kids should be able to come and walk through these doors and feel safe at school um I think that addressing bullying um is really something that involves all of our stakeholders from the people on the board to the superintendent to the administration to teachers to students um I think that they all need to work together on creating policies um that help hold kids accountable for their behaviors as well I think we do have a system in place already where kids can report things anonymously I think that there's that fear of being a tattletail or coming across as weak but um when kids walk through these doors they should feel
113safe they don't have to always feel liked by everybody we don't expect kids to have be friends with everybody but um people need to be respectful of all kids thank you finally Ian grck so as a board member I would impress upon the administration of the school to and just request what they're doing for bullying what their current policy what their current consequences are um have check-ins with them just to make sure that you know there's they're still on top of it which I know right now I know they are um one thing that you know we could have I think that the the way obviously there's um standard ways that people would bully someone but is that a changing thing there's the social media could could we have a um do we need to
114talk to the subject matter experts on this the teaching I mean the the education staff or and just the students have listening sessions on you know what are they seeing um what is different in the phases of bullying Now versus before um and as a community member and as a parent I'm I've never been afraid to stand say something to say if I see something I say something to any kid if it's not my kid um I just take that responsibility on me as a coach for the other sports and for football and for other things but if I see something I will say something respectfully to those individuals and I think that needs to be impressed upon the the community as well that we're all responsible here for that for bullying and it's not
115just it happens outside the hall outside of these walls and we can as a board member we can just make sure that the policy is in place and the consequences are there by checking in with the admin and then just do our part as the Community member thank you thank you for this final question from the audience you will each have one minute to answer in your own words what is the job of the school board starting off with Miss Stapleton I look at the job of a school board kind of like our um our government system right we have checks and balances in our government system we have our executive branch our judicial branch and our legislative branch and we all have to provide those checks and balances to make sure our government runs
116smoothly the school board is just like that we provide checks and balances to make sure our school Community runs smoothly so as a member of the HS school board I would make sure that we have enough policies in place that are protecting our stakeholders in all forms whether it's our staff our students or our community um I would make sure that we are spending money wisely that we are living within our means so to speak and not excessively spending on things that don't necessarily need to be done um I would also encourage the rest of our board members to um kind of check their Poli itical beliefs at the door um we need to make sure that we are putting students first and making sure that our job is both students yeah thank you all
117right all right um next Mr johanes uh the job of the school board is to be a public servant of the parents and the community as a last line of defense against government influence on the lives of our children thank you NE next Miss Gillan um I think our job as a school board is to be a voice for the kids the parents and the community members who elected us to be in this position um I believe that our job is to make sure that our district leadership is being held accountable for all policies um all staff morale and all leadership that is in this District um that's going on to make sure that this is a fun um healthy great place to be and work every day um and just like Tiffany said I
118um don't believe that a school board is a place for political views and stances on things to be pushed out um onto our kids because ultimately they are the ones that are affected by all of the decisions that this board makes thank you finally Mr gr or not finally oh my gosh next Mr grck uh the role of a board member would be to be physically responsible with the funds that they are responsible for ensure safety as as much as they are allowed to or in their sphere listen to the community members that um did vote for them or potentially that they represent um hold accountable the um all admin and make sure that they're responsible in their sphere of of uh what their job title is and their responsibilities are and ensure that we're
119conveying as a board as a whole that the community can trust us that we are have a culture of trust and transparency transparency and that we are someone that is that is approachable rather than um turn away from thank you thank you finally Mr Majerus a state statute clearly defines the role of a school board member so if the Comm Community Andor any of the candidates want to look it up you can go to state statute and look up the responsibilities of a Schoolboard member um wasby is our representative um kind of uh organization that that outlines what a school board members role and responsibility is as well um a board member or a school board is responsible for policy setting um making sure there is a school budget the school board levies taxes School
120Board hires and evaluates the superintendent uh the school board is responsible for the maintenance of facilities uh the school board is responsible for installing a curriculum so there's plenty of other things that that a school board or its members are responsible for while being an advocate for students and responding to the community all important those are your roles and responsibilities thank you candidates and here we are the time is almost up for this evening but for the best closure we would like to hear from all of you one last time each candidate will now have two minutes to make his or her closing statement Tristan Johannes all right guys so I'm trying to be clever but um I uh all I want to say is that I came here because I want to offer my
121experiences and services to the community and continue to help and I just want to make things better I like to fix things I like to solve problems I like to dig down and find the problem and solve it and I feel a little bit of happiness when I'm able to help others it's just an act that I have I will always question why we are discussing all topics and point out making decisions on subjective blanket data I will always solve problems by asking why and digging to the root I will seek parent and Community Based Solutions and I will always listen to them first I will provide hard objective answers with evidence for all to see so it's open and trans transparent for everybody so I thank you for your time tonight I'm offering to
122join the fight I will work for you to earn the right to serve you with all of my might if you think Hartford Union High could use a problem solving guy I'm asking for your vote tonight and please give Tristan johannas a try thank you next Jenny Gillan first off I just wanted to say thank you to all of you that came out tonight and all of you that are listening at home um I know that I fumbled on my words a bit tonight and some of my answers I'm definitely not a public speaker um but with that being said I would like to end my night with my why and my why is really quite simple I love our kids I love our teachers I love all of our communities that make up HS
123I love being in orial all of those people deserve somebody who's going to Advocate advocate for them who isn't afraid to ask tough questions and will serve their community in a positive way I'm not a politician I'm not being endorsed by any party I'm just a wife a mom and a Community member who wants what's best for our kids thank you next Ian grck as a parent I am honored to be here tonight and I find it good to see all the community members that we have here tonight and it's good to see the big picture from what you get tonight and if you keep an open mind of we all may not be the best public speaker but we all have a I have a good heart in mind and have the kids want
124to put the kids curriculum um responsibilities of admin all those things uh at the Forefront of U my role as a board member and we have a lot at high at Harford Union High School we have a lot of successes and we have some challenges yet to work through and I will guarantee you that I can help work through those challenges and we can all celebrate the successes and I ask for your vote in the upcoming primary thank you thank you Adam Majerus again thank you to those who organized tonight's candidate Forum it is certainly valuable for our voting public I appreciate the opportunity to share my perspectives on matters that impact students in the HS Community Schoolboard members play a critical role in governing a public school district I would appreciate having the opportunity
125to work with our board members the administration and staff in leading this district for the next three years I have a lot of relevant experience and uh especially in the areas of school Finance policy and operational management and I'm the only candidate with the experience of having already served as an elected Public School Board member I know what the roles and responsibilities are and what they are not and I can hit the ground running for you as a board we must balance the responsibilities to the students the parents the School Employees and all the H UHS constituency I want all Stern students to learn and grow and be prepared for their lives as Citizens no matter their path I want to install and guide an effective leadership team to manage the complexities of District faces
126in the current environment I want huhs to attract and retain a high quality staff that can carry out the district's Mission I also understand that we must do all of this under Financial constraints with transparency and accountability to all I would understand I would love the opportunity to represent the Harford Union High School District and to help us reach our potential and Beyond thanks again to everybody involved tonight and to steal one from my friend go Orioles thank you and finally Tiffany Stapleton thank you guys for being such great moderators tonight I really appreciate the opportunity to come out and talk to all of the people in our audience and all the people that are watching on the YouTube channel as a parent alumni teacher and lifelong resident of Hartford um I understand a lot
127of the struggles that we experience within our school um and I'm here to make a positive change in our heart for Union High School um we have an abundance of great resources available not only here at the high school but within our community to help raise our school and promote it in a positive light to make positive changes we all need to come together we all need to make an effort to build our community back up I have seen some of the great things that Harford Union High School has been able to accomplish um in the almost 30 years since I have been a student here um we need to hold all stakeholders accountable that includes District leadership that includes staff students and parents and Guardians as a community we can make Hartford Union High
128School great again thank you we extend our deep appreciation to the candidates for their dedication passion and willingness to serve our schools and students we also extend our sincere thanks to the students and adults in in the audience who have joined us today at the school board candidate Forum your presence is greatly appreciated and your participation shows your dedication to our school Community thank you for taking the time to engage in this important event in closing I would like to thank all attendees for their valuable time insightful questions and commitment to our educational Community your participation tonight truly emphasizes the collaborative spirit that drives us forward in shaping a brighter future for our students thank you [Applause] we give one more round of applause for these [Applause]