##VIDEO ID:FOszBmjPYVs## yes want and good evening thank you for joining us for our 2024 meet the candidates night my name is Sandra Spinelli and I'm Secretary of matachin PT Council our election is uncontested and tonight we welcome our three available candidates for three positions open for school board introducing Mrs Nadia chetam Mr Chris derflinger and Dr Deborah spner I would like to begin by reviewing the rules for this evening numbers were drawn by the candidates when they arrived and they will respond respond in that order each candidate will Begin by giving a three-minute opening statement in the orders of the numbers that they drew questions have been submitted by local parents residents and students the question and answer period will last approximately 1 hour and in order to streamline the process we grouped the questions together at after their opening statements our moderator will begin asking the candidates questions this will be followed by a two-minute closing statement from each candidate the closing statements will be given in the reverse order of the opening statements tonight we also welcome my co- moderator Maan nokovic Maran is a matachin resident mother of two and co-founder of speaker story bank which is a marketing and branding Agency for public speakers and with that I'll pass the conversation over to Marana hello everyone it is such a great evening because this is an uncontested race it's an opportunity for us to really come together in community and here from all of our candidates and really have an open dialogue together so with that I welcome um um first up um Mrs Dr spner to give us your opening remarks good evening everyone thank you for having me thank you to the PTC for uh arranging this event and having this conversation uh my name is Dr Deborah muhammd spner I'm running for a second term for the Board of Education here in matachin I was elected in 2021 by the matachin residence and now finishing my first term as a board member I live here in matachin for for over 21 years and raised my son who's now out of the school district um together with my family I decided that I would want to run for a second term because I believe that the first term was a great learning experience for me I learned so much from observing my colleagues who are very Dynamic engaging smart people um I learned a lot from the superintendent the staff the the parents and of course the students most importantly um our Board of member uh Board of Ed members are very committed dedicated volunteers who put more than 100% effort to serving students the students of the district and and parents through training provided by the district as well as the njsba I was given the foundation of learning the formal role of a board member the protocols the policies that guided our meetings the ethical Financial guidance and I found all of these to be very very valuable and looking forward to using that foundation for my second term um I hope to help Mentor newcoming board members in my second term I hope to be able to uh provide my expertise to continue to provide my expertise U to the administration in different areas of um experiences that I have I look forward to working with the district uh committee on the AI Implement safe effective implementation of AI um I I also look forward to the completion of the construction project which the district is currently undergoing and all of the uh great things to look forward to that but all of the challenging things in between that we have to um navigate so I look forward to uh an exciting second term thank you for having me and I will speak a little bit more later on about the of things that I've done in the uh the opportunity I've had so far in the board of EDS to serve on a committee especially the equity committee uh which was founded by our former board president and cheered by hisan J Marcus and now I'm heading that committee and I look forward to doing some good work with uh the board and of course without new uncoming board member Nadia thank you thank you so much Mr derflinger so my uh remarks won't be as precise and lovely as yours but uh my name is Chris derflinger I'm running for my third term on the board um I've spent my whole professional life in education this year marks my 17th year in education I'm currently a middle school vice principal in another District so it affords me the opportunity to really bring in my own professional experiences to this capacity um you know some people find that their calling is coaching Sports in town I am not a sports person um some people find you know extracurricular wreck activities their passion this I feel is just the perfect fit for me to contribute to the town that I actually grew up in I graduated matachin high school in 2003 so it's a holistic experience for me and it it really is my ultimate give back to the community thank you thank you so much and Mrs cheetah well thank you for having me I'm really excited to be here especially as a hopefully incoming um new member of the board I've been a matachin resident for the last 14 years um I've partnered closely with District um leaders at speed navigated special education needs um I've always admired the work that the school has done and the willing is a partner I've been an advocate for my family for quite some time and I'll talk a little bit about that later as well um professionally I like to joke I'm a professional caregiver um I work in health and well-being where I develop programs across the globe for people to help really um enjoy their quality of life while working and being successful in their roles I've worked with countless different companies and managing Financial budgets so this has been really just a natural um combination of my personal life and my professional life um coming together to really help serve the matachin residents so I look forward to tonight and getting to know everyone more thank you wonderful thank you so much we have um Rowan Brown the school we're really excited we have a student asking the first round of questions um he is our matachin uh student council executive president Rowan Brown and he has a few questions representing the students um interests and opinions I do thank you for having me here tonight um so my name is Ronan Brown I'm the executive president at the mouen high school uh effectively what that means is I am assisting with the other student councils but it does also give me a perspective where I am able to view all the other grades and try to be a representative for what they would like um so when I received this opportunity I went around the school I was asking around um and my job is to have student views and then display them to you so there were several questions that came up that had a general consensus from the students that had some overwhelming majority so the first has to do with the grading system of matachin high school I know there are many different grading systems in plays across other school districts and I did some research it's called and before the question I think some background information is pertinent um it's called a quality point system and effectively what it does is there are there's a certain standard for each grade level so an a is worth 95 points of that that's I don't know if it's exactly a 95 but there's a certain value assigned to an a certain value assigned to an A Minor A+ all the way down the effect that that can have and this was the first student that brought up this up to me and I I did review it and he was correct is if a student was on the cusp of an A minus and an a as opposed to an A and an A+ so let's say it's a 91.6 and 98.4 I think those are the values those students even though they're at the very ends of either spectrums of the a would at the end of the year have the same grade based on that semester so even though that's seven points apart at the end of the year their grade average would be the same the student was uh he brought up to me that the effort that he would have done to get the grade from that 91.6 to that 98.4 was wasted now academic learning wise I'm not sure it is but the the academic output he is correct his grade does not necessarily reflect the effort that he put in as oppos this would be as opposed to averaging each of the the grades throughout each semester and then averaging the final to have another grade it could have a scany of around seven points I don't know if there's a benefit for this I don't I don't know that's for everybody else here to decide but what I do know is that there were several students that had were upset about this because they felt that the work that they were doing was not necessarily being reflected in their final grade and if it has this discrepancy of seven points you could have a a b at the end of the year as opposed to an A minus or a a b as opposed to a C+ because of this now it does go both ways a student with a 91.6 could have their grade raise but this isn't necessarily reflective of the effort that the other student put in to raise that grade so the question I guess would be if there is any way to to address this if it's even like plausible for this for this change to be made but to represent the student body um a majority of students had concerns about that the second thing which is more of a a precise question I would say um there is a significant group of individuals at the school who celebrate Rashana and it's two days um I do know in the past we had both days off and now we only have one this is one the holiday that stood out to me when I was going around and asking people where students would not attend school whether they had school or not they needed they had some religious requirement the rabbi needed to send a note to them uh to the school to give them an excused absence their question was would it be possible to get this day back from somewhere else just because it's a significant group in the school that celebrates it and the they'd be missing some sort of academic uh activity if they had been if this holiday was still implemented um and again I don't know where that would be taken from I don't know how that would work but that was another thought that they had um and just to wrap up it's not a question but it was uh a series of comments that was overwhelming majority of the students that the school had so I just wanted to address it to everybody here in regards to the final finals midterms quarterly system among the students that I asked everybody that had taken quarterly and finals did not want to do quarterly again I don't know again if there's a benefit to quarter Le that the students are not made privy to but I do know that based on the experience of those who had taken quarterly and finals the overwhelming majority did not like quarterly and would have preferred midterms or finals um I did also have the opportunity to speak to several AP teachers who are about this who need to balance work and just to add some play devil's advocate here there was some it was all across the Spectrum there some teachers preferred quarterly some preferred midterms and finals some preferred finals but from the student perspective finals midterms was much more popular than thank you guys thank you oh I'm sorry do you want to stay up there own for a few seconds so that they can you yeah and and Mr derflinger if you would begin just the questions were around the grading and holidays um would you like to make some comments so there's a lot of variables and all of those points that you bring up there is um and it's they're loaded topics when we're talking about high school and the high school experience um I've chaired the curriculum committee for a few years now and as you're talking these are themes that have come up in our in our own committee meetings and I know Mr parowski had presented the idea of quarterly and I know that was actually backpedal as it was implemented because there was that recognition oh hold up we don't really like this is not actually helpful and beneficial to students so kind of mid year Mr parowski actually put the breakes on that and kind of backpedal to a more traditional final midterm schedule because of the feedback so what I would really urge for you to do there are people at school that are hired to listen and gather and and collect all of that information to implement change I have to be completely honest with you on the board level our job is not to get into the weeds of all of those details right because essentially you could get into thousands of different weeds right when we're talking about a whole school district the real goal and objective of a board member is to oversee policies to oversee um implementation of those policies and how they're connected to guidance from the Department of Education and then to work through the superintendent right so what I would really encourage you to do voice all of those opinions to Alana curtain your your guidance supervisor um Mr parowski himself emailing him collecting all of those ideas and presenting that to him because he's the one that comes to the curriculum committee to say hey based on the feedback that I'm hearing from students and teachers I'd like to present this different opportunity right so it kind of goes from the bottom up so to speak so if anything to respond to all of it combined I would really say student voice is critically important you have a student representative on the board now who can also speak to some of those things directly to the superintendent right um so there there are opportunities to get those concerns heard and they're addressed through committees on the board but via Avenues via Avenues yes so I would really encourage you guys to kind of mobilize that communication and take all of those things that you're hearing and present it to the people that can can really Implement change thank you yeah thank you and Mrs chetam would you like to add to that Chris answered it very well but would also take it a step further because we're going to talk about you know goals that we have but you know your parents and your adults are also really important Advocates there are public comments sessions that are part of Board of Education meetings so I would encourage you to also use the chanels that you have but then also encourage the adults and yourself included to come to those Board of bed meetings you know frequently and so when we publish those agendas to have those dialogues um just so that we can make sure that it's top of mind and your thoughts are in our thoughts I guess in or not in alignment me but we can recognize those when we have those conversations Dr Muhammad spner yes um ran that's really articulate and I really appreciate you uh getting the pulse from the students and bringing this um these set of questions to us um and and of course uh Chris is really the uh the key person here in answering that because he've been in chair in that committee for a while the curriculum committee and of course the rest of us um if even if we're not under the committee we read the notes ween listen to the discussions we hear the points uh brought up and the uh the deliberation just um know that there's a lot of it's always the best interest of the students in mind when we make these decisions right and um and it's really tough when you're in high school especially right and you're preparing for college and that experience and you think about your grades and what it means to you and and I I really appreciate that as a student uh you know as a as a professor in um in higher educ ation I I I dealt with that with my students as well so it really doesn't change when you get to College you really want to make sure you you get a fair grade and you're graded in a fair way and everything like that so I appreciate you advocating for the students and then students themselves advocating for themselves just continue to be a good practice as you become an adult and I don't have much other than what what Chris said um except to say that um uh you know it's it's a the overall experience in high school which um and not to diminish what you said at all is you know um just that full experience of not just a grade and I know that's that's you know kind of you know minimizing a little bit what you said but it's fair hopefully hopefully right um all the other experience working with other students um advocating for yourself and and making your voice heard uh continues to be that that value system that you guys have and I hope uh it brings this discussion really brings some change or some at least more discussion and depth to the discussion make some some changes that you might want to see thank you providing me the opportunity to seek those Avenues absolutely thank you guys of course you of course well I have to say that opened up a question that we have towards the end but I think we're going to pick up where we are now and keep this energy going because um Mrs chetam you said it also that there are parent Advocates to this equation and I think one of the things that we're here to talk about tonight is as a community how do we help Inspire more Community involvement from the parents I'm sure it's difficult to be a part of the board where people often come out with their comments uh when their only challenges to be discussed but we don't come in community enough to say well let's talk about how these kids are flourishing let's talk about how to do that more um and create sort of an inspired energy around that um so picking up with that Mrs cheetah would you like to add to that how do you have any uh ways that we could encourage the community to do that and be a part of it it's a great segue and that's actually one of the reasons why I do want to run for Board of Education because I strongly believe in transparent communication advocacy um supporting students meeting them where they are partnership you know all of those different social emotional um Avenues but again it it really starts with being present and so one of the things that I'm hoping to do is you know as Dev mentioned the first year is really learning as much as possible about all the various policies and procedures I know um it seems like a daunting task but it takes time um but I think effectively when you Learners policies and procedures you can better advocate for students um for good or if they need help with opportunities for development right so I think really just being able to build those relationships um to be transparent in Communications to help explain what the policies and procedures are because you know everybody learns differently adults included right so just making sure that we're able to build those relationships founded on trust and we're keeping an open dialogue communication to your point shouldn't just happen when we're you know not at our best moments but we're our highest moments too um I think there's opportunities to build those relationships in the community amongst our teachers our staff and our administrators thank you Dr Muhammad spner so um I was very uh heartened and and happy to learn when I started on the board about how many different District committees we had how many other uh types of committees other than the board committees um that the superintendent has facilitated and the and the district itself um with collaborations between parents and and the district um staff and and um faculty as well as students and I think that is really important um for us to include the pulse of you know the broader Community um and I I think we take it very seriously right we hear from these committees all the time and whether it's the on racial Justice whether it's on AI you know a whole broad spectrum of of of um areas that that's really important to our students our students um you know they not just their academic uh performance but certainly their safety the environment that we create the learning opportunities and things like that and you know we none of us could claim to know everything um and even you know in terms of planning for what we the changes in our environment and understanding how you know these different changes impact different uh stakeholders within our communities it's really really important to have that feedback and the Board of Ed meetings the public session is one Forum uh where we would love to see um you know a good turnout even if you come to observe right and I know people observe on Facebook and and um recordings and so on but it it's great to hear from from the community it's good to have that participation I would encourage anyone who wants to run to consider running because you know we the A diversity of backgrounds in in this community is a growing uh different representation of different groups in this community so there's various ways to continue to engage the community and I'm I'm happy to see that happening and I think we can always do better with that so hearing from the community and what else we can do differently what other forums what other tools we can use to uh communicate um is always a good thing thank you Mr derflinger yeah I'm kind of just thinking about you know the public forums that we have for Community participation and you know I think sometimes the public gets a little dissuaded to voice things because they come to a board meeting it's it's a I mean we try to be be fun with it but it is a little stuffy you know it's it's got this very organized Vibe because it has to it's a business meeting right so the public portion is not designed for this back and forth so sometimes there might not be a response because it's going to be a follow-up email after the meeting right there's there has to be appropriate V menes to do things so that we can run our business meeting orderly and and get things done but on that note I I'm kind of reflecting back on my own Journey as a parent in matachin I mean there are organizations within our Township that are very connected to the schools that I think have so much power in terms of G um uh I almost said garnishing we don't want toar garnering people to to contribute positive ly to the schools we've got you know matou and Education Foundation that's actually where I started contributing and they're a great group of people that try to try to bring finance and support to to different grants and different applications for for things in the schools we've got the amazing PTO who are always looking for volunteers and you really get an amazing pulse of the school buildings when you when you involve yourself in those organizations because you hear what the needs are you you see what the the students are gravitating towards you see what equipment they love to play with you see the the curriculum materials that they engage with most and that they they're drawn to so I think you know in terms of the Board of Ed perspective that might not be like the best place for Community involvement in the sense that we're able to hear everybody and take everyone's feedback and Implement all of these wonderful ideas it it just is not the reality of of the function of a board of education but there are things on the ground level Grassroots that are really impactful and that are really important to school districts and I think anyone who has any inkling inkling to wanting to get involved should absolutely start there that's a great place to start yeah thank you all so much for the robust dancers and so authentic and deeply connected and I think we'd all like to encourage the community and as a community member I could do better job too getting online and and just sharing ideas in an open form or talking about the different ways we have an open Forum so I think if there's a takeaway for all of us here is that we have incredible members of the board and you we should come as often as possible to those meetings to meet you in person and be able to talk to you after the meetings a little bit and understand a little better how we fit into the puzzle so thank you for that um kind of staying on this track a little bit um because we mentioned even social emotional learning um and it's a really important key Focus for us uh I think everybody on the board in the school parent parents we all care about it so deeply how can we ensure that our schools you know particularly at the middle school level because here it's the toughest sometimes right in the middle school level they're growing in different ways hormones are bursting there's Nuance to the way we create psychologically safe spaces for children to listen to superiors and their teachers not be afraid of them um how do we how do we stay on course with that create those spaces and what strategies would you propose to address any gaps that we might be seeing between oural goals and the students experiences and for that we begin well miss chadum left off after Chris talked no right I think I think Dr Muhammad spner goes first on this one yeah because last so yeah there was a lot said there and this is a very um important topic and I know the district has prioritized resources uh through curriculum through training uh across the board um different sessions for parents uh certainly incorporating in the curriculum and of course in the administration um the a board members don't get specifically involved in in day-to-day things but we do um get a report we do discuss in curriculum uh Equity committee which I'm the chair of now um we discuss these different issues um not you know specific issues in the classroom but specifically kind of how we continue to support students emotional learning the social is the support that we can provide how do we make it from My Lens it's always the equity lens uh fairness right fairness and we all have rules to abide by but how do we uh Implement that rule fairly but also keeping in mind that these are these are children uh children you know can be the cutest the sweetest closest to our heart but they could also be you know uh go when they're going through especially that Middle School time right I remember when my son uh was entering Middle School did principal then you know talking to the parents on that open night that they have uh told us your your kids are going to come in here as young kids and they're going to leave this middle school as young you know uh like teenagers right and and uh approaching young adulthood so it's it's a really tough transition time and I know Chris has a lot of experience in this uh because he he works in that at field as well of that area of uh learning um but it continued to be um a priority a priority for the school district uh a concern for us in terms of um supporting our students with the best way we can with the resource prioritizing those resources um as parents ourselves like we're all parents my son is out of school district but I know the all the other board members I have currently have students in scho in the district or have had students in a district um it really is always um at the top of you know of parents mind as well as the administration mind continue to provide that support and um to be really mindful that now that we have uh so much more in the environment as students are growing up in to challenge us as adults and how we help them navigate that and how we help them you know learn to continue to respect each other's boundaries and and um you know each other's differences you know specifically from from the things I've I've uh researched and done have U focused my work on is about um building that cultural competence within ourselves as adults so we can then help the students navigate life with that kind of lens and appreciation wonderful thank you Mr derflinger so I think I think there always is this um maybe sense that sometimes there's over overacting in terms of response to student behaviors or overreacting should I rather um and I think when we think about I mean raise your hands if you remember Middle School being cool calm and collected for you it's not it it is a very exciting age that comes with sometimes a lot of tumultuous change you know and I think it's the age where we're doing our final testing of boundary boundaries and we're really trying to establish our Norms as a human being and we're trying to test all the parameters and see how much we can get get past and how much we can push so it's really a balancing act of legal requirements of the school for example you know something that might be perceived as just a simple joke but if it fits the category of racial bias we are legally report we are legally required to report it to the police department that might appear like an like an overreaction but it is a legal requirement so the balancing act that you have to do between being kind compassionate caring loving um nurturing supportive but also upholding policy um fulfilling legal requirements making sure we're communicating with all parents and families involved I mean that doesn't happen in a few seconds that's a time consuming it's labor intensive so a middle school environment is extremely challenging to to maneuver and to organize and to to keep calm from you know from from keeping disruption from happening I mean all of those pieces are really important to creating a learning environment so it's I wish there was an easy answer I wish it was something that I could say as a board member I can go in and meet with Mrs aavo and Miss Evans and say this is what I want to see at the school however that is not our role as board members but that's not to say that if there are experiences that are had by students that really created more um stress or more struggle for a student it's really important for one the student to advocate for thems because in middle school that's where we're really trying to develop that independence from students you you email your teacher you Advocate to your uh vice principal or your principal when you've had a bad experience speak to that we've all got email we have instant access to everybody in the school email your concerns as a student and voice those concerns I think there's so much power hearing from the student directly and CC your parents on it right so that your parents are looped in but you're pushing the message out yourself I think it's really really important to encourage our kids to do that so I I think it's a loaded question with a lot of different interpretations for responses but when I when you really get to the Crux of it it's the communication part and making sure that when there are experiences happening at school that are negatively impacting a child that you're speaking to the right people about it and I would really encourage the student to really speak to it you know now's there time to really develop the life skill of communicating when things are uncomfortable right it's in middle school so yes thank you Mrs tum I'm going to answer from a different perspective um as the parent of neurodiverse children I absolutely want the administrator Administration in the school to follow all applicable rules and regulations and policy policies um as it relates to protecting my child and all the other children in the building um from the neurodiverse perspective you know our kids can't always express when something's hurting them they can't always advocate for themselves and so in lie of them being able to use their language in the way that you know we typically communicate um I want the administration to protect them I want the laws that are in place to be enforced to protect my child and again to protect all other children and I'm looking at it again from The Advocate side of the neurodiversity um perspective because again they can't always advocate for themselves so I have the trust that the leaders in charge are following the appropriate regulations um in addition to that also I think it's really important to partner on the building level you know I've got kids at Edgar I have kids at um uh cble I've also had children at moss and at each one of those intervals and consistently um I do try to partner with the administrators in that building the teachers so that we're always communicating um when again when there's an issue when there's not an issue just so we have that open dialogue um I find that if I'm always communicating if there is something that happens or there's something that's troubling you know we just have that that report already built up it's not always Pleasant you know especially as a child of a parent as a parent of a neurodiverse child um but I know that a conversation is going to be had because we have that relationship and so I think it's really important again um for the adults to keep those lines of communication open um and again from the neurodiversity perspective is to make sure that those procedures are are in place to protect all of the children thank thank you so much and fair point about the student advocacy part yeah it's true true thank you both thank you all um so thinking about technology use in our schools we've certainly had a whole lot more of it and certainly since covid but how do we balance technology with kind of getting back to teaching and and helping students be curious and you know we hear from from some students that sometimes far too often they're asked use their technology get on the computer do different things online um rather than just having an engaging conversation with their teachers and kind of old school teaching how um how do you find that we can look at that differently and this would go to you first Mr derer so I think from the board member perspective I think one one area that that would really fit perfectly in his curriculum right so when we're you know at this point um in the year with the supervision of Dr Herzog our assistant superintendent the district is really going through an update of all of the curriculum documents I mean it's it's a massive task and and the staff are the curriculum writers that were hired to do the job or doing it with Fidelity with with so much um commitment to to making it right those are areas and and places where you can look for that balance right because as we're developing our curriculum we're we're selecting programs that we're using for Math and for LA and for social studies and Science and you know programs love to use the buzzwords because that's what sells the product right so I think being mindful of what they're selling if it's very tech technology driven technology forward and you're trying to look for more of that balance that's maybe not a program that we would we would want to we would want to bring into our our school district I think it's also again back to communication so if parents are really feeling that students are struggling with that balance it has to come to the attention of the people who are making those decisions such as the assistant superintendent who's leading curriculum right or the curriculum committee through me as a board member so you know parents coming to to me and talking to me and emailing me about their concerns with technology those start the conversations in the curriculum committee about that topic and that's where we can oversee implementation of of change if we need that balance so it's it is multifaceted it is very relevant in all of the education world today I mean you know if you're looking at any social media that has anything to do with education it's typically you know technology exhaustion it's typically you know teachers trying to balance 900,000 different things so you know what the big themes are and technology is definitely one of them so it's really just about communicating when when the imbalance exists and having those conversations in the right place thank you Mrs cheetah I'm I think we can all agree that technology is here to stay um we see it you know in schools we see it professionally it allows us to collaborate effectively it allows us to freely exchange ideas in the quick capacity I think that you know there's a place for it um in the classroom but also you know meeting students where they are so I think that you know it's important I don't really have too much to add beond that but also one thing that I do want to know is that what I really admire is that um the school is also taking steps to make sure that um it it's digitally digitally safe um there parameters in place to make sure that when students are learning they're learning and they're engaged in what they're supposed to be learning right um there are boundaries and things to keep them secure on the computer so I really appreciate that that is an effort that the school is making they're using technology responsibly um so again kudos to the district for doing that I think it's really really important but to Chris's point I mean technology it's here it's it's not going anywhere so you know using it to our advantage is only going to help our students Dr Mohammad sper um you know we grew up about technology and we had to actually physically go to the library which really boggles some kids Minds these days no we have a lot of kids who go to the library today I appreciate that um I just I think yes that balance is is certainly needed um and we see how much just strain and the stress of overuse of technology has on adults so for for kids uh it's really very important for us to have um to weigh that when especially as a learning tool or teaching tool in the classroom there's a lot of um consideration and I Know A District does a really good job of that as Chris said to to um just a the type of technology and um be able to provide the you know the most effective safe um I also like would like to hear more of the conversation about the especially as AI comes around about equity right um is was this uh large language model which is AI um uh uh was a developed and Equitable with equity in as it Foundation as its key Foundation because um all our students are not the same they come from different colors different backgrounds different genders and there's already very very much um uh researches showing how much biases built into AI so we have got to be wary of that so these are you know big things and I am really happy that our AI committee here in the district is doing a wonderful job and go in front of that and and have the research and and is very aware of things like that but but fundamentally our kids learn in different ways and there are kids who are very motivated and independent and they will appreciate technology and Technology across the board might be the best thing for them and there are other kids who are not as independently learning and uh and self motivated or have it take a while to get to that that level so we have I think in the classroom have to keep that in mind we're not in a classroom so we look at the policy um but we I think we put we we bring that to to our discussions in the committee right like how how effectively we're using these tools what is students benefiting from it and how can we do things that with more balance so I appreciate the question yeah thank you so much and of course being mindful of time and that we want to give um time for your closing remarks as well we'll have two more questions and this one goes to Mrs chetam first um you know what are the top three priorities that you are looking forward to um within your role on the board um so and un forun I hate to be redundant but the first thing is going to really be to learn the various policies of the district the guidelines how they're applied um I think to be any to Be an Effective Advocate you have to understand how things work right so learning is really going to be key and then with that learning hopefully being able to help make that information more accessible more digestible um to our broader Community um again I think we are our ultimate goal is to build relationships and to you know make sure that the community's trust in US is there and I think part of that is you know making sure that they understand why we're doing things um you know that we have these committees what we're working on and so to the effect that we can communicate that I think that's going to be really key um and just really helping to empower you know the parents the adults of children in the district um so those two and then also again to promote Community engagement at those meetings I think it's just critical um and once you know parents and adults are more involved they can learn you know how to help their students they can learn how to partner effectively with the district I think those are really really key and I know I had three but just one more um and I just want to go back to that part of understanding the policies and the procedures is I really want to make sure that I'm able to understand how those can be applied to promote inclusion opportunities um especially again I I come from the background of looking at neurodiversity um I'm a blended family so I also have a child that's lgbtq plus but just really understanding how those policies and procedures are there to support all students um so that way we can more effectively partner thank you um Dr Muhammad spner so the priorities i' I I've spoken to uh thought I think across the board of last uh few answers but um diversity and Equity is for me a very key u topic diversity of side of the coin it's a reality we Face we live in a very diverse community and we're all we're going to continue to you know be more diverse for you know years to come for this foreseen future um and Equity is the other side of that coin is how do we continue to um you know create Equitable spaces uh Dia spoke some of those things how do we um you know ensure that when we're implementing things like technology which I spoke about it's it's Equitable for for people with different uh you know students with different um levels of abilities and and processing capabilities and all of that that those are really those two things together is really important for me and the work that I do but also my personal values um theal um topic that we discussed earlier on continues to be a priority for me um and and very much relates to the Dei or diversity and Equity um topic that I talk about ear I talked about just now um to continue to um you know be mindful of of those things that's impacting our kids and know when you read um research news stories uh telling us how much pressure not only kids have but parents have in today's world um it really kind of uh translates itself into a lot of the pressures we see going a lot of the things we see going on in schools the things that we we are challenged with um in in creating that safe and and um supportive environment for our students so I'd like to see us continueing to challenge ourselves to be able to um you know effectively meet those needs but we you know it's always sort of that um trying to be in front of of an issue sometimes is very you know very uh challenging especially with limited resources it's not an excuse It's Kind of a reality um but I'm glad that we're on the board we have a whole array of expertise uh and we can continue to um help um work with the administration to to create even um you know more use evidence-based practices specifically to create that safe and supportive environment and of course I spoke about the technology before safe and effective use of Technology continues to be um an area of interest for me um because it has so many implications good and bad and so I'd like to see us um continue to do the good work that we're doing but to be um in front of changing technology and how it impacts our students and I know that even our state is looking at ways we can take the phones away in the classroom and have our students there sort of um experiments going on across the state and across the country um about taking phones away in the classroom and and how that would impact uh students and their moods and their emotions and regulating their emotions and I think that's a really um important place for us to um to be at it's because we were seeing the data showing how much use of social media phones and so on are impacting our students in their daily life so from that perspective thank thank you thank you Mr derland thank you I I really believe that consistency is very important in education and you know reflecting on who the board members are currently and our you know incoming board member I feel like in terms of talents and skills and expertise we we come from very different backgrounds we have Educators on the board we have people in Finance on the board so where my interest might not lie in looking at the bill list or the list of bills Eric sus has always got his eye on and I appreciate him for that because he's really combing through the financial details of those of those reports so in terms of consistency seeing through construction is really important for me it's one of my top priorities though I am I'm blessed to be working with colleagues on the board that can memorize details and and know like you know all the details of construction like the back of their hand I'm not one of them but we're working with colleagues that that are able to fill in those informational gaps for the public so when Brian glasberg is making his report it's very precise and thorough you know so we have we have that consistent Talent on the board and I'm I'm honored to be a part of that so seeing construction through is is one of my top priorities in that same line of consistency I know every board member currently would agree to say that student wellness well-being and safety is the top priority of every board member sitting on the board currently and obviously incoming as well um and you know there have been strides in that in that area as well we have a director of security in the district who's looking at all the buildings and infrastructurally what can we do to make it more safe for for the student population but also on an emotional level and a and a social level what are we doing to really support their mental well-being and you know Dr harzog really pushed through a referendum a couple of years ago that really brought in a lot of those mental health services to our our school district so that's one priority and then finally work in curriculum and really making sure that our programs are topnotch that we're utilizing the best resources possible to fulfill state requirements and and to use those State Standards to develop programs and and education that really fits our town and is is is really inclusive of who we are as a district yeah thank you so much I have to say as a community member as a parent I first just want to thank you all for just the amount of time the insights the passion that you bring to this and Mrs that you will be bringing to this and um and with that I think the last question um I kind of want to phrase it as just to hear from all of you about really what excites you about the roles that you've had or coming into the role now um but also in a way for anyone in the community to hear back from you how they could also be thinking about it you're kind of mentors in this as well so as we at home you know listen to this um how could we engage more like we talked about maybe think about being on the board as well in the future but just continuing to grow that passion and how does that stem again from your own inspired activity in your role um and for that I believe oh my goodness I lost track I think I we we have Dr mam We Begin there so um I have been we've been invited to um different community events over the past especially over the past year and I think uh there's so much going on in our community right now with uh different groups highlighting cultural differences um different backgrounds different um celebrations different things that we were invited to as board members but also as you know part of the community um and I've been just so so happy to to participate when I can just to be there if even though I don't have to say anything as a board member usually don't speak on behalf of the board when we go to these events but just to observe to listen to um you know to especially when the kids turn out like you know I to one of the U lgbtq balls and I thought that was so much fun um I was just so excited that us our kids have a safe place in in their communities as well to be themselves and to be who they are and um and to let them know that we love them you know and I think I appreciate doing that I I talked to other um people in the community who might ask me about you know what my experience is on the board I'm happy to do that anytime um um to share my experience to encourage other people to um you know to observe the board to be you know especially if you have kids in a district or even if you don't you're a taxpayer right and this is a really core part of our community is the school district so um I always appreciate hearing from from everyone and um you know listening as well when when I'm not my wearing my board member hat as well just to to be mindful of what's going on and and how we can be supportive and how we can bring some of those things back to our role as a board member when we know what's what really parents um you know what their pulses are you know get the PS of the parents and especially when the kids also uh free to express themselves and we should listen and and pay attention and and use some of that for for the work that we do thank you so much Mr derflinger I think the one biggest takeaway that you know when I'm reflecting on the question you know the the concept of public school we have every child in town in one building it's going to you know we're talking chalk full of personalities we're talking chalk full of issues everyone's bringing in everything with them right so I think you know as corny as it sounds it takes a village is not an understatement I think that is what a public school is it is the village you have the support systems there it is the the the living breathing live Community right so in terms of what people can bring I think you know know always having a sense of justice and what's right is absolutely important and and things make will rub you the wrong way and make you feel angry and upset but I I feel the way to address those concerns and address um impacting positive change is to approach the conversation with a heart of wanting to make things right and to keep children and students at the center of everything we discuss that is the role of the Board of Education and the school district is to serve the children children so coming with that heart in a conversation I think is a great starting place as opposed to this is my my opinion and my opinion is more important than your opinion that doesn't get anywhere so it really is a village mentality and it really is about students first wonderful thank you Mrs cheetah gonna try not to ramble here because I am super super passionate about public schools about the schools in general um you know I went to Public Schools I am still uh Facebook friends with my Spanish High School teacher you know I don't speak Spanish well but again we still have a relationship um I will say that um the schools are the heart of this community you know I've purchased my second home here um I didn't leave because of the schools when my daughter was sick um in Moss I'll never forget the kindergarten teachers walked came over to our house on Thanksgiving Eve with apple pies um and I was like this town is amazing um you know at Campbell um you know there's teachers like Miss Anderson that are am amazing that are always communicating with parents we have Dr C you have you know the ad edar Administration you have all these wonderful people but I think part of that's because the school attracts the best talent and we want to continue to attract that talent in the way it's going to serve our kids and I think what I'm really passionate about is helping our schools to continue to thrive um we Dr herol pushed through that amazing mental health referendum with the construction which will hopefully you know make the schools house less kids at the lower levels um for example in the Middle School all of those initiatives are really important to continuing the quality of Education that our students deserve and that their parents and their adults expect and so I'm really excited to be a part of that and to keep progress moving forward um because you know we're not going backwards we're only going forward and my touch is going in the right direction I mean you know anyone can try find a house it's quite difficult um you know the taxes are what they are a lot is because we have a really great school system and so I just want to continue to be a part of that and continue to support it continue to support our teachers um because when they're supported you know they can support our students well um it's really important about giving back to this community that has served me so well and that it's our time to really be able to serve the community in the same capacity so thank you all so much well it is time for closing remarks um and we're supposed to go in the opposite order so that again means this is you Che you want to drink of water before you go for it U no I mean thank you for holding the session um it's really great because a lot of people have asked me you know why do I want do this I'm so busy and you know it's time you know I think all of the adults you know at a certain point you know how can I get back to the community and so for me you know I volunteer in a variety of different capacities I work with Dr C's I'm Community advisory committee I'm always volunteering in the classrooms when there is a possibility I volunteer with Phil hockey whever I can raise my hand I try to but I'm really excited about diverting a lot of my time back to the schools um where I can stay focused on specific um strategic initiatives where I can really help to use my professional skills in health and wellbeing and financial planning and strategy um to really help again for the progress that we are making it's going to take a lot of effort right we've got major construction underway we've got you know education initiatives right behind that as Chris mentioned we've got you know um curriculum changes coming there's a lot happening and so I think it's all hands- on Deck I'm so excited to be a part of that I'm so excited to really commit myself to that progress I know it's a lot of work um but you know nothing is easy and so matou and one thing that we do is we push excellence and so I'm so excited to really to do that and to really again um go back to say again is really helping um the neurodiverse community the lgbtq plus community and their children and their adults um really to understand you know how we can be better Advocates of that that group of people because I do think you know with any Community you're going to always have different groups but how can we promote inclusion and accessibility amongst the folks that need it and so there's support to be had across all groups but I'm really hyper Focus too on really serving that Community as well thank you so much Mr deringer thank you um so the six years that I've served on the board have really afforded me the opportunity to network across the state and one thing that kind of rings true throughout the state is that mat matachin is one of the role models of the state in terms of collaboration in terms of ites District committees and connects them with boites so that we're working and fering a culture of collaboration and I know that sounds like a lovely buzzword but it really is true that matachin is at the Forefront of that work um and matachin is usually brought into conferences to speak on it because it's not typical that you have a school district based on collaboration and and that is the foundation of the district and so you know the Excellence of the district and and and all of the the um the things that have been initiated that have fostered that sense of collaboration is what I'm all about I love that that speaks to my heart so it's an honor to serve matou in it's easy to serve matou in in the sense that you're proud of matou in because it really is a tremendous School District so I am very happy to to serve another three years on a board like a town like ours in mou in thank you thank you so much Dr Muhammad speak than thank you so much and thank you to the PTC for having us here tonight I really enjoyed this conversation and I wish we could have more of these I know but um I served on several committees I think almost all committees over the last three years except for curriculum so Chris we have to talk about that but Chris does great work on the curriculum committee but hopefully I get to serve on that committee too coming up my second term um in on the the privilege of serving as chair of the equity committee Now is really um uh my really great interest of mine um we did some really good work over the past year with um the superintendent and uh and and Dr her herself um we we worked with um with them on looking at our hiring practices recruiting hiring practices to see how we can make that um uh align with some best practices for more Equitable um outcomes for hiring diverse faculty um as our students get more diverse as I mentioned earlier I think we need to see that reflected in our our faculty as well I I must say the administration really did hear us um uh took the research that we brought to them took the ideas that we had and really Faithfully um implemented some changes which we were happy to see and it doesn't necessarily lead to all the outcomes we want to see immediately but we know that that it's in the right direction we and the equity committee we um identified uh professional development uh for faculty helping uh the administration with looking at ways they can continue to build the cultural competence I spoke about earlier in in our faculty and and and we know that the faculty is really always open to various PDS to improve their skills overall so we're happy about that that work um we uh we also looked at ways to uh you know to um address things like what do we do for for students who do not got a college who are not College Bound when they graduate how we can make have some different opportunities for that group of students because we're so focused on the kids going to college which we should be but what about those students who are not College Bound and so that was I thought was a really good um issue and and uh looking at that across the board to see how we can um bring some resources discussion and other things to the table for that so I I look forward to serving uh a second term um and I thankful I'm thankful for the maachan community for electing me the first time and of course I look forward to serving his second term um and working collaboratively with uh uh a board and seeing the exciting things coming up in our school district and working with parents and students uh continuing to listen to and advocate for uh uh uh students especially who are often times um doesn't have the the The Voice or the the resources ability to speak with themselves thank you so much and Sandra before I pass it off to you for closing I mean again as a community member as a parent thank you so much but you know Chris what you said about um collaboration this school district being based on collaboration that's kind of not that it's new you feel it and sense it but what I've heard here tonight and what I hope everybody at home has heard too is again there's so much opportunity to grow together learn from one another help each other out but we have to show up right we have to show up and and maybe you know I you know being able to see it at home and on Facebook and follow it is one thing being in the room when you're having the conversations meeting you afterwards getting to know you a little bit better and as a community and I rais my hand to say I have to do that better too so I'm going to try to show up more and be a part of those conversations but there's so many Dynamic wonderful con conversations happening on the board and you know it's really wonderful opportunity for all of us to learn from you grow together and thank you again for your service absolutely thank you for being part of the solution volunteering is being part of the solution and if you have something that's meaningful to you come forward there's so many organizations groups to be a part of um and this concludes this year's meet the candidates night thank you to all of you for watching at home and of course thank you to our candidates for taking the time to be with us this evening um the three terms that are opening up now have been held by Michelle cook Christ flinger and Dr Deborah muhammd SP spner uh we thank them for the service that they have given us these last uh few years to date and we want to especially thank Michelle cook for her dedicated last years and we really appreciate you and everything you do for our community always on the board and everything else and um we want you to remember to vote so please vote November 5th and we really appreciate it thank you for joining us and have a good night