001e e good evening Londoner welcome to London High School's library I'm Scott spradling and uh we're going to spend the next few minutes on this Facebook live conversation having a basic interview with a couple of candidates that you'll see on the ballot on March 11th and of course don't forget to turn out and vote on March 11th you have a lot of important decisions to make and uh we at the school district really like to be able to play a role in helping to inform and and educate voters so that they can make good decisions next month so what we're going to do for the next few minutes is we have a candidate here for school board and one for moderator for you to be able to uh learn a little bit more about so
002we have some questions that are prepared we'll jump into Schoolboard first moderator second and uh I promise uh your dinner won't get too cold all right so thanks so much for being with us and and I'm honored to be here with uh resident Kevin gray who is running for school board Kevin thank you for joining us first and foremost um why don't you introduce yourself just a little bit and tell us why you're running for school board sure so uh for all my name is Kevin gray I've been in lonary for a little under 10 years right now I actually have served the last three years on the school board um so this is my first re-election campaign coming up which is fine um I really feel like we've got the school district going in
003the right direction right now there's a lot of positive momentum we have a great district office in place an amazing group of teachers a strong board I want to keep that positive momentum going forward that's kind of the goal I'm going for here um you know financially from a budgetary point of view we've been delivering fiscally responsible budgets for the last three years this year are actually level funded which is unique because there's a lot of factors that go into it particularly with the largest cost of budgeting being the the Staffing which precipitates you know cost of living increases and um you know insurance and medical benefits increases but with the rollment factor uh enrollment factors and just the way we're able to work it out we actually end up level funding this year which
004is incredible um but overall I think we've been very fiscally responsible we want to keep that going forward and keep that fiscal responsibility and uh DED ation to the taxpayers really um moving in that right direction um you know another reason I'm really kind of looking forward to staying on or hoping to stay on is um we've been working through a lot of policies and really um one of the ones I'm close near and dear to is the um you know the technical side I come from a technical background okay and we've been looking at the AI policies and the AI task force and the first reading of that actually came up in the last meeting so we'll be following through with that in the next few months um and to stay on to really
005keep driving that forward uh from a policy point of view we've been addressing a lot of the other policy needs too that have been coming up um cell phone policies really getting things up to date um kind of with the modern times and keeping up where we where we need to be um the biggest thing I think that which is on the ballot and everyone has seen that i' really love to be here to push forward is the uh the school the kindergarten school bond yeah um so what we're really pushing is and I think it's a fantastic idea um is to bring full full dayk into London Dairy we're one of only a handful of communities in the state um and really nationwide at this point uh who do not actually have full day
006kindergarten um so we've done a lot of work over the past few years I've been on the kindergarten committee myself but the entire board has put in an absurd amount of work as has district office our superintendent and everyone else who's uh gone through multiple iterations multiple potential um outcomes we've looked at different ways we could achieve this goal um starting off last year we actually brought a um a full renovation of moov sale an expansion of moale onto the ballot which we saw um a good support for but uh you know we only got to about that 50% threshold so that told us the voters were interested but maybe at a lower cost Point some changes need to be made so we came back we looked at several different options we looked at potentially
007leasing space at at um commercial sites we looked at a smaller build at Moose Hill we looked at doing modular classrooms at Moose Hill and building in a cafe and NPR room we looked and then we looked at and finally aligned at um moving each of the kindergarten classes into their local schools so they'd be aligned with their the one through five um elementary schools that are in their uh local neighborhoods uh and that's what we kind of aligned on for a few reasons one is the cost was significantly lower okay because of the decrease in enrollment it opened up some space in those buildings naturally um with that space we only had to add a few modulars at each of the buildings in order to be able to provide the space needed for full
008kindergarten so that naturally kept cost cost a lower um second thing that that this did was it open up the space at Moose Hill by moving them out to the local schools to expand and get the um the needed space for our leak program okay really one of the big space drivers at Moose Hill was that our leak program was constrained a lot of the special services that you be provided were being done in very small closet type rooms in the hallways just really not ideal situations for children to be at in learning environment um by moving the kindergarten into the individual schools in our local neighborhoods we free up that space and that space is able to be used effectively um in fact to the point where once we do free up that space
009there is additional space enough to address a secondary need in town that secondary need being the district office district office lease is coming up we knew this has been coming up and we've been looking at it for a few years and it's starting to get to the point where we have to make a decision and act on it um this kind of Confluence of events um really led to being able to say hey not we can't we aren't just going to address full day kindergarten which we know is a sore need for our students and for uh you know service we need to provide but with the additional space that's generated from this we can take this with office and bring it back into the center of town backed by all of our core cluster
010of schools and uh basically take that lease off the books as well these two things combined only cost around 9 million for the taxpayers versus the 34 million we went with last year so substantial reduction in costs there plus three years out if you look at all the um additive benefits that come from it reduced um bus routs that need to be done um we have a reduction in the district office lease cost of course and then we have the additional Revenue that comes in from the state because the state does provide aid for full day kindergarten um we have some of it coming in right now now for half day but it increases substantially per student once you go to a full day and all these factors coming together actually means that in 3
011years the cost of the school will be profitable so to speak will actually be in running into black U even with that Bond cost on the books so let me ask you a question about kindergarten from your Schoolboard perspective um you I obviously you've done a lot of homework on this um from your perspective what you have seen what are the benefits to the children by having full day kindergarten that's a great question so what we noticed is if you look at the London d averages versus the state for our first grade incoming students we tend to be um basically year after year after year behind both state and and National averages in all of our testing now we have fantastic teachers so of course this we do tend to catch up as we go
012along in the years and we get back to you know being level and then then going above where the state and uh and National averages are but we kind of look at and say where could we be if we weren't starting behind the aall if we had this what amounts to 100 extra days of learning time in kindergarten for these children to be able to get ahead and be able to take that that leap ahead right and run with it right what could what could we really be at if you know come fifth grade come eighth grade come graduating high school um and it really kind of excites us all when we look at that because what it it really evolves down to like I said over a 100 days of actual class time is
013gained by going to full day program and it allows for that play based learning that children that age really really need to develop these skills to be able to learn to learn to be able to take what they get in math and instead of being in a condensed 15minute get it in get it out because we've only got two three to four hours to work with your children people say hey here's 25 minutes of math and now let's go apply this and let's use this you know through playbase learning put what these Concepts into effect and kind of have that unstructured ability for the children to grow there and we think that's going to be a huge huge benefit for for the students in the long term okay so that's obviously an important vote for
014March 11th an issue on the ballot you you've talked about the do you've talked about kindergarten you talked talked about AI as a policy that's that's burgeoning and a conversation that's going to be uh most certainly increasing as we all move forward because that technology is being increasingly implemented are there other goals looking forward should you be reelected are there other goals and priorities that you see whether it's in the budget or through policy that you're hoping to be able to cover and accomplish in the next year oh absolutely abolutely so I think one of our our goals and it has been for three years and I think we're moving in the right direction has basically been to to what we say move our numbers right so London um is a fantastic School District but
015if you look around at other comparable top performing school districts we Fallen a little bit behind the numbers and part of that's attrib attributable to co and part of that attribut to other outdoor outside factors I feel like we've got ourselves in the right direction we're moving towards being able to move those numbers across all schools in fact if you look at the uh most recent data that Mr Black has been nice enough to provide to us on a very consistent basis we are um consistently going in that right direction we're going up in you know the typical up and to the right curve so to speak as you want to see um but really I feel like there's more we can do there I think if we invest properly we continue getting in the
016right curriculum programs investing in personal development days for the teachers to be able to implement these programs invest in our staff and what we have in place I feel like we can really get those numbers up there you know at or above all the top performing districts around us where London are really should be is there anything else that you would want to talk about um for your priorities or issues that you would want voters to know before they're headed to The Ballot Box about you or about your ideas uh I think the biggest thing is I tend I like to I take a very Hands-On approach I get into want to get into the schools I get into the schools quite often um you know I work around my schedule as much as I
017can to be there to listen to people to listen to the teachers the admins the staff hear what they're saying and bring that back to my colleagues in the school board who are absolutely amazing and supportive and we really been trying to take that to heart and Implement what we see and what we hear to be able to make the teachers lives easier make the admins have have that ability to control their environment and help the teachers to provide what they can do best and to really make the student environment as uh welcoming and high performed as possible so if you're just joining us this is Kevin Gray he's running for school board and we're just having a conversation about his priorities and ideas for the future should he be reelected in March um my
018last question before we move into a few that were uh that we like to share that from our colleagues from the London are Education Association my last question uh for my part is kind of a fun one if you if you could be a superhero have a superpower what would you bring to your game that's a that's an interesting question uh we asked this last year and it seemed to be a pretty big hit so I thought we' we BR it back sure sure superhero uh I guess I would have to go with Iron Man because I would like that like to say I'm a bit of a tech narrator yeah you so what is your background uh I so I have been an engineer to computer science major and then a computer engineer for
019about 25 years now excellent um and currently a systems architect um at a larger company and uh so that my my tech background Le leads me to really kind of lean toward lean into that Superhero role of building these great tools that are able to assist and and you know love that s that's good Iron Man's good fit good fit all right so here are a few questions that were submitted to us um just like what we've done in previous years from the londonairy Education Association so I'm just going to ask these and then we'll wrap up our our time together so the first one is how will you prioritize and support teacher professional development and ongoing training to ensure that Educators have the tools and resources they need to succeed in the classroom that's
020a great question um so first of all I believe that we are in a really good spot to able to accomplish this I think um my vision is I I know I don't know everything there is to know about you know education like I said I have a techical background right so I try to apply listening skills and understanding what the needs are and I think the people who are closest to the needs of the teachers from a professional development point of view tend to be the curriculum coordinators and those who are in the buildings understanding what needs to be taught and trying to connect everyone together so I believe we need to invest in what you know these curriculum coordinators and what they kind of deem as the personal development routes right um from
021that point of view I think it's our role at in the as a school board to support that so you know we are the ones who control the budget for the most part and we're the ones that that kind of you know okay the the um request to go here or go there um I think we need to be open to that and have I believe we have been I think we need to continue to be open to that to continue to support them um both financi and um you know from a um a policy point of view to say hey we want you to go get this development going back to the AI task force that I'm currently on um you know one of the things is getting ahead of this kind of incoming
022Rush of AI tools and getting our teachers able to both thrive in using these tools to their benefit to prepare help prepare lessons to help get get problem sets set up to find what they need as well as to be able to help our students understand how to use it as a tool themselves um right because we know it's not going away we're that's the world we live in it's it's going to become more and more integrated and if our students aren't ready to deal with those tools when they come out of the classroom um then they're going to be at a step behind everyone else at a disadvantage and the only way they can be up to date is if we keep our teachers up to date and ready to be able to deliver
023that information for them to cons okay all right the second question is how will you work to ensure a safe and supportive work environment for teachers addressing issues like teacher burnout workplace safety mental health support and what specific strategies or initiatives might you implement to support and Empower teachers particularly in areas like professional development work life balance classroom resources yeah that's another great question and that's actually a huge problem throughout the teaching profession right burn now right now is at an extremely high rate um stress levels are through the roof um you know it's it's tough um I think one of the things that I really have looked that is um you know we need to make to really go in and and make teachers know that they're supported let teachers feel they're supported and
024part of that is giving them a voice so one of the things I'm actively working on right now is looking at getting a um like a pulse feedback survey that'll be going on multiple times a year so I'm working with some some of the admins right now to give them a voice to give teachers a voice to say hey this is what we're seeing in the buildings a safe place a safe voice to get up an anonymous voice where it's not going to be you know a fear of Retribution not that there is but is always that challenge if you're trying to have a one-on-one I'm putting myself out there want be a safe space exactly this gives that blank a safe space to say hey let's we want to hear what you have to
025say you don't have to worry if it's you know not the best feedback you know if it's great feedback great we love that too but say what you need to say here are these surveys we want to get us some pulse on that and we TR I truly believe that will also help to what the admin is grow right you you can't actually change and evolve and get better at something if you don't have the feedback to do that right so I think that'll help on both sides um I know that's one initiative I I'm strongly believe in I'm I'm working towards actively right now um mentioned also supporting that professional development I completely agree we need to invest in that um it's not just something that needs to be said that it needs to
026be done but fiscally and policy-wise invest in so yes you need to go stay on top of this and we support that okay all right third question what do you identify as the key strengths of the professional faculty in londonairy and in what specific areas do you see potential for growth or Improvement question um so I think I actually think I would answer both of those with the same answer I think my the thing I see as the greatest particular strength of London der is the culture and strength of our veteran teachers and what they bring into the schools you can walk you walk in you can feel just the um you know the tone of the school is set by these wonderful teachers and I think the thing that we really need to Foster
027is the incoming teachers the newer teachers picking up that that culture picking up those roles and you know becoming a part of the school integrated with the school itself and not just um you know from the teaching point of view but getting involved in the events and the kid with the Student Activities and all of that um and it's not something you want to force or you can force right it's something that it needs to be developed and nurtured throughout the schools so I think that's one thing I would like to find to kind of work through is um and this three fair this has come from being in the schools and hearing from other teachers so I don't want to steal anyone's Thunder um or make it seem like I came up with this
028all on my own right part of what I like to do is listen to people and a recent conversation has led to this and I think it's a fantastic uh point and idea is we need to develop that culture and bring in the younger newer teachers to it to kind of pass along those Traditions hand off those Traditions so that they don't get lost along the way and it turns and that uniqueness of London dery stays in London der all right Kevin last question as a Schoolboard member where would you focus your efforts to improve the district in terms of student learning and Comm Community engagement that's a good one um so I think improving um biggest thing for me I think is seeing the handoffs from school to school okay so one of the
029things that I always think about is you have three different elementary schools who all act as a single Elementary School when it comes to curriculum and they do a fantastic job at that but then you go into the middle school and it's a different terminology there's different ways of handling behavior um and it's it's a a jarring change yeah and middle school is not easy oh my gosh raise your hand if you actually enjoy Middle School no everybody keep your hands down okay we got a couple of the audience you're raising your hand you're not telling the TR you certainly you're better than I I just got through middle school and survived it as wonderful as as it was um no but you're right you're talking about it's almost like a foreign language it is
030and then even from middle school going to high school I'd like to really find ways to kind of help to bridge that that those Gap years when they come over when you're switching from one to the other can we align on terminology on behavioral discipline relying on expectations um you know not just throughout the school but throughout cross schools and how does that what does that look like and it's not easy like it's a very challenging thing because you have you know vastly different populations at vastly different points in their life so there's got to be that kind of carry through and that guide through and that's something that I really would like to kind of work through and work on over hopefully in my next three years okay so that ends my list of
031questions that we had prepared um Kevin thank you for doing this maybe you can just look to the camera to our Facebook live audience and offer any closing statement you'd like um so I really would just like to to stay around and uh continue going forward I really think we've got a great group right now I truly do um I 100% believe in everything we're doing uh and where we're going as a district um and I'd like to uh continue staying on to get us there Kevin thank you very much thank you so much appreciate it thank you for your time best of luck on March 11th I appreciate that so we will let you go and now we're going to move to a different part of the ballot and bring in another guest to
032talk about her campaign um ladies and gentlemen meet Elizabeth Burns who was running for moderator here in London Dairy thank you for joining us and thank you for doing this um tell us a little bit about yourself and why you'd like this position sure so my name is Elizabeth Burns a lot of people know me as Lisa my nickname I've been in londonairy as a resident for uh almost 18 years in counting okay I have three kids in the school system or have recently graduated from the school system um been actively engaged in the community over the years uh starting out coaching Youth Soccer watching kids run after ball uh all together in big Club um also you know coaching kickball baseball softball and such um as my kids got older participating in booster clubs
033at the high school um from there um also you know doing some work with the schools um PTA ptso whatever they're called in each of the different schools um leading for Matthew thoron uh the reading incentive program for a number of years my oldest once she started in first grade the ages of my kids were so spread out that they had me for over 10 years in that role uh so chering shering that was a lot of fun um so I've been able to give back in many different ways but now that the kids are older looking for other opportunities to do something within the community U when I saw that this position was being vacated I thought you know what this is a perfect fit for me um for my skill set for something
034to get involved in the community um over the years a lot of corporate work business um so I've led a lot of meetings had to speak in front of large audiences um facilitated meetings trying to have the best outcome of a meeting which is what is the purpose of the meeting and let's get it done um in a nice judicious way um and so that's really why I'm looking for this role and would love your support so you sort of said it but in your mind what makes a good town moderator when it's time to run the meeting to make the important decisions yes for the school district meeting so here's what I would say it is being able to be ethical being able to understand the Rules of Order and really be able to
035put those forth for the meeting the whole purpose of a school district deliberative session is really all about getting the warrant articles to the ballot and doing it in an appropriate manner ensuring that the meeting is run smoothly everyone has a voice at their point in time um and that as a moderator you are someone that can set any of their own beliefs aside and really just do the job and make sure that the meeting is run efficient ly um and expeditiously and you don't really have like an issue agenda for a campaign like this do you no that's the whole point actually is to not have a platform I think that's the most important thing I think if somebody comes into this role um you know with a certain agenda or you know a
036certain attitude you know it really is all about ensuring that you can have your beliefs set aside and no one should even know what those are and I think that's really clear and important for this role it's all about being able to have nice ethical way of bringing a meeting to closure delivering what we're supposed to do for the meeting um as well as for the elections ensuring that the elections are run smoothly helping U with the town moderator as well um with the the elections the town elections ensuring that everything's done in an appropriate manner following the state guidelines the laws um doing all of that well Lisa you've been here 18 years as you said what do you love about living in London D oh good question um I I really love that
037it really is a very small community even though it's not that small um there you know you can go to the grocery store and how you'll see people whatever grocery store you choose to go to that day you'll probably see people you know um a very you know engaged group of people I think a lot of people really want to do things within the community help the community um it's really been a great place the school system has been great um for all three of my kids um how different they are um the school system does a great job with that so I just think you know it's a great small town but yet in a in a larger Feld as well lots of things to offer within the town and I I really love
038how everyone's engaged anything else you'd like to add as a direct message to voters direct message come out and vote I obviously would love to have your vote but I think it's most important for everybody to come out and vote on March 11th uh it's really critical also for these deliberative sessions it's really important for people to go to them you have a right as a voter there at those meetings as well so I think that's also really critical and I'd love to see more people at those meetings in the future so that will be one of the things that work on trying to get more people at those meetings um to be participants in the whole process of the town government great most importantly is the name on the ballot going to be Lisa
039or Elizabeth let's make sure we got this right I think it'll be both Elizabeth with Lisa in there Burns yes thank you very much we appreciate it best of luck for you on March 11 great appreciate it so that wraps up our Facebook LIVE edition on behalf of the London da school district and superintendent Dan Black I'm Scott spradling thank you so much for joining us hope this has helped informed your vote as you get ready to turn out and as Lisa said March 11th right here at lary high school don't forget to vote have a great night