Brisbane School District Candidate Forum Insights

All right, welcome everybody. Welcome to this Brisbane Elementary School District Candidate Forum. My name is Tony Palmer. I'm the chairman of the BEST PTO, and we are hosting this forum to give the Brisbane Elementary School District community a chance to get to know each of our three challenger candidates and our three incumbent candidates, and to gain an understanding of their positions and their plans and based on questions that you the community have asked. We received a lot of questions. We had to consolidate some that were in the on the same topics. Some we're not going to have time to answer but we'll get through as much as we can. Each candidate is going to have time to do an opening statement and to do a closing statement at the end and so I think that that's where we're going to start. So I would like to pass the ball To 1st, trustee, Curtis Washington to deliver his opening statement and Curtis. It's to you, I just started with you when I was 1st, thinking about what to say, I decided that if I were sitting. We both want to Curtis. There's a little bit of distortion. Oh, there's a bit of you're cutting out. Oh, I don't know why. Okay. Well, you said now, so I would say. Let's try and power through it. Okay. Okay. First, why am I running for this position? Actually, the answer to this, I love this district and I feel that I can help it continue to be even better, better for its students and better for the community that we serve. When I left the private sector to become a teacher, I knew that education was more than a job for me. there was a calling what can you expect from me expect me to create more unity expect me to praise creativity and imagination and offer new ideas when it comes to helping our district succeed expect me to be there when i'm needed and to be nearly invisible when someone else can get the credit and most importantly expect me to listen, really listen. Right now we're in the middle of a pandemic. Believe me when I say that I know that the next few months will not be easy. I have no magic to offer, no tricks, just lots of hard work organizing and reaching out to our community members. We must take good ideas wherever we can find them and help our less involved parents see the value. so that they too can become our advocates. Only then can this district speak with voice about the needs of our students and our teachers. Only then can we become truly powerful. Thank you very much, Curtis. Now we're going to move on. Our next candidate to provide a personal statement will be Sharon Boggs. And I will pass the ball to you, Sharon, and please go ahead. Oh, you're muted. Let me unmute you. There you go. Thank you. Thank you for muting me, Tony, and thank you for organizing this event tonight. And thank you all for tuning in. Ideally, I believe a community is a place where we each can live to our fullest potential. And over the last six months, I've seen people in this community volunteer to help their neighbors to make sure that. We've gotten what we needed to get through this crisis that we're in right now. And that has inspired me. And I believe that the things that we do to make our community better make our own lives better. And that's Ubuntu. And that's what I believe I am because of who we all are and who our community is. And so I would like to use my experience in education and business. It gives me a unique perspective about schools and about learning and I'd like to use that experience to work with our school community to ensure that our students, our educators, our administrators can all live to their fullest potential. And I appreciate your time for letting me talk to you about what it is that I plan to do to help make that happen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So our next candidate to speak will be Jackie McLaughlin. Let me give you the ball hold on just a sec and please go ahead. Hi, thank you Tony and Christine for organizing this forum. I really appreciate it especially during this time. My name is Jackie McLaughlin. I'm currently serving my first term as a trustee of the Brisbane School District. I'm married to Rue Funkah and we have two adult children who are educated K through 8th grade in our district. My son Aiden is finishing up his last year at UC Riverside in chemical engineering and nanotechnology, and my daughter Eda is a junior at UCLA studying applied mathematics. Our children are products of the educational partnership we shared with the Brisbane School District. My interest in serving our board does not stem from politics. It is my interest in the education of our youngest learners, my gratitude for our educators and our schools that encouraged me. to continue my involvement as a board member. I've been part of our community for 18 years. I did in our schools at every non-employee level. As a board member, I continued in my support of our educators, our schools, and the success of our students. It is my historical knowledge of our district that I feel is very valuable as a board member. I'm very proud of our board accomplishments. We have a balanced budget. We have passed a successful bond to modernize our schools and we are providing feedback and oversight for our robust distance learning plan. We have a lot of work ahead of us and my work is not complete and I would like to, I would be honored to carry on. Thank you, Jackie. So next up we'll hear from Karen Lentz. Now let me pass you the ball and. You're unmuted. Please go ahead. Great. Thanks, Tony. During this campaign, I've been listening to district parents talk about how at-home learning has been for their families. Keeping their kids engaged and focused has been an issue. Communication and interfaces can be cumbersome. Along with these concerns, I've also heard excellent ideas from our parents, many of whom work in education or are design and tech professionals. A school board member should be a good listener, be open-minded, and be willing to put in the work. As a trustee, I advocated for parents and took action. I switched to a more nutritious lunch vendor, improved accessibility of the board with office hours, better communication to the community through the creation of the luminary column. As a Parks and Recreation Commissioner, I worked to reinvent teen programming in Brisbane and helped create the Lippmann Afterschool Program. Can we make our school district better? Absolutely. I've been thinking about a parent think tank task force to vet all of the great ideas I've been hearing, a subcommittee that addresses classroom needs and makes direct asks of businesses, Spanish language integrated into curriculum, inspiring physical education. There's so much. Let's work together for continuous improvement. Thanks very much. So we will move on and next we're going to hear from Lillian Mark. Hi. And here, I'll meet you and please go ahead. Thank you so much. My name is Lillian. Mark. Kind I was elected to the board in 2016 in the November election, and I've spent the last 2 years as the board president. It's been my honor to serve our community and serve our board. Some highlights of things that we've done in the past 4 years on the fiscal side we have. I drove measure K, which obviously is bringing. Well, needed funds into our district 27Million dollars to enhance our building all 3 buildings. To modernize them and to make them more secure. I also oversaw measure L that brought. that keeps class sizes small by retaining teachers and adding to our budget. We also have a balanced budget for the 1st time in a long time, despite increasing enrollment and needing to hire more teachers. So, I'm really. I feel great about the fiscal status of our district. In terms of facilities, we've done things in the, over the past 4 years, we've modernized the library. We've modernized play structures. We brought shade and to. We bought a new school bus. And on the curriculum side, we've. We've included Spanish in our middle school electives. We brought a string orchestra to our middle school, and we brought a brand new principal to BES. I would be honored by your vote for reelection, and I hope through answering these questions tonight by our crowd sourced questions that I will show you why I should remain on the board. Thank you. Oh, now you're muted, Tony. Sorry, I'm trying to be really good about that. Okay, so finally, we have me and Christy. Let me pass you the call and. Thank you there you go. Can everyone hear me? Okay. Yes. Okay, good evening, Tony Palmer, Christine and my fellow candidates. Thank you. Tony and the Brisbane educational support team and parent teacher organization for hosting this forum. I really appreciate it. My husband and I moved to Brisbane four and a half years ago, and we want to raise a family here, and we'd like to send our kids to the Brisbane schools. We want to make sure the schools are great for our kids. Collected, I will represent the current and future parents of Brisbane Elementary School District. I have been meeting with them and listening to parents in the district, and I've learned a lot about what's important to them. Our district's parents are super engaged. They really care. Many of the choices they've made, including the choice to live. in Brisbane or the surrounding area have been to support their kids'safety or to have a great growing up experience. And the biggest concerns parents have right now are dealing with safety during COVID-19, improving the distance learning experience, and what the plan will be for transitioning back to the classroom when that occurs. So if elected, I will continue to listen to parents. And given how small and tight in our community is, I think we can take our schools beyond good to great. and I would like to explore all the possibilities. I'm interested in seeking more funding for our district and this could help us greatly during times of major change like this pandemic. Right now is the time to work together as a team to come up with innovative ideas that move our schools forward. Thank you. Thank you. Well that concludes the opening statement portion of our event and we'll start we'll move right into questions. The questions are going to be asked one at a time. Each of the candidates are going to have 45 seconds to answer the question and the order of the answers are going to be changed for every question to give everyone a chance to go. First, the last, et cetera. So, having gotten that little bit of housekeeping out of the way, I will just post the, I'll put the 1st question up on the screen. So, panelists, you can see my screen. Yeah. Great. Okay. So, in the topic of candidate background, the question is, why are you running for a school board position? Please also explain your level of involvement in the Brisbane elementary school district and with children in the community. So I will stop the share. Okay, and now for the 1st answer, we will go to. Karen, let's so let me pass you the ball and. You're on, I've lived in Brisbane for 25 years. I'm the mom of 2 daughters and I could own a local small business. I would answer the question by saying that helping the community is my joy. I've served on the Brisbane School Board. I was commissioner on the Parks and Recreation Committee. I served on the board of the Brisbane Dance Workshop. I love talking to people about new ideas, strategic planning, and group process. I'm motivated by questions such as how can we make this better or what newness and freshness can we add? I'm hoping... to return to the board bringing my energy and optimism and my interest in continuous improvement Thanks very much. Lillian, you're up next. And go. Okay, my involvement with Brisbane School District. Obviously, I'm a trustee now and I have been for the past four years. We moved to Brisbane in 2014 and my children entered BES at third and fifth grade and went through Littman, graduated from Littman and now are thriving in very challenging high school. I have been an active school volunteer in preparation for running for the school board. I became a substitute teacher. I taught in the sit in all 3 of our schools for a total of 65 days. So, I'm well versed in what it means to be a teacher and a student in our school. I volunteered in the after school program. I've been very involved since we came here and my time's up. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Jackie, you're up next. Hi. Well, as I mentioned, I've been involved with this district for 18 years from the 1st week. My son into kindergarten and 2002. Um, I was recruited to work on the art music parcel tax, and I've worked on every parcel tax measure every bomb since. I have worked in the classroom chaperoned field trips. You name it. I've done it. Um, I continue on because I love this district. and I feel like I have a great rapport with the employees and educators in this district. And I want their voices to be heard because I feel an enriched work staff is going to bring up your education because it's all related. A toxic workplace isn't a place where you want your children and we need to appreciate and let our educators thrive as well. Thank you, Jackie. And next up is Mia. Thank you. I haven't had the pleasure of working in the schools as I haven't had kids who went through the schools yet. So, you know, had I had kids, I would have participated in a lot of the activities described already. And I haven't served on the school board yet. So I am really looking forward to serving on the school board and the possibility of volunteering with the schools, particularly. so that they remain great schools with any volunteering capacity or fundraising capacity I can. And my main involvement at this point has been talking to parents, so other parents who have kids in the schools right now and are particularly dealing with the pandemic. I've been interviewing them and getting their take and just really listening and forming those relationships so that they feel they have a voice. Thank you. Thank you. Sharon, you're up next. Well, thank you. My involvement in the community, I've lived in Brisbane for 15 years, and from the beginning, I've been involved in fundraising. I don't have children, so I'm not in the schools in that way. And I'm an educator. I've been an educator for 37 years. However, I haven't taught in Brisbane. And my involvement around fundraising is because I'm a Brisbane Lion and we do support our students in any way that we can. We also, I'm also a Park and Rec Commissioner and we work a lot with the schools in their after school programs and helping them and funding obviously with the Park and Rec Commission any way I can with the kids. And I, my passion is as an educator and my goal is to help our community and I want to use my passions to uplift our community. Thank you. Thank you very much. Curtis, it's now yours. I just unmuted you. Go ahead. All right. Thank you. I've been living in Brisbane since 1992. Two boys who went through K through 8 here. My wife and I were involved in Beth PTO. I don't know if you've ever gone and... looked at the mural on the side of a mid-tail market that's a fundraiser that my wife did for VEST. And, of course, as her husband, I was drafted to support that effort. A thing that might be a little bit more unique is that when I was on the board of CTA, I was responsible for making sure that teachers in this district got training. Through CTA. All right. Thank you very much. So that's the end of the answers for the 1st question. We're just going to move. Right along, so. I will again share my screen and the next question is under the topic of priorities. What do you see as the key priorities for the school board in the next year? In the next 3 years, and in general, how will you prioritize your time? And the 1st responder to that question will be. Mia, so I just passed your phone. Please go ahead. So my number one priority would be holding the administration and teaching staff accountable to students and parents needs, especially during distance learning. I feel that my second priority is improving the distance learning experience given that we'll continue at least in the short term and I'm finding that for many parents it creates, it reveals inequities because not every parent can provide the tutoring or direct attention throughout the day that it requires and they have many parents have very creative ideas about how to improve the process um and they've been talking to their friends and and realize that other school districts have set it up in a more efficient way so i want i would like to help um the teaching staff improve that process thank you um so next up will be sharon i will pass the ball to you And sorry, go ahead whenever you're ready. Thank you. A key priority would be to look at how we're managing distance learning and obviously distance learning has brought up a lot of inequities and it's our job as community as educators as administrators to make sure that our kids all have an equitable opportunity to get an education. And I know that our district does its best and we have. gone out of our way to work with tech and to make sure that our students have need but we also know that not every student has what they need and not every student flourishes in this so that would be my top priority and then for the next three years of course not knowing what history is going to bring i would look at how can we take all the things we learn from these lessons and utilize it to make our district better thank you um all right and so next up will be karen please go ahead Okay, thanks priorities. Let's see. I'd say I have 3. I make certain that we're listening to parents and making families feel comfortable and continue to distance learn. I think we need to work with teachers to assess their level of comfort and returning to the classroom. It's all about safety. Next, I would say, improving the flow of communications between parents, staff and the board, helping to implement a clear process for input and feedback from parents. And thirdly, I'd say being proactive and thinking about ways to bring in more resources to improve our schools that can include a targeted asset program, grant writing clinic, the task force that focuses on research and writing. And lastly, I, as far as prioritizing my time, I'm finding that being home I've been, I have plenty of time. I work from home and I'm willing to give a lot of time to this job. Thanks. Thank you. Karen. Jackie, it is now the floor is yours. Thank you. Well, definitely covered in the immediate future. I'm getting back into the classes, managing expectations, listening to all the stakeholders. Make and recently we're getting a plan to bring the urgent need children back onto campus, which is really important and continue with our distance learning plan. I'm a. Focus of mine has always been and will continue to be understanding staff morale. And making sure that they're included in the dialogue. And then a long term, and I'm not sure it's 3 years, but maybe it's further down the road is I was working on the Pre K 1st, 5 grant through community foundation and. A preschool at panorama would be lovely. So. Thank you. All right, so next up. Is Curtis a, you may fire when ready. I'm sorry you're muted. Let's I'll unmute. I'll meet you. Okay. Go ahead. All right, you know, we're the 1st priority of course, during Colbert is safety. You know, we have to make sure that our students and our educators are safe. 2nd priority is. equity and opportunity you know we need to make sure that our students have the best opportunity for the best education could possibly have third thing that I always try to stress is That school district, we must make sure that we are constantly watching our integrity. And that is that we are living our words that we reflect our values and everything we do. Thank you. Thank you. All right. And finally, we're going to hear from. Lillian, you have the floor. So obviously my highest priority at this time is our safe return to school for our students and our teachers. We are doing everything we can that we need to do in terms of county guidelines to prepare our schools in terms of hygiene, ventilation, spacing, number of students in the classroom. We have approximately 50% of our students who would like to come back to school. And 50% who would like to stay in distance learning. So we need to make sure we're addressing the needs of our children and our staff that are in school as well as our continued distance learners. My three year priority will be managing the bond funds that we have and making sure they are spent wisely. Thank you. Thank you. All right, thank you candidates and now we'll go on to our 3rd question. I'll just put it up on the screen briefly now, speaking of health and safety, which a number of you touched on in that last response. If parents do not want to send their children back to school in person until there is a vaccine speaking of covert, of course, do you support the Brisbane elementary school district continuing with a distance learning option for those that want it? even if the school has been fully opened. So I will stop sharing and we'll get back to the candidates and for this question actually our first respond responder will be Lillian. So I'll just pass the ball to you again and please go ahead. Since I just mentioned that 50 percent of our students want to come back and 50 percent want to stay in distance learning, I think we're going to be tackling this distance learning issue for quite a long time. Unfortunately, I think there are always going to be some percentage of parents or families who are reluctant or just simply cannot send their child for some extenuating circumstance back to school. So, I will, I will continue to advocate for continued distance learning as long as we need it. Thank you. So next up is Jackie. I am pretty much aligned with Lillian actually on this. I think we need to listen to all. All families and see where they are comfortably with this, but there's going to be a point where. You know, there's going to be a tipping point, I think, and we have to consider that too. So. Right now we're at 5050, and we're certainly moving forward with plans to accommodate distance learning. Um. I'm in favor of moving into January before we bring more students back onto campus. But, you know, I think it's a very nuanced process and I can't answer, you know, oh yes, we're going to do that because it's a lot of people involved here. Thank you. All right. And so, Curtis, you're up next. I just unmuted you go ahead. All right yeah I agree with Lillian and Jackie. I think that as long as there's an A4 it's going to be there. I think what a lot of people don't realize is there's always been a possibility for distance learning. A student breaks their leg and can't you know come to school. Arrangements have to be made but the question of you know when that changes over and what's available i think we're going to need to make sure that our parents and our community gets what it needs thank you next we'll pass the ball to sharon go ahead thank you thank you tony um yeah I think that we can allow students to learn virtually and actually as I said earlier we're going to learn a lot from this. We're going to learn how to make situations equitable, we're going to learn how to deal better with virtual learning. I mean I can already see we're zooming into physical education classes that are live right now. The students are on campus but they don't want to have us on the yard yet. We have we're zooming in to the classroom, even though they're there. Yeah. Like Curtis was saying earlier a child that has a broken leg in the middle of the school year can't come into school for 2 months. Maybe they can zoom into the classroom because now we have that technology and they have that ability. So I do think that we can and again, like Jackie said, we don't know for sure how much we can accommodate. But I think as we learn and grow, we're going to find that we can utilize this technology. Thanks and so next up will be Mia. And thank you. Yes, I think parents should have the choice to send their kids back or do distance learning if they prefer for their family safety. I do think it's important to learn from other school districts where teachers have had to prepare a hybrid of distance learning materials and in person classroom materials, because from what I've gathered, it's an incredible strain on the teachers to have to prepare both. So we should account for that. and utilize programs that we know have been successful in other districts. And like Sharon said, make sure we're using technology appropriately. And there probably are solutions for most of our problems that will arise out of the hybrid model. Thank you. Thank you. And Karen, I will pass the ball to you. And you're unmuted. Go ahead. Thank you. I think this is a deeply personal decision for families. And it's something that is not done lightly. There's a lot to be considered. I like the proposal that was made by the school district in the town hall recently with a modified hybrid situation where you have some kids, maybe half that 50% returning in the classroom. Perhaps in the morning in the afternoon, distance learning with zoom or other other tools. I like that there's a choice. I think there should be a choice for a long time because I think we're going to be dealing with this for quite a while. So it is important that we are flexible and look at all options. Thank you. All right, so that concludes question three. On to question four, and this is somewhat related. Hold on, I think I'm sharing the... no, okay great. So this is under the topic of diversity and equity. So candidates have stated that that you're all going to advocate for equitable educational opportunities for all. So can you each define what exactly that means to you and what your plans are for achieving it? I will bring us back into speaker mode and the first the first person we'd like to respond would be Curtis. Thank you. And I'll go ahead. Okay. Well, for me, you know, as someone who's been a teacher for nearly 30 years, what that means is that every student is given the opportunity to reach their full potential. Students come from very different backgrounds. They come with varying degrees of preparation, you know, so each. person needs to be looked at as an individual and given the opportunity to achieve the best. I think when we got the funding model that we have now, that was a good first start and being able to make sure that schools had added resources for English learners and people on free and reduced lunch and so on. So it's really about making sure the resources are there. Thank you very much. So next up will be Mia. Thank you. Yes, we've learned a lot this year about how our country overall is not as advanced in terms of ending racism and that our history of violence is not in the past as some history books might like to portray. So, you know, I think. it does start with our students. If they're in an environment where they have a mixed classroom with a wide diversity of ethnic groups and income levels, I think that will make a big difference for them to learn compassion and empathy towards all people. And I think the history books or the history lessons that we teach them need to be inclusive of all groups, not just the white male perspective of American history. And distance learning is really revealing and it... inequities. I talked about this before, but not all parents can afford to put their students in educational pods or hire tutors. Can you provide any person? Oh, sorry. I just realized. Okay. Yes. Okay. So thank you. Thanks very much. Okay. So, Karen, you'll be up next. I've just unmuted you please go ahead. Thank you. I'm also going to approach this from a diversity standpoint, because diversity is something I care deeply about. In fact, I've been working with others in our city to form a citizen task force to address improving diversity in our community leadership. Within our district, I'd like to see a new higher focus on having our teaching staff more closely represent the racial diversity of our student body. And I know our district has had a consultant come in to work with our to make our curriculum. Have more cultural sensitivity, and I think we need to continue to regularly check in and refresh in that area. Thank you. Thank you. So, Lillian, you'll be up next. Please go ahead. The district has done a lot of work in the area of equity, diversity and inclusion. These past couple years. We have an equity team that focuses on that topic. They provide or suggest professional development. All of our staff went on a professional development to the museum of tolerance, or they had a teaching tolerance course that was so effective and highly rated. The teachers came back. different teachers from that. We have also made curricular changes. For example, if grade I search now is more socially justice related versus any topic the child wanted to choose. We've included different books in our library on LGBTQ issues. Thank you. All right, thank you. Next up is Sharon. I will pass the ball to you and please go ahead thank you um well i guess if i was being asked my what i mean by equitable i was being much more specific to covid right now and that would be the sense that we can see that not every child has what they need they might not have a parent at home or a parent that can give them time to help them with school or we might see that they don't have a computer that's good enough to get the information to see it live stream easily or we might see that a child doesn't have enough computers in the home maybe there's four children in school and they don't all have a computer so i think that's really the equitable issue in my belief and i think that we can do things like what will i do to do that work with technology companies work with community do fundraisers make sure our kids have what they need so that they can get that they have the tools so that they can get the education that they to be their best thank you thank you uh okay and uh finally Jackie, I just unmuted you please go ahead. Thanks. Well, I have the luxury of piggybacking on Lillian again. Just so everybody knows all of our district children have computers and they all have access to Wi-Fi. And that was a real priority for our district during this district learning. And as mentioned, our urgent children that weren't getting what they need have been identified and are being brought on campus next week. So that they get the type of learning that they need. So we are addressing those needs. Our equity team has put together a great program for all this. But my interest in equity does not stop at the doors at our school borders. It extends to our greater community and neighboring districts on how we conduct ourselves. And very important that we look into that. Thanks thanks very much. Okay. So. So now we're going to move on to question number five. And give me just a moment. Yes, I will share my screen. So there were a number of questions around this topic. We consolidated as many of them as we could and try to keep it keep it as factual as possible. And if any of the speakers want me to repeat it, I can before you go, because it's a long one. There have been lots of discussion in the community around development in the Bay lands. So, what are your views on the potential development of a combination middle school high school in the Bay lands since this school would be under the jurisdiction of the base or elementary and Jefferson union high school districts. Please speak to how you would ensure that this would benefit Brisbane students. All right, and so the short straw this time goes to. So, I'll unmute you hold on. There you go. Okay. Sorry. Go ahead. All right. Lucky for me. I watched that video today about the meeting. They had. I'm in Chicago right now. So I'm a little bit delirious. Now. It's almost 1030. my time. I just want to say that I. am fully on board with us having a middle and high school in Brisbane and I did note that that there is really no avenue for us as a board and a school district to have a lot of say in that situation right now and so what I would do to ensure that is to work very closely with our city council and also even to start working as liaisons with the other school districts so that we can make sure that we do have a say because there are some things that I feel we need to address. to make sure that our Brisbane students get their needs met in this situation. Thank you. And next up is Karen. You have the ball. Oops, sorry. I'll unmute you. My mistake. Go ahead. Thanks. Well, that was an interesting meeting yesterday. And so what we learned is that Bayshore is planning to build a middle school in the Baylands and Jefferson Union said they would build a small high school component to the middle school because the balance as you mentioned is not in our school district it's hard for our district to be part of the planning so it's a bit of an awkward situation um and my concern is that someday we'll have brisbane students split between two different school districts and we may have a small high school connected to the middle school but will it have room for litman grads i hope so these are questions i think we need to consider and bring up when we're meeting with the other districts Thank you. Okay. So next up is Lillian. You're unmuted and you have the floor. Thank you. This is a really big topic and not something I could. Fully answer in 45 seconds many of you have referenced the meeting last night regarding the land. It's an ever evolving situation. That is many, many years out. So I fully support Bayshore building. whatever kind of school that they need on that land since that area is zoned to the Bayshore School District. I think it would be wonderful to have a close high school on the Baylands that people from Brisbane can choose to go to as one of their school choices. But I fear this is really a long way down the road and now with COVID delaying things as far as construction and housing needs, I wonder what that timeline will be. All right, thanks. And so next up will be Curtis. Let me unmute you and please go ahead. Well, I mean, it's a long ways down the road. I think as all school districts try to do with their feeder districts, it's important that we maintain our connection with those other two districts. And as this thing develops that we know exactly what the role is for us and how we can make sure our students get the most benefit. Thank you very much. And so next up will be Jackie. Thanks. I have actually been on the two by two and I was on the meeting last night and I've actually worked very hard to. Be part of the collaboration with our neighboring district and our high school district to rebuild our relationship with them, which was damaged. And we're making progress, there's going to be a school out there what size it's going to be. It's going to depend a lot on what can be negotiated as far as the parcel size. But the collaborating and the positive, we have input, we will have input and I do think it's going to feed serve our, our children. And they're still going to have the opportunity to go to any of the other Jefferson union high school district schools. And when you have a kid who goes K, through 8 and our schools. They are really eager for something new. So. That's where I'll end it. Okay. Thank you. And now. Mia, you are sorry I mean, there you go. Go ahead. Thank you. Yes, I definitely would speak up for the Brisbane school district to have the ability to feed into that high school. I do think the current size proposed is too small because given we've never had a local option, we don't know the demand that we'll experience when students reach that age that they can choose which high school. I know that people have said kids should leave the district, but they've really never had the choice. So given. Some parents really need a closer option because sending their kids far away on public transportation does not work for their families or creates, you know, further inequities, you know, strain on their families. I think we need to make sure it's as inclusive as possible for our kids. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So onward and upward. Let me just put my screen up briefly. And so this next question has to do well. It's a couple of things. It's certainly parent feedback and involvement, but also a little bit of academics. The question is as follows. Currently offers language for grades 6 through 8. and the way they do that for anybody that's interested is 8th grade is prioritized. And then 7th grade is prioritized over 6th and then if there are spots left, the 6th graders are allowed to participate. So, basically, the students that are closest to high school are the ones that. have the option to take that language. So now, I'm sorry, let me finish the question. I just ran along a little bit too long there. Okay, the elementary schools do not have language offerings. This was of interest to parents and was brought up in a board meeting last year, but was not implemented for a number of reasons, which included lack of funding and available teachers. What can you do to support parent efforts to bring new ideas and programs into the school? And how would you propose funding them? And so our 1st responder to that question will be Jackie. Let me pass you the ball and. Well, that was probably our most attended meeting in the history of my 4 years on the board and. It was great that we were able to bring some solution to. Um. thanks to some online programs and a teacher who actually can speak Spanish. So they were able to bring it on as an elective. We had previously brought it into Panorama to try to lure parents that were genuinely interested in language, foreign language, that they would have the opportunity if they wanted to go over and enroll at Panorama and experience. And it wasn't an immersion, it's like an appreciation class. And parents didn't move, they didn't go. So then you have to question the real want of it really and then um sorry i'm out of time thank you jackie uh next up will be mia yes if if parents come to the school board and they are participating first of all we should applaud them for that because parent involvement is one of the main ways you can reduce expenses for a school district And we should make them feel welcome and heard and so that they keep coming back and presenting their creative ideas and and working together with them. I think we need to look at what other districts have done in terms of programs that are suggested by parents. You know, do a little research, find out what was successful, even with limited budgets in other districts and what creative ideas we can come up with to solve those program needs. Thank you. Thank you, Mia. So next up, we will have Curtis give his take on this question. Please go ahead. Well, as a small district, you know, those kinds of programs are often a challenge. You know, larger districts don't have to struggle as much to put together a range of programs, but there are funding sources available. That you can go after their private funds that might be possible. They're public funds. I know CTA has funding for innovative programs for students that we could go after. And, you know, so so never say die, you know, it's always possible. Thank you Karen, you're up next please go ahead. Oh, sorry, actually now please go ahead. Okay. Here a little double beep. Okay. So this is something like to investigate and learn more about. I think it's really important for. Students to be exposed to and have foreign language at a young age through the elementary years. I know we had the language program at panorama. I'd like to know more about how that was integrated. How successful that was do we have room for it in our budget? Maybe, but maybe not. What else can be done? Classroom volunteers. Grants underwriting from local businesses. I like Curtis. I feel like if there's a will, there's a way. So, I would definitely support looking into it. Thank you, Karen. So next up will be Sharon and please, please go ahead. Thank you. I absolutely would support the parents coming to me. Karen had mentioned something like office hours. I would welcome parents coming to me with ideas and a lot of times our community members have such wonderful talents that maybe They come to me with the idea, and they have the talent, or we find someone in the community that's willing to volunteer. And if we don't have volunteers for that program that we find out is valuable for our, for our children, then we can look at raising money. Other ways that we have a lot of community are available to look at for certain programs. We also do fundraisers. I know that in our community, we're all about supporting our kids. So I'm sure there are ways, like Karen said, and Curtis said, where there's a will. there is a way and there is an opportunity thank you thank you very much sharon and lillian you get to finish this topic out and i'll uh unmute you go ahead thank you um i don't want to repeat everything that jackie and curtis said uh that was all accurate about the state of what we offer now and what's possible in our district uh at this time i think at that meeting which was fantastic that so many parents came and were passionate about this subject. But many parents were kind of forwarding an immersion type program, which is something that our school at this time just simply can't do. It would mean drastic changes to our personnel. So the FLES program that we had at Panorama was really an enrichment. It was offered a couple times a week and they found that if you don't have something daily, and really deep in a language than this kind of program like the FLES program was quite effective. We can also look at after school. All right, thank you very much. So we did have an additional question but we are coming up on, we only have about six or seven minutes left, so I'd like to give each of the candidates an opportunity to make their closing statement and we will be Talking with the candidates about how to get the remaining questions answered after the fact in a way that's that's equitable for everybody. So, having said that, we will do the closing statements in reverse order from the opening statements. And so our 1st speaker will be Mia and. Thank you please go ahead. Okay. Well, I did want to say that I have spoken to 2. of the principals in our district and they shared with me that even their teachers who have been there for 20 years have had to relearn what it means to be a teacher given the quick you know the format is so different right now and given that they're learning new solutions to distance learning it could be an opportunity for us to introduce more creativity more innovation into our schools and there may be a growing need for STEAM curriculum, just bring our schools up to the 21st century. I do trust the educators to be innovative, and I want to help support them in bringing more engagement to students, because right now, more than ever, they need to be engaged to not only achieve test scores, but go beyond that in their education. Thank you. Thank you. Lillian, you're up next. Okay. I feel like 45 seconds was not... ample time to answer all of these questions. I hope I got my main points across. I would be, I will be focusing my energy in the second term to really making sure our return to school is safe for everybody and that our distance learning continues to evolve and be robust for our students who choose not to come back to school. I would be honored by another term. I feel like my work here is not done. Our board operates really well. We have a fantastic superintendent and we have great energy and our board and our schools that right now and our morale. Well, pre coded was was was really improved. So I thank you very much for your time and feel free to reach out to me at any time to answer any other questions. Thank you. Thank you. So next up, Karen, please go ahead. You're on mute. Am I on? Okay, great. Thanks. It's been an interesting evening. I've enjoyed listening to the questions and getting to know what's important to our community. I've enjoyed hearing what the other candidates have said. And over the past few months walking around town and the district, I've learned so much from parents and residents. It's been an important education. You are given this vote for school board trustee because your candidate should represent you. They should be willing to advocate for you and they should represent your values and what you care about. For me, a board member should exhibit the growth mindset that we espouse for our students, always striving for improvement, embracing challenges and knowing that the road forward can sometimes take effort. Thanks a lot for this evening. Thank you. Thanks very much, Karen. Next up, Jackie, and I'll unmute you. Go ahead. Great. I want to thank everybody. This has been great. It is hard in 45 seconds. And I just want to say these schools are fabulous, and I am so grateful for them in my world and with my children and family. And everybody enrolled in our schools should feel an enormous sense of privilege to be in them. We have wonderful educators and I am very proud to be part of them and see the progress they've made over the years. The schools your children are children entered. There's a nuance, they evolve, and everybody comes together. But and I really think that moving forward we can focus on the needs of our 482 currently enrolled children. And look to the future to build, improve it too. Thank you. Thank you Jackie. All right. Sharon it is. On you, so please go ahead. All right. Well, thank you. Tony and everybody that's listening and I want to. Thank the people that are on the board and the people that are running for the board for being here tonight and giving your views and I want to thank you all for listening and. giving me the opportunity to tell you what I think. And I just want to tell you that my vision as a teacher and my mission is to create joyful learning environments that empower my students to do their best as they learn and they explore in a community that uplifts them and is grateful for all their contributions. And I know that's what Brisbane is. So I would like to be a part of that process that helps create that for our kids. Thank you. Thank you. And finally, to wrap this up for us, I'll unmute you, sir. Curtis, please go ahead. Well, I think I'd be remiss if I didn't say thank you to you, Tony, for hosting this. And thank you to all the other candidates who are here. You know, I've really enjoyed my time on the board. And I think I bring something that's unique. I think it's added a lot to the wisdom and energy and passion of my fellow board members, and I hope to be able to continue that. All right. Well, thank you, sir. And, you know, a huge thank you to all the candidates for. making the time to do this tonight. It's quite late and we're just wrapping up at just about 830, which is fantastic. My meetings don't always end on time because I have to talk a lot. But having said that, I also want to say a huge thank you to Christine who helped me set this up and did a lot of the grueling back-end work of helping consolidate the questions. Also, thank you to the- anonymous staff volunteers who helped on the technical side. So that's a district office staff who helped me set up the set up the WebEx and do all the technical stuff. So really, this was a huge team effort. And I want to say thank you to everyone involved, candidates and staff and parents alike. Thank you so much. And that'll be it for the evening. Good night, everybody. And this recording will get posted and it will be available to view sometime tomorrow. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good night.

All right, welcome everybody. Welcome to this Brisbane Elementary School District Candidate Forum. My name is Tony Palmer.

I'm the chairman of the BEST PTO, and we are hosting this forum to give the Brisbane Elementary School District community a chance to get to know each of our three challenger candidates and our three incumbent candidates, and to gain an understanding of their positions and their plans and based on questions that you the community have asked. We received a lot of questions. We had to consolidate some that were in the on the same topics. Some we're not going to have time to answer but we'll get through as much as we can. Each candidate is going to have time to do an opening statement and to do a closing statement at the end and so I think that that's where we're going to start.

So I would like to pass the ball To 1st, trustee, Curtis Washington to deliver his opening statement and Curtis. It's to you, I just started with you when I was 1st, thinking about what to say, I decided that if I were sitting. We both want to Curtis.

There's a little bit of distortion. Oh, there's a bit of you're cutting out. Oh, I don't know why. Okay.

Well, you said now, so I would say. Let's try and power through it. Okay. Okay. First, why am I running for this position?

Actually, the answer to this, I love this district and I feel that I can help it continue to be even better, better for its students and better for the community that we serve. When I left the private sector to become a teacher, I knew that education was more than a job for me. there was a calling what can you expect from me expect me to create more unity expect me to praise creativity and imagination and offer new ideas when it comes to helping our district succeed expect me to be there when i'm needed and to be nearly invisible when someone else can get the credit and most importantly expect me to listen, really listen. Right now we're in the middle of a pandemic.

Believe me when I say that I know that the next few months will not be easy. I have no magic to offer, no tricks, just lots of hard work organizing and reaching out to our community members. We must take good ideas wherever we can find them and help our less involved parents see the value.

so that they too can become our advocates. Only then can this district speak with voice about the needs of our students and our teachers. Only then can we become truly powerful.

Thank you very much, Curtis. Now we're going to move on. Our next candidate to provide a personal statement will be Sharon Boggs.

And I will pass the ball to you, Sharon, and please go ahead. Oh, you're muted. Let me unmute you. There you go.

Thank you. Thank you for muting me, Tony, and thank you for organizing this event tonight. And thank you all for tuning in. Ideally, I believe a community is a place where we each can live to our fullest potential.

And over the last six months, I've seen people in this community volunteer to help their neighbors to make sure that. We've gotten what we needed to get through this crisis that we're in right now. And that has inspired me.

And I believe that the things that we do to make our community better make our own lives better. And that's Ubuntu. And that's what I believe I am because of who we all are and who our community is.

And so I would like to use my experience in education and business. It gives me a unique perspective about schools and about learning and I'd like to use that experience to work with our school community to ensure that our students, our educators, our administrators can all live to their fullest potential. And I appreciate your time for letting me talk to you about what it is that I plan to do to help make that happen.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So our next candidate to speak will be Jackie McLaughlin.

Let me give you the ball hold on just a sec and please go ahead. Hi, thank you Tony and Christine for organizing this forum. I really appreciate it especially during this time.

My name is Jackie McLaughlin. I'm currently serving my first term as a trustee of the Brisbane School District. I'm married to Rue Funkah and we have two adult children who are educated K through 8th grade in our district.

My son Aiden is finishing up his last year at UC Riverside in chemical engineering and nanotechnology, and my daughter Eda is a junior at UCLA studying applied mathematics. Our children are products of the educational partnership we shared with the Brisbane School District. My interest in serving our board does not stem from politics. It is my interest in the education of our youngest learners, my gratitude for our educators and our schools that encouraged me. to continue my involvement as a board member.

I've been part of our community for 18 years. I did in our schools at every non-employee level. As a board member, I continued in my support of our educators, our schools, and the success of our students.

It is my historical knowledge of our district that I feel is very valuable as a board member. I'm very proud of our board accomplishments. We have a balanced budget. We have passed a successful bond to modernize our schools and we are providing feedback and oversight for our robust distance learning plan.

We have a lot of work ahead of us and my work is not complete and I would like to, I would be honored to carry on. Thank you, Jackie. So next up we'll hear from Karen Lentz.

Now let me pass you the ball and. You're unmuted. Please go ahead. Great.

Thanks, Tony. During this campaign, I've been listening to district parents talk about how at-home learning has been for their families. Keeping their kids engaged and focused has been an issue. Communication and interfaces can be cumbersome. Along with these concerns, I've also heard excellent ideas from our parents, many of whom work in education or are design and tech professionals.

A school board member should be a good listener, be open-minded, and be willing to put in the work. As a trustee, I advocated for parents and took action. I switched to a more nutritious lunch vendor, improved accessibility of the board with office hours, better communication to the community through the creation of the luminary column.

As a Parks and Recreation Commissioner, I worked to reinvent teen programming in Brisbane and helped create the Lippmann Afterschool Program. Can we make our school district better? Absolutely. I've been thinking about a parent think tank task force to vet all of the great ideas I've been hearing, a subcommittee that addresses classroom needs and makes direct asks of businesses, Spanish language integrated into curriculum, inspiring physical education.

There's so much. Let's work together for continuous improvement. Thanks very much. So we will move on and next we're going to hear from Lillian Mark. Hi.

And here, I'll meet you and please go ahead. Thank you so much. My name is Lillian.

Mark. Kind I was elected to the board in 2016 in the November election, and I've spent the last 2 years as the board president. It's been my honor to serve our community and serve our board. Some highlights of things that we've done in the past 4 years on the fiscal side we have.

I drove measure K, which obviously is bringing. Well, needed funds into our district 27Million dollars to enhance our building all 3 buildings. To modernize them and to make them more secure.

I also oversaw measure L that brought. that keeps class sizes small by retaining teachers and adding to our budget. We also have a balanced budget for the 1st time in a long time, despite increasing enrollment and needing to hire more teachers. So, I'm really.

I feel great about the fiscal status of our district. In terms of facilities, we've done things in the, over the past 4 years, we've modernized the library. We've modernized play structures. We brought shade and to.

We bought a new school bus. And on the curriculum side, we've. We've included Spanish in our middle school electives. We brought a string orchestra to our middle school, and we brought a brand new principal to BES. I would be honored by your vote for reelection, and I hope through answering these questions tonight by our crowd sourced questions that I will show you why I should remain on the board.

Thank you. Oh, now you're muted, Tony. Sorry, I'm trying to be really good about that.

Okay, so finally, we have me and Christy. Let me pass you the call and. Thank you there you go.

Can everyone hear me? Okay. Yes.

Okay, good evening, Tony Palmer, Christine and my fellow candidates. Thank you. Tony and the Brisbane educational support team and parent teacher organization for hosting this forum.

I really appreciate it. My husband and I moved to Brisbane four and a half years ago, and we want to raise a family here, and we'd like to send our kids to the Brisbane schools. We want to make sure the schools are great for our kids.

Collected, I will represent the current and future parents of Brisbane Elementary School District. I have been meeting with them and listening to parents in the district, and I've learned a lot about what's important to them. Our district's parents are super engaged. They really care.

Many of the choices they've made, including the choice to live. in Brisbane or the surrounding area have been to support their kids'safety or to have a great growing up experience. And the biggest concerns parents have right now are dealing with safety during COVID-19, improving the distance learning experience, and what the plan will be for transitioning back to the classroom when that occurs.

So if elected, I will continue to listen to parents. And given how small and tight in our community is, I think we can take our schools beyond good to great. and I would like to explore all the possibilities. I'm interested in seeking more funding for our district and this could help us greatly during times of major change like this pandemic.

Right now is the time to work together as a team to come up with innovative ideas that move our schools forward. Thank you. Thank you.

Well that concludes the opening statement portion of our event and we'll start we'll move right into questions. The questions are going to be asked one at a time. Each of the candidates are going to have 45 seconds to answer the question and the order of the answers are going to be changed for every question to give everyone a chance to go.

First, the last, et cetera. So, having gotten that little bit of housekeeping out of the way, I will just post the, I'll put the 1st question up on the screen. So, panelists, you can see my screen.

Yeah. Great. Okay.

So, in the topic of candidate background, the question is, why are you running for a school board position? Please also explain your level of involvement in the Brisbane elementary school district and with children in the community. So I will stop the share.

Okay, and now for the 1st answer, we will go to. Karen, let's so let me pass you the ball and. You're on, I've lived in Brisbane for 25 years.

I'm the mom of 2 daughters and I could own a local small business. I would answer the question by saying that helping the community is my joy. I've served on the Brisbane School Board. I was commissioner on the Parks and Recreation Committee. I served on the board of the Brisbane Dance Workshop.

I love talking to people about new ideas, strategic planning, and group process. I'm motivated by questions such as how can we make this better or what newness and freshness can we add? I'm hoping...

to return to the board bringing my energy and optimism and my interest in continuous improvement Thanks very much. Lillian, you're up next. And go. Okay, my involvement with Brisbane School District.

Obviously, I'm a trustee now and I have been for the past four years. We moved to Brisbane in 2014 and my children entered BES at third and fifth grade and went through Littman, graduated from Littman and now are thriving in very challenging high school. I have been an active school volunteer in preparation for running for the school board. I became a substitute teacher. I taught in the sit in all 3 of our schools for a total of 65 days.

So, I'm well versed in what it means to be a teacher and a student in our school. I volunteered in the after school program. I've been very involved since we came here and my time's up.

Thanks. Thank you. Thank you.

Jackie, you're up next. Hi. Well, as I mentioned, I've been involved with this district for 18 years from the 1st week. My son into kindergarten and 2002. Um, I was recruited to work on the art music parcel tax, and I've worked on every parcel tax measure every bomb since.

I have worked in the classroom chaperoned field trips. You name it. I've done it.

Um, I continue on because I love this district. and I feel like I have a great rapport with the employees and educators in this district. And I want their voices to be heard because I feel an enriched work staff is going to bring up your education because it's all related. A toxic workplace isn't a place where you want your children and we need to appreciate and let our educators thrive as well.

Thank you, Jackie. And next up is Mia. Thank you.

I haven't had the pleasure of working in the schools as I haven't had kids who went through the schools yet. So, you know, had I had kids, I would have participated in a lot of the activities described already. And I haven't served on the school board yet. So I am really looking forward to serving on the school board and the possibility of volunteering with the schools, particularly. so that they remain great schools with any volunteering capacity or fundraising capacity I can.

And my main involvement at this point has been talking to parents, so other parents who have kids in the schools right now and are particularly dealing with the pandemic. I've been interviewing them and getting their take and just really listening and forming those relationships so that they feel they have a voice. Thank you. Thank you.

Sharon, you're up next. Well, thank you. My involvement in the community, I've lived in Brisbane for 15 years, and from the beginning, I've been involved in fundraising. I don't have children, so I'm not in the schools in that way.

And I'm an educator. I've been an educator for 37 years. However, I haven't taught in Brisbane.

And my involvement around fundraising is because I'm a Brisbane Lion and we do support our students in any way that we can. We also, I'm also a Park and Rec Commissioner and we work a lot with the schools in their after school programs and helping them and funding obviously with the Park and Rec Commission any way I can with the kids. And I, my passion is as an educator and my goal is to help our community and I want to use my passions to uplift our community.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Curtis, it's now yours. I just unmuted you. Go ahead.

All right. Thank you. I've been living in Brisbane since 1992. Two boys who went through K through 8 here.

My wife and I were involved in Beth PTO. I don't know if you've ever gone and... looked at the mural on the side of a mid-tail market that's a fundraiser that my wife did for VEST. And, of course, as her husband, I was drafted to support that effort.

A thing that might be a little bit more unique is that when I was on the board of CTA, I was responsible for making sure that teachers in this district got training. Through CTA. All right. Thank you very much. So that's the end of the answers for the 1st question.

We're just going to move. Right along, so. I will again share my screen and the next question is under the topic of priorities.

What do you see as the key priorities for the school board in the next year? In the next 3 years, and in general, how will you prioritize your time? And the 1st responder to that question will be. Mia, so I just passed your phone. Please go ahead.

So my number one priority would be holding the administration and teaching staff accountable to students and parents needs, especially during distance learning. I feel that my second priority is improving the distance learning experience given that we'll continue at least in the short term and I'm finding that for many parents it creates, it reveals inequities because not every parent can provide the tutoring or direct attention throughout the day that it requires and they have many parents have very creative ideas about how to improve the process um and they've been talking to their friends and and realize that other school districts have set it up in a more efficient way so i want i would like to help um the teaching staff improve that process thank you um so next up will be sharon i will pass the ball to you And sorry, go ahead whenever you're ready. Thank you.

A key priority would be to look at how we're managing distance learning and obviously distance learning has brought up a lot of inequities and it's our job as community as educators as administrators to make sure that our kids all have an equitable opportunity to get an education. And I know that our district does its best and we have. gone out of our way to work with tech and to make sure that our students have need but we also know that not every student has what they need and not every student flourishes in this so that would be my top priority and then for the next three years of course not knowing what history is going to bring i would look at how can we take all the things we learn from these lessons and utilize it to make our district better thank you um all right and so next up will be karen please go ahead Okay, thanks priorities.

Let's see. I'd say I have 3. I make certain that we're listening to parents and making families feel comfortable and continue to distance learn. I think we need to work with teachers to assess their level of comfort and returning to the classroom.

It's all about safety. Next, I would say, improving the flow of communications between parents, staff and the board, helping to implement a clear process for input and feedback from parents. And thirdly, I'd say being proactive and thinking about ways to bring in more resources to improve our schools that can include a targeted asset program, grant writing clinic, the task force that focuses on research and writing.

And lastly, I, as far as prioritizing my time, I'm finding that being home I've been, I have plenty of time. I work from home and I'm willing to give a lot of time to this job. Thanks. Thank you.

Karen. Jackie, it is now the floor is yours. Thank you.

Well, definitely covered in the immediate future. I'm getting back into the classes, managing expectations, listening to all the stakeholders. Make and recently we're getting a plan to bring the urgent need children back onto campus, which is really important and continue with our distance learning plan. I'm a.

Focus of mine has always been and will continue to be understanding staff morale. And making sure that they're included in the dialogue. And then a long term, and I'm not sure it's 3 years, but maybe it's further down the road is I was working on the Pre K 1st, 5 grant through community foundation and.

A preschool at panorama would be lovely. So. Thank you.

All right, so next up. Is Curtis a, you may fire when ready. I'm sorry you're muted. Let's I'll unmute. I'll meet you.

Okay. Go ahead. All right, you know, we're the 1st priority of course, during Colbert is safety.

You know, we have to make sure that our students and our educators are safe. 2nd priority is. equity and opportunity you know we need to make sure that our students have the best opportunity for the best education could possibly have third thing that I always try to stress is That school district, we must make sure that we are constantly watching our integrity. And that is that we are living our words that we reflect our values and everything we do.

Thank you. Thank you. All right.

And finally, we're going to hear from. Lillian, you have the floor. So obviously my highest priority at this time is our safe return to school for our students and our teachers.

We are doing everything we can that we need to do in terms of county guidelines to prepare our schools in terms of hygiene, ventilation, spacing, number of students in the classroom. We have approximately 50% of our students who would like to come back to school. And 50% who would like to stay in distance learning. So we need to make sure we're addressing the needs of our children and our staff that are in school as well as our continued distance learners. My three year priority will be managing the bond funds that we have and making sure they are spent wisely.

Thank you. Thank you. All right, thank you candidates and now we'll go on to our 3rd question.

I'll just put it up on the screen briefly now, speaking of health and safety, which a number of you touched on in that last response. If parents do not want to send their children back to school in person until there is a vaccine speaking of covert, of course, do you support the Brisbane elementary school district continuing with a distance learning option for those that want it? even if the school has been fully opened. So I will stop sharing and we'll get back to the candidates and for this question actually our first respond responder will be Lillian. So I'll just pass the ball to you again and please go ahead.

Since I just mentioned that 50 percent of our students want to come back and 50 percent want to stay in distance learning, I think we're going to be tackling this distance learning issue for quite a long time. Unfortunately, I think there are always going to be some percentage of parents or families who are reluctant or just simply cannot send their child for some extenuating circumstance back to school. So, I will, I will continue to advocate for continued distance learning as long as we need it.

Thank you. So next up is Jackie. I am pretty much aligned with Lillian actually on this.

I think we need to listen to all. All families and see where they are comfortably with this, but there's going to be a point where. You know, there's going to be a tipping point, I think, and we have to consider that too. So. Right now we're at 5050, and we're certainly moving forward with plans to accommodate distance learning.

Um. I'm in favor of moving into January before we bring more students back onto campus. But, you know, I think it's a very nuanced process and I can't answer, you know, oh yes, we're going to do that because it's a lot of people involved here.

Thank you. All right. And so, Curtis, you're up next. I just unmuted you go ahead. All right yeah I agree with Lillian and Jackie.

I think that as long as there's an A4 it's going to be there. I think what a lot of people don't realize is there's always been a possibility for distance learning. A student breaks their leg and can't you know come to school.

Arrangements have to be made but the question of you know when that changes over and what's available i think we're going to need to make sure that our parents and our community gets what it needs thank you next we'll pass the ball to sharon go ahead thank you thank you tony um yeah I think that we can allow students to learn virtually and actually as I said earlier we're going to learn a lot from this. We're going to learn how to make situations equitable, we're going to learn how to deal better with virtual learning. I mean I can already see we're zooming into physical education classes that are live right now. The students are on campus but they don't want to have us on the yard yet.

We have we're zooming in to the classroom, even though they're there. Yeah. Like Curtis was saying earlier a child that has a broken leg in the middle of the school year can't come into school for 2 months. Maybe they can zoom into the classroom because now we have that technology and they have that ability.

So I do think that we can and again, like Jackie said, we don't know for sure how much we can accommodate. But I think as we learn and grow, we're going to find that we can utilize this technology. Thanks and so next up will be Mia. And thank you. Yes, I think parents should have the choice to send their kids back or do distance learning if they prefer for their family safety.

I do think it's important to learn from other school districts where teachers have had to prepare a hybrid of distance learning materials and in person classroom materials, because from what I've gathered, it's an incredible strain on the teachers to have to prepare both. So we should account for that. and utilize programs that we know have been successful in other districts. And like Sharon said, make sure we're using technology appropriately. And there probably are solutions for most of our problems that will arise out of the hybrid model.

Thank you. Thank you. And Karen, I will pass the ball to you. And you're unmuted. Go ahead.

Thank you. I think this is a deeply personal decision for families. And it's something that is not done lightly. There's a lot to be considered.

I like the proposal that was made by the school district in the town hall recently with a modified hybrid situation where you have some kids, maybe half that 50% returning in the classroom. Perhaps in the morning in the afternoon, distance learning with zoom or other other tools. I like that there's a choice.

I think there should be a choice for a long time because I think we're going to be dealing with this for quite a while. So it is important that we are flexible and look at all options. Thank you.

All right, so that concludes question three. On to question four, and this is somewhat related. Hold on, I think I'm sharing the... no, okay great. So this is under the topic of diversity and equity.

So candidates have stated that that you're all going to advocate for equitable educational opportunities for all. So can you each define what exactly that means to you and what your plans are for achieving it? I will bring us back into speaker mode and the first the first person we'd like to respond would be Curtis. Thank you.

And I'll go ahead. Okay. Well, for me, you know, as someone who's been a teacher for nearly 30 years, what that means is that every student is given the opportunity to reach their full potential. Students come from very different backgrounds.

They come with varying degrees of preparation, you know, so each. person needs to be looked at as an individual and given the opportunity to achieve the best. I think when we got the funding model that we have now, that was a good first start and being able to make sure that schools had added resources for English learners and people on free and reduced lunch and so on.

So it's really about making sure the resources are there. Thank you very much. So next up will be Mia.

Thank you. Yes, we've learned a lot this year about how our country overall is not as advanced in terms of ending racism and that our history of violence is not in the past as some history books might like to portray. So, you know, I think.

it does start with our students. If they're in an environment where they have a mixed classroom with a wide diversity of ethnic groups and income levels, I think that will make a big difference for them to learn compassion and empathy towards all people. And I think the history books or the history lessons that we teach them need to be inclusive of all groups, not just the white male perspective of American history.

And distance learning is really revealing and it... inequities. I talked about this before, but not all parents can afford to put their students in educational pods or hire tutors. Can you provide any person?

Oh, sorry. I just realized. Okay.

Yes. Okay. So thank you.

Thanks very much. Okay. So, Karen, you'll be up next.

I've just unmuted you please go ahead. Thank you. I'm also going to approach this from a diversity standpoint, because diversity is something I care deeply about.

In fact, I've been working with others in our city to form a citizen task force to address improving diversity in our community leadership. Within our district, I'd like to see a new higher focus on having our teaching staff more closely represent the racial diversity of our student body. And I know our district has had a consultant come in to work with our to make our curriculum. Have more cultural sensitivity, and I think we need to continue to regularly check in and refresh in that area. Thank you.

Thank you. So, Lillian, you'll be up next. Please go ahead.

The district has done a lot of work in the area of equity, diversity and inclusion. These past couple years. We have an equity team that focuses on that topic. They provide or suggest professional development.

All of our staff went on a professional development to the museum of tolerance, or they had a teaching tolerance course that was so effective and highly rated. The teachers came back. different teachers from that. We have also made curricular changes.

For example, if grade I search now is more socially justice related versus any topic the child wanted to choose. We've included different books in our library on LGBTQ issues. Thank you. All right, thank you.

Next up is Sharon. I will pass the ball to you and please go ahead thank you um well i guess if i was being asked my what i mean by equitable i was being much more specific to covid right now and that would be the sense that we can see that not every child has what they need they might not have a parent at home or a parent that can give them time to help them with school or we might see that they don't have a computer that's good enough to get the information to see it live stream easily or we might see that a child doesn't have enough computers in the home maybe there's four children in school and they don't all have a computer so i think that's really the equitable issue in my belief and i think that we can do things like what will i do to do that work with technology companies work with community do fundraisers make sure our kids have what they need so that they can get that they have the tools so that they can get the education that they to be their best thank you thank you uh okay and uh finally Jackie, I just unmuted you please go ahead. Thanks. Well, I have the luxury of piggybacking on Lillian again. Just so everybody knows all of our district children have computers and they all have access to Wi-Fi.

And that was a real priority for our district during this district learning. And as mentioned, our urgent children that weren't getting what they need have been identified and are being brought on campus next week. So that they get the type of learning that they need.

So we are addressing those needs. Our equity team has put together a great program for all this. But my interest in equity does not stop at the doors at our school borders. It extends to our greater community and neighboring districts on how we conduct ourselves.

And very important that we look into that. Thanks thanks very much. Okay.

So. So now we're going to move on to question number five. And give me just a moment. Yes, I will share my screen.

So there were a number of questions around this topic. We consolidated as many of them as we could and try to keep it keep it as factual as possible. And if any of the speakers want me to repeat it, I can before you go, because it's a long one. There have been lots of discussion in the community around development in the Bay lands. So, what are your views on the potential development of a combination middle school high school in the Bay lands since this school would be under the jurisdiction of the base or elementary and Jefferson union high school districts.

Please speak to how you would ensure that this would benefit Brisbane students. All right, and so the short straw this time goes to. So, I'll unmute you hold on.

There you go. Okay. Sorry. Go ahead.

All right. Lucky for me. I watched that video today about the meeting. They had. I'm in Chicago right now.

So I'm a little bit delirious. Now. It's almost 1030. my time.

I just want to say that I. am fully on board with us having a middle and high school in Brisbane and I did note that that there is really no avenue for us as a board and a school district to have a lot of say in that situation right now and so what I would do to ensure that is to work very closely with our city council and also even to start working as liaisons with the other school districts so that we can make sure that we do have a say because there are some things that I feel we need to address. to make sure that our Brisbane students get their needs met in this situation. Thank you. And next up is Karen.

You have the ball. Oops, sorry. I'll unmute you.

My mistake. Go ahead. Thanks.

Well, that was an interesting meeting yesterday. And so what we learned is that Bayshore is planning to build a middle school in the Baylands and Jefferson Union said they would build a small high school component to the middle school because the balance as you mentioned is not in our school district it's hard for our district to be part of the planning so it's a bit of an awkward situation um and my concern is that someday we'll have brisbane students split between two different school districts and we may have a small high school connected to the middle school but will it have room for litman grads i hope so these are questions i think we need to consider and bring up when we're meeting with the other districts Thank you. Okay.

So next up is Lillian. You're unmuted and you have the floor. Thank you.

This is a really big topic and not something I could. Fully answer in 45 seconds many of you have referenced the meeting last night regarding the land. It's an ever evolving situation.

That is many, many years out. So I fully support Bayshore building. whatever kind of school that they need on that land since that area is zoned to the Bayshore School District. I think it would be wonderful to have a close high school on the Baylands that people from Brisbane can choose to go to as one of their school choices.

But I fear this is really a long way down the road and now with COVID delaying things as far as construction and housing needs, I wonder what that timeline will be. All right, thanks. And so next up will be Curtis. Let me unmute you and please go ahead.

Well, I mean, it's a long ways down the road. I think as all school districts try to do with their feeder districts, it's important that we maintain our connection with those other two districts. And as this thing develops that we know exactly what the role is for us and how we can make sure our students get the most benefit.

Thank you very much. And so next up will be Jackie. Thanks. I have actually been on the two by two and I was on the meeting last night and I've actually worked very hard to. Be part of the collaboration with our neighboring district and our high school district to rebuild our relationship with them, which was damaged.

And we're making progress, there's going to be a school out there what size it's going to be. It's going to depend a lot on what can be negotiated as far as the parcel size. But the collaborating and the positive, we have input, we will have input and I do think it's going to feed serve our, our children. And they're still going to have the opportunity to go to any of the other Jefferson union high school district schools.

And when you have a kid who goes K, through 8 and our schools. They are really eager for something new. So.

That's where I'll end it. Okay. Thank you. And now.

Mia, you are sorry I mean, there you go. Go ahead. Thank you.

Yes, I definitely would speak up for the Brisbane school district to have the ability to feed into that high school. I do think the current size proposed is too small because given we've never had a local option, we don't know the demand that we'll experience when students reach that age that they can choose which high school. I know that people have said kids should leave the district, but they've really never had the choice.

So given. Some parents really need a closer option because sending their kids far away on public transportation does not work for their families or creates, you know, further inequities, you know, strain on their families. I think we need to make sure it's as inclusive as possible for our kids.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay.

So onward and upward. Let me just put my screen up briefly. And so this next question has to do well.

It's a couple of things. It's certainly parent feedback and involvement, but also a little bit of academics. The question is as follows.

Currently offers language for grades 6 through 8. and the way they do that for anybody that's interested is 8th grade is prioritized. And then 7th grade is prioritized over 6th and then if there are spots left, the 6th graders are allowed to participate. So, basically, the students that are closest to high school are the ones that. have the option to take that language. So now, I'm sorry, let me finish the question.

I just ran along a little bit too long there. Okay, the elementary schools do not have language offerings. This was of interest to parents and was brought up in a board meeting last year, but was not implemented for a number of reasons, which included lack of funding and available teachers. What can you do to support parent efforts to bring new ideas and programs into the school?

And how would you propose funding them? And so our 1st responder to that question will be Jackie. Let me pass you the ball and.

Well, that was probably our most attended meeting in the history of my 4 years on the board and. It was great that we were able to bring some solution to. Um.

thanks to some online programs and a teacher who actually can speak Spanish. So they were able to bring it on as an elective. We had previously brought it into Panorama to try to lure parents that were genuinely interested in language, foreign language, that they would have the opportunity if they wanted to go over and enroll at Panorama and experience. And it wasn't an immersion, it's like an appreciation class.

And parents didn't move, they didn't go. So then you have to question the real want of it really and then um sorry i'm out of time thank you jackie uh next up will be mia yes if if parents come to the school board and they are participating first of all we should applaud them for that because parent involvement is one of the main ways you can reduce expenses for a school district And we should make them feel welcome and heard and so that they keep coming back and presenting their creative ideas and and working together with them. I think we need to look at what other districts have done in terms of programs that are suggested by parents. You know, do a little research, find out what was successful, even with limited budgets in other districts and what creative ideas we can come up with to solve those program needs.

Thank you. Thank you, Mia. So next up, we will have Curtis give his take on this question.

Please go ahead. Well, as a small district, you know, those kinds of programs are often a challenge. You know, larger districts don't have to struggle as much to put together a range of programs, but there are funding sources available. That you can go after their private funds that might be possible.

They're public funds. I know CTA has funding for innovative programs for students that we could go after. And, you know, so so never say die, you know, it's always possible.

Thank you Karen, you're up next please go ahead. Oh, sorry, actually now please go ahead. Okay. Here a little double beep. Okay.

So this is something like to investigate and learn more about. I think it's really important for. Students to be exposed to and have foreign language at a young age through the elementary years. I know we had the language program at panorama. I'd like to know more about how that was integrated.

How successful that was do we have room for it in our budget? Maybe, but maybe not. What else can be done? Classroom volunteers.

Grants underwriting from local businesses. I like Curtis. I feel like if there's a will, there's a way. So, I would definitely support looking into it.

Thank you, Karen. So next up will be Sharon and please, please go ahead. Thank you.

I absolutely would support the parents coming to me. Karen had mentioned something like office hours. I would welcome parents coming to me with ideas and a lot of times our community members have such wonderful talents that maybe They come to me with the idea, and they have the talent, or we find someone in the community that's willing to volunteer. And if we don't have volunteers for that program that we find out is valuable for our, for our children, then we can look at raising money.

Other ways that we have a lot of community are available to look at for certain programs. We also do fundraisers. I know that in our community, we're all about supporting our kids.

So I'm sure there are ways, like Karen said, and Curtis said, where there's a will. there is a way and there is an opportunity thank you thank you very much sharon and lillian you get to finish this topic out and i'll uh unmute you go ahead thank you um i don't want to repeat everything that jackie and curtis said uh that was all accurate about the state of what we offer now and what's possible in our district uh at this time i think at that meeting which was fantastic that so many parents came and were passionate about this subject. But many parents were kind of forwarding an immersion type program, which is something that our school at this time just simply can't do. It would mean drastic changes to our personnel.

So the FLES program that we had at Panorama was really an enrichment. It was offered a couple times a week and they found that if you don't have something daily, and really deep in a language than this kind of program like the FLES program was quite effective. We can also look at after school.

All right, thank you very much. So we did have an additional question but we are coming up on, we only have about six or seven minutes left, so I'd like to give each of the candidates an opportunity to make their closing statement and we will be Talking with the candidates about how to get the remaining questions answered after the fact in a way that's that's equitable for everybody. So, having said that, we will do the closing statements in reverse order from the opening statements. And so our 1st speaker will be Mia and.

Thank you please go ahead. Okay. Well, I did want to say that I have spoken to 2. of the principals in our district and they shared with me that even their teachers who have been there for 20 years have had to relearn what it means to be a teacher given the quick you know the format is so different right now and given that they're learning new solutions to distance learning it could be an opportunity for us to introduce more creativity more innovation into our schools and there may be a growing need for STEAM curriculum, just bring our schools up to the 21st century.

I do trust the educators to be innovative, and I want to help support them in bringing more engagement to students, because right now, more than ever, they need to be engaged to not only achieve test scores, but go beyond that in their education. Thank you. Thank you.

Lillian, you're up next. Okay. I feel like 45 seconds was not... ample time to answer all of these questions.

I hope I got my main points across. I would be, I will be focusing my energy in the second term to really making sure our return to school is safe for everybody and that our distance learning continues to evolve and be robust for our students who choose not to come back to school. I would be honored by another term.

I feel like my work here is not done. Our board operates really well. We have a fantastic superintendent and we have great energy and our board and our schools that right now and our morale.

Well, pre coded was was was really improved. So I thank you very much for your time and feel free to reach out to me at any time to answer any other questions. Thank you. Thank you.

So next up, Karen, please go ahead. You're on mute. Am I on?

Okay, great. Thanks. It's been an interesting evening.

I've enjoyed listening to the questions and getting to know what's important to our community. I've enjoyed hearing what the other candidates have said. And over the past few months walking around town and the district, I've learned so much from parents and residents. It's been an important education.

You are given this vote for school board trustee because your candidate should represent you. They should be willing to advocate for you and they should represent your values and what you care about. For me, a board member should exhibit the growth mindset that we espouse for our students, always striving for improvement, embracing challenges and knowing that the road forward can sometimes take effort. Thanks a lot for this evening. Thank you.

Thanks very much, Karen. Next up, Jackie, and I'll unmute you. Go ahead. Great.

I want to thank everybody. This has been great. It is hard in 45 seconds. And I just want to say these schools are fabulous, and I am so grateful for them in my world and with my children and family. And everybody enrolled in our schools should feel an enormous sense of privilege to be in them.

We have wonderful educators and I am very proud to be part of them and see the progress they've made over the years. The schools your children are children entered. There's a nuance, they evolve, and everybody comes together.

But and I really think that moving forward we can focus on the needs of our 482 currently enrolled children. And look to the future to build, improve it too. Thank you. Thank you Jackie.

All right. Sharon it is. On you, so please go ahead. All right.

Well, thank you. Tony and everybody that's listening and I want to. Thank the people that are on the board and the people that are running for the board for being here tonight and giving your views and I want to thank you all for listening and.

giving me the opportunity to tell you what I think. And I just want to tell you that my vision as a teacher and my mission is to create joyful learning environments that empower my students to do their best as they learn and they explore in a community that uplifts them and is grateful for all their contributions. And I know that's what Brisbane is. So I would like to be a part of that process that helps create that for our kids. Thank you.

Thank you. And finally, to wrap this up for us, I'll unmute you, sir. Curtis, please go ahead. Well, I think I'd be remiss if I didn't say thank you to you, Tony, for hosting this. And thank you to all the other candidates who are here.

You know, I've really enjoyed my time on the board. And I think I bring something that's unique. I think it's added a lot to the wisdom and energy and passion of my fellow board members, and I hope to be able to continue that. All right. Well, thank you, sir.

And, you know, a huge thank you to all the candidates for. making the time to do this tonight. It's quite late and we're just wrapping up at just about 830, which is fantastic. My meetings don't always end on time because I have to talk a lot.

But having said that, I also want to say a huge thank you to Christine who helped me set this up and did a lot of the grueling back-end work of helping consolidate the questions. Also, thank you to the- anonymous staff volunteers who helped on the technical side. So that's a district office staff who helped me set up the set up the WebEx and do all the technical stuff. So really, this was a huge team effort. And I want to say thank you to everyone involved, candidates and staff and parents alike.

Thank you so much. And that'll be it for the evening. Good night, everybody.

And this recording will get posted and it will be available to view sometime tomorrow. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Good night.

Transcript for:Brisbane School District Candidate Forum Insights

Transcript for:
Brisbane School District Candidate Forum Insights