 Welcome to ongoing election coverage by town meeting television. This is one of many forums we are bringing you in advance of local elections and town meeting on the first Tuesday in March, March 1, 2022. Town meeting is traditionally where voters weigh in on local government representation, municipal budgets, school budgets, and local ballot items. All candidates on the ballot are invited to participate in town meeting television election forums. Town meeting television election forums introduce you to community decision makers and connect you with the issues that shape your local community. If you're watching this live, we welcome your questions at 802-862-3966. Town meeting television on Comcast Channel 1087, Burlington Telecom Channel 17 and 217, as well as online on town meeting televisions YouTube page. My name is Elaine Haney and today we are doing a candidate forum with three candidates for the South Burlington School District Board. We have Kate Bailey, who is running unopposed for a two-year seat. We have Michelle Boyer who is running unopposed for a three-year seat. And Chelsea Tilling-Hast, who is running unopposed to complete two years of a three-year seat. So we have many questions to ask and candidates will have an opportunity to start with a one-minute opening statement. And we're going to start that with Chelsea. Go ahead. Hi, I'm Chelsea Tilling-Hast, a native Vermonter. I moved to Burlington to go to UVM and I graduated in 2017, and I've lived in South Burlington for the past three years. I'm a small business owner for about five years now, and I just had my daughter, my first child in October, and I'm just hoping to better our community, make it a better place for children and teachers alike. Thank you, Chelsea. Kate. Hi, everyone. Thank you Elaine and Tom Reading TV for having me. My name is Kate Bailey. I moved to Vermont and to South Burlington five years ago. My day job is as a paralegal at the Office of the Healthcare Advocate at Vermont Legal Aid and my professional background is in healthcare policy and public health. So one of the, as I've been watching the last two years with the COVID pandemic play out. I've been really called to volunteer knowing how difficult it's been navigating this, both the physical toll and the mental toll that COVID has taken on our school district in our community. I also started following the work of the school board about a year to 18 months ago specifically around the racial justice work they were undertaking. I have been involved in the community around that work and I think my background and equity are assets here, and I'm a creative thinker I believe in public service and I believe in strong schools and strong public education so that's what brings me here today. Thanks. Thank you. Go ahead Michelle. Hey, thanks for having me. My name is Michelle Boyer. I am the mother of an SBHS 2021 graduate and a current sophomore. My professional background and expertise is in educational research and measurement cross cultural assessment and linguistics, educational policy and educational accountability systems. Recently, I have spent a lot of time working with multiple state agencies for not not being one of them directly, but multiple states to support fair assessments accountability planning and effective accurate and transparent reporting practices. I'll just highlight really quickly two main priorities that that I've had in mind as I as I approach this this campaign. And the first is academic recovery including special focused attention to equity matters we've learned a great deal about the disparate impact of the pandemic on many aspects of student outcomes in our schools here and across the country. I also hope to contribute to Michelle, that's that's been a minute. So, okay, all right, you got my one priority then. I'm sure you'll have time to address the okay, no problem for it. But you all did touch on COVID a little bit so let's start with our first question on that. What has been the impact of COVID on students over the last two years and how do you think we should learn from that experience. Michelle, why don't we start with you. The impact has been extraordinary. I've spent a lot of time, you know, dealing with the actual data coming out of assessment systems and accountability systems. So I just point by point although students have for sure learned a lot about epidemiology evidence shows tremendous losses in the opportunity to learn. And also has shown us that those effects are greater for traditionally marginalized groups proficiency rates in all subjects are down and they're down more dramatically than we've ever seen more than a typical bounce that that we would see in normal times, even in difficult times. The use of mental health services is up is up our students my own included lost and continue to lose many events that have been hallmarks of a positive high school experience. That's primarily my frame of reference as a parent as my kids are in high school. Schools needed to learn a whole new way to conduct the business of teaching and learning in a single moment. I learned that although a select few students thrived in an online environment students generally struggled with learning and with motivation. Some even gave up. What should we learn we have a lot of work to do to help students recover. That involves individual diagnostic information and action plans at the student level. Teachers need more professional development and para educators and tutoring supports. I believe that this is parts of this are underway already as a part of the recovery plan for the district. We need a point by point accounting of progress on the recovery plan and we need to address any gaps. Finally, we need fair but strong accountability for that recovery. Thank you. Kate, would you answer that same question please. Sure. So, I've been thinking about how it's so hard to fully understand the impact that COVID has had on our students in our district while we're still in it, which we are still in it hitting that the two year mark quite soon. And I think a big takeaway that that I've seen is that we can't assume that one size fits all and we are making decisions and trying to find solutions to the impact in the problems that COVID has brought upon the teachers and support staff and students. But I think it's important that we be adaptable. And I think communication very clear accessible communication when changes are being rolled out is key to success as we continue on in this pandemic. I think it's also really important that we create learning environments that meet kids where they're at right now and not use a 2019 pre pandemic lens to have those, you know, those pre pandemic expectations on our kids after the last two years. The world is just a different place. And we need to realize that kids are affected differently. We need to respond in ways that leads leaves room for that ambiguity and make sure that our kids have a learning space where they feel safe and that's really addressing their physical, social, emotional and mental health so that they can learn. Thank you. I think that, you know, as hard as COVID has been a real benefit to a huge change in our status quo is just eliminating how much teachers do, how important community is and how important connection is. And I just think that it's an opportunity for us to bolster and change our programming and try to offer just a rich variety of options to maybe help students, not just where they're at but just like completely flipping everything on its head and looking at what, what is the best way to serve our kids there's like a huge opportunity because they're nowhere near the status quo and so changing, changing everything to just serve them and not and not like focus on what we think we were supposed to do but what we actually need to do. As as like hard as COVID has been for so many I feel like it's also been an opportunity for us to take a really close look at what we were doing, maybe we should be doing instead. So the next question let's start with Kate as our first responder to that South Burlington's educational infrastructure is aging, while the student population is growing. What do you think needs to happen statewide and in South Burlington to support schools. Thanks for the question and I also sit on the South Burlington Energy Committee. And so where my mind goes with this question is our, the intersection of our aging infrastructure and growing enrollment at and our statewide and our local goals addressing climate action plans and our addressing climate change and I think about weatherization and renewable energy and ways that we can really align those goals while teaching kids about the value of taking care of our environment and and really modeling that in renovations in upgrades to our utility systems in the schools. I'm also paying attention to the conversations at the state level around people waiting I think because South Burlington is one of the larger districts in the state. We have a fairly diverse population of students that those state changes are really going to have quite a big impact on our district. And we need to be judicious with the funding that we have in the tax, you know, very conscientious with the tax rate and keeping affordability in our own reasonable, while also making those important investments in our students and I don't think we really gain on our investments by delaying renovations and work that needs to be done I think addressing those needs and making them as energy efficient, and as clean energy as possible is really a great way to bring a lot of our goals together. Thank you. Michelle, would you mind answering that question please. Yes, we did Michelle. There we go. So I'll separate my, my, my response into two parts and the reason is is I think that aging, the aging infrastructure is is substantively substantive, substantively different than a growing population and I think they have somewhat different approaches. So I'll start by treating them as separate challenges. Regarding infrastructure. Not having all of the details at hand about trade offs between this and that. The, the most responsible way to approach this as as a newbie is to really just approach it with the perspective that, for sure, these things they have to be fixed you know we've heard we've heard plenty of stories about structural issues about eating, you know, banging on equipment so the students aren't cold that day, plumbing issues in the schools and we absolutely need to take care of those I completely agree with Kate that sooner than later is is definitely the best plan. And I agree it needs to be in the most cost effective way. And it doesn't rest on a single point of failure you know this this notion that the, there's one person in all of Vermont that can fix the, the heating system that that that clearly is a challenge space issues. So that ends in place for housing growth, to which we can tie a realistic expectation about student growth. Then we really have to talk about space and the possibility of new structures. But we also need to balance those discussions with up to date incredible research findings on the relationship between classroom size teacher resources and student outcomes. We really need to take care that we're not inaccurately linking facility solutions to expected improvement and learning outcomes. Okay. And Chelsea, could you answer the question please. Sure. So I definitely believe in a systemic approach I think that if you have one aspect of any system that's not functioning appropriately or to its best but it pulls and strains on other resources so I don't think there's any benefit to echo Kate in in waiting to make repairs I think that will just make the barriers further down the road more expensive potentially. I also see this as a really exciting opportunity, echoing Kate not that I have the same perspective and on any committees currently, but an opportunity to make more environmentally friendly approach like changes climate action in our schools would be excellent, not an educational opportunity but just a wonderful impact on our city. And, and then addressing it higher enrollment and not enough space I am wondering, I don't know but maybe coven is impacting how many students can be in a space at once because of social distancing. I'm not really sure how to tackle that challenge but being a science major from UVM, I'll follow the data and try to make really informed decisions about how best to tackle that issue. Okay, thank you. So you use the next question is do you support this year's school budget of 53, excuse me $58 million. Let's start with Chelsea. I do. So I haven't looked at the budget extensively and I would open open my email up to anyone who'd like to offer their opinion, but I definitely support increasing funding for the school. The budget is state funded so it's not all a burden on the taxpayers and if I understand there's also a 90 million surplus in the education budget statewide last year so maybe there's opportunities for us to lessen what the taxpayers are responsible for. But I do support increased funding for all of the things that our school so obviously needs their school district. Okay, thank you. Kate go ahead. Yes, I'm off mute. I also support the budget. I've done a tertiary view and tried to stay up to date on on the conversations around the budget this year. It seems reasonable. It seems like we are the budget proposed is addressing some needs that, and this is not the time year two in to not give our students and our teachers and support staff what they need. This is really a time to invest in those resources. My understanding of the budget is that there's funding specifically for support staff like speech language therapy and guidance counselors and assistant principals and I see this as ways to keep teachers time teaching and learning and you know their expertise and providing the support staff roles to facilitate and foster a more holistic approach to our children's education. And I absolutely support the executive director of equities position I'm really excited to see that investment and I think that it's long overdue. I think there's going to be a lot of work needed around that and playground upgrades is another piece and that's play based learning we need to keep our kids safe and I think now is a great time to have our chance or give our kids a chance to play outdoors and take care of one another and take care of our school infrastructure in that way so what I've read from the budget so far I think the increases are reasonable compared to years past compared to years past are surrounding comparable districts and I support the investments in the increases where they are. Thank you. And Michelle. Checking me up. So I do I also support this year's budget. I think it is entirely reasonable under the highly unusual circumstances of trying to run a district in our schools during a pandemic. There are a couple of caveats that are not centered on this year's budget but more forward looking, having taken a look at it and listen to the budget presentations. I think it'll be really important to continue to keep an eye on making sure that there's no commingling of the of the federal as our funds with state and local funding it's really important to keep those things separate. And I also recall from a presentation at a recent board meeting that there are staff ads. They're in budget that are funded by Essar. But when that money is gone in 2024 we need to make sure that we evaluate the needs and consider pros and cons of continuing to fund those positions. Like really scrub it do we need to keep those positions and I realize that's a very hard decision to make at that point. I think that if people are employed we certainly don't want to let them go but I think we need to be really conscientious about it and make sure that we're not and that we are guarding against unnecessary incremental expenditures. Okay, thank you. I would like to remind folks who are watching live that you can call in and ask questions of the candidates at 802-862-3966. So we'll let you know candidates if there are any calls coming in. Let's jump to another question. Housing and growth. I think the question is facing enormous pressure as the natural site for housing in Jitman County. Is this having an impact on the schools that needs to be addressed. Let's start with Michelle. So I would, I feel like I would need to know more about what's meant by enormous pressure to answer this question completely and thoughtfully, but I'll offer a few just high level comments. I haven't really been attending DRB meetings are following the proceeding so I don't come to the table with a strong sense of planned housing growth, or it's expected effect on the tax base or the student population growth in terms of the projections. Nevertheless, if there are plans in place for large housing growth, to which we can tie a realistic expectation about student growth, then we have to talk about space and the possibility of new structures. But we also need to balance those discussions with up to date credible research findings. As I mentioned on the relationship between things like classroom size, teacher resources, student outcomes, and, and ultimately what level of financial burden is reasonable to ask the community to bear. You know, two years ago we had a very largely failed effort at a, at a master visioning and planning that included a major reconstruction or build of new middle schools and high schools and the voter population rejected that with a very wide margin and so I, I, I absolutely agree that we need some good solutions here to make sure that our schools are in good shape that the learning is happening, but we always have to balance that with, you know, what, what's reasonable to ask of our community in terms of paying. Thank you. Chelsea. I definitely don't understand what is meant by enormous pressure. I will say that I tend to err on the side of reserving natural resources. But I do think that given the failure of the bond that Michelle just cited, there's a good opportunity or a reasonable opportunity to increase contact or just sharing opinions between school board city council elected officials, the experts, and then the community and what the community wants with experts say we need and trying to find a common ground between all of those parties. Okay, thank you. And Kate. I, I share many of the concerns that Michelle and Chelsea raise and we'll be thinking about how this will roll out over the next over the long term, but in the two year term that I am a candidate for. When I read this question and think about enormous pressure, I think about our current students and the enormous pressure that families young families like my own I'm 33 and I think traditionally I'm at the age where folks are supposed to be moving into their first homes, and many folks that are still in my neighborhood and in my community are renting and can't afford to own a home and can't afford rent anymore. And I think about the pressures that families and kids are under, and I'm thinking about how we can create safety and comfortable learning environments for our kids in the schools, particularly who don't have that safe comfortable place at home, and what are the types of supports that we have in our school district like free breakfast. And behavioral health dental care services and mental health services to make sure our children who are struggling with unstable housing and in unhoused families are. That's where I want to relieve the pressure. Okay. Thank you. So Kate will stay with you and move on to the next question. Do you support passage of h 584, which would require standards in education designed to promote anti racism in schools. Why do you support or not support this bill. Thanks Elaine so. Sorry. So my understanding of the bill in committee in the legislature is that this would develop a statewide certification program, rather than a requirement and it would create some statewide standards around anti racist education. So that all in theory sounds really great to me I know bills change over time before their past, but I, it sounds like this bill is working towards developing guidelines for addressing racial incidences in classrooms and in the districts which I think is is increasing exposure to age appropriate books on racism and not only racism but also on the lived experiences and joys and wonderful values that have living in a diverse community bring to our lives. It seems to be really well aligned with the recent BT digger commentary by the Vermont student anti racism network which I know there was a South Burlington student in that group and I think this anti racism work is a particular, particularly important area for us to learn from the students themselves about what they're looking for and what books they're interested in reading what literature we can bring. I'm also queer, and I know how important it is to have your education reflect who you are and stories and narratives that you learn about. I see myself in my education and I think our students do too so I really do support the intention of this bill as it's in committee now it may change over time, but generally speaking it seems like it would provide a statewide network for towns and districts to share resources around anti racist education, and overall would, you know, I support that investment. Thank you. Chelsea. I have not read the bill but I'm definitely a huge supporter of anything that's trying to increase equity in our school district and in our community. I believe that change really does start where you are and so I'm really excited to see this be a major part of the school boards agenda. I'm also really excited and ready to help further any work to see critical race theory in our schools and just in general support anti racist movements in our district in our community. Thank you. And Michelle. I do support this bill. Absolutely and I really appreciate that that you brought it to her attention I hadn't been aware of it. Nor the, the bill that it references from from 2019 that provides some of the meat for what might be in classrooms as a part of the certification process. I found it thoughtful. I found it comprehensive in its content with respect to different approaches to teaching and learning that can improve inclusiveness of the many contributions made by diverse authors. And as Kate mentioned and I agree with I agree with how heartedly this kind of inclusion allows students from different backgrounds to see themselves and what they're learning and you know the research and thought work that's pouring out of these right now that that really resonates with with the work that's been doing. That's been underway and all students, as she also mentioned benefit from a diversity of literature and perspectives. I really wish I had had more exposure to such literature, and to more diverse perspectives on historical events and my own K to 12 education, many, many, many years ago. The short form of the bill that's publicly available. It doesn't address a really critical component that I hope it does and this is just a bit of a commentary. Who designs and administers the certificate certification program is really important and the development of that is and the standards is non trivial and evaluation materials as well it requires many actors piloting and study of impact and excellent documentation of the procedures and interpretive guidance. So I do hope these matters are considered during the development of the final bill. Okay. Thank you all. I mean, could I respond. Yes, you don't mind. It's not a rebuttal but do you mind if I. You have 30 seconds. Okay, I just wanted to add that the 2019 ethnic studies and social studies and social group studies bill that was passed does did have a working group that came out of it. I'm pretty sure that working group that's community based very representative. And if that still exists I think that that would be a natural place for some of the work that Michelle brings up. That would go and I also wanted to recognize I forgot to mention my statement that there's there's strong abanaki and indigenous representation in that working group. And I think that that is also incredibly important to have and would hope that this bill would specifically address if it's passed. Great. Thanks. Appreciate that. Okay. So, I'm just going to say one more time if anyone is watching live they are welcome to call and ask questions of the candidates at 802-862-3966. And we do have some time left so I'm going to sneak an extra question. So we can cover all sorts of stuff. Have you been paying attention to the people waiting study conversation at the legislature. And what do you think its impact will be on South Burlington schools. And let's start with Michelle. I'm not aware. I don't know any of the details of changes to people waiting. I have, you know, my day job is reading health insurance and health care policy which is pretty heavy stuff. And I've been trying to pay attention to the people people waiting conversations and that is also really heavy complicated formulas and and I am not prepared to share an opinion because I'm still at the absorbing stage. So I think it's really complicated and we'll have quite an impact on the state and our district and I look forward to learning more and having trainings and watching that play out. And Chelsea. I also don't. I don't we can't form an opinion. I don't know enough about it. Okay. I'm just trying to add a little time to the conversation and none of you are very helpful with that. All right, I'm going to skip to another question. So, this is regarding F 35s which is something that has been a bit of a contention in Chittenden County in the airport region for quite some time. Has there been enough noise mitigation in schools neighboring the airport impacted by F 35s. Let's start with Kate. Thanks, Elaine. So I don't know specifically the details of the noise mitigation that has been done or is in the works to be renovated in the schools specifically. I know about the, the home weatherization and noise mitigation work from from my experience with the South Burlington Energy Committee, but I would wager to bet that it hasn't been enough. Michael's college that's what brought me to Vermont back in 2007, which, so I was a college student with the f 16 flying overhead, and it stopped class. And, you know, it's very disruptive when you're in the middle of your final exams it was also quite disruptive 730 when I was trying to get those precious hours of sleep as a college student. I wager to bet it's it's not enough at the f 35s are much louder than the 16s and I live in the Southwest part of town but I still hear them. And I think that there are long term health consequences, particularly for developing minds and developing brains. I think noise, noise mitigation and noise pollution should be treated just as seriously as smoke detectors and safe drinking water in our schools so I would love to have an update and see a report of what has been done and would be supportive, broadly speaking of more noise mitigation if it's needed. Great. Okay Chelsea. I'm in complete agreement with Kate I don't think I could say it better myself. I do think that the noise is, it's disruptive to learning and that's not what the school board is supposed to be protecting right we're here to protect learning so I, I'd also be interested in update in the mitigation but I know that classes are still being disrupted so probably more work needs to be done. Great, thank you. I have a different question now. One of the effects of COVID that we haven't talked about is the impact on staffing at the schools school bus drivers, other staff. What is your understanding of the staffing levels at the school district and what are your thoughts about what the school board should do to address any issues that exist. And let's start with Chelsea. I know that I know exactly, I certainly don't know any numbers about staffing and how COVID has impacted that but I would imagine it's increased our need for substitute teachers. As far as I know this year there haven't been any closures due to insufficient staffing which is probably a good thing. I think that's pretty much all I, I don't know what, what is the current status of our staffing but I'm sure that substitute teaching isn't inexpensive. And so that's not something to take lightly. Thank you. So I think that this is a is a huge concern and the workforce and staffing shortages are not limited to the school district but certainly the school district is not immune. My partner is a nurse at EVM. And so I hear it every day, you know, our pillow talk is about the healthcare workers shortage. And really, I think that comes from a lot of burnout and not and you know hearing the like essential workers and hero status without feeling that that respect for the work that you do so you know I love my, my teacher friends I think our support staff our administrators are custodians the work that folks have been putting into our schools to keep our kids safe in the last two years is the most important work there is and it's incredibly supportive of our, our teachers and our staff. And I also am a community member and and you know we need to balance lots of priorities in our budget but this is definitely an issue that is going to this is one of those things that the project is going to carry with us in the long term, but I want to make sure that this, the teachers and the staff that work for us feel appreciated, and want to stay here, and that we can retain our teachers, and I also want to, you know, attracting folks to South Burlington to live and and work and how we can continue to be a welcoming community, a place of belonging and a place of affordability not just in our, in our schools but in our community too. Thank you. And Michelle. I have that question and kind of two streams because there's the more recent surge that created a problem that maybe different than the longer term retention problem. I'm going to say I just I have truly found the efforts to keep kids in classrooms with teachers in those classrooms and the buses running on schedule, almost 100% of the time to be really extraordinary, you know, like our community and our teachers and our bus drivers and our staff and our leadership have have really stepped up. Nevertheless, there have been consequences to that that are, you know, well beyond the control of, you know, it was hard enough I should say right to keep keep staff in place. I've taken a toll. And for sure I've heard the anecdotes you know people are thinking of leaving the teaching profession or leaving the area. And so I agree that that is certainly not something that I want to see happen. And certainly would work with my fellow board members to make sure that the policies that we think about really do focus on retention and valuing teachers valuing the leadership. I do, I do still think that we need to be very aware that the consequences have occurred. They're not the fault of anybody, but we need to address a lot of elements of recovery it's not just academic it's mental health. And, yeah, that's, that's my ad lib response to a very good question thank you. Okay, and one more question we have time for keeping on the coven theme. Today, the governor announced that he is recommending that schools with an 80% vaccination rate are advised to drop their mask requirements. Do you support this dropping mask requirements for South Burlington schools. Let's start with Kate. The press haven't even seen that yet. I think my top priority as a public service announcement announcement is to get to that 80% or even you know as close as possible to 100% on getting kids vaccinated. So that that seems like a top priority for me before any changes to the mass mandate but I also recognize that, you know, wearing masks for an entire school day is is hard and stressful, particularly for younger kids and you know with recess and with snow gear so you know I think it's important to have benchmarks and if the 80% benchmark is met and we're moving in the right direction and kids keep continue to get vaccinated then I think that and the case numbers continue to go down then I'm certainly open to that but I'm not at the school board yet so I am not making any decisions that are going to be written in stone so I will end it there. Michelle. So I think we're. I think it's pretty clear that we're headed towards treating this as an endemic as opposed to a pandemic when that occurs is really hard to say. I really will, you know from my own perspective I just I rely on the science and working in the field of measurement and scientific research. But you know the science isn't always consistent. It depends on who you talk to sometimes right this study says this this study says that. So, I feel like we will just have to do our best to monitor what that science is telling us what the what the agency of education is telling us based on the guidance that they're receiving from health officials in the state and and at the national level, and we'll make our decisions accordingly. It absolutely has to follow the science. Yeah, it's it's to me it's not a political matter. It's one it's a public health matter, and I am not an expert in public health so I will listen to the experts and I will do my best to make sense of what the experts are telling me, even when they disagree. Thank you, Chelsea. I agree with Kate and Michelle. Absolutely. I think the measures that we've been doing have been working. I do think that the guidance is kind of in terms of just distributing and disseminating information to the public can be pretty confusing and convoluted. I'm a microbiology major and that doesn't I'm not an expert that's what I have a bachelor's degree in but I haven't been working in the field. I've worked at my household, you know I very quickly was researching the guidelines, especially having a newborn in the house, and I felt like the state guidance versus the CDC. It was very convoluted and confusing it was, you know, if you have a positive result on this day then continue to mask but not on this day and after five days, even if you're testing positive as long as you're masked you can still go out in public and it's like well, I'm like so. I think that whatever changes we make should be made very thoughtfully because I do think that the measures that we've been taking have been effective, and any major change in that I'd hate to see us start to slip back in the other direction, especially with emergence of new variants. I would take that that guidance very lightly or seriously, I think that's the word I'm looking for. Thank you. Okay, we have enough time now to have each candidate do a closing statement. So Chelsea would you like to make your closing statement. Sure. I definitely feel like there's a lot of work to be done. I think that the reason I'm running unopposed as some of the work that needs to be done is not necessarily easy or popular. But I think it's worth doing and I'm really looking forward to serving our community and just doing my best at every turn to make choices that I think are going to better our community. I think it's very open to listening and hearing other opinions, even those that, especially those that differ from mine, and just trying to do what's best for everyone and that just myself or my family. Thank you. Kate. I'm also going to take the this time to address why I think that we're each running unopposed and, you know, I think it takes a certain level of privilege I need to have the time I need to have the energy the, you know, this is volunteer position so there's a certain level of like mental and physical ability to be in these long meetings and understand a lot of political policy details. So I recognize that that privilege that allows me to serve and I hope to serve our community well and again, like Chelsea said I'm very open to feedback and I also want to know how we can make this more accessible, make this more accessible in the future. Thanks. Thank you. And Michelle. So I, I guess I will I will focus there as well. I do think I spent a lot of time like an inordinate amount of time given the questions that you provided on on that question of why we're running unopposed, because I really I do I do wonder myself. And I can only speculate that it does have to do with a lot of what we're seeing happening around the country, you know, the boards and districts are under a lot of pressure given kind of competing schools of thought about really hot button topics critical race theory anti racism in our own little space here about you know the size of the, the construction and the expense that we're going to need for facilities. Michelle, I'm sorry, each candidate only had 30 seconds to do their closing statement so I know it's not enough time but it is time. Yeah I'm never good at that. But I want to thank all three of you Chelsea Tilling has Kate Bailey and Michelle Boyer who are all on the ballot this year for South Burlington School District thank you for being here this evening and answering the questions including the ones that you weren't prepared for. And thank you all for tuning in to town meeting televisions ongoing coverage of local community candidates budgets and ballot items. You can find this and more forums on www.channel 17.TV. Don't forget to vote on or before the first Tuesday in March town meeting day, March 1 2022. Early voting by mail is available by contacting your town clerk's office polls will also be open from 7am to 7pm. Thank you very much for watching.