Go ahead and get started. Thanks, everyone, for being here. Welcome to the 2026 School Board Candidate
Forum. I'm Emma Crossan. I'm a member of the congregation here, the Unitarian Universalist Church of
Bloomington, and chair our Democracy Task Force. So we're one of the partners helping to put this on
and really glad that we could do it.
want to particularly thank all the candidates for being here. A couple of just housekeeping notes. One,
there is a camera in the back. That's CATS, the Community Access Television. So this will be recorded
and will be made available online within a couple of days. So really thank them for being here and recording
this. And once you all to know that the forum, we extended the invitation to every candidate who was
running for school board position.
in any of the three school corporations in Monroe and Brown counties. So that's Monroe County Community
School Corporation. So there are three folks running there. Erin Wyatt, Asia Jester, and Ashley Pirani.
Ashley responded that she was out of town, and then we didn't hear from Erin and Asia. So they're not
here tonight. And then we have Richland Bean Blossom School
Community School Corporation wins for having all of their candidates here in the house. So really happy
to have Krista Curtis and Dennis Adams and Kelly Scholl here. And then we also invited all the candidates
running in Brown County. And I think there are six candidates running. So we have Jane Mitchell and
Julia Smith, who are here. I'm really thankful to have them here. And Michael Fulton responded he was
out of town and unable to make it. And then we have Carol Bowden.
Yes, thank you, and Andy Reed who did not come. So just want you to know the invitation was extended
to all of these candidates and we're excited to host this to really underscore the importance of school
board races for our communities and for building solidarity across our communities and across our school
corporations to talk about the importance of our public schools. So thank you all for being here.
Hi, I'm Beth Purney. I want to thank you for being here, and thank you for coming tonight. I'm with
the limestone chapter of the Indiana State Teachers Association, retired. And we support public education
and also legislation for retired teachers. So thank you for being here.
Hi, my name is Jenny Noble Kuchera. I'm the president of the Monroe County Education Association. So
that is the union that is affiliated with MCCSE. And we are always eager to hear from school
board candidates. So thanks so much for being here. Full disclosure, a lot of the questions were generated by
some of our union members, but we feel like in South Central Indiana, we are all part of the Indiana
State Teachers Association and all vying for improved working conditions which equate to student learning
conditions. So thanks so much for being here. I can't say that I'm not disappointed that none of our
candidates are here tonight, but I'm really eager to hear what you all have for your platforms and ideas
for our larger area. So thanks again.
And I am Kristin Schumacher. I'm a graduate assistant with the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy.
And I will be your moderator this evening. I'll just give you a quick overview of our agenda. First,
we're going to have the candidates introduce themselves. Then we'll have the candidates answer three
questions that they've been given in advance so they've had time to mull over their responses. And then
in the last 25 to 30 minutes of the forum, we will open the floor for questions from the audience.
Okay, so for the introductions, each candidate will have three minutes to introduce themselves during
their introductions. In addition to stating their name and their school district, we've asked them to
include why they are running for school board and what they see as the most important priorities and
challenges of their school corporation. And if they are an incumbent, they can tell us about some of
their accomplishments as a board member. Are we ready? How about we'll start on this end.
Good evening. I want to thank all the organizations who sponsored this forum tonight and made this possible.
Thank you so much. My name is Krista Curtis, and I'm running for RBB School Board. I'm the Boston Township
candidate. I thought about this. How do I explain why I'm running? And I have two key reasons. The first
is service.
I'm very invested in the Ellisville community and audio problem. Okay. I rarely need a microphone. Hello.
Starting over. My name is Krista Curtis. I am running for RBB school board as the beam blossom township
candidate. So I thought about this question and I have two core reasons that I decided to run for school board.
And the first is service. As I said, I'm very invested in the Ellisville community. I've been very involved
over the last few years. I have served on the Chamber of Commerce board. I'm currently the president
of the Greater Ellisville Chamber of Commerce. I am a supporter of Ellisville Main Street. And I helped
co-lead the Envision Ellisville project back a few years ago, which was a community-wide visioning project.
allowing residents to sort of form the future of our community. And one of the key things that we heard
during that process was how important our schools are to our community identity. It's where we gather,
it's where we, just as we did last Friday, cheer against our biggest rivals, big part of our identity.
And so when I heard that Angie Jacobs was stepping down after eight years, I thought maybe this is my
next way to serve my community.
The second reason I'm running is I am truly excited and energized by what's happening at RBB. My son
graduated from there in 2020. I have a daughter there now. In the five or six years, it's incredible
what has happened within the walls of that school through the Ready Schools initiative, the pathways
that are being developed, the opportunity to school run businesses, the maker spaces,
Really giving kids an opportunity to explore, as young as elementary school, who they are, what they're
interested in, and what they want to do. And I just think that's incredible. So those are the reasons,
like, that's my purpose and my passion for running. But I also feel like I'm qualified. I think that
my past experiences position me well for school board. So first of all, I've been a part of a governing
board, so I know what governance means.
I also have, through my professional career and my community involvement, I've led organizations and
people through change. I've established policies. I've had to make difficult decisions when resources
are limited, and I've had to be a part of collaborative environments where you have to listen to all
viewpoints and perspectives. I think I'm uniquely qualified for the challenge that is ahead of this
school corporation.
And I think all of us have to be committed and prepared to deal with the difficult decisions that are
going to be facing us over the next few years. And I'm really looking forward to the impact that I can
make for RBB and for my community. Hello. My name is Dennis Adams, and I want to really thank all of
you for doing this. This is really something that the community needs, and people need to see who the
candidates are. So thank you very much for doing this.
I am an Edgewood graduate, a long time ago. I am a lifelong Ellisville resident. I've been involved
in the school for many, many years. I was involved in the show choir. I was involved in sports. I have
all my family graduated from Edgewood. We have three valedictorians from Edgewood in my family. I still
have family, grandkids getting ready to come up through the system.
I am running because I want to give back my experience and I want to give back to the schools. I already
have participated in different areas, but I can do more. I've worked for the same company for 49 years.
And we started with one store and now we have 53 stores. So I'm very, very familiar with dealing with
customers, dealing with employees, dealing with situations and budgets.
and budgets are a very important part of a school system. I am a person who wants all students to thrive.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Edgewood when I was young. I remember every teacher I had when I went
through elementary school and on. I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for the relationships
I had with teachers during that time.
I thoroughly believe that teachers are underappreciated. They are professionals. They need to be treated
like that. They need to have the tools to thrive, to teach, and to develop the children and the kids
the way they should be. We want all kids. I want all kids. If they choose college, they choose
going to trades or whatever they want to do to have that ability and I want to do what I can with my
experiences to help them. I am on a national board of directors. I spend, I go every year to Washington
DC and visit our congressmen and senators to advocate for my business and for the national trade, all
the companies that are associated with us. I'm also
the president of the Indiana Rental Dealers Association and I visit the state house every year and I
was part of getting our state laws passed and we deal with both sides of the aisle. So I have a lot
of experience, I want to bring that experience to the board. I believe in stretching the dollar and
making sure that the budgets, and we're working within the budgets, but maximize what we can get to help
the kids learn, the teachers thrive, and the administration to stay in line and make sure we're doing
what we're supposed to do. That means new. Hello, everyone. My name is Kelly Scholl, and I am also want
to, I'm sure all of us are going to, this is my first time running for public office, and I'm so excited
to have this forum and be able to talk to people and be able to, like,
Thank you all for coming. I mean, having an educated voting system and being able to see all your faces
and talk with you all is a privilege, and thank you to our hosts for hosting this. Three minutes, okay.
I am running for the Richland Township seat for the RBB Community School Corporation, and I want to
say, first of all, what a privilege. I'm sure that we all would like to win and serve, but what a privilege
that we have multiple people
They want to serve on the school board. I think that's fantastic. It's not nobody here is going to lose.
Our school corporations going to win. It's just who's going to be the person that is serving this time.
And that's great.
why I am running. I have a huge passion for public education and that's my main reason for running.
I also have experience and perspective that I think I can bring to our school board. I was a public
educator for over 10 years. I taught junior high science and high school sciences, variety of classes
from our remedial classes to AP physics and everywhere in between.
I now work in higher education at Indiana University in UITS, and I'm the director of a variety
of professional development programs for our faculty at Indiana University across all of our different
campuses, so I know what it's like to have different campuses and the community that's built within
each one. As a director, I also work with budgets, and just like public education, my budget is split
into buckets, and you have certain ways that you can spend money and certain ways
that you can't. So that is something that I'm very familiar with and have experience with. I also bring
a perspective that I think our board does not currently have. Our current, we have three members on
our current board that will be staying. All three of those members are men, which is great and fantastic
and there's nothing wrong with that. And also there are not women, that there could not be women on
the board and I think that's
to have that perspective there. The other perspective that I bring that the three current board members
do not have is that I am a parent of current RBB students, and having that perspective, again, you don't
have to be a parent to be on a school board. And also, having parents on the school board brings another
perspective, and the reason we have five people on our board is so that we do have multiple
perspectives. And I think that's really important and something that I bring to the table. So thank
you all for being here. The end. Hello, my name is Jane Mitchell and I'm running for school board in
Brown County District 3.
The reason I'm running is because I do have a sense of responsibility and giving back to my community.
Right now, I'm on the board for the Friends of Brown County State Park and also for the Brown County
Public Library and Peaceville Valley Heritage, which is a preservation organization. I'm bringing kind
of a unique perspective to the school board because
I was a public school teacher in Monroe County for 33 years. And so I have been in education for my
entire life. And I was an art teacher, so I taught K through high school. So I've had experience teaching
with children and teachers and dealing with parents and administrators from all levels.
worked under so many different superintendents in this county and principals as well. And also my child
did participate, you know, went to public schools here in Monroe County and I think that also is an
important perspective. I remember one time when there was a school board member in Monroe County and
they weren't even sending their child to public school and I thought that was a little odd.
In terms of the most important priorities, I think really I will have to be on the school board first
to really get a sense of the kinds of issues that they have been dealing with. And I took a webinar
about school board, and one of the things that really struck me was this is not an individual decision.
You are working with the board.
And of course, you're working with input from all the community members as well. And so I think I'm
going to have to really answer that question if I do win a position on the school board. OK, thank you.
Hi, my name is Julia Smith, and I am running for school board in Brown County, District 1.
I graduated from Brown County Schools. My kids went through Brown County Schools and I absolutely love
Brown County Schools. It's one of the reasons I'm running. Also, I worked at Brown County Schools for
26 years. I started off as a paraprofessional in the kindergarten room and it made me just fall in love
with the entire school atmosphere and
I just wanted to continue from there. So after I was a paraprofessional, I moved up to the high school
as ECA treasurer, different side, different group of people, very fun. And then I moved on to payroll
at Brown County Schools and finally as corporation treasurer.
In 2022, so I was there 26 years, in 2022 I moved schools and now I'm the business manager at a different
district. So I would just love the opportunity to give back to the community that has given so much
to me. I think one of the top priorities Brown County Schools is facing right now is teacher recruitment
and retention.
We have to listen to our teachers, understand why some are leaving. Is it compensation? Is it culture?
Do they feel supported? I think we have to understand why they're leaving so that we can address the
problem and keep our teachers. I feel like maybe another challenge is Brown County Schools has declining
enrollment.
As you know, with declining enrollment comes less funding. But we still have buildings and we still
have operational costs. So the costs don't go down because students don't come. We have to be financially
responsible while providing the best education we can for our students. And we need to make Brown County
a place where families want to stay and be part of Brown County schools.
Thank you all for your very thoughtful responses. And you all have such a passion for service and for
education, but represent a wide range of skills and abilities. Thank you for sharing those with us tonight.
So now we'll move on to our question portion. So the first question we'll start on this end is, as a
school board member, how will you work to develop relationships with teachers unions, staff unions,
and others to ultimately improve learning and working conditions for your students and staff?
that I'm sorry how would I work with with teachers unions staff unions and others to improve learning
and working conditions for students and staff okay so yeah I feel like that the board needs to have
a collaborative relationship with the teachers union and staff and administrators I would like
to have teachers know that they could always come to me. My door would always be open. Again, we could
understand and work together on some of those concerns. If you have a good working relationship, I feel
like you can come to an agreement that helps teachers but can still be fiscally responsible for the
school corporation.
If teachers don't have the supports that they need, then students aren't getting the education that
they need. Let's be honest, we're in the school business for students.
Well, I was attending a dedication of a historic marker in Brown County State Park yesterday, and a
local politician approached me and he was asking, was I the Jane Mitchell running for school board?
And I said, yes, I was. And he was talking about his frustration at going to a school board meeting
and only being able to talk for three minutes, and then he was cut off.
It made me really think about how we could reach out and work with unions, work with other interested
groups. And I think part of the problem is when you come to a school board meeting, you can't have an
endless discussion that maybe would go on for a long time. But I think maybe what would be a good way
to do it would be, for example, for the school board members to meet with union
maybe on a separate time, not during the school board meeting, and discuss what their issues are. As
a teacher for all those years, I know often we were really frustrated because our union leaders weren't
necessarily feeling like they were being heard. But I think groups, we want to keep parents engaged,
we want to keep obviously teachers engaged,
And that was just something I thought about. I'm willing to give my time, extra time, to put aside for
special meetings with special groups so that there's a more in-depth way to address their specific concerns. Hi.
Working with teachers unions and staff unions and building those relationships. When I my first year
as a teacher I became a member of my local teacher union and never stopped being a member of the teacher
union. I know how important and valuable those teacher unions are for having a collective voice.
for the teachers. At RBB, we do not have a staff union. I don't think that means that their voice is
any less important. I think that it's important to also listen to our staff. Sometimes what's best for
teachers is what's best for kids. Sometimes what's gonna help staff the most is what's going to help
the whole building and the whole corporation, right? And so being able to, I think our role is
being able to listen and hear those variety of perspectives, hear those variety of needs and continue
to be the people that are listening and hearing and understanding from the role that we play because
sometimes it's hard to speak up.
to a position in power. And that might be your boss or your boss's boss. And that might be a little
bit more difficult. So I know that that is a place that unions can definitely help. And that is an important
role for the school board. I think one, I didn't get to address our biggest challenge. I'm gonna back
up to that a little bit. But I think one of our biggest challenges is building the village.
that helps support our community and our school corporation, and that everyone feels like they have
a voice and are a part of it. And I think that that's a role that the school board can play. Thank you.
Well, first of all, I forgot to mention that I was running for Richland Township RBBCSC School Board,
so I did forget to mention that. And one thing I've always said is I've always felt like teachers are
not appreciated.
for what they do, and I've always felt that way. The way I would approach it with the teachers and Teachers
Union is, first of all, I would listen. I would listen to what they say, and I would observe what they're
doing and what they're talking about. Before I'd ever make any decision or have any influence on anything
they have, I would also investigate everything. I would make sure what they're telling me,
find out everyone, both ends of everything,
find out what their issues are and take them all very seriously before I'd ever make any kind of decision
or any kind of recommendation. So that's all very important to me. I've dealt with both sides of groups,
administration, teachers, businesses, employees, and upper management. You have
to get together and listen to all sides. There's compromises. There's ways to work with people. And
I'm 100% available to people all the time. All my customers, all my employees, anyone, any teacher,
any parent, anyone would be able to contact me anytime. I answer the phone 24-7, ask my wife. It can
be midnight on a holiday.
I answer the phone, I answer text, I answer emails. I take all the calls and I will listen to everyone
and hear what their points of view are. Do you sleep? I think this is a very important question. And
so I wanted to do a little bit of research and understand this. So we have the RBB Education Association
associated with our school.
And so I asked both the administration and some teachers, how is that working? And so I heard from both
groups that there is a good working relationship there and that there's an open channel communication.
So my number one goal would be to support that. How do I come in and continue that and actually strengthen
that? So that would be my first goal. Secondly, I think any time that you're looking, I mean any situation,
any work situation, the people closest to the work,
know best what's working and what their challenges are. So if you're not listening to that,
not only that, you have to create, as Kelly said, you have to create that safe environment for that
feedback to come up. I think that's really important. I do that just with my team where I work today.
I tell everyone we should not be afraid to raise problems. And problems aren't visible unless someone
is willing to raise them. And then we have to work together to solve them.
There's always going to be competing priorities. And this, you know, it's challenging balancing student
needs, teacher needs, community needs. And so you have to listen to all of that. And there may not always
be agreement, but if you start with a relationship that's built on trust and mutual respect, I do believe
that you can work through it. And that would be my goal.
Okay, so for our next question, we'll start in the middle, and then you can just tag someone to go after
you. What are your thoughts about charter schools and state vouchers for private schools? Did you say
we were starting somewhere? With you, and then you can tag someone to go next. And then I can tag someone.
I'm excited for that part. Okay, thoughts about charter schools and private schools.
believe that every family should have a choice of what works best for their kiddos, and parents know
their kiddos best. I also know that charter schools and private schools do not play by the same rules
as public schools, and therefore taking public school funding and transferring it to those other places
also doesn't seem quite fair. I know that charter schools are a business,
And education is not a business for me. It never has been. And the reason why is because they are kids,
they are students, they are learners, they are humans, they are not products. And when we have a business
mentality with education, we get things like charter schools who serve the students that they want to serve.
and do not serve the students they do not want to serve. And public education serves absolutely everyone
and that is the best part about public education because we get to have our students together and seeing
a wide variety of perspectives and of experiences and what better place to show them that that's what
the world is made up of than when they are young and impressionable and can
take that in without judgment. I also know taking public school funds into private spaces seems like
it's an opportunity for all families, and it is an opportunity for the privileged. That state funding tuition
money does not cover the public or private charter tuition. So the families that can afford to go get
a discount to go. And the families that can't afford to go, that public funding doesn't cover it. So
they still cannot afford to go. And I think that's an inequity that is caused by that system and not
something that I would support. Ted. Well, as you guys know, this is a very hot topic.
I did a little bit of research into it, and the actual factual information about it, it's mixed. As
an educator, and I personally feel like not every child is suitable to be in the public schools. I think
there are some kids who would benefit being in a different situation.
My concern, again, you know, our ultimate concern is for the kids. And I'm concerned that some of,
you know, once they're in a charter school, that they may not have the same standards. I remember for
a while when I was teaching, there were, they weren't even necessarily having to do the standardized
tests that we had to in schools. For a while they were and then they weren't. So I worry about some
of the kids
because as you know, it's the parents who are pulling the kids out. It's not the children who are making
this decision. My other concern is the misuse of the funds because some of the wealthier parents who
are already able to afford private education for their kids, they're using our taxpayer funds to
when they already can afford to do it. In certain states, there are caps on your income, which parents
are actually able to do this, but not always. So I think those are my two main concerns. Are these children
really getting an education that's going to benefit them? And then are the funds being misused by some
people, where they really can afford
to send their kids to private school. And meanwhile, the public schools and our children that are in
public schools are missing out on those funds. Yeah. So I agree that parents should have the right to
take their children into a school environment that may be suitable for their child.
because not everybody is suited for public school. Now when we get into the public funds for the private
school, this brings up a concern for me. When you're using public dollars for education, there should
be an equitable
entrance for students, regardless of ability. There should also be accountability and transparency on
the use of those funds. Right now, I feel like some schools do, but it's a choice. Right now, it's a choice.
Sometimes you just have to be done. Tag. Tag. So I've thought about this a lot. We have over 300 students
that should be going to our school, to our public school, that are going to a charter school now. So
my thoughts were, of course, parents have the right to choose what school they have. They send their
children. But the best way to accommodate
to overcome that to me would be getting the word out of what we have to offer. What we have to offer
over the charter schools. We have a wider array of classes they can choose, more variety. We have public
transportation they don't have. We have extracurricular activities that they have some but nothing like we have.
We have sports. We have the arts. We have show choirs. We have a great band. We have all that that some
kids maybe in first grade may not realize they want to do that. But the parents are making these choices.
If our school and our curriculum and our teachers and our administrators and our facilities are so good
that they wouldn't want to go to their
then that's a choice. Some parents are going to choose a charter school and a private school no matter
what we do. Some parents are going to just do that. They don't want them to go to public school for
some reason. Now one thing that I'm really curious about and I want to find out, we have 300 students
that don't go to our school that are in charter. How many have come back? That's what I need to find
out and that's what I'm going to do because I wonder how many go and come back to us
at a different time. Our special education students that they kick out do. Well, going last here, I'm
going to also say that I think it's important to have options. I think if you start with the student,
every student is different and they have different needs and families have different needs. So I also
agree that there need to be options. Not one educational environment works for every student. The second
piece of this is the funding.
And the more options there are, and as Indiana has allowed all of these options, the funding is getting
fragmented. And we know in Indiana that the funding follows the student. So I think two things are true
at the same time. We want people to have options, but we also need the state of Indiana to adequately
fund strong public education. So if our state's gonna make options available, they also have to take
on that responsibility.
I think when you look at public schools, including charter schools, they vary. As you heard, they vary
in terms of what they offer. They have different programming, the governance is different, transparency
is different. So we have to consider that. And the fact of the matter is that public schools are still
expected to be a community school corporation, a comprehensive school corporation serving every student
that comes through the door.
And so the thought that occurred to me, obviously we've all been researching this, is that options don't
always equal access. There are barriers for families, whether it's transportation or it's a work schedule.
It could be anything. There are barriers that get in the way. So creating options doesn't necessarily
mean that every child is going to get served.
I think the important thing here is to work with the state of Indiana to make sure that they understand
that this environment that they've created is going to impact children and is going to impact families.
And one more thing, I do not believe, I'll say this very clearly, I do not believe that public tax dollars
should subsidize private education. I think it's fine for people to have that choice, but if you make
that choice, I do not think public tax dollars should support that. Thank you all.
This is our final question, and then we'll open it up to the audience for questions, and we'll start
on this end again. So take a deep breath. Okay, how do you understand your role as an advocate for public
education in the broader community and at the State House? How will you show up alongside students,
parents, teachers, the administration, and unions to advocate for policies?
Yeah, I mean, I am an advocate for public education. I will continue to be so I'm actually really like
excited about this part of the job. This is where you get to be the superhero for your school and tell
those great stories about the positive impact that's happening. I think first of all, it's creating
that communication and relationship with state legislature.
As I said, I think it's really important they're making decisions and it's important that we're communicating
back to them the impact those decisions are having on students and teachers and staff and we have to
be that voice. And I know that the state has made it harder for teachers to have like advocacy days.
I think that's not cool. I think it's important that
The voice, the collective voice is heard. I also agree with Dennis that I think the other part of advocacy
is we have to tell the stories. That's what I do during my day job is tell stories. So people often
look at like, oh, there's a new football field or a new baseball field and they miss what's happening
inside the walls of the school. And there's such innovation happening at RBB.
And I see so many positive stories when I get invited in around these kids and how they're finding their
passion and they're finding their pathway forward. And we've got to find a way to tell those stories
so that people understand the power of public education. So that's how I would advocate. Thanks. So
I am a strong advocate for public education.
I went through public education at Edgewood. I see friends that went through it. So I'm a very strong
opponent, or not opponent, advocate for it. The thing about it is we're in competition. We're in competition
for every student. We're in competition with the charter schools. We're in competition with the Bloomington
schools, not Brown County too much, but when you look at our facilities, when you're looking at sports,
Kids can transfer from school to school now without being penalized and play. It's our buildings. It's
our classrooms. It's our teachers. We're in competition with them all the time. So we have to have the
best available teachers, facilities, and all of that. When it comes to the state, I have sat down almost
yearly with state senators and state representatives on an ongoing basis.
I have sat down with all the governors from Evan By to Mike Braun. I'm involved in that on a day-to-day
business, day-to-day, week-to-week within my business. I know how to go in front of a committee and
talk about what we're trying to do. I know how to sit in front of individuals and tell them why they should
look at what we're talking about, why our teachers are talking about it, why our administrators need
this. I've done it, I know how to do it, and want to do it for the schools. So as a former educator
and still in higher education, I love Read for Ed days. I've gone to several of them. I think it's important that
public educators are able to use a collective voice and tell the leadership of our state and of our
country what we need for students. I believe it was Krista that said we have to listen to the people
who are closest to the work and that is our educators in the classroom and that is something that I
want to continue to advocate for.
On a strengths finder, I am an advocate, and I love advocating, and public education is my passion.
So that is something that I am also super excited about, part of this role, and as an elected official,
getting time with our state elected officials is a higher priority for them, and something that I plan
to leverage.
One of the things that I really felt was important about sending my daughter to public school, obviously
I was a public school teacher, but besides that was to me going to public schools, it's like a slice
of life. They get the experience of being around all different kinds of people, you know, from different
communities within our overriding community. And I feel like it really helps prepare them
for when they go out into the world. They learn what it's like to be with kids that maybe they aren't
necessarily hanging out with. They learn to also be around different kinds of adults who are their teachers.
So I am definitely an advocate for the public schools, and I think that's part of the reason why I think
that some of the kids in the charter schools are missing out, because you learn how to really deal with
big slice of life. Back to a statement I made earlier, which is as a school board member, I feel like
I am part of this body. And so I think if we're going to be advocating, I think there has to be kind
of a collective message coming from the school board. That doesn't mean if somebody comes up to me in
my community and wants to tell me about
some issue they have or something they want to see us doing, I will be there to listen to them and bring
it back to the school board. But I think we should be doing, as a school board, whatever we can to promote
our school corporation through the state or out into the community, let them know what we're doing and
promoting all the aspects of our schools.
So I think that probably the most important thing with advocating is listening to the teachers to see
exactly how those policies are affecting their classroom and their teaching. And then as the board,
when we would go up to the state house, we could explain. You got to find your representative, you got
to explain what the policies
are doing to your school. I'm working in a school right now that has heavy circuit breaker. So we've
spoken to several times representatives about how that affects our funding. It's totally different in
Brown County. I don't know about yours, but they do listen. So advocating
For what? Now, that's what we wanted. This would be for what teachers wanted. So that's why I say you
need to listen to the teachers, find out what they need to do their job well so that students come out
of school with what they need. So I think as a board, probably one of the most important things is advocating
for your teachers and the policies with the state representatives.
Thank you all again. At this time, we're going to open up to the audience for questions. Emma's going
to come around with a microphone. Does anyone out there have a question? Or just anything you want us
to think about. I would love to just hear from you all, too. We're doing great on time, so there's plenty
of time. Jenny's loaded with questions here. So if you want to get yours in, now's your chance.
Have any of you actually been up to the State House and done some of the things you're recommending?
Have you had experience doing that? I have, not in terms of this topic, but yes, I have. I also think
that it's also important to get them into your community. I don't know how hard that is.
But I do see them. I mean, we've had some luck with the Chamber of Commerce bringing state legislators
in. And so maybe there's even partnership opportunities there. Because I think that it's easier when
they're in your environment. Sometimes you can get them a little more focused. But yeah, I would try
to do that for sure. Well, I've said it already many times. I go up there almost every year. And I talk
to a lot of different lawmakers.
You can get them to come if you invite them. We've had senators, different people come to our business
and by inviting them, they like to come, they like to see the facilities. I remember when I was in high
school, there's a congressman coming and talking to the school. I still remember that today and I remember
his name. So that's important, but a lot of times they're just not invited and they will come if not
and it is,
It's interesting to go and sit in front of a senator or a congressman or anything, and you think,
you know, they're very important. And they are, but they're people. They really are. You can sit and
have conversations with them. I've had them one-on-one in Washington where I see a picture of a gentleman
I work for has a barn up in Brown County, the red barn going up the hill.
That's his property, and we're sitting in there, and there's the barn on the wall. They're people, so
they will listen to you. And it's very important that we get our message out to them. So I have had
some experience on the Red for Ed days going to the State House, advocating for public education, talking
as a collective.
not as an individual. I have not done that on an individual level. And also I think that they are also
elected officials. And one thing I know about leadership is that the strongest leaders listen and they
are leaders and they want to listen. And so similar to the point that Dennis just made,
We have to give them the opportunity to listen. We have to give them the opportunity to hear us, to
invite them and have them hear those things. So although I haven't done it, I'm certainly not afraid
to do it on an individual level and it's something I'm looking forward to as part of the job. I have
not actually gone up to the State House. The main involvement I've had with
Having leaders come is through my work with the Friends of Brown County State Park. We often invite
legislators to come to various events we're doing at the park. And I've had the opportunity to talk
to and meet the leaders there. So in my experience, the superintendent went to the state house, but
she did invite the legislators to come to our school. And they did. One did.
So that's where she wanted me to come in on how it was impacting our finances, the property tax caps.
But she gets up there quite a bit. So they actually do listen. So it is important that you kind of advocate
for your schools. So I think the one thing we haven't really talked about is the school board works
very closely with administration.
which maybe for teachers is one of the most frustrating areas. So what does it look like for you when
you're having conversations with teachers and they are expressing some rather large concerns and you're
taking this to administration and administration is not listening, ignoring, downplaying, gaslighting
teachers. As a school board, how do you have
conversations with the administration and to also support the teachers. Well, I've been there.
And of course, even when a couple of times I was involved in strikes in Monroe County, you don't want
it to get to that point. And it's frustrating when you feel like you're not being heard.
I'm hoping that, you know, that's one of the reasons I'm running for school board is because a lot of
the things we've all been talking about tonight is you've got to be listening to your teachers. You've
got to be advocating for your teachers. They are the direct line to the education of the kids. So as
a school board member, I'm going to be very pro-teacher. And I'm going to be very pro, let's listen
to the teacher's concerns.
Are you a teacher? Okay. So, you know, when you've seen, this is the thing, when you've actually been
there and you know what the job is, you realize what, when a teacher comes to you, really what they're
experiencing. And I will be able to do that. And you just, I'll have to hope that the rest of the members
on the school board will hear me and
One of the things I think I'm going to bring to the school board if I'm elected is I'm not going to
be just a yes person. I'm really going to listen to all sides and I will speak up if I feel like that
voice needs to be heard, especially as it concerns teachers. Thank you for your question. I appreciate
it. It sounds like maybe it's a personal experience that you've had.
Sorry about that. That's not a fun situation. I think that what I said as one of our biggest priorities
or biggest concern is building the village. And I think that speaks to exactly what your question is
asking is how do we continue to build the village where we're all on this, we're the same team. We're
the same team, we gotta work together.
because it's for the kids, and how do we do that? And I think teachers, staff, people that work directly
with our students have a unique experience that we need to listen to. So continuing to listen to those
things if it comes to the point of fact finding, right? Like going and asking more questions, finding
ways to survey staff that is
truly anonymous. Sometimes that can be hard digitally, but truly finding anonymous ways to gather that
information. I love listening sessions, times when people can come in and voice their opinions and voice
their concerns so that they have regular times where they can do that, and I know that teacher unions
are part of that.
and then documenting if there's a one-off thing and you're not listened to, that's one thing. But when
we have three or four or five or several different incidents where this is a thing that we're ignoring,
we're not going to ignore that anymore and we need to actually address the situation. I'll go next.
First of all, gas lighting is never okay. It's not an okay thing any time ever.
I had a conversation with a teacher just last week, kind of on this topic, on this vein. And one of
the things that she said to me was, we don't always agree with central office. Sometimes we have feedback.
We don't know that we're always heard. And so she kind of shared with me that she felt it was important
that if I do get elected that I remain objective. And I thought that was really good advice.
In my job, I face this. I have a team. I have almost 250 people who work in my team today. And I have
to create that environment today. And I have to listen. And like Kelly said, sometimes if you hear something
more than once, I mean, where there's smoke, there's usually fire. If you hear something more than once,
there's a theme. And it's important to address those things. I think there's some things that are going
to be tricky, though. And that is anonymity.
and how do you protect people when they bring you feedback? How do you make sure that you are being
objective and listening to all viewpoints and creating that safe environment? There's also the fact
that as board members, we're supposed to be focusing on governance. It's not necessarily our job to
come in and fix the problem, but I do think we have to be aware if policies are not working or if the
environment is not creating the
outcome that we expect or we want, then I do think a board member needs to be involved and needs to
address that. So I think I would handle it the same way I do in every aspect of my life. Even my kids
know that I'm like this. I'm like, well, dad said so and such and such. And I said, OK, let's get all
the facts. Let's get them on the table. Let's make sure that we understand that and try to remain objective.
So I think that's one of the best ways that I can help.
because I want to create that safe environment where they feel like they can give me that feedback so
that I am aware. So I'm coming into this. I have no agenda. I have nobody that I'm pushing for and nobody
that I'm pushing against. So when I look at this is I don't owe anything to anyone. So I want the teachers
to feel like they can come to me. But I realized our limitations. We don't work.
aren't there on day-to-day basis. We can't make decisions that's going on in the class. But we can have
a lot of influence on the administrative side, because we do hire the school board superintendent.
I mean, I'm sorry, the school superintendents. And that's who runs the schools through the print. There's
a chain of command. But that chain of command sometimes is broken. I heard issues last year, some about
some people felt like teachers that
their supervisors weren't listening to them and weren't supporting them. And that's important. And that's
important to come to us because we need to support them along with the administration. Again,
I said earlier, I'll talk to anyone anytime I'll listen to everybody. And I won't make any kind of decisions
other than till I have all the facts and know what is going actually happening out there.
I think that the most important thing is to listen to teachers and understand what they're asking for.
I've been around for 30 years in schools. I've been an administrator. I am an administrator on the business
side. And I find that a good collaborative relationship with
The administrative team and teachers usually ends well. Our experience has been, we haven't had the,
not gas lighting, but we have had times where teachers would come and they would request certain things.
We had to look at it.
you have to look at the big picture. So you have to hear everything, then you have to look at the big
picture. Is it sustainable? Is it what's best for students? And 10 times out of 10, if it is best for
students, then that's when it gets done. The collaborative, the listening, the open door policy, that's
a key requirement for a collaborative relationship.
I do think it's important. Any questions? Hi, thank you all for being here. So I've been in education
for a long time and I've found, I don't remember where I read this or heard this, that schools operate
on, you know, in my experience has been absolutely the case, that schools operate on the unpaid time
of teachers, right? Every school depends on teachers donating
you know, maybe dozens of hours a week, you know, far beyond what might be their contracted hours, but
generally speaking, I have known so many public educators to give far beyond, and the teachers over
here are shaking their heads furiously already. What do you think is an appropriate amount of time,
say weekly or in general, for an individual to give to their schools, and what is
really a fair ask of teachers because I get the sense that this is not a thing that generally the public
understands how much time teachers end up donating to their schools to keep them functioning, to keep
all of the clubs and the sports or just their classrooms in general running. What do you think
is appropriate? Can I ask a clarifying question? Is this, when you say donated, so
If you're working after your contracted hours for, let's say, chess club, you're not getting paid for
that? That's not on your ECA schedule? Sometimes those are, and sometimes those aren't. Oh, OK. Also,
in this past legislative session, they removed hours from our contracts as well. Yes, they did. So that
opens up a whole other can of worms. And I think that's a little bit motivating for this question, too.
Sometimes there's ECA pay. But I can tell you, I've been a coach.
Obviously not enough right here. I don't want to break it down to what that pay would actually be per
hour or whatever because it's yeah, you know Thank you, I Think one of the things that you have I mean
I had a friend who came in every single Sunday and worked because she just She you know, we don't have time
We do not have time as teachers during the day to get everything done. And the other thing too, not
only are teachers putting in more time, they're also putting in a lot of their own money. They want
to supplement their students. They spend a lot of money on extracurricular activities and things to
bring into the classroom. It's a tricky question. I feel like some teachers that,
Mainly, most of the teachers I've worked with are so dedicated that they don't mind. Obviously, like
you were saying, they should be more appreciated, they should be better paid, but they love what they're
doing. I wish the teachers were given more money for that. I think that's a problem with the school board.
is it's really a balance between meeting the priorities of the school board and the financial. And I
think there's always going to be a problem really balancing those two. And I don't know how we can convince
the public that our teachers are worth so much more. But it certainly would be like an issue to bring
before the school board.
Thank you for your question. May I answer as well? Okay. So how much time is appropriate for teachers
to give? None? None. I don't believe in unpaid labor. That's why I left education. And I miss it every
day. And I went into a profession that would allow me
to make educators' lives easier. And that's where I'm focusing my time. I believe in work-life balance.
I will not answer my phone 24-7. I burnt myself out. And I know that's a story for so many educators.
And I will always answer, just maybe not in the middle of the night.
I think that's another job of the advocacy piece, right? That's why we go advocate is to, it's already
so incredibly unfair. And when I had to make the choice between giving to my two children and giving
to my 150 children, it's an impossible choice. It's an impossible choice. And it's not fair that they're
so passionate and they rely on that.
that they rely on that because educators do care. And we're all in it for the kids. I know this is a
big subject. And the reason I know that is I have a daughter that's a kindergarten teacher or was. And
I hear from my wife, from the daughter, how much extra time she had to put in every day and every night
for kindergarten to have it prepared for what they did.
and how much money she had to take out of her pocket and buy things, how much stuff my wife has bought
for her classroom, for her kindergarten classroom. And it's a problem. I don't know the answer, but
I'll definitely investigate it and try to find out more about it before or after, hopefully, I get elected
and get more details for it later.
I'm not going to pretend to know what it's like to walk in your shoes. I do understand work life.
I mean, I was going to talk about work-life balance too, because working for a global company and being
a salaried employee, I've got nights and weekends. And I think we shouldn't ask too much of people.
I think that it's not fair. I think that people need to be able to live the life that they want to lead.
it occurs to me as teachers that it really is a lifestyle. It's not just a job for you. It's a lifestyle.
You're kind of committing all of you to your kids. I mean, part of what I do in Ellitsville is I'm on
the awards committee for the chamber awards, and I get to help pick the educator of the year every year.
And I'm like blown away every time I read these nominations and teachers who are still
going to the games, the extracurricular activities or the kids that were in their classes 10 years ago.
I don't, I mean this takes, this takes special people to do this. Remember, and we just sat and talked
about camp, like you remember your, you remember them and you remember who they are and I think that's
incredible. I don't know that I know the answer to the problem but I want to understand it better and
I want to know
You know, if I do get elected and I have four years, what can I do in four years? Because it is complicated.
The funding environment is complicated. But no one should be asked to give up more than you can or you
want to, right? And I think where you are in your life also makes a difference. You know, my kids are
older and I'm spending more time in my community because I can. But when they're younger, I couldn't.
And so, I mean, everybody, we're all human beings.
We have life cycles within our lives and sometimes you can give more and sometimes you can give less
and that should be okay. That needs to be okay. So if it's not okay, I think that I want to understand
that better and see how I can influence it. We had everybody loves sports. Everybody loves, you know,
those coaches don't get paid enough club.
leaders don't get paid enough. We had both of my schools, the teachers came to us and we reworked the
ECA schedule. Still, it's not enough. We also instituted, because we had such a good relationship, this
is where I'm talking
you have to be collaborative with the union. They instituted, if you are working outside of school hours
on with students, so not like on lesson plans or anything, but if you are with students and it's not
like on the ECA schedule, if you needed to stay after for a meeting, tutoring, something like that,
they did institute
$35 an hour, which is still, I'm sure, way underpaid for what they're doing. I think that it begins
with this collaborative relationship with the administration.
Something that always has concerned me is the amount of time kids have outside and also the quality
of school lunches. I don't know what it's like in all of your school districts, but I know at university,
elementary, they used to have a school lunch program where they had trays that were washed.
people that made food and then they got rid of all that and everything is throw away, everything is
just like fast food. And I think how are we educating our children to be members, positive members on
this earth if we're not showing them that what you eat matters and what would you do with the packaging
and all that matters.
And I feel like that's a huge lesson. That's a lesson that they will take throughout their whole lives,
and we're just throwing that away. Like, oh, we're just not going to worry about that one. And that
is very concerning to me. And the other thing that's concerning is how much time kids get outside. I
have a school at my home for toddlers and preschoolers, and I tutor children, elementary children,
after that. And they'll come to me, and they're just like,
at the end of the school day, because they've been inside all day. And I remember as a child staring
out the window and going, if we could just sit out in the grass. And when I worked at University Elementary,
I was like, if we could just have a shelter outside where people could go and have their school outside.
Because if you've been a teacher, you know what it's like being in a room with 20, 30 students and how
much energy that is.
and how draining that is for every person in the classroom, teacher and student alike. But if you bring
that outside, that energy disperses, and it makes learning easier. So that's my question is, do you
have any interest in making it so kids can be outside more? And do you have interest in making our lunches
something that
they can be proud of. Well, you hit my two favorite subjects in school. I made straight A's in lunch
and recess. And I do remember those. When I was in school, lunch sometimes was the best meal of the
day I had. My mom wasn't much of a cook. She worked late and all that. So it was a big deal for us lunch.
I can't tell you what it is now, because I've not been to the lunch. I am more than willing to go to
the schools and have the lunch and try it and see what it is. From what I understand, ours is better
than it's been. And they've improved the nutritional part of it. I think some administrations in the
past have pushed for that in schools to improve it. I don't know, but I will find out, that's for sure.
We have this wonderful woman at RBB, and her name is Vicki Coffee. And I don't know that I've met anyone.
I'll see all those while people are shaking their head, yes. This woman is a blessing for our community.
And what she has done for nutrition, for food services at Edgewood is incredible. She got the funding
to get a food truck to take the food to the kids. So breaking down those barriers. So I think we got
a good thing going.
at RBB because of this, of Vicki Coffee and her passion for feeding children. And I think sometimes
you have to find those people and you gotta nurture that and you gotta give them what they need so they
can go around and create that kind of impact in the world. So I think we're lucky at RBB in that regards.
I had to almost laugh at your thought around being outside and like you described my son.
growing up, you know, he had to be kept busy all the time. And so I think, I know personally, I sit
in front of a computer all day and there are times I just need to get away from it. I just need to get
my brain at a rest. I just need to walk outside and breathe the air and see the sunshine. And so I think
that varies across like, as they grow up and as across age groups, because my daughter, as soon as she
gets done at the end of the day, she's on the soccer field.
And so she's ready for that outside time. But I do think you make a really good point about being aware
of giving kids breaks because they learn better when that happens. But I just wanted to share with you
how great Vicki Coffee is. I second the Vicki Coffee comment. Don't steal her. And she has fantastic
summer meal programs, all the things. I'm not going to go on about that.
You did hit on a passion of mine, and I think it's important, like Krista said, to find the passionate
people that are ready to go at it and dive in deep about things. So one of the privileges of my life
is when I transitioned out of the classroom and into supporting educators, I had more time to read research.
And one of the
places that I've worked on professional development for faculty is for the past 10 years I've been working
on learning spaces and what those spaces look like and not only within the walls but outside the walls
and there is a lot of research about learning spaces outdoors and and
So I'm not necessarily talking about recess, but learning outside and having those spaces. When I taught
physics, we did rocket launches outside and pumpkin drops and all sorts of things. Those are one-off
times. That's not a regular thing. But when the weather is nice and you have the ability to go outside,
having a space to be able to go outside. I would take my students out on a lawn. But you're right. Having
something that's covered so that if it's just a little rainy or it's 90
degrees outside, you have a little bit of shade and you can do those things. We have, my children have
teachers who do take them outside. It's not as much of the movement piece as the getting the fresh air,
right, and getting some of that sunshine. Even having, so in your learning spaces, having biophilia,
which is like living things, is really important for learning. Being able to have windows. I taught
in an old renovated
It used to be a swimming pool, so I was surrounded by concrete and no windows. Kids would come in and
be like, it's snowing. I'm like, great. I had no idea. So having those things, I think that RBB does
a really good job with their buildings to create courtyards.
so that all rooms do have windows. It's not the same as getting outside. I think it's a cruel joke.
There's a lot of cruel jokes in education, but one of them is that when students are getting so rambunctious
and getting into those junior high periods, I taught some junior high for a while, that's when we take
away recess.
for a while during COVID times when we were first coming back, we would give kids regulation breaks
at the junior high and high school where they would just go outside and they would have 10, 15 minutes
to walk around outside. What is the cost of 10 or 15 minutes in the school schedule, right? That is
something that I would love to see come back and be able to create spaces like you're talking about.
We have great facilities.
expanding those facilities to include some outdoor seating area where you could hold a class is valuable.
Oh, sorry, I'm talking too much. What I have found is that there's a certain independence with each
principal within their school, and there's priorities. And for example, I remember when you're at Rogers
Elementary, they had a garden outside.
the kids could participate and go outside and actually work in the garden. And I taught a lot at Unionville
Elementary and we have an outdoor area and that's actually become more used as time has gone on, more
of a priority. I think if you really wanted to make it more of a school-wide thing, it would have to
become a priority for the school board because the school board not
actually dealing with the administration of the schools, but we do set priorities and goals. And if
that became a priority sort of system wide, I think it would only benefit kids, absolutely. And I think
it ties in with what you're talking about with school lunch, because if you're really talking about
the environment and preserving the environment, then you're gonna wanna be talking about
How do we recycle? How do we not become a throwaway society? This is something that I think is really
worthwhile instilling in our kids. Now, there again, we have to talk about cost. Because in a way, when
you think about it, schools are, it's an institutionalized on some level lunch. I mean, they're all
preparing the same thing. Work together. Yeah, work together.
Jump right in. I'm old enough to remember when school lunch was handmade and cooked. They have taken
that away. They have taken the ability for them to actually cook now. So that's why I feel like we're
getting the chicken nuggets and the round hamburger things. The mystery food. The mystery food.
Yeah. But like so that's again like that's something at the state level. There's so many I don't remember
carbs something else something else and they've got to check it off and you're getting audited every
third week. This the school at Brown County now contracts out their food service. So it's
little bit better than it was because they have fresh fruits and vegetables that eat that kids can take
as much as they want and the there's a different lines I believe feels a little better than around something and
I don't know, though. I haven't researched it to know. Kids seem to like it, but kids are going to like
anything because they're starving. We had recess. We had food. We just had a lot of stuff. No wonder
we liked school. No wonder we liked it. We're going to get one more question in.
Thanks again for being here. I do have a few things that I'll share with you later about sort of board
policies and alignment with USDA and things like that, because I have some of the answers as well. But
my question to Jane and Julia specifically is that something struck me when we were a few questions
back about the voucher issue in school choice and public dollars
being siphoned off. And the two of you said something along the lines of, there are just some kids who
aren't suitable for public schools. And so I'm just sort of throwing this back a little bit in a gentle
way. Can you clarify what you meant by that? Because of course, public schools are 100% designed to
be free and accessible. And I have spent 23 years educating students
I'm going to say on one hand, I could count the number of students I've ever had in my entire 23-year
career who would have been able financially to take the option of going to a private or a charter. And
the other thousands of students that I've serviced I have welcomed with open arms and am proud that
public schools are public. So can you clarify what you mean by kids who wouldn't be suited for public
schools? Yeah. So I feel like what I'm... If I said suitable, I apologize. I feel like what I meant
was the parents have decided that public school isn't necessarily best for their child. So I've seen
parents pull their kids out,
It could be for a various number of reasons. One, celiac disease, right? Couldn't eat Play-Doh, like
there's a whole mess of things that you run into. Some others were on medication for certain things
that was little, in the parent's opinion, not being handled as well as they thought it should.
It's just charter schools gave an avenue for parents to take their child into another school setting
instead of like a home school setting. So not suitable. If I said that I'd absolutely apologize because
I did not mean not suitable. Yeah. And I hope I never said suitable either.
What I said was, well, first of all, and I'm a total advocate, as I said, for public school because
I think it helps give kids a real cross-section and they meet all different kinds of people. So, I mean,
I'm a huge advocate for public schools, but in my experience, there were some kids that were not thriving
in the public school.
For a while on the high school level, we had an alternative school. I don't know if there still is an
alternative school in Monroe County. Some of my students went there. It was a better fix for them. That's
still within the public schools. But I knew some kids that ended up going to Harmony School. If you
know where that is, that's the old Eltham Heights building. And some of those kids were happier there, happier.
I can't speak to whether they were getting a better education or not, but I guess what I'm saying is
if I felt like there were certain kids that were not thriving, that maybe needed an environment that,
you know, wasn't as big or, you know, where they were getting more attention or, you know, something
like that. But, you know, my feeling is if they can, most kids should be in public school because they're
really getting
a life experience. I hope that answered your question. We're at seven, a little after seven.
Anybody have a, are we good to wrap up? Yes, yes.
Kristen, or moderator Kristen brought, there's cookies and drinks out there, so please help yourself.
I just want to thank the candidates again for being here. Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us.
All right, maybe we can do this again. This is good. It's fun talking about education. Thank you.