Video title: School Board Candidates' Forum February 20th, 2025
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5qstggeSDU
MW - Moderator Michael Williams
HS - Heather Smith
NS - Nancy Smith
SH - Shawn Harrison
MW all right good evening this is the Oyster River Cooperative School Board 2025 School Board candidates Forum my name is Michael Williams I am the district moderator and we've invited each of the School Board candidates to participate tonight that are on the ballot for this this year's election we have four people on the ballot for our two at-large seats with us tonight are Sean Harrison, Nancy Smith, and Heather Smith. Bill Howard is also on the ballot. We also have one person Renee Bennett on the ballot for one seat that is elected district-wide but must be held by a Lee resident and she had a conflict with her with her job in another school district this evening. I've got a number of questions for the candidates tonight I I invited questions from from the pto's from different employee groups and from the community and the questions that I picked for us to go through are based on the themes that were mentioned most frequently from the different different folks that that suggested questions we will start with some introductions and we'll vary the order of the questions with each one so that we're not asking the same person to answer first each time we do have some time at the end for for questions from the public that is here tonight thank you all for coming this evening if you choose to ask we'll save some time for that at the end all right with that we'll get started we will so my first question is to please introduce yourself and share a little about yourself and why you're running for school board and we'll start with Nancy with this one
NS I am Nancy Smith and I live in Madbury and I I have a master's degree in education Administration the principal ship so I've been a music teacher for decades and then a principal for about four years and I have a real desire to this school district is a wonderful school district and I have a desire to protect it in the next couple of years as Things become tulous with our our government and the big reason why I'm running is that I have five grandchildren in this District at Moharimet elementary and the middle school and two in the high school and I just am forever amazed at what they say and the wonderful they all love this District all five of my grandchildren do and the wonderful things that are happening here we got to keep Fanning it up and protecting them and and with that appreciation for having five kids five grandkids in this District I'm really supportive
MW thank you Mr Harrison
SH yes my name is Sean Harrison I live in Durham with my wife and two sons both of my sons one of them just just graduated last year from the school the other one still has four years left in the school so like you I want to make sure those four years are protected for sure protected for him and for the future Generations that are going through it my wife graduated from here I won't say how many years ago that would not be polite and she had the same thing the same energy in the school and I feel like that needs to be protected and preserved so yeah that's that's the main reason why I'm here to make sure that I believe in public education and I believe that many of the people in this room or anybody watching this came through the same systems and we need to make sure that public education is still still a part of our life as it is now.
MW right thank you and Heather Smith
HS hi I'm Heather one of the two Smiths at the table I'm a mom of two kiddos in the district and a very delightful and naughty Corgi best slightly different Corgi than the last time we're trans from transplants from Ohio we did a stint in Louisiana and we've been here a decade now over over doing math poorly in my head I have I'm an engineer I have my doctorate in civil engineering and I'm really lucky in that I get to spend my days designing solutions that directly impact the communities that we live in and really really enjoy what I do I am on the board of a local swim team the otter and I'm in my last year on the moam at PTO which I am super excited and sad about at the same time and three years ago I was a privileged to be elected to the school board and during that time I've worked on the finance committee I led the superintendent search last year and I'm currently Vice chair of the board and if you've watched a school board meeting you know that one my particular I'm going to call it a strength is that I like to ask a lot of questions and I'm not afraid to ask questions and so I really believe in this District I believe in the work we're doing here I believe in and I'm here to do the work that it is going to take to help this district and our students grow and succeed and so that's why I'm running for school board Michael
MW all right thank you our next question we'll start with Mr Harrison the question is what skills or life experience do you have that would be beneficial to the school board and the school district
SH so in my full-time job I do risk mitigation and compliance I work for an international company so I I sit I am a representative for the international standards Organization for the United States so I work with other countries one of my skill sets is I'm able to work with different parties and different groups who have different interests and try to pull them together for a consensus type of standard so I I like communication I enjoy communication and I also understand the challenges of it so with that I believe I can bring certain skill sets in and reach out to the different Pary stakeholders in the community the parents the teachers staff the administrators and everybody and try to make sure we come together for the best interest of the students
MW excellent and and Nancy Smith the question is what what are we bringing to the what what skills or life experience do you have that would be beneficial to the school board and the school district
NS I've worked with school boards for years and in my career as a music teacher having to organize large groups of kids and families and I think that organizational skill is a big thing that I can bring in but as a principal working with school boards and the state department of Ed understanding an understanding of the rules and regulations and all of the nitty-gritty that goes on to keep school districts healthy and happy and funded and keeping things going in the right direction it doesn't happen by chance it happens by effort and there's a lot of good effort happening here so I think that's a a keeping the communication going with staff and parents and kids but especially now with the state department of Ed as well I think that's a a something that we really need to do is stay on the lean in lean in and stay aware of the communication there just has to be lots of communication lots of trust building going on in the next couple of years right and
MW Heather Smith what skills or experience life experience do you have that would be beneficial to the school board and the school district
HS so I've worn a fair number of hats I have been a teacher I spent six years at Louisiana State University teaching things like water resources and Coastal Engineering and then I spent two years at UNH teaching things like project management I'm an engineer and I work in a global company and so that's interesting because I get to work on really cool projects and some of them are really small and local based and some of them are really cool and international but the scale of that allows me to do a couple of different things the first is that on sort of those smaller projects that allows us to have time to Mentor new and young engineers and that gives us you be an opportunity to sort of see what where folks Excel especially our new grads our new hires where they Excel where there are areas for improvement and sort of wrap that into thinking about how we as a district are creating our students and and helping them move into the next phases of their life but is also working with a global company I get to see what's happening globally and what those 21st century skills that our students are going to need to have look like in a much wider Marketplace and so it's really interesting and I also get to do cool science stuff so that's really good and then the last bit is I been doing this job for three years being on the school board and I like to say that means I've finally reached a point where I know enough to be dangerous so there's a there's a learning curve and I feel like I'm kind of up on towards the top of it now and U so that would be the skills and experience
MW all right very good our next question is is there a particular issue that motivates you to serve on the board and and this time we'll start with Heather Smith
HS so I believe in strong public schools that serve our entire learning community and that's students that's staff that's parents that's community members that is our learning community and we all should have a goal that we all are lifelong Learners and so I've really enjoyed being part of the board I want to keep doing the work and so part of the things I've learned being a board member over the last three years is it's really hard to nail down exactly one thing that gets me up and gets me going because there are a lot of things you have to balance a lot of ideas you have to hold and balance our Northstar really is Student Success whatever form that takes but within the work of the board that gets balanced on a lot of different ideas that have to be managed because there's limited time and resources to do that and so within this next cycle things that I'm really excited about are the strategic planning process that will be kickstarting off this spring if we talk about challenges or other things I've got to talk a little bit more about that we have some really exciting and necessary work we're doing with curriculum if you didn't get a chance to see Suzanne's presentation at the beginning of February you should take a look It's really informative really interesting work that the district as a whole is doing and then we the Elementary Schools project that we'll be seeing through the next year and Beyond and so when I think about the sort of the Arc of the next term those are some of the things I'm really interested in what we'll be doing
MW and so Sean Harrison next is there a particular issue that motivates you to serve on the board
SH well I think it's just the as several of us have already stated that there's there are some government challenges facing us and really core changes that they're trying to make to our public education that I think we need to make sure there's enough resistance there that we maintain that public education and we don't take away from it modernizing it making it better is certainly something that I would like to see just adding in whatever it is the the 21st century skills as as you put it that's a great way is to look at that and make sure that that's included into the school systems being physically responsible making sure that we're maintaining the budgets and making the right decisions with with money spent those would probably be the top three issues that I would like or items that I would like to make sure we work on right
MW thanks and Nancy Smith is there a particular issue that motivates you to serve on the board
NS the big one is in this next four years things are going to be really tulmultous I I totally agree that we really have to protect we have to keep ourselves in a really protected bubble and and this week maybe it was last week I did hear that the desire is to get rid of the Department of Education this scares me in a way of Step Up and lean in we're going to have to really watch the details as they happen to protect all the wonderful things that are happening now having the gloom and doom it's not Gloom and doom if we lean in and we all participate and do whatever we can as individuals to protect our district that's one that was the main reason but then you we're talking about curriculum and at that last board meeting where the presentation was my husband calls me a curriculum junkie I got so excited about that it's just really a big thing it is a big that curriculum is going to be amazing and then to teach it to the staff there are some wonderful things the fiscal as we think about adding on to schools or we redistricting or maybe even building a new school whatever that looks like but we have to stay now more than ever within our financial budget and when that budget is set we have to really all of us look at it and help and support the financials of this District so that we don't tank and any one of these really strong areas that we have going so that's it pretty much is is the next four years are really crucial for this district for every district for the State of New Hampshire and I think we can make a difference and I'm really hopeful about that and I'm hopeful about the curriculum and I'm hopeful about the financials it's all good so anyway that's it
MW all right thank you our our next question and we'll start with with you this time Nancy okay how will you engage with parents teachers students and community members to make informed decisions and I and I'll say yeah I I solicited questions from different groups and this one came in different forms from every every group so
NS from every group well that's pretty important the the thing that just really is important is to be out there and going to things going to swim meets going to I went to the state meet this last weekend which was the swim meet the The Varsity Oyster River High School sent a team to the state competition which was just over here at UNH I was blown away with how the sportsmanship between all of these high schools across the whole state were so good to each other and getting to talk to people there are all kinds of people to talk to get out of that shell and talk and find out ask questions because it's parents it's kids we have a lot lot of kids in our neighborhood and they're quick to tell me what they think it's teachers but we have to really put ourselves out there and ask visit the schools go to the events show up but be out there finding out what our family our constituency is thinking
MW all right thanks and Heather Smith next how would you engage with parents teachers students and community members to make informed decisions
HS so generally the problem is not people finding me it's getting me to stop harassing people so Danielle's laughing at me I see it so I'm around a lot perhaps too much sometimes and I am not shy about asking questions I am not shy about talking to people and I don't mind if you come up and ask me questions I I'm really excited about that and I like to be in the community I like to go to the things I like to volunteer for the things so I'm an around and about the student part is a little bit more of a pickle I have a middle schooler who occasionally talks to me an elementary school child who occasionally talks to me and tells me things that sometimes right sometimes not and likees to get a little creative but I found one of the things I've most enjoyed is the opportunities when the students come into the school board meetings to present I've very much I really love those and the second is there's been a series and a variety of panels that they've done last year the high school mental health Club put on a mental health panel where they asked questions and there were students on the panel as well as different Professionals in mental health and going to that was really interesting and super instructive just finding the opportunities to listen to them going to a coffee house which I still haven't gotten to it's on my list of things I want to do so soliciting student feedback where we can where it's appropriate but just generally be out and around and keep you know be a good listener
MW all right and and Sean how would you engage with parents teachers students and community members make informed decisions
SH yeah I think they've covered most of them it's it's a very important part and it's a it's not a easy part I don't think I I only recently started digging in I have to admit I was one of those parents who focused on their kids came to the school worked with the teachers went to the events my son was in my oldest son who's graduated now was in the tennis program and we went to all of those and that was a good place to interact our youngest son is now in robotics so we go to not only the schools here but we go to the other schools and interact with the parents there so it's important to do that and to to engage with them but it's also important to find the medium that they want to be engaged with and oftentimes right now that's social media so I think a a good social media presence making sure the questions get out there and the questions are listened to and or the responses are listened to and then find a way to make that work to integrate that into how the school functions and what how we perform as a school board
MW great thanks next question we're going to start with Heather Smith what programs in our district help our students to succeed
HS you picked one of the ones I didn't prepare so just just for everybody I I did share all of the questions with the candidates ahead of time so they could have a flavor of what we're going to talk about I did not tell them what order we were going to to ask so there are a lot of things that we offer students and it depends on what level you're going to talk about and so that comes with good and bad things there are a lot of choices there are a lot of individualization there are a lot of exciting opportunities particularly at the high school level with the you know the individual the elos the Educational Learning opportunities looking at different CTE options and working your way through the curriculum and getting you taking running start classes or AP classes or even un classes but I think the thing I am most excited about we're probably going to talk about this again is that as a district the last two or this year and the year coming we have supported sabatical that are interested in looking at different mechanism for curriculum delivery and so Sarah curtain's sabatical this year looks at the difference between Project based inquiry based and integrated learning and then Sean Kelly's sabatical for next year also looks at I believe integrated learning opportunities both so Sarah's at the elementary school level and Sean is at the high school level but these idea of Capstone or larger scale projects that allow students to pick and choose parts and work together in teams I really find those very powerful the students who came in the fourth grade students from Mo herment they talked about their energy projects that they had worked together they picked a type of renewable energy solar power wind power Hydro power and they came and they described their process they showed the Lego model they opened that up for us to come and check it out so that was really cool to come to the library and see all the student groups who had done all this different research and created presentations to explain the research they had done they worked through that with art and through research in the library and through classroom instruction and then my my older child last year was in seventh grade and they did this really fantastic hike down the Sea Coast and the projects that came out of that experience were individual but very different some kids were really interested into the murder mystery on one of the islands off the aisle of Sholes other kids were really interested in marine life in interner Tidal zones and so those types of learning experiences I feel as a district we're trying to rapple with how to bring those forward more and include those into the curriculum more frequently probably not the word I want to use properly but like make them really I'm going to use a Robert word authentic learning experiences for our kids I think it's a really great opportunity and so I've not talked too long
MW all right Sean Harrison next how do you what programs in our district help our students to succeed
SH I'm surprised you didn't prepare for that one CU that sounded very prepared good so I I mean there are so many and I think the the interesting model that I see here in in the school district is that a lot of these programs follow along with the with the the students and they're all age appropriate one good example of that I think is the music program that starts they have a great music program that goes from from the Middle School right into the high school and it transitions very easily and they work together starting in the middle school so music is a very important part I think of life as as the Arts all of the Arts are and then you have the C te programs that start out there which allows for the students to go out and and work on their other skill sets maybe they're not on a college track they're able to get out and find something that does interest them whether it's technology or auto mechanics or whatever it might be I think that helps them succeed the school has a very interesting program which is their Intervention Program and I think that's an amazing program to have for someone to identify a student who may be struggling and that those teachers can come in take them out and give them the attention that they need to bring them back up to grade and get them performing where they need to be and I think that's very unique and special I don't know that I've ever seen that in any other school district so very important the sustainability programs that are out there for the students and allowing them to see what's involved in the in the earth and how we can protect it and how we can what we can do on individual level and on larger Town levels I think is amazing I already talked about my son in the robotics that program also moves from The Middle School into the high school and each year gets a little bit more challenging for them so I think that's very good robotics to me is a is something as a skill that will be used probably till the end of time it's just becoming it's just growing faster and faster so I believe there's a lot of things that help the kids succeed a lot of models that hit every layer of where their interest is as far as school is the ones who struggle to engage the ones who were fully engaged I think we the the district has a lot of that so there's a lot of u a lot of success that happens here and it's reflected in our graduation rates I believe
MW all right and Nancy Smith what programs in our district help our students to succeed
NS I'm laughing because there are so many I guess I would start with the curriculum this this new curriculum is it's really good your committee if that's what who's doing it it that what's coming online is amazing a lot of thought and intention and study is going into it it's not something that's just halfhazard so that's within the daytime but the the the Christmas music program having been a music teacher I just happen to really have a high regard for the music in this District it's amazing to go to that concert and see 86 graders all blowing into their band instruments these kids will have a cohort friends that will stay together until they graduate from high school starting at sixth grade they'll always be a part if they stay in music of something until they're in 12th grade it's not just in and out and in and out and in and out it's it's an amazing thing also the the brain chemistry that's happening in these other programs carry over into Reading Writing and arithmetic in the daytime there's huge huge amount of data that music gets the brain both hemispheres firing up so that's just music but the robotics this stem within this district is off the charts cool the the well all my kids want to do robots they think that's the coolest thing ever and math counts at the middle school counselors each school has a counselor the counselors are are there helping not just with curricul planning and do you want to go to college or do you want to do this or here's what here's how we're going to do academics but they're there to support emotionally and get kids the support that they need and I think those counselors are key special ed the the special ed program I have a couple of students who a couple of grandchildren who get services that are special services and that is amazing they come together the teachers and all the Specialists come together and make a plan and then make sure that it's carried out and that student they watch to make sure come back to that IEP make sure that it's all lined up and the students do benefit that are in that department the extracurriculars the the clubs the Athletics oh my goodness the Athletics the support that's coming in is really Dynamite that's that's quite a broad question and there's so much that feeds into it but there you go that's that's a smidgen of what all right contributes
MW thank you our next question is how do you see a role as a Schoolboard member and how do you see the role of the superintendent and we'll start with Sean Harrison this time
SH wow thanks for starting with me on that one the so as a school board member I really I I value your opinion because you've had three years experience that that you're an unfair advantage on this I am tiny bit the really I see myself trying to go out and Outreach into the community into the the parents to the teachers to everybody find all those resources find out what their desires are what they in what they their vision is for the students because ultimately that's what we're trying to accomplish make sure we have successful students we want them to be valuable members of our community that that contribute so really reaching out as best I can to the students and to the parents and to the teachers and taking that communication back and then somehow putting it all together as a board that we can put it for a a plan of an action plan and how we envision the future and then working with the superintendent to make sure that is executed through the proper policies and and procedures that that go along with that and then it's Then followed as you were talking about the the IEPs and 504s and all the other things that are out there it's one thing to put them together it's another thing to make sure that they're on track and they're checked in on and followed so that's where I see my role as a as a board member and it's how I see the superintendent functioning
MW thanks and Nancy Smith how do you see your role as a Schoolboard member and how do you see your role as the role of the superintendent
NS well I'm in total agreement especially with communicating and finding out the community kids parents teachers staff all of it pulling it in and bringing it in I totally agree the superintendent runs the school district he's the guy in charge the board sets policy so what can we do to support him I mean we've got to give him we can't make up baloney and give it to him cuz doesn't have the time of day to do that stuff we have to make sure that any policies that are set are good policies for kids and then set him up for success to run it in the district so he's got to have our success and we've got to work together he also knows that we're an accountability the board in that he knows well they're going to ask me this this and this and this and so he's going to get the right people to give us the dat data to see what that is whatever it is but the communication what we can do to support the the superintendent is huge we have to really support in any way we can and by getting the information from the public from our kids from our from our neighbors from that will help him it'll help us set policy meaningful policy and it's about kids it'll keep any politics out of it it's not that it's kids it's about what's best for our district for our kids so support that superintendent
MW thanks and Heather Smith how do you see your role as a Schoolboard member and how do you see the role of the superintendent
HS so I have a tiny bit of an advantage on this one in that I have public feedback on what the role of the superintendent should be because we went through a public listening session last year when we were in the hunt for a new superintendent and so the things we value as a district for the superintendent is someone who advocates for public education and for students someone who's physically responsible someone who is a good manager but what I really like is and I've been fortunate with both the superintendant I have been serving with is that they have both worked really collaboratively with the board and having a good collaborative relationship between the school board and the superintendent is so important for all the things that we've just mentioned and you know we the superintendent provides leadership to the district it brings ideas to the district but is also having omous conversations about where we are as a district and the things we do really well and the things we really need to improve and that is something I really value in a superintendent and then having that conversation with the board and bringing forth the data to help support that those conversations and that allows us to set policy priorities that also allows us to build a financial plan for budgets which are the two main mechanisms for school boards U or policy and budget and and so again super collaborative relationship U not an adversar adversarial relationship just really good listening on both sides is really important
MW all right our next question is what do you see as the biggest challenge facing our schools today and how would you address it and we'll start with Heather Smith
HS this time so both Nancy and Sean have already mentioned the legislative challenges that are coming coming down the line and that all feeds into how we educate our students and how we pay for that education and so there's a lot of things the change in the federal government has created a whole host of challenges and most of it is uncertainty at this point we're not sure about the status of the Department of Education we're not sure about the continuation of federal education for programs like sped free and reduced lunch and other Grant funds that we receive that help us do the work of educating the students in this district there is uncertainty about a whole bunch of other things that aren't necessarily directly education related but really do impact our district like the uncertainty and research funding we live in a district that is closely tied to UNH and the attacks on NSF and NIH among some of the other federal agencies that fund that research the cap to indirect costs to those universities are really going to have a really big impact to one of the district's major employers and what that's going to look like over the next several years is really uncertain cuts to the federal Workforce are in that same vein so we have the education side but we also have the community side and how we balance all those things together and we are still struggling to wrap our eyes or wrap our hands around what the Dei order is going to mean it's causing Havoc with me in my professional life with some of the federal contacts I work with and we're waiting to see how we're in that 90-day window we're waiting to see how it's really going to impact the district and so that's the federal side and then we have the state side that is continuing to look at lowering minimum requirements how that ties into the continued fight on what constitute an ad adequate education and the funding that gets tied to that impact of the educational Freedom accounts and how that affects us both locally and affects public education broadly and so the answer is I don't have an answer for how we deal with all of those things the answer is that as these things come up we have to work collaboratively within the community within the administration within the school board and do what we can within the constraints we have time resources finances to do the best we can to keep our students first and foremost happy healthy and learning
MW all right and Nancy Smith next what do you see as the biggest challenge facing our schools today and how would you address it
NS it's huge that this what's going to happen to funding we as a school district depending on a set up infrastructure for receiving funding if it gets the state department of Ed which is this the federal than the state than the local if it actually gets we have to not be frozen in fear but we've got to lean in pay attention to what's going on and respond immediately fast quality action all of us and how are we going to do that well we've got to build trust with each other we can't go into a bickering I don't trust you and it's all about politics we can't do that we know that things may come that are unpredictable it's going to happen we don't know what it is so we're ready and we have quality staff we have quality people whatever it is we're going to get in there and help whatever needs to happen to to keep our bubble here flowing without any any trauma or any any problems we've got to be proactive and and watch the news and and react and and not go not freeze but but participate step in that's one thing the other thing is I asked four different high schoolers at four different moments and they were was just me and these high school kids and I said so tell me what do you like about the high school and all four and this was different and they didn't know what the other one said said everything I like everything and I thought that was funny so I didn't trust it said come on give me give me something good and finally I said well if it's all good is there is there anything bad no it's all good well they were telling me what they wanted me to hear which is great but then what the question was is there any bullying at the high school and this fellow who's a senior bought for a minute and he's a just this really tall sweet runner biker and he said well there are some mean people over there and so when I looked at some the comments about this school district bullying bubbled up a couple of times and so that's one of the issues that I think within our framework that we can address don't know exactly how but we have counselors in every single building the counselors can't take it all on but we have committees we have teachers can communicate how to talk to each other that is this is bullying this isn't and how to communicate so I I think that's something that we need to continuously create a a safe environment especially with all the things that are out there in the in the news and and things that can happen because we are a close lots of people in an enclosed place it should not be dangerous so we're going to say that it isn't but it isn't because we're all aware you know this is Pleasant bill but we can't we have to treat these things because it's a human condition there might be bullying there probably is because there are all of these people in this small area and everybody has a different personality and so that's one of the things that I would say we need to address only because it's not necessarily a problem and we're going to keep it that way but it happens and if we know what it is and can teach our kids how to how to be and I saw some amazing sportsmanship at this state swim meet this last weekend just amazing between these so they know how to do it but we have to be on the on the watch and careful with it implementing all the new things that are going to come our way there will be a lot of it we just have to create trust within our staff in this District within the board within parents parents and staff parents and the board the trust the communication has to really be stronger for these next four 4 years than ever and can it happen yes did you see that big event that was happening in the C cafeteria tonight that looked pretty positive and full of community I think it was an athletic dinner but it's things like that that build trust and we've got to really keep keep building trust and work now harder than ever for these next four years and and we'll see where it all goes see it's going to be a different a different School District a different setup not just our school district but the whole all the way up to the top of the Fed so have to lean in and I think we also need to pay attention to communication
MW all right and Sean Harrison what do you see as the biggest challenge facing our schools today and how would you address it
SH yeah so I'm not going to I think the federal state and local has been sufficiently covered I'm not going to touch that one you did touch on some topics that I believe are so true and there were one of them is the the the community and the the myths that are out there about what is being what is happening inside the school what's being taught inside the schools and and I think that there needs to be better Outreach better clarification to the parents as to what the the students are actually learning what is in there I know the schools do a lot they have curriculum nights which I've attended to make sure that we can see that obviously it's discussed in the school board meetings what is in the curriculum so somehow there has to be a better form of communication to dispel the myths of what is being taught in schools and what the students are experiencing and and how their lives are being directed in schools and those kind of things I think that's a challenge that faces the teachers and the administrators and we also have to support them we have to give them the tools that they need to be able to address those I'm not sure the right word but falsehoods of of what's what's being what's happening in the schools and what's being taught because they can not be fighting those challenges while providing a good learning opportunity for the students in the school at the same time so whatever the Outreach that needs to happen to the parents to the community to dispel all those myths and and speak more of the truth that that needs to I believe that that definitely needs to be addressed
MW great thank you next question is kind of related what could we do as a school district to protect and include all students in the district including those who identify or may be part of minority groups or groups that have felt excluded and we'll start with Nancy Smith this time
NS well the easy thing would be oh just teach them a class on it but really it's to make sure that as we do extracurricular activities they're included watching in these groups who is it that isn't included and why what is that about is it economic is it because they don't have enough money or they just don't have the oomph to get out the door or they don't have transportation what is it and and address that but all of our our things like Orchestra and band and choir there's a spot for robotics for math count I mean all of them all track there's something for everybody so we have to be proactive and invite them figure it out and invite them make sure that they are part of it inclusive
MW thanks and Sean Harrison next what could we do as a school district to protect and include all students in the district including those who may identify as part of minority groups or groups that have felt excluded yeah
SH that's a it's a it's an incredible question and I think there is so much diversity within communities that exists already and I'm not sure why it has to be a focal point but it already exists and and I don't I don't believe anybody should be excluded and I in in doing this reading through the policy there's a lot of policy policy consolidation would be something that I would probably want to work on too but in doing that I went back and I found one of the things which was in the mission statement and I'll just read it it's become a useful and responsible member of Home community and Society while leading a personally rewarding life that was written in 1998 I think that incum compasses a lot of that it's a way to go through and just get everybody involved in the schools and don't isolate them out because if you want them to be a functioning part of community and a and a good person provide them that opportunity don't make it more challenging for them and then they will be that good part of community that you want to see and then I also went back through and looked at the inclusion I don't it's not policy I don't think but that started in 200 17 so these efforts have been underway for a long time to try to keep things moving in that direction and including and not isolating marginalized students or people who see themselves different in the world they're a important part of our community and they provide different perspectives for us
MW thank you and Heather Smith what could we do as a school district to protect and include all students in the district including those who may identify as parts of minority groups or groups that have felt excluded
HS so I once heard a superintendent who was not one of our superintendents say that as a school district one of our biggest goals is for people to feel seen known and heard and that really resonated with me I feel like that is what this is and we want our schools to be spaces where people feel safe we want our schools to be places where our students and staff can come and be their wh selves where they don't have to hide a part of their s to be accepted we know that when people can be their whol selves in these environments the outcomes improve all the way across the board whether you're talking about mental health or you're talking about academically and it's hard it's hard work and we've been working on it for a while and we're still not there yet it's work that needs to continue and the new executive order is making that work harder but as a member of the board currently and hopefully in the future I'm committed to doing that work what that what that means changes depending on the constraints we have but I think the if our goal is for kids and adults to feel that they are seen known and heard that they have a space that this is for them that we are doing the right thing and that's not just something we need to take care of at the Schoolboard level that's not something we need to take care of as a district that's something that everyone in the community at a human level needs to be committed to and we all need to embrace that idea that we can be our wh selves in wherever we are and that everyone should be seen known and heard
MW all right thanks we're going to shift gears now and talk a little bit about money so we'll start with Sean Harrison on this one do you have any specific priorities or goals for the District budget and how would you balance this with local taxes
SH you're not taking it easy on me tonight yeah I think the the the goal would really be to and and I I honestly have not looked through all of the line items of the budget to to figure out what exactly I would focus on first but I would start looking at all those things I would like to say that it's it's in my opinion it's a pretty shortsighted view to to look at education and immediately start cutting that the reason why I say it's shortsighted is because that's educating our future Generations when we start cutting Corners with them we're not going to see the effects of that for another 10 or 12 years when they go out into the workforce and start doing things and and innovating and advancing us as a society so cutting education and looking at that as your first opportunity as a line item to to remove I don't think is a wise move taxes are composed of all kinds of things there's other areas we can focus on and we can look at those so take a more holistic view at all the taxes and what's generating those taxes as far as what would be within my purview as a as a school board member I think looking at all of the expenses that we currently have that need to be paid and before we start incurring more additional expenses and just using that money wisely to keep that to keep that tax rate down
MW right thanks and Heather Smith do you have specific priorities or goals for the District budget and how would you balance this with local taxes
HS so the budget is how we financially balance our aspirational goals as where we are as a district against realities and our funding limitations and so as a school board it's our charge to find ways to reduce expenses and that could be really challenging when almost 80% of the school budget is tied to salaries and benefits but every Year's budget is different so this year's budget was driven largely by the teacher Guild contract that's on the ballot and trying to rebuild some of the capital funds that we sort of shifted around to help make room for the middle school bond and that's really not exciting Capital funds o right we're talking about roofs doors masonry waterproofing and repairs carpets there's an air handling unit on the high school that's on the fritz none of it's really very exciting but it's important and we got to do it we have a much better feel for the kind of things that need work based on the conditions assessment report we went through this year which has helped us outline what a larer term Capital plan might look like in order to just maintain the budgets because as someone once told me as soon as you turn the lights on in a new building you immediately need to start doing repairs and next year's budget is going to be a conversation about how we try to continue doing the things we need to do as a district but also looking at educational space at the elementary schools and what that project is going to look like and I feel that the board gets a little bit hit on this one but we really do recognize that the community isn't a blank check right we can't just do whatever we want and the taxpayers are going to pay for it we really do try to find areas where we can cut we but you know also make sure we have buses to get kids to school right all of these things are important so we do try to find that line between where we need to be and where we think we can handle it as a as a tax rate and that also changes with how population shifts and the abortion formula changes because we have three towns and the towns have tax rate impacts that are different based on the same budget and that can get a little complicated so we also recognize that most of our revenue is generated from local property tax and so those things hit people in the district immediately first and that's part of the argument about what an adequate education is and state funding and even that with the swep and we're going to stop there but so I don't the budget is a collaborative process I'm a little tired of saying collaborative today but it's true and it balances a whole lot of different pieces and parts and every budget is different and as you know as a district we try to plan out what this is going to look like on a multi-year framework but it changes and so that is the work we try to do and we try to be very mind mindful of what that means for everyone in the district because not everyone can afford to write that little bit extra into their property tax bill it's hard
MW all right and Nancy Smith do you have any specific priorities or goals for the District budget and how would you balance this with local taxes
NS I live in Madbury and our taxes are really high real estate taxes are really high so I'm guessing that they're high everywhere but I just don't think our real estate taxes we can't tap into those we can't keep just raise a little bit more just a little bit more we can't do that we have to live within our budget and as was pointed out out every year it changes the needs change the transportation is a big one when all those buses wear out all at once well we got to figure that out and the 80% of the busing comes from some federal money or comes from I don't know where it's if it's federal or state but it's it's coming in and we have to manage manage manage so once the the budget is set we've got to keep coming back to it to see how we're doing we can't go out of the budget and we can't tax we've got to stay in that budget so we've got to keep coming back to it throughout the year not every week but often enough to see how we're doing and if an adjustment needs to be made and our Personnel right now is really good we don't want to we don't want to shrink Personnel because right now we've got this great District so looking at population growth really specific population growth as our district slowly but surely year after year grows a little bit more each year we have to make sure that what we're doing is an inexpensive way to do it maybe we're going to shift the grades maybe we're going to add a portable over here at this school and add a couple extra teachers over here so we don't have to build a building or add on yet or but look at all the options and stay conservative and plan because we know it's coming our our population's coming but is it going to come in a clump like for some anomally we've got an extra bunch of fourth graders but third grade only has half that amount we we need to look at that and see what that is and adjust but stay within that budget whatever the budget is it set we can't go out of it and I think raising taxes is not the answer a bond might be but if it's for something like a new building but we just have to keep adjusting we have to live within that budget and check in on it every once in a while to make sure that we're spending it correctly all right a couple of you mentioned building in space so let's talk about that Elementary enrollment pressures have become a focus of discussion for the school board this year do you have any thoughts in favor of or against any of the concepts around redistricting restructuring grade levels adding on to the elementary school buildings or other ways to address enrollment at mastway and moit and we'll start with you first Nancy
NS well since I just mentioned it that's good are you talking about elementary school is that was that part of the question
MW yeah that subject this over the last several months to a year has specifically been around the elementary enroll
NS okay well I think it's really important to see where that population bubble is is it a bubble that's going to pass through and then be fine when that when that bubble graduates and moves on to the middle school or is it something that's going to continue continue continue and those are really important questions to look at the population changing the grades within the the buildings that we have this fourth fifth sixth no fifth sixth seventh and eth at the middle school to have fifth grade in the middle school is really unique to Oyster River that's not a common thing that's really cool it's really wonderful it's like we have this this group that stays together for four years it's fantastic but doing that seems like a really good way to do it as long as we can keep our kids together and not bumping around from place to place but staying together as a cohort all the way through to graduation so and and I'm not I think sometimes even adding a a portable building if it's a small temporary bubble would be an option there's there are several different options to do before we get to building a new building and purchasing land however if we get to that point where we're just we need to do that we'll do it you know just it's just we have to look at all the options first
MW all right Heather Smith next Elementary enrollment pressures have become a focus of discussion for the school board this year do you have any thoughts in favor of or against any of the concepts around redistricting, restructuring grade level,s adding on to elementary school buildings or other ways to address enrollment at Mast way and Moharimet?
HS so the answer to that is yes to all of them we we're gonna have to look at all of it and so there are a variety of different things that we've talked about that we've looked at but the reality is right now and for the next few years and Elementary School is really hard to predict who's coming in the door in kindergarten I've tried and failed multiple times but we do know that we are in a large group of students and that's going to continue for the next few years and the students who come in behind them how big that bubble is we don't know because they're not born yet and that doesn't include who's walking in the door because they've moved in and we don't have any other way to account for them so predicting Elementary particularly kindergarten enrollment is really hard what we do know is that right now we have too many classes and not enough class classrooms at Moharimet to the point where we've had to move art into the wing we know that very likely next year we're going to have a very similar problem over at mastway where all of the classroom spaces will be occupied and we're going to start pulling spaces from other services other tutors things of that nature to accommodate it and when you look at it and I would encourage everyone to look at the presentation yesterday it is on the website we have FAQ on the website we also have the presentation on the YouTube channel there are inequities between the two schools that we want to bring both schools up to be able to handle a future load and moit has been slammed with students before we're in sort of a lower period And there's a really good likelihood it's going to happen again and it's happening now so how do we plan for that can we redistrict out of it maybe and we might have to look at that do we switch models to something like a PR Princeton plan that gets a little trickier because I don't want to make that decision based on space I want to make that decision because it is the right decision for the district based on student needs and what it what their learning potential and what that plan the the positives of that plan I don't know enough information about that yet and so right now we're talking about expanding and and so that's the conversation we welcome the conversation I think it's an important one to have but at the same time as we talk about all these space needs it does give us an opportunity as someone mentioned at public comment to really look at the elementary school experience as well and I hope that that as we move through strategic planning we take an idea a broader look of what we want the elementary school experience to be and to make sure that we are making our facilities match what we want in the future and I think we are on a good path for leaving ourselves in a good place if we do the expansion at both of the two schools to handle increased case needs for 504s and IEPs it provides Equitable learning space between both of the buildings and it gives us the opportunity to start adding things into what we want an elementary school education to look like
MW all right thank you I am going to ask Sean the same question but before I do that just to warn or or invite members of the public core here after this we have time for questions from you if you'd like to ask questions we've have time for probably two or three maybe even four after after this next question so so get those questions ready all right so so Sean Elementary enrollment pressures have become a focus of discussion for the school board this year do you have any thoughts in favor of or against any concepts around redistricting restructuring grade levels adding on to the elementary school buildings or other ways to address enrollment at mastway and moit
SH I'm not against any proposal I think that anything and everything should be looked at as a as a possibility because there are options that are out there that especially when you bring in the transportation side of it looking at the bus schedules and how they move the students around and timing not keeping children on the buses for multiple hours because of scheduling or or however routing concerns so I think all of that should be looked at I think if there's options on the table that could prohibit us from having to spend additional money just to create more classrooms in one facility if we could distribute out to another classroom whatever that the Princeton plan looks like and that model I think it should be looked at because that would be a way to not have to spend additional money and still provide good learning envir ments for the kids save on our budget possibly avoid redistri redist redistricting anything and then also be more favorable on a transportation side of it so I don't think that there's anything that should be taken off the table that we can look at and again our end goal here is to ride that learning environment for this for the students make sure the children have the right environment for what they need and and then that is then supported by the teach teachers and staff that help them achieve their their learning goals so as long as we can make all those things come together and I'm glad you said that you had a hard time finding the the enrollment I looked into that and the enrollment numbers seem to e and flow they go up and down and up and down and and how you how you predict that I'm not really sure so I've checked yeah I'm glad you said that because I was struggling with it myself
MW all right very good so I'd like to invite if there are any questions from from the public that are here so you we've got time for like I said a couple a few questions here ask you to come up to the microphone that's in the front here we're looking for questions we're going to invite all three candidates to answer these questions so we're looking for questions that can apply equally to all three candidates not questions that are targeted specifically to one candidate so so please go ahead
KB hi there my name is Kathy Brinay I live in Durham I'm retired and but I wanted to come out it's really important to come out and see what's happening at a local level so first of all thank you for stepping up it's it's a time where it would be easy to just say run away sleep for the next four years and and I appreciate the very rational educated discussion tonight and which brings me to kind of the as as you all know and you've you've discussed this this concept that we're in a crazy world right now now we are in a dystopian World lots of misinformation Sean mentioned the idea of myths and as a retired person I try to pay attention to what's happening in the school district and I know that there's due to technology a lot of the meetings are online and I admit I don't watch them I guess my question is what ideas do you have should we get into and and probably pretty soon some very local very dangerous myths and disinformation about what's happening in the schools whether it's around Dei whether it's around budgets whether you know an Elon Musk approach that some people might want to take to the school so we're we're in a new world we're in a different time and so I'm I'm I'm kind of basically asking you at a crisis moment what sort of suggestions you each would have in dealing with that kind of likelihood
MW all right so so I'm gonna I'm going to paraphrase that as what ideas do you have should we get into a situation where there's disinformation about what is going on in the schools and we'll start with you Sean
SH fast balls are coming all night so I think that it's it's I'm Kathy I appreciate that question that's that's a good one and really I don't know all the solutions to that or how you would do that but I do believe that it needs to happen I I do believe that when those things come up such as Dei as I said I work in international company I I there is so much diversity in my company that it it doesn't even register with me and I'm probably the wrong person to speak to that because I am a white male the world was designed for a guy like me so for me I'm kind of blind to all of that so I I feel like we have to tackle each one of those topics and there has to be a public facing way to address it and say here is the curriculum so hit the hit them with the facts not that they always want to listen to those facts because it doesn't it doesn't stimulate that emotional response that they want but here's the facts of what is being taught and and here's what's not being taught I have two sons that are in school and the things that I hear that are being said that are out there don't come back to my house I can ask them those questions is this happening are the teachers saying this stuff and they'll look at me like you're too old what what are you even thinking so it's just amazing I don't have the answer to it but I do believe public information and making sure that that gets out there in as many ways that we can has to happen
MW all right thanks and Heather Smith next what ideas do you have should we get into a situation where there's disinformation about what is going on in the schools
HS well if somebody can solve this they're going to be really rich because it's a problem without a solution but we do the best we can and we try to improve our processes so one of the things that has happened is we do have a full-time Communications person in the district the website is up to date we are pushing things out we are trying to get things into town newsletters and and we're doing all of those things but we're always open to Avenues people receive their information in but we also have to recognize that you know we could have all the curriculum nights on the planet but if the parents don't show up it's not going to help so we need to as a community be committed to showing up and and you know doing the work and asking the questions and learning the things and so it's both sides of the conversation if you see something that doesn't smell right to you it's time for you to go ask some questions to actual humans not just the you know the internet all right
NS and be welcome be welcome to ask those questions yeah encouraged. yeah there is lots of misinformation and we have to we have to bump into each other all of us within this District it has to be safe parents have to come to school because kids don't always share what's like like my grandchildren who said oh I love everything well is there bullying yes well they don't like that I mean it's got to be safe and so the only way we can build trust is to come be together come to parent nights come to PTO come to come to things at school and ask then the newsletters that's really important to get the facts out there when something weird happens above us politically we've got to see what the facts are not what Reddit says or Tick Tock says but what is the fact that's happening and if we need to reiterate that in a newsletter you've got to do that it would be very important to do that whether it's Facebook or the district newsletter it's very important to communicate what the facts are and get rid of the misinformation it's just an ongoing process and we have to all get in there and get the correct truth out there and share the truth it's it's one of those it's The Human Condition but now more than ever do we need to get rid of the myths and parents have to come to school we have to get the information out there whether it's Facebook or newsletter but it's my solution
MW all right thanks there's another question from the audience here evening
YT yes absolutely thank you for your put out yourselves out there for service
my name is Yusi Terell I live in Durham I was going to ask about deij a little bit more operationally you know the responsibility of the board to develop the budget set policies supervise the sole employee the the superintendent what levers actually are there to resist or protect or you know a lot of the the language that that was shared earlier but I actually want to double down on that language recognizing that our community is not a monolith right there's lots of different smart people who believe differently and so using words like they or you know the getting the facts the correct truth out there I think has has limited utility increasingly so unfortunately and so it sounds you know that that all three of you are in support of what could be called deij what I think you know Heather puts really nicely as being seen known and heard some of the values that our our community and our district have had for over the decades so how do we other than sorry platitudes of you know just like communicating and and and going to particular events
how does the board really show leadership to on one hand resist or protect on the other to honor the diversity within our community and you know and and come out stronger I guess than than the world around us
MW so I'm I'm G to try to paraphrase this one too to to how does the board how can the board show leadership to resist protect and honor I guess resist and protect threats to and honor diversity within our community all right and we'll start with Heather Smith this time
HS so so there are things we can do all right let me Marsh my thoughts for a second here before I start talking the board has as ju noted a limited number of Le we have policy and we have finances within the school district we can promote things at the meetings we can talk about things we have written letters in support or against certain pieces of legislation and submitted those as testimony we have allowed one of our school board members to speak on our our behalf as testimony we have worked with different associations with the Schoolboard Association for things that go to different school boards around the state to you we were we pushed the schools as again free zones to be adopted we've been pushing a variety of things regarding the 306s to be adopted into those organizations policy as well but particularly based on what's coming down there are a limited number of things we're going to be able to do and depending on how things go we're going to have to have a conversation about it and but at the end of the day depending on what it is we're going to have to as a district be willing to commit the resources and that typically means money in order to pursue them and so there will be a lot of discussion about it because we don't spend money lightly if we can help it
MW all right Sean Harrison next how does the district how how does the board show leadership to resist threats to and protect or honor diversity within our community
SH so again yuss thank you for that question and I I think we have to look at the things that we can control and ignore the things we can't control there's there's they're just going to be a certain percentage of people that we cannot convince and they they can't distract us from the mission they they can't distract us from the from the the ultimate goal of making sure the children are educated and the way we do that is once they come through the doors of the school we provide them with all those opportunities and we support the staff that provides those opportunities so that they can they can educate those children in the real way and and the facts that have been put out there for the parents to see or for the community to see and that's the part of it that we that we can control in that one and as far as looking through the policies on that I believe we could possibly expand on some of the language in the policy for the deij as as far as that's concerned there seems to be a heavy focus on the lgbtq community whereas we can expand that because if you look at the entire deij policy it really gets into disabilities and and all the other things that are the challenges that people face some limitations physical or whatever it might be so possibly expanding that definition so there's not such a focal point on on that which seems to be the hot button topic on it so I think there's some little things we can do and policy changes that are coming down from the state or the federal government whatever they whatever they are we adapt but we don't get distracted we still stay on that so that when the kids come through those School doors they're provided the best opportunity to the best learning environment they can possibly have and we support the staff that provides that to them
MW all right thank you and Nancy Smith how does the board show leadership to resist threats to and protect or honor the diversity within our community
NS it's a way of life isn't it it it's such a hard question to answer we have in this District a history of the diversity Equity the DEIJ which was actual actually a group that was formed that was a really strong group and it was run by oh what was his name Andrew Smith in 2017 there was a person in charge of it and it was coordinated at the elementary schools middle schools it was really focused on that topic only in within the schools he did a tremendous job and then he passed away and so I would say it would be ho our board to look at the cost of hiring somebody to replace him to make sure that it is I mean we don't we set policy but we can also suggest and how wonderful it would be to have that fulltime person back in in this this this group coordinating between all of the schools I I just think that'd be really powerful cuz it was when he was alive so I don't have a real specific answer except to support that and if we can do it by appropriating a employee to do it that would be just perfect but it's I have to look at that and see look the history of it and see what that's all about and support our superintendent in that kind of put some pressure on the super intendent maybe to Let's fire that back up
MW all right all right we have time for one more question thanks I
LS so I'm Lauren Selig I am a resident of Durham I'm also state representative and I serve on the education policy and administration committee where we've heard all kinds of incredible bills in the past few weeks she's alive to tell the story yeah the superintendent one is maybe one of my favorites which every County should have a superintendent not every yes so one of the bills is to redistrict all so that there would only be County based districts with one superintendent Per County I was thinking about asking about that but I'm not going to instead I'm going to ask about a different superintendent issue so we had a resolution brought forward to us recently asking us to condemn the superintendent of b who stood up to protect a transgender athlete in her community when a group group of parents primarily from outside of the district came to protest that student who's a middle schooler participating in sports and we know that there's Federal action to just to basically disenfranchise and dehumanize our transgender population but we were asked to make a resolution to condemn the superintendent which ultimately did fail although there's still legal proceedings happening around that so I'm curious in a situation like what happened in Bow where the superintendent banned a group of parents who wanted to wear armbands protesting a child playing a soccer game from attending sporting events where it ended up in legal action whether your belief is the best strategy is to support the superintendent and the child or whether to support what these people are claiming as their right to free speech and the right to protest against something they don't believe in and I recognize that that's really do you want me to summarize that
MW could you could you yeah streamline the question so streamline the question
LS be the first person to answer that question yes so so we'll we'll yeah I I'm not allowed to pick that sorry so so essentially in a situation where your superintendent stands up for what they believe to be the best interest of protecting a child and following the the precedent of your school district and in this case particularly related to transgender child and you also have our constitutional right to free free speech and people believing that they have the right to protest and bully a young child how do you balance that and and do take the right action so
MW in in a situation where the superintendent has made a decision to protect a student that results in placing limitations on others and potentially results in legal action against the district how would you respond
LS yeah with with the focus on the transgender component
MW okay and we'll start with we'll start with Nancy Smith this time
NS so the transgender child is a child is a human being we have been handed down recently this whatever the gender is on the birth certificate that's what team you play on do we have to agree with it well it's the rules if parents want to wear pink armbands and what harm is that it's a it's a display of what they think so so I don't I wasn't there and I don't have any solutions but the numbers here are so small it seems as though each one could almost be taken individually but if parents don't like it there's no harm in wearing pink bands we have to follow the laws and if if it's the law that's handed to us says well it has to be the team that the the gender is on the birth certificate we have to do that but for heaven's sakes don't Stir It Up anyway that's my response
MW all right Heather Heather Smith next
HS got it repeat it Lauren this is a horrible mean question so thank you for that so and I think the answer changes whether we're talking three months ago or we're talking now and that's a reality three months ago I would be behind the superintendent now the consequences the loss of federal funding what that looks like has a much broader implication to do harm to a much larger number of students and so I don't know what that answer is because I don't know where we're going to fall out we're still waiting to see what it what the Dei order means for schools and what that what that means I don't know exactly how much Federal funding we get I don't know if the loss of it becomes I don't we don't get a tremendous amount but we get Federal funding and the loss of it has to be recuperated either in the budget somehow or by expanding property taxes and that is not necessarily an easy Cube so as an idealist I want to stand behind the superintendent who is standing behind our current policy I don't like limiting free speech I am not super fond of that but we already have a policy at sporting events that you can be asked by an administrator to leave if you are being disruptive or harmful to a player and so we he would be following our policy in that case but now the landscape has changed and while I want to do everything to protect the student that ramification I don't have a full understanding of what it is and what it means for the entirety of the district not just supporting the superintendent in a lawsuit but something that's much broader and so I don't have an answer for that right now because I don't have a good understanding
MW all right
SH and I don't know that either one of your answers took the load off on that one so the I would say that first of all the the the child athlete was there they they were rightfully on the field they obviously this whatever the sporting Schools allowed for that that child to be there so it's not their fault at all as somebody who works in a leadership role and somebody who works in Risk mitigation I it's always one of those things I'm always balancing of was the right decision made because I wasn't there to see what was happening it's a very Dynamic and fluid situation and I don't know what was happening were they being disruptive and the parents and violating a policy and putting on a little Sideshow so that it it distracted from what was happening and taken away from the athletes and the and the players that are on the field then I think I would 100% support the superintendent for those things because they saw the whole situation they witnessed it I can only imagine that a superintendent would go in there and try to get in there and get ahead of the situation and try to stop it diffuse it and just say look can you just be quiet or something so in the case of a school board member given that hypothetical situation in our current environment I would 100% support a superintendent that saw the whole situation and and did the right thing for the students for the athletes because it should not they should not be the subject to that they were rightfully on that field all right
MW thank you and thank you for the questions from the audience here all right
HS Lauren no thank you
MW so we're we're kind of at the at the end of the time we had planned for this evening so we'd like to go through we'll ask Sean and Heather and Nancy for a closing statement and we had several other questions prepared for this evening depending on how we how the time flowed so I I want to invite you to if there were any of those questions that we didn't get to that you really wanted to talk about to include those in your in your closing statement but and then and then you know really appreciate you stepping up to to be on the ballot for the election the election is March 11th and we'll be electing two at large school board members we'll be electing a Schoolboard member who is elected districtwide but but is a resident of Lee and a moderator in addition to other items on the warrant so with that we'll start with we'll start with Sean for a final statement and anything else you'd like to add
SH well first of all thank you thank you for providing this opportunity I I questioned it a lot I have friends that are administrators schools in other states and teachers in other districts so I consulted with a lot of them because I really didn't know what a School board member did or what their role or function or anything was and I wasn't really sure if I was qualified i' I've I've worked in curriculum design I've done all those other things but it's always been adventure sports primarily water related Sports so I I've done those types of things and and as I said I've worked in compliance so I work with International standards national standards I work with law enforcement I work with all kinds of things so pulling that together reading policy and making sure that you're compliant I I was 100% comfortable with the so I appreciate the opportunity to be able to do this and to be here and see what I can do to contribute ultimately the the the push for me to get over that was I have to be part of the process if I'm not on the inside I can't protect what's happening or put in my best effort to protect whatever is going to happen over the next four years and I'm concerned with that so I thank you for your time I thank you for your consideration and I am out there in the community and hopefully I'll be able to put myself out there a little bit more and answer any questions that people may have because I think that Lauren's questions at the bar and now we all have to maybe be no more challenging than that but thank you for that question because that that's that's a real that's a real situation
MW all right Heather Smith final remarks anything that we didn't cover tonight
HS there were a couple things we didn't cover that I was really at like the mental health so I'm going to put a plugin for mental health we will be having a report out on the hiring of the license mental health counselor at the March 5th meeting so tune in if you want to hear more about that and and a broader discussion about mental health within the the district but first thank thanks everyone for attending and thanks everyone online who is watching this at one and a half speed for sticking with us to the end I have been really honored and really excited to work on the school board for the last three years and I hope to continue that work and I'll put last plug that's not in for me but on March 5th at the Durham Public Library from 5:00 to 7 p.m. is the high School scholastic artwork display it'll be up for the entire month of March so if you want to see the amazing things some of our kiddos are doing this is a really great Forum to do it and to talk to the students they'll be there from 5: to 7: and I love our district I love our students and I love plugging the stuff they do so that makes me happy all right
MW and final word from our candidates this evening Nancy Smith
NS all right well you know this District It's amazing And the fact that you're here tonight you know that already these are crazy times we've got to lean in and really stay engaged we have a staff that works in this District that's amazing we have a school board right now our school board works so hard and they're doing great work we have parents who are active who are right there we've got oh fantastic teachers just fantastic teachers programs the curriculum that's coming it's an exciting time for us and so I would say whatever happens if something crazy happens which it might lean in keep coming keep coming so worth it anyway that's it
MW all right thank you very much and thank you again Heather Smith Nancy Smith Sean Harrison for your participation tonight thank you all for coming tonight thank you to Alexander Taylor for making this production happen. The fourth candidate is Bill Howard who's not able to not not here tonight so and then and then Renee Bennett for the district-wide seat that is held by a Lee resident, but she had a work conflict; she works in another school district that had a public meeting this evening. I am on the ballot for moderator running unopposed. So all right so I will see you all at the polls on March 11th it's my job to moderate.