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Keene School District Meet the School Board Candidates for March 2, 2023

Added Mar 07, 2023 •

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Keene School District Meet the School Board Candidates questions and answers.

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good evening everyone thanks for being here tonight my name welcome to the tonight's public for my name is Luca Paris I'll be your moderator for this evening put before weekend invite superintendent Malaya to say a few words and to provide the necessary safety reminders for all in attendance tonight bro appreciate the reminder on the safety reminders in the case of an emergency please note that there are several exits on each side and in the back of the auditorium if you need to please take a quick moment just to see where the closest exit to where you are is in the event of an emergency and we have to vacate the premises to start by saying thank you thank you for volunteering to help us this evening on a say thank you to our partner the partnering for public education kitchen Organization for helping to co-sponsor the time I say thank you to AMT and Jeremy for being here to make sure we're able to live stream tonight's event beyond what we have in the audience and I want to say thank you to the folks in the audience and lastly I do want to say that you two are candidates who are running for the three vacant spots on the key Board of Education I'm going to go 100 miles an hour because we're not here to listen to me we're here to learn about the folks that are on stage that we will be electing to the school Ford on March 14th so bear with me but I will go quickly just to give a brief overview of some things that are probably a little bit more critical that most are unaware of the key Board of Education consists of nine Radicchio three positions become open and we have elections for three positions every single year the terms are for three years and so it rotates pretty well three every year works really well for us there are five standing committees the King Board of Education and the King Board of Education has three primary functions the first is to establish policy that governs the district this include collective bargaining agreements and memorandums of understanding things that become Paul and to serve as a quasi-judicial decision maker in the event there are disputes or disagreements and it doesn't get resolved it eventually ends up with the board to make a final determination so that's your first function his two adopted budget which will also be going to the polls on March 14th for hopefully voting yes for the budget that they have pulled together and the last one is to contribute to the evaluation of their one employee which is the superintendent I'll talk a little bit more but that briefly as we go forward meeting nights or Tuesday nights now you're saying wait a minute you got five committees and one board and the full board that six different bodies how do you fit it in on Tuesday night well the first Tuesday of every month is reserved for two standing committees at the facilities and the finance committee they both those subcommittees meet on the first Tuesday the second Tuesday is the full board meeting the third Tuesday is education it's a stand-alone committee meeting on the third Tuesday in the final I'm sorry let me back up to the second Tuesday real quick I skipped over Personnel committee meets right before the full board meets on the second Tuesday and then the four Tuesday is the policy committee which is also a standalone so the first two Tuesdays are double duty financing facilities the second Tuesday is Personnel in full board than its Standalone for education and then Standalone for policy very busy commitment that folks are making to sit on the key Board of Education just real brief overview we've got seven schools in the Canyons School District you're in one of them the largest one Keene High School we've got the Keene Mill school we have four Elementary's Franklin Fuller Simon's in Wheelock and we have the Jonathan Daniels preschool we have a few other units inside of the King School District as well but basically we serve students from several towns I want to talk a little bit about that footprint but let me move forward first on the King School District is apart of sau29 which consists of seven Independent School District suicide McKean School District SAU 29 is also Chesterfield Harrisville Marlo Marlboro Nelson and Westmoreland to all of the students in those seven district feeding to Keene at some point or another either in middle school so I mean elementary school and eventually they all end up at Keene high school so that's seven towns that the Keen School District serving they also have agreements with so other towns to tuition students in and that includes Siri Sullivan Stoddard and Winchester so all in all at Keene High School we're serving students from 11 lb our footprint is really really big we also have a career center here which provides services to two other high schools Monadnock Regional High School and Fall Mountain Regional High School so on any given day inside of this building there would be students from 22 separate towns in this part of the state of New Hampshire that's a big footprint haven't even touched where all of our staff come from but if we do we're looking at over 50 towns in three states inside licking School District it's pretty massive so appreciate folks for raising their hand to say yep we want to we want to become involved we want to run for the school board just quick notes the seven members of the SAU I'll contribute to the SAU budget which is a smaller portion of the overall budget for the Keene school district and with that the yes are you in return for the 7th District provides the following services that you see on the screen I'm not going to insult or read that to you now because I can't School Board is one of the seven members of that SAU board I talked about one of their three primary functions as the evaluation of the superintendent it is not just decking board that evaluates the superintendent it's all seven of the boards that evaluate the superintendent so 33 total board members provide that input for the evaluation of the superintendent when it's all said and done that's enough for me that's not what we're here for we're here to listen to the folks that are on stage so when you go to the polls on March 14th all voting will take place at the rec center you're not only voting for three individuals to turn on the Keene Board of Education there are warrant articles for our operating budget which we hope you'll vote favorably for and there are two collective bargaining agreements one for the teachers and one for the tutors that will last but we also hope you'll vote Mary Fay probably 4:00 on March 14th polls are open at 7:30 in the morning and I'll stay open till 7 at night and with that I will put forward the name placards and surrender this back to our moderator get the stuff out of his way thank you very much current time in my life I'm tired just hearing what he's talkin about things like imagine doing that everyday at this time I'd like to ask Joan Murphy from the partnering for public education group to give a brief overview their organization John I think I'm going to use this Podium with this microphone and as I was saying before my husband can have a little chuckle because we talked about what if Jen was going I talked with Cody and he who returned thank you too Rob and Luca and thank you to the candidates for being here this evening and to be willing to dedicate your time to something very important for our community partnering for public community group whose mission is to support a thriving public school system and we believe that strong Community Partnerships build strong public schools and intern thriving Public Schools really contribute to prosperous community so tonight to a street over the last 2 years that partnering for public education has been around we worked on the few areas first and play most importantly raising public awareness about state and local educational issues and events and doing this through Community meetings email and letter-writing campaigns and now a social media present opposing measures to attract and retain quality Educators and advocating for Equitable funding for public education have been priorities as well and last but not least strengthening Partnerships between the public school system and Community here with me this evening and a few folks just can give her a wave when I mention your name the other members of partnering for public aid Caitlin Mitchum Anna and Lynch a hose Sandy swinburne Dennis Pierre and Michelle Della Vita in all the pleasure to work with we do have some printed in nation regarding partnering for public and wither if folks in the audience this evening or interested and you could also find information out about the group on Facebook so thank you thank you mrs. Murphy Community Partnerships are recipe for success in public education to write that part and we're fortunate enough to have your group and advocacy here in Keene that's really important in my new role one of my priorities it as my position as a president of the greater Canaan Peterborough chamber is to promote the region and one of the most important ways to have a region that promotable is have a strong school systems it's very important day has his every time the sport gets together and our school get together during tonight's for him we're going to ask a series of questions that all the candidate received in advance of the event will also rotate order said the candidates will respond to the question so is there is no perceived advantage to any of the candidates on the ballot at time allows will open up the microphones in the audience for those in attendance to ask questions she'll just walk right up here and I'll call we will also post questions that were submitted electronically prior to tonight's Forum as time permits are there any questions at this time from anyone in the audience yes the name tag have a it would be really awful and folks would identify themselves when they speak and they're going to introduce themselves as well when we first get up so thank you very much for asking you to silence your all your cell phones I will be using my phone as a timer so if I'm looking down at it's not to text everything just to make sure we're using this as a timer we all ready to go excellent so we're going to when you do introduce yourself please make sure you tell everybody who you are and we're going to start from this side with our first question or first comment is to please introduce yourself and state why you're running for the school board you all have two minutes a piece I will let you know if we get closer that 2 minutes as we go so we'll just keep it moving probably your first and you thank you Luca and welcome here tonight I'm Raleigh ormerod I'm running for re-election to the school board to drive continuous and crew in quality and safety in our Public Schools quality includes the students increase in knowledge habits of work and passion for learning safety includes students and staff and administration experience and perception a person of personal risk and from harassment and other things the climate as well as the environmental health and safety and comfort experience using the district's many to say the board and administration have made steady progress in these these areas as you can imagine there's a lot of old facilities we've had to update over the years but there's more work to be done I've been there trustworthy team member who has contributed valuable ideas to to the board and to the district and I think it's very important to be able to work with other members of the community the board and and administration I originally ran for this present term to help the kids and other members of the education Community emerge and recover from the effects of the pandemic the work is not yet complete and I'm running now to provide continuity on the most important and effective initiative that I hope will be discussed this evening thank you really appreciate that Jennifer would you like me to repeat the question that's why you running for the school board and introduce yourself yet good evening everybody thanks for coming to listen to tonight my name is Jennifer Friedman I am a former public library director and sure of three grown daughters all of him greatly benefited from excellent well-supported public school I'm a True Believer that strong public schools from the basis of our community a few years ago I attended a rally for education and Central we're right here and Keane and decided that I wanted to get involved in the fight for public education I joined a committee focused on raising awareness of how education policy which was being crafted and implemented on the state level with affecting Local District in the past couple years I've learned a lot about New Hampshire school funding about vouchers about device of concept laws and I spent the last couple years organising rallies and trying to get a pro public education message out to legislators as well as to the public in general this past June I retired after 15 years as a public library director and I now have a lot more time energy to devote to devote to this issue which I feel very passionate about I plan to devote that time energy and passion to the key and school board if elected and hopefully make a difference in the lives of thank you very much Jennifer Jacqueline can you introduce yourself a good evening thanks again for for coming out on a kind of dreary night I'm Jacqueline headings Leon the board I'm finishing up my first term and would be honored to be real active first and foremost I'm the mother of two great young people my son graduated Keene high in Twin funny and I have a daughter graduating this June grew up in public education system proud alarm of Keene State graduated in 89 live in lots of different parts of the country and wanted I'm back to New England we moved here in 2010 I love serving my community for for anyone who knows me my volunteer quite a bit at my church with Moco arts and three years ago I said okay my kids are older I I want to give it a go and run for school board and was elected literally days before the world shut down and little did I know but it has been a true honor and sometime humbling experience these past three years working on school board and I take it very seriously I put a lot of hours into it I'm now serving my second year as vice-chair on the school board and has been you know involved in several of the contract negotiations including the Kea contract that you all are voting on in two weeks and you know why I'm running I care tremendously about our students or faculty or staff were small community it would be pretty hard to not know many people that work here in the district that either your children have his teachers were that are your neighbors are friends and the other reason why I want to run again is you know I wanted to ensure that we have enough candidates running this election that support public education and support our students to become productive citizens and also that just value our teachers and and let them teach in their area of expertise and just turn are the bad candidates that value and understand the importance of public education in the nursery at the time limit I forgot to ask right now 2 minutes and 30 seconds for you okay will do I'll do a better job at keeping you out of town for that that's excellent thank you so much Erica Carter and I'm running for the board because look here for 30 plus years has been a great grape pound bring up kids and to live and Mike my kids all went through the cage school systems they all graduated further education they're all working in the fields are all great and I too am retired recently and so I have some additional time to give back to the community that's given us quite a bit I have been on the board before sure the three-year term ended decade ago and I'd like to be offering myself back up as a resource for for this community and for our students thank you excellent T Jacqueline you're all said he he gave me back some of your time all right let's get into some questions now and but I like to do is start with you Jennifer and please describe your view on the role of public education in our community I believe public education is no less than the foundation of our society we are constitutionally obligated to educate all the children in our community whether they're ours are not it. important it was that important to our Founders and it remains that important public schools are not just where kids learn reading and writing although they definitely need to do that it's also where they learned response to responsible and respectful and engaged citizens and that is equally important this where kids are socialized it's where they're exposed other kids who maybe don't look like them maybe. I don't like them maybe don't come from the fit families who believe the things that they believe but they sit in a public school classroom they learn together they learn about those differences and they learn from each other and what they what they basically learns to be how to be good citizens and how to be good community members and we all need more of that right now we need good community who respect and understand the differences among us so feel very strongly about that excellent thank you Jacqueline same question describe your view of the role publication public education for kids and in the community every student deserves a quality education. And a high-quality education State of New Hampshire right now the goal that they put Upon Our Public Schools is to just provide an adequate education that in my opinion is not acceptable so it's now left in the hands of each School District to work as hard as they can provide not only the basics for student to graduate but it's Jennifer said just be good contributing members once they graduate and that means that they're going to college tech school full-time work you know it it's it's a pain hour of pay later right if if we help a student graduate on solid footing that then helps them be a contributing member in our community or wherever they land on the map and they can then keep that Continuum rather than struggling which then just makes it all the more challenging for the whole community and for that family and and the individual thank you Jack lifter Carter same thing roll what describe your view of the role of public education what they may be there there are many in there I had reverse and we have to ensure that our education is there in all of its diversity for all the things they want to do be at College be at trades being politics be a business or whatever so I think our our our role is to help prepare our students for any of those excellent Raleigh same question thank you I think public education provides a critical role for preparing our kids to thrive academically and socially so they can contribute to our community and to the whole world we should be prefer to increase the students excellence in knowledge habits of work and passion for learning one thing he does really really well as providing a top-level a variety of classes and co-curricular activities many of our kids are already giving back to us with outstanding performances in the Arts and Music shows the theater and athletic performances and we should be and we are producing well the graduates that are able to make good choices from the cell and contribute valuable asset to the community thank you now some of you stated some of listen you in your opening remarks in introducing yourself but we'll start with you Jaclyn what do you see as your your roll on the school board weather what you've done in the past or the future plus I said I'm currently serving on the board so I'm pretty familiar and I had to learn very quickly what it what your guardrails are that you can do and not do superintendent Malay and one of his slides before it started so little my thunder but it's important to remember that the board is there to govern the district superintendent manages it so it's really important to step into every meeting be a committee level or full board level to make sure that we are ensuring that the district the district is being run efficiently and effectively but one of the things that we are so you need to always keep in mind is we always turn back to is this in the best interest of our students and then on a physical level is this in the best interest of our taxpayers for stakeholders but you know one of the things that I'm really pleased to be on as the policy committee and that's where for us is aboard we can really help shape and develop new directions ideas on things that Turner Student Center staff by establishing policies so bottom line it's just it's always about the students it's always about supporting our our staff and just making sure that they're getting you know a quality education and just being there and listening to you know all of you doesn't matter for your parent Community member business person being accessible and available and and I feel like I've done a pretty decent job of that in the past for years thank you Carter What would your role be on the school board experience on the board via three-year period from two 2011 and I believe that while some things will change since then many things will remain the same or similar and so I can get up to speed and be effective perhaps much more quicker quickly than someone without that similar experience as well as three children as I mentioned all graduated from the King School System as well from college and they're all out there and they're filled so I can offer also with parent's perspective of what is successful educational dream tents awesome thank you do you get a chance I noticed as we're asking questions or answering a lot of the questions coming up we going to get a chance to say it more and more time so this way we all pay attention so and so your next as far as as far as seeing what your role of the school board coming up would be Rob already outlined the state department of education requirements and when important invisible ones is creating a budget the taxpayer any committee can live with and for those who are asking for Law and Order in our school keep in mind that it's very rare in the extreme that expulsion hearing come to the board my vision can't stop from school board role is to approach it with professionalism activism and optimism and you should demand nothing less from any of your school board members serving on their team board of education is that heavy have you left we hold the future in our hands where there's worse men are still struggling with unrecovered mental Fitness due to the pandemic it's lingering offense affects the we've had also Reese's and somewhat feels like a tax from our state government trying to defend us and threatening some of our first amendment rights and what and local control of what we can teach no one here is denying the problems and challenges to school. is facing but this Board needs people who can trust each other work together and have a diversity of opinion that diversity of opinion should be muted once we voted on an issue and we need to be United in the solution that we have chosen all right and Jennifer I'm well I'm the only person up here who has not served on the school committee before the time so I think that my answer will be that I will find my way I do have experience creating Library policy I do have experience with Municipal budgeting as a library director I can see myself being abused in those two areas but I think that that the school board you know the role of of as a member of the school board I I think setting priorities for using those tools of budgets and policies and overseeing the superintendent as as a way and tools to set priority for the district and also ensuring that those priorities line up with the Community Values that's really important than what's happening in our school reflect what is important to our community the school board also is a responsible for charting a course for the future of the schools they need to always be looking a few years down the road and I didn't roll my number if that's what our facilities are going to be at what our revenues might be looking like and taking all of those things into consideration so so that there isn't like an emergency or crisis situation that all of a sudden pops because no one was a tip paying attention to the fact that there are going to be 20 less kindergarteners then then there were three years ago so what do we do with that class I think during the course of our charting the course and working with the administrators and teachers on on navigating it is also an important part of what excellent thank you Alice next question phrase it just a little bit differently and it's it it says what experience would you bring to the school board that will benefit staff and students of the keys School District answer that to them some of them are watching even parents your parents of students who have teachers at that are affected by decisions you make what are some of the things you would bring to listen and talking to them how could you benefit them and Carter will start with you well I think I actually use that answer in the prior question yep and that's why we're doing it again she want take to I do have prior experience and doing this and it was very rewarding and I think I was very effective that it had a three-year term and I believe I can come up to speed very quickly with the think I can flatten out my own learning curve a little bit are relearning as it were so I think that I can I know my way through the committee committee structures and things like that and the various High Marquis of things and so I can offer that experience as well as just the experience of a parent with the three kit three great kids who all went through the King School System energy is doing great things out there excellent thank you Riley talking to the students the parents and the teachers what it what you going to bring the benefits for them well I want you to know that I have two kids at Keene high school so I have a lot of skin in the game to make to make it more excellent is excellent as it could be I've served almost two years on this board and I'll 5 if its standing committees and as a liaison a delicate to the New Hampshire School Board Association witches are lobbying organization I also have three years and it served an influential orange like the Keene city council and its various committees so I totally appreciate how all the services tax tax rate Hancock centers in previous to that I was a volunteer and a chaperone for several years it prepared me for this initial experience and I have placed a high value on education I tended Public School Ventura double bachelor's degree in physics and chemistry in a master's degree in engineering I had a corporate career with Fortune 500 Blue Chip companies and was able to grow into Journal business management and executive roles provided career I provide to revisions coaching and Consulting to business executive and ivory Smith a boot debuted as a visual artist my education prepared me to overcome life challenges sometimes very brutal wants and I want Keen kids to have the same or perhaps even better education and orientation towards excellence thank you Jennifer let's talk directly to since the teachers the parents where you going to benefit them by being on the school board so I was a public library director for 15 years and I think that experience gave me some very transferable skills as a librarian intellectual freedom is ingrained in my heart and soul as a board faces issues related to book bands and restrictions on what can and can't be taught in classrooms I'd like to very much like to add me experience in my expertise in this area I also worked closely with teachers in the school district where I worked to make sure that the library collection supported School curriculum so I do have some experience working with curriculums and you know know know know how that process goes so I hope to add to that again all men that I was responsible 15 years in a row for creating library's budget so spending taxpayer money and making sure that it spent wisely and going through the whole budget process is something that I am very familiar with and come I also am a parents of three daughters all of whom went Public Schools I know you know I know how it feels to be a parent and to disagree with some of the Lucy is that a border School District might have and to you know feel kind of helpless in advocating for my for my children so I can offer empathy two parents who who come up against things that they that they are struggling with her that their students are struggling with and I think that's a very important piece of this disposition that you can look at pair can understand what what they're going through and that they are no matter what their position is just trying to do what they believe is best for their child that's that's huge the other thing that I think I have to offer is that I have been working for the past couple years and gaining a lot of knowledge and experience with what is happening on the state level with a G in policy so I already know a lot about fighting about Ruth and just divisive Concepts and about the school funding issue is that New Hampshire has no hurry I feel like I can offer perfect dude we're going to get to those those parts in the second toe Jacqueline same question talking to the students talking to the teachers even the parents why what makes you a good fit for this and how you going to help them sure as I mentioned earlier been a parent for 12 years in this District so I understand that important balance of letting the teachers teach but making sure you're advocating for your child in that I have always seen as as a team effort it's not a what are you going to do for my child we really need to be working on this collectively together from my current experiences and time of the board obviously I've got an I'll let you know if our annual budget process it's a it's a heavy lift in addition to all of the other work that we do throughout the year so I've already got that knowledge under my belt that I can hit the ground running with that I also. Since I've been on the board I've been a part of the negotiating team for two contracts the k e a contract that is is up for you know you vote on as well as the cap contract which is our Keenan principals and administrators keep in mind that in 2024 we've got three collective bargaining groups that have their contracted is going to be up for renegotiation so if I'm chosen if I'm re-elected and if I'm chosen to be on any of those negotiation teams I feel I've been an effective representative on the board with hearing both sides ensuring that we're hearing what the employee wants but then also keeping the taxpayer in mind because obviously that impact all of us and for the students again I forgot had two kids in the school district what's a psych major in college I've had family with a mental health challenges so I am always keeping an eye on what can we do to serve our students with their mental health challenges it's a play hard time right now for adolescents abuse thank you thank you very much all right here is one that's really good Raleigh is there an issue you wish to advocate for for pointed as a member of the King Board of Education is there one particular issue that you want to be advocating for thank you for that for that question in general and very supportive of diverse communication Technologies like those that even those that support social media platform but we've seen it go very wrong when it pierced I'm very concerned with increase of harassment bullying bullying and particularly cyberbullying not just of students toward their families but also directed at families of students bullying someone with a different ethnic or geographical background is not okay and when this gets displayed and propagated on social media you can create a hundred times the number of unwitting accomplices to what we be considered a criminal Behavior outside these walls we have made a lot of progress in this area on adverse incident reporting and have started to educate students and communities how to report them not just those who are experiencing harassment and bullying but also witness harassment activities however we still have more work to be done until everyone feel safe from harassment propagated by a few errors students thank you very much for all Jennifer what would you advocate for if you are a member of the Board of Education well I'm a librarian at heart still intellectual freedom is kind of my thing it's it's under attack here in the state of New Hampshire teachers need to be free to teach what and how they want students need to have access to books even books that makes some adults uncomfortable that they need to they need to have access to every opinion and you know all kinds of information so that is something that I will fight strongly for and advocate for on every level thank you Jacqueline echoing what some others Barty said but I'm just so incredibly infuriated with the auntie. with obtuse all the racism The Bullying it's just it's such a high-level we have a steering committee that just recently formed late last fall with parents and students and superintendent play guiding them that I'm hoping we can really at the district and with board support really work on anti-discrimination in our schools somewhat tied into some of just the inflammatory stuff that's happening on her school's lot of that goes back to the substance abuse vaping drugs alcohol is doing to these kids with their ability to think and act it just elevates just all of that the heightened oppressive language behaviors all of it so we really need to help our kids with the substance abuse feeling good about themselves and just squashing the races in the bullying you know not being kind to others that are just not like you that's just not acceptable in my book that's not how I operate in life and I just feel very strongly that if I'm re-elected that's something that I want to really have our board continue to really spearhead as we finished our way out of the the critical times have covid-19 Q & Q quarter same thing what would you do if you were part of the King Board of Education and what would you do with that this will be a little different when I served on the board earlier we had just gone through the process of Designing and constructing a needed replacement for the Washington Street Middle School it was expensive drawn-out process assassinated by a whole flock of Life Safety and maintenance shortcomings at that time there was renewed interest in diligence when it comes to maintaining our remaining an existing then during this time of service on the board I would like to examine and courage and strength in this needed maintenance to ensure that our facilities are going to blast for us as long as we need to not perhaps the most high I'm producing too many but it's important nonetheless excellent thank you very much all right this is something I had asked robin lay in front of a group that he presented to for my leaders I'm an Aquarius and I think it's one of the most important things give us to you of your greatest challenges facing the key School District right now and how you address them Jennifer. With you I think one of the top priority is attracting and retaining high-quality Educators hopefully the new teachers and tutors contract will pass and that will begin to help the situation but there is teacher says there's a teacher shortage and there is fierce competition for the few that are out there we need to look at every idea possible to attract and retain educate what can we do how can we get I'm here can we do some cities offer affordable housing to police fire teachers who work in their Community is that something we can explore can we offer student loan repayment two new teacher is that something we can do we can explore as an option can we offer a retention bonus is outside of the contract for experienced teachers to keep them here can we offer reduced tuition for their and to Keene State you know what the town that I used to work at they were also losing great employees they realize people wanted pet insurance and they added that to the benefits there are a weather of out-of-the-box ideas that that can and should be explored and I you know I don't know what the answer is I don't know how realistic any of those things are but I think we need bring all the ideas together put them on the table ask the teachers asked the pair has asked the tutors figure it out and sort through what is possible if you want to have that second one. 1 seconds okay but the second one has to do with State funding and Jacqueline same question to biggest good to great challenges and I think you mentioned one is bullying as one of your areas but tell us a little bit more about what you think all of us not just our students and that is the freedom account program for what some folks may know is the school vouchers it is going to end up declining enrollment even more and it's been going to put even more pressure on the taxpayers in any given Community to then close that Gap okay even if we have like say 50 less students we still have to keep the lights on we still have to pay our faculty and staff State won't be paying for that all of you will be paying for that and right now there is no guardrail with this program and senator sununu in his speech has asked for there with Nick I look at yes I do want to misquote the figure you know he wants to reduce it that you know from 30 million to you know that 30 million of 200 million in additional funding for charter schools and education Freedom accounts there's no assessment being done here and again it's all going to boil down to what ZIP code you are in the state of New Hampshire if you're in hiring come get no zip code around here in this state it will be less impactful in our part of the state every cent counts and it's and Paxil for our community yeah and then that the second thing is retention and recruitment of our staff we've got great staff right now but we need to retain them we need to recruit new teachers so that's why we work very hard with the new k a contract to ensure that we are competitive in this area of the state we worked really hard at looking at other contracts that we compete against and also ensuring that teachers that come in at the lower step level can see a significant raise sooner than what is currently 10 years I can't think of any other industry where it takes you 10 years to see a significant increase in your income hi Carter same question two biggest challenges facing the school district right now will the two elephants of the room for the state aid to education and the ongoing teacher shortage that one of the board's rules is to help maintain the district isn't attractive place to Beachland the contract up for a vote this month go Subway in that direction that's a good thing you know as a member you have to sort of be part of your group to log getting any any greater body you know what words at the SAU leveling up to our legislative level to resolve any of those types of things thank you he always gives up a little extra time so everybody else can do for me in Raleigh two greatest challenges facing us right now since you mentioned that I went 10-6 on my last I know you did what you did wrong if you would give me 2 minutes and 30 seconds before you tap me out okay let's do that okay everybody else why not you I like that I like that he has wait let me start again cuz you haven't really even started okay got it the two greatest challenges that I see our smoke cooking and baking culture and the harassment hate communication by students cuz he's go directly to the climate of the students and the school and even outside the school our community and we have reports of us not treating each other with excellence and that's been raising and you know it's easy to understand how some people could fall back on negative behaviors when things aren't going well for them and this contributes to such substance abuse what you realize it's an addiction and has to be treated by more than just punitive measures unfortunately our students and teachers are negatively impacted when these behaviors from the outside come inside the school walls and the vaping culture tends to separate the students into the group that does and the group is does not and although we celebrate the majority of that does not this division start school pride and spirit consist of smoking in the bathroom are down but overall nicotine in marijuana violations are up and that's because of better reporting an action by our by our schools and that truly reflects the maybe to dinner problems that students have been telling us about cuz they've been complaining about that and to dress this I support the new and initiatives of nicotine Intervention when a dedicated staff that's been hired to help him get off the dose addictions and then on the harassment side when we see harassment hate speech in school environment we call it bullying and it's more that we can do about that inside these walls and we can do outside they're going to be reports racist Behavior  switches is not okay and it's at a level that way again was not reflected the high school data that was tracking but do do better tracking in MN listening to you can create an environment where these defenses are being reported we are now able to I'm very optimistic that we'll continue to see positive changes and a focus on diversity equity and inclusion training always important until it becomes second nature to bring out the best in each other you could at that he's got a timer better than I do right now. Excellent thank you very much I think we've heard some of feelings about this but we'll go a little more deep dive onto it and it will start with you Jacqueline do you support the current and proposed voucher programs please explain your position and as you can tell I was kind of passionate about it on that last question but let me add a little clarification first and foremost you know School vouchers whatever you want to call it ultimately you know each student is unique and not everybody is not a one-size-fits-all for some students a public school setting doesn't matter if is King School District or anywhere may not be the best fit I hope that student learn and Excel so I am okay with school vouchers what I am not okay with is what is currently happening where the state laid out an amount of money we've gone way over budget there's been no legislative oversight there's no guardrails there's no accountability that's what I am not comfortable with I'm a taxpayer just like anybody else and I want to support a student that has certain special needs that we may not be able to offer them here but I'm not going to pay and support for let's say that student to take private dance lessons or gymnastics classes were some kind of sport it's something we can offer here I'm contributing for that to be offered here not for a household to get it in some other fashion that I'm the pain my hard-earned money for so without any kind of oversight I'm very concerned that this current program is just going to get larger and larger and we're going to potentially end with students that graduate and really don't have those skills that we've talked about earlier this evening to be able to work effectively in their community and be good citizens thank you very much. Carter as far as you do you support current and proposed out your programs and explain your position please do the issue with the voucher program is based on some articles I've read lately is I did not bring them to site sorry as they primarily take education funding from the public system and redirected to families who are already utilizing public private schools by a large percentage in a one would assume that these four already had the resources to do that so I fail to see the benefit to the overall population of something like that are you old make it a point to write Broly yes I do I support the current any proposed voucher programs no impact my opinion published in the Keene Sentinel last October vouchers in education cream accounts in any form are not good for our schools are our community now some kids can thrive in in private private schools that most of the time their families probably need the couponing discount vouchers and so-called education Freedom accounts money away from public education and pushed the financial burden to the taxpayer Public Funding of private education institutions is wrong for New Hampshire and wrong for Keene I wish more people understood that the school voucher programs and education Freedom accounts raise their taxes are you at Jennifer I do not support the voucher program Voucher Program drains much-needed money away from the public school private schools and home schools that are receiving about your money or totally unregulated any state body there are no requirements regarding their staff or their curriculum and no requirements that the kids be tested to see if they are actually learning anything we're simply handing money to these school or parents I'm saying teach these kids we trust you also at the community pays to educate our kids it's a social contract we pay whether there are kids or not but that with that responsibility to pay the education comes the right and as as taxpayers we have the right to know what these kids are learning to have some say in what the kids are learning to know that that they are learning and once you give this money to private schools and home schools we lose that right I can't walk into any of those top private schools and ask to see their curriculum or their test scores or have any in put into what's being taught public money goes into our community educates our kids and we need to give them our community values and we can't do that if we're getting money to at school and to homeschoolers it's impossible we can do that in the public schools and have some control over over what that looks like right for those of you who was thinking that was good a decisive Vote or they're all on the same page starting with u Carter we're going to ask you to share your views on the the Scythe divisive concept conversations feel free to include your views on any pending legislation 12 that question doesn't come with the definition of the term and there's a number of those floating about so direct response is somewhat difficult something happens it's part of history or something that should be taught if it didn't happen we certainly shouldn't make it up anything else that appears to be revisionist history smacks too much of orwellian for the for me excellent Raleigh thank you I'll do me 19th 2001 Sentinel article accurately reported our views when HP 544 divisive concept of legislation under consideration in the State House deuce deuce quotes I'm going to read here's what I said Raleigh over at the board member who introduced the resolution of Pi a divisive concept Bell said that speaking out against the proposed was not political but rather a matter of promoting inclusive culture and King schools I said I don't believe we should be supporting anything that restricts the advancement of teaching yourself how to better understand each other I would oppose anything that puts restrictions on that and so I'm thinking about our position to this measure as a community action not a political statement he's with the teacher said several local teacher told the Sentinel B their guests proposal in fear it could limit important conversations on topics like race and gender what the school board said that again quoted in the Sentinel we encourage our students to analyze current events in historical constant content context surrounding these events and supporter Educators and speaking openly and honestly at all times the board's resolution reads the language of HP 553 the defensive Khan left bill will suppress the open exchange of ideas and severely limit our students and Educators and exploring diversity that is such a vital feature of our schools and finally even our community leaders dad this is what they told the Sentinel more than a dozen local businesses and groups including C&S Wholesale Inc savingsbankofwalpole the Monadnock food co-op have signed the letter which argues to proposal without by chilling impact on our workplaces and the business climate in New Hampshire our views have not changed excellent thank you Jennifer I believe though divisive Concepts legislation was introduced as a way to make the schools of battleground and the culture wars that are now raging in our country it's being used as a way to pit parents against parents and parents against teacher then I think it's just terrible I oppose any legislation that limits the abilities of teachers to teach the complete History of the United States of America even the uncomfortable Parts I oppose any legislation which threatened to punish teachers for introducing controversial topics in their classrooms and I I really hope to see this legislation overturned as soon as possible thank you and Jacqueline it's really important that we let our teacher teach that's what they went to school for that's why they show up each day to teach our students or history in in all of its good bad or otherwise not to rewrite it or reframe it and the reason you want to do that is because one it makes that student knowledgeable about our world it helps them to be engaged and critical thinkers they need that in the workforce and they need to be able to respect differing opinions but with knowledge behind it not opinion or inflamed skewed perceptions of that history so if we don't teach the facts from the gecko they then enter into the world with a a different understanding of it which then just keeps that hate and that's cute under standing continuing in our society and then also potentially just jeopardizes their ability for employment and it's it's really important that we just let our expertise in the classroom be able to deliver what they do thank you Raleigh we going to start this night question with you and knowing how who were funded here would you be willing to join with other school districts and take a leadership role as a school board member to lobby for increased funding for public schools at the state level how are you first answer is of course and if we don't do that decreased State funding will lead to a crushing tax Burgers even on the citizens of Keene it's already affected the property par districts and many places in the state and the quality of education and access to even an adequate education is already crumbling but I've been a leader in this exact role I'm within our board I've been serving as the liaison to the New Hampshire school boards Association our principal loving organization including serving twice as the official delegate to the assembly to the annual assembly and again New Hampshire school boards Association is our primary way now I've also recently brought to the board I report and proposal on how we can get our feedback to our legislators effectively more frequently and more efficiently that goes both for supporting positive legislation and opposing legislation that's going to continue to be harmful my proposal puts away so far for us to get a more inclusive ski Keene School District in Port rather than just being the liaison I'm wanting more in clue I've been put from the whole school district so we can be more effective I've also publicly supported and he'll campaign signs for and have rapport with state and federal candidates that fight for better funding of school excellent thank you very much Jennifer same question as far as would you Lobby to increased for increased funding in public schools at the state level absolutely do we have no choice can't continue to rely so heavily on property taxes to fund our schools New Hampshire is a is a stand-alone in the way that it fun School and it's in not in a good way that the state needs to come through with more money and the school board we need to use our voice and as a community we need to use our voice to him demand better for our children so yes I definitely be out there the school board is you heard rally say works very closely with me have school boards Association I think it would be very important for us to step up on an even larger involvement roll with nhspca as they helped her Bobby and Concord keep in mind just wanted to sort of legal Nuance to this is it if if any of us are elected to school board you know we cannot Lobby hi I'm Jacqueline headings on Kings District board but what we can do if we're doing something lobbying as an individual as a private citizen that is fine so that is in essence why we have New Hampshire School Board Association because it enables beachboard at any given District to work collaboratively as as a larger body so there's a lot of things going on we get weekly updates from nhspca on the keep us informed and I read every one of those and regularly checking the websites for current legislation so it's something I look at closely already and that you no more more particular this current legislative session I want to sit but my efforts all the more thank you and Carter was like a member of the SAU with a number of other towns and I think you know having that conversation as a group might be able to to provide more of of a stronger group and put them simply the one school district by itself I told her that we're going to do the last question that we have for you here and then we'll turn it off anyone in the audience if you come up to the podium I'll just mention and I'll do it again and if you dress a particular person on the panel here you can address them and now I'll ask the question of everybody as well but finally national attention has been given to the school culture issues and a lot of you have brought that up today including behavior and attendance what do you think are important to promptly address these and other related issues here in the king's school district and I believe Jennifer your Europe for this one first and which which what do you think are important to promptly address in the issues that we brought up today so what schools are a microcosm of society 3 years ago this month our world was upended and good behavior in attendance took a back seat to surviving and staying saying we are still working our way back to the Baseline adults and kids alike the social and emotional health of our student body is not great schools are being asked to teach kids who don't feel safe and secure and that's really really difficult to do there's no quick fix for this problem the only way we can solve these problems are by addressing the underlying problem and that will take the mental health and addiction issues it it's going to take time to address those immediately there there needs to be a greater focus on the Wellness in mental health support in the school they're also need be sufficient staff in the buildings to ensure the safety of the students and lastly students need to kind of really learn what it means to be a part of the school community and they also need to understand that there are consequences when they decide to disrupt that community so it's not a quick fix but hopefully we get there thank you Jacqueline one thing that I plan our current faculty and administrators that they've been working on this year and I'm the liaison for the Keene Middle School and I know that they're also doing this at the high school is in addition to obviously consequences if you know you believe fight you know and would need an in-school suspension and school suspension but more there's an approach now to also Implement what's called restorative practice and the faculty particulate the middle school cuz again I'm the liaison there have been working very hard as teams to I meant that you know what you can't just punish somebody and then not help them figure out okay what's really at the root cause here and it's going to take some time you know this is not a quick fix but it's really all about you know acknowledging what you did wrong own it but you know apologize for it to whomever you have hurt help that student become that you know Tethered to that bad behavior and and move on and move forward and a lot of that is also being supplemented with we've got more more behavior interventionist in our schools they are a critical component to helping our stew that are struggling with mental health again the substance abuse it just it's all sort of intertwined together so working on unit the behaviors trying different approaches and you know just supporting these students and in the next few years is really going to help I feel turn things around with some of the behaviors that we're seeing in the school's right now thank you Jacqueline again for you to what what what efforts you think are important to promptly address these and other related issues here at Keene high school for Keene School District well there are reportedly frequent fights and bullying at the schools is tragic a lot of people are four halves on it where that the board is regularly involved in the dressing and setting consequences for these types of behaviors I I know when I started I didn't not real it was something that the board regularly does but it's true and that regrettably there's likely more of that than there in the last time I served on the board but these efforts will need to continue its it's hard to teach civility but that's the direction that we to to propel this this in thank you I'm Raleigh thank you for the question last year's budget I asked the more money in the budget to staff more hall monitor monitor to our bathrooms wouldn't get trashed you know we got it but it took a while to fill that position those positions and what do you know within a couple of months to his behavior in the 10 issues got public attention yet the school administration Guided by helpful policy instituted by the school board I sat on was able they already had Solutions in in the works and we're already been addressing the issue the board was ask for regular reports on specific behaviors and discipline consequences which they delivered on the super tent intended in the high school administrators begin organizing and presenting the data in a way that the boys and public can understand we've gotten more data coming out shortly outside school suspensions were instituted to Greater degree and are now down versus a year ago and all but one of those two were recovered at students that they didn't stay outside you want to bring them back into the fold inside School suspensions are up but we have more Hall monitors that report behaviors that may lead to suspension importantly the proactive Grassroots organizations actions by the teachers at Keene High School were probably the most helpful part of the solution to Keene Education Association has shown tremendous leadership in addressing negative behaviors and creating an environment where they are reported by teachers not only teach subject-matter Excellence but demonstrate excellence in by engineering and executing culture behavioral solutions they are fully deserving of the new contract and I hope he will vote in favor of it on March 14th thank you really do we have any questions from the audience when I realized it had on up you get like I said if you I'm just address the whole group or was someone in particular let me know and has to be questioned for for everybody so I'm not your man I've met you all and State Rep for district one word one here in Keene I'm glad to hear all of your answers to the question about the divisive Concepts law Aiko sponsored the bill in in the current session to repeal that law I'm curious about your thoughts on other legislation which actually is getting some hearing this this next there are two bills at least that are targeting trans youth in our schools one is the rehab Shiva of a bill from the last session that goes under the name of the parental rights bill it says it's a kind of Bill that's being peddled in state legislatures cross the country then that would require teachers and other school staff of the student were to come to that teacher in and say that you know that that they want to be identified by a different name or different gender but they don't want that information shared with their parent they may be concerned that their parents won't be accepting we have had Public Health officials explained the importance of students having that kind of safe interaction but this there's that one bill that would require Staffing and teachers to report those interactions to parents even if students specifically asked that they not be reported and there's another bill which is having a hearing a during this next week which would ban School olsat from K to 12 from teaching that there are more than two genders it would require students to go by the name under which they were officially enrolled and for the bathrooms for the sports teams in the in all other way this would require them to conform to the gender that is identified on their birth certificate so I am wondering if this is legislation that you've heard about them and what your views are on some of this legislation we're seeing more and more of that is targeting our trans youth I could pick someone to start with but I didn't know if anyone wanted to go for a 7s Carter sure you sound like a capo but not having studied either of those I I really can't sort of formulator guess and opinion on it on the particular question Raleigh thank you for the question my opinion is a matter of public record and was reported in a letter to the editor last October and My Views have not changed we need to oppose the legislation that depicts on peep what are different and requires mandatory reporting you have questioning youth that need the support to help them figure out who they are and why and they need some time to do so it is it is does more damage than good on the mandatory reporting we need to support our are transgender as well as our lgtbq students in the many ways as we can and I am actually working with them with outside agencies to try to get more support in our schools for those for those programs for example big brother has been out of the area for a while and I've been initiate some conversations to get them back into you for the prism program to really help with these with the students and so you know thank you Nick for your advocacy here but we need to protect all all of our students in all of our citizens especially the most vulnerable thank you Jennifer absolutely I completely agree with all of that it's it's insane that they would then talk about bullying this is bullying this is just bullying flat out so I would ask believe who is this legislation and and yes thank you Nick for being active in the Mariah Jacqueline wood Raleigh and Jennifer said yeah it's it's just unacceptable again all of the sort of stuff that's on fire do well in our community right now you know we have to be tolerant of each other you have to respect a person's position whether it's political or you know how I feel about myself and my body that's that's not interfering with with you this is who I am and in our schools you know not every child has a staple on happy home and so if a student comfortable enough to share something with a teacher who they may look look up to and respect and feel safe with they need to feel comfortable that they can share that with that teacher and not haven't reported back to the and this is something that you know it's one thing if it's if obviously the student says I feel very depressed or I feel suicidal that is different we're talking about something that does not harm a classroom does not harm their ability to learn or succeed as a citizen in this world so I've always been a strong supporter of LGBT cue are are trans used let them be could they want to be there they've got a tough road ahead they need to feel safe and supported and this type of legislation serves no purpose doesn't matter in the school district or anywhere in the community thank you very much Nick like you any other questions all right that being said we're going to we're going to do a quick wrap up I want to thank you half of me I want to thank all of you for putting up with me as your moderator this was not as if I didn't go off script so that's a good thing and thank you for your care and your pet open for being on the school board with that of bring it over to Rob and you get the wrap it up I got a few minutes I had around of Applause for Luca did a marvelous job I want to say thank you once again to the folks who turned up we had double-digit through reviewing online so that the overall say thank you to a mt2 Jeremy for keeping us moving forward and making sure we're able to share this event with folks not just in the audience here at Keene high school but what in the comfort of their homes or wherever they tuned in four of you you did a great job you didn't make it easier for anyone who's going to be voted unfortunately on March 14th we all I get to choose three and I think you've made it very difficult for folks who have been paying attention to make that decision but hopefully regardless of those outcomes you all continue to stay involved in active with our school system in our school district for all of our kids appreciate all of your answers and I appreciate your responses I want to give a quick shout-out to my colleague from jaffrey-rindge who sitting in the back and is the current New Hampshire superintendent of the Year Ruben Duncan thank you for coming in and enclosing don't forget March 14th 7:30 in the morning till 7 at night all at the Keene rec center all Wards are voting there for electing three to fill the role of the King Board of Education and we've got some more in articles that are hugely important including the operating budget the teacher contract in the tutor contract hopefully all those will be very favorably met with the endorsement of our our voters here in the city of Keene I want to thank you all once again hope you have a wonderful night hopefully we are not doing too much shoveling on Saturday morning but I can tell you one thing that I'm really happy about I don't have to worry about a snow day with this next event at Allen up so thanks for being here

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