 My name is Mia Schultz and I am the education justice organizer for rights and democracy rights and democracy is a nonpartisan grassroots organization, and it's a member led grassroots organization that works across. Give me a second. That works across. Oh my goodness. All right, it works across Vermont and New Hampshire and our mission is to shift the political landscape through electoral and community organizing to ensure that the values and needs of our communities guide the policies of our government. We are doing this by building a popular movement to advance human rights, dismantle economic inequality, racism and sexism and build a true democracy. Tonight we have a packed agenda we're going to go on and get started. And we'll put up our agenda up on the screen. We want to welcome and introduce our moderator and our candidates, the candidates will then give us introductions about themselves and their platforms. There will then be a moderated question and answer period a question answer period in which everybody will have the same amount of time to answer questions. Two minutes will be given to the introductions and the moderated questions will be one minute each. And then at that point we will take questions from the audience, but feel free to enter your questions in the chat as we go along, and know that we will use the same format, as we go along as well for one minute a piece to answer all of the questions we have. We have quite the packed room here today, and I'm excited about that. My colleague Don Dan, sorry Dan fingers is the official timekeeper, he will alert our candidates as they move along, and, and let them know as time is approaching near end so listen for that Our host tonight or MC and moderator is Fatima Khan Fatima where you at it's hard to see on the screen. I am right here. There's there she is she is just she her pronouns, and she is currently a student at Essex High School, and we are so thrilled to have her here as a volunteer to moderate tonight's forum. So with all that out of the way, I want to introduce Fatima, take it away. Thank you Mia. My name is Fatima Khan I'm currently a senior Essex High School and I'm really looking forward to hearing from all of you tonight. For this year's school board seats in the Essex Westford School District, voting will take place on Tuesday, April 12. The next members to be elected this year are one Essex Junction resident for a three year term, and there are two candidates running for the seat and two Essex town residents outside the village for a three year term, and there are five people running for these seats. We have invited all the candidates to attend this forum and are fortunate to have the opportunity to answer questions and tell the community about the platform as a candidate. I'm excited to announce that all the candidates have a great to participate in today's forum. Those candidates are Marlon there saw me. Robert Carpenter. Laura Taylor. Juan Coleman. Earl barber and Roger Drury. Interrupt. We also have Al bombardier here as well. Al, I apologize. You're here. We got you. All right, that's not your fault. It's mine. We're good. I'm so sorry about that. And we, yes, as me I said we also have Al bombardier. So for the first question. Please, please introduce yourself and state why you were running for the school board and the first person that's going to speak is Marlon there saw me. Marlon we can't hear you. Marlon you're going to go up and down. Can you hear me now. Yes. All right, sorry about that there so for first, Safa with the evening so. So first off, I want to thank you. I don't want to thank me and Dan and all rights to democracy for hosting this tonight. I think it's very important. As we've seen the last few years school boards definitely become much more important issue for everybody across our community and across the nation so for myself. I've been here in Vermont now for seven years, my daughter graduate from EHS last year. She's probably the biggest reason why I'm running for my career. We used to be in the Air Force, and we bounce around a bit, and then start working for national service here in Vermont. So for us in those moves, a big part of his education for her was a big key for her to get for the tools to succeed and prosper and currently she's a freshman in college. When we first moved here her first, well the first thing we asked our realtor we talked about was where's the best schools in the district in the area. And then she told us time and time again was Essex as it was the best place to go if you're looking for your for your child to succeed and prosper this was the place to be. And she was 100% right. We've loved our time here are dollars made tons of great friends she's, you know, prospered and did well in school here, but it's not been without some of its limitations and some issues that she's dealt with going through school. For me, I'm running mainly for her, but I'm also running for all of her friends behind her that are now coming up through the system and then for kids in the future. This district is great. We've got a lot of great people here we can see a night so many people showed up tonight for this here and I'm excited to be able to talk to everybody here. It makes me feel really good that so many people are actively engage and care about our community. The board has done great work. I've been going to meetings now pretty consistently since last summer and trying to follow the board work. And they've had an unsung job they've done and I believe they've done a great job in the last year and they've whether a lot of storms, but I feel that there's still more work to do. I feel that with my experience being in the military my experience working in the private sector and with the government working basically serve the community. I feel like I'm bringing that level here to the board and help them out. Your first voice as well to the board. I think that for me. It's about empowering the students, it's about hiring the staff, and eventually power the community and I think that's really the key for all of us. Thank you. And thank you. We're going to move on to Robert carpenter next. Hello everyone my name is Robert carpenter. I'm a parent of a student at us in the kindergarten luckily, and I'm also a former mathematics teacher. I have spent my career working in the nonprofit field specifically with students I've dedicated my career to working with students I really believe that we need to empower them because they're the next generation coming up behind us. I have an extensive professional experience, working with an overseeing boards, doing strategic planning, doing budget planning, and also developing strong board policies. Professionally, I had the skills improvement experience to both understand the work of the board, how the work is completed, and also how to do it well. For me I really care deeply about this community and its students, my wife and I moved back here after she attended high school here. Moved away and then we both moved back here because we really believed in this school system and she saw the impact of it in her own life. And I want to use my skills and my experience to maximize the board's productivity, the transparency and its accountability. I'm dedicated to taking the time needed to listen to learn to go through data, and to do the work of the board. This is what the students and taxpayers are really owed. I am passionate about hearing student voices, as they are the ones that we are serving. And I want to ensure that teachers and students both have the resources that they need to be successful. For me, for me, I believe in the power of the work table over the podium. And for me, I'm running to get the work done, not to promote my individual voice or my individual platform. I was honored to be selected to fill this board vacancy this past November. And I really hope that for you as voters, you see my work and I hope that my work speaks for itself. I really value the ability to give back to the community in this way. And I look forward to continuing to serve in this role. Thank you, Robert. We're going to move on to Laura, Laura Taylor next. Good evening, everyone. I want to just start by thanking rights and democracy and Mia and Dan for hosting us tonight. And to Fatima. Thank you so much for being our moderator. I'm so glad you're here. What a great way to amplify student voices in this process. Good evening, everyone. My name is Laura Taylor and I am a long term Essex resident. I've been here since 2005. I am the mom of two students who are currently ninth and sixth graders in Essex and they've been in Essex schools since kindergarten, and they've received an excellent public education. I myself am a public school teacher. I have taught Spanish up in Milton for 21 years. I like to tell people that I started when I was nine, but I think that's not as believable as it used to be. And I've devoted my life to public education. I am an active community member. I've been pretty engaged with the work of the school board since last election, and I don't think I have missed meeting since, since last spring. I created a Facebook group engaged community members of Essex Westford to keep Essex and Westford community members kind of in the loop about what's going on with their school board. I'm running for the school board because I think I have a lot to bring to the table. I bring the voice of a parent, the voice of a teacher, the voice of an active community member, and the voice of a taxpayer. I'm also running because school boards have become battlegrounds between adults, and I feel like that has taken away the focus of what the school board should be looking at, and that's our students. It's our students who should be the center of the work of the board. It's our students' voices that need to be lifted and heard and honored. I would like the opportunity to serve on this school board to write the ship, to continue to steer the focus towards our students, and to fulfill the mission of the board, which is to ensure the equitable, excellent public education of all of our kiddos here in Essex. Thank you. Thank you so much, Laura. Next, we're going to be hearing from Al Bombardier. Yes, thank you, Fatima. I did want to thank the rights and democracy group for sponsoring this event. It's great. I did have a, I did want to say I've been a long-term resident. For those that remember, I served on the Essex High School Board, and I've been supporting equity and inclusion for at least 15 years. All the budgets in between the technology, the teaching, the staff, and the programs. This is a, this is a great school. It has significant resources, and I think that there is, there's none better. I did want to say a special word to all of the teachers, students, administrators, and staff, especially the staff, for the excellent support of the last two years during this pandemic. It says a lot about our staff and how proud we are of the organization. I didn't want to also mention, I grew up in a public, public school settings where we did not have this support. And so I know from personal experience how it feels. And that makes a big difference for me and it's why I'm so committed. The other, the other thing I would mention is the, is the, excuse me, just losing my train of thought. Is the challenges that are coming for toward our school. In 2023, it looks like no, no additional taxes. 2024. It starts to change. So I would just mention that huge challenges coming forward. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. The first person you're going to be hearing from is Juan Coleman. Good evening, everybody. Juan Coleman here. First and foremost, thank you to rights and democracy for hosting me today on this form. I come from North Carolina. I grew up in every possible school system known demand from private to public to military boarding high school. I came to Vermont originally. I came from North University, went back home for two years, love the state of Vermont so much actually decided to come back. You know, the last six years or so I'll fast forward. I'm currently serving my country and the armed forces and I will fast forward to now. Over the course of the last six years, I've actually had the opportunity to interact with thousands of students and teachers and parents from the bottom of the state all the way to the top. And there are certain things that I believe firmly that the school system is doing well and there are other things that I believe need work. I am actually openly and full transparency disappointed in myself for not stepping up sooner. But I firmly believe in not sitting on the sidelines and being and criticizing other people but rather, you know, hopping in the arena myself and I have acquired certain set of leadership skills throughout my time and certain institutions and real world application that I'm looking forward to applying on a seat for the school board. I quote the great Jordan Peterson when he said it is a luxury to pursue things that make you happy, but it is actually a moral obligation to pursue things that you find meaningful. And I find children meaningful, they mean things to me, and their future means something to me. So thank you very much. Thank you, Juan. The next person we're going to be hearing from is Earl Barber. Hello. My name is Earl Barber and thank you for having me. I'm Japanese American. My mother was Japanese and my father was white. He was in the Air Force so I moved around quite a bit. I've been in various states, but mostly in the southern states, and I kind of know what it's like to be isolated. I have a background in that Japanese. I have a lot of Japanese people down in the southern states while I was growing up. So I've got a taste of what it's like to be prejudiced against. I know what it's like to be isolated because I've been moving around. I don't have many friends growing up. So I've got a taste of that so I can bring that to the table. And they were all in public school so I've got that as a background as well. Once I graduated high school, I went into the military, I served in the Marines for six years. After that I got out and I attended college at the University of South Florida, met my wife, got married, and then I went to Georgia Tech. And now I am living in Vermont. I've been in this area for over 20 years. I have four daughters. Three of them have been through the school system and I still have one that's in the school system. One daughter had an IEP, another 504 plan. For those of you who think I may be anti-teacher, I've worked closely with teachers to try to get my daughters through these situations that they found themselves in. So I've worked intimately with teachers. And I will say the reason why I'm running for the board is I don't think the school system is as good as it was. When I moved here years ago, it was top in the state. But it's not like that anymore. If you look at the rankings, and they're hard to find, we're ranked like number 11 currently by US News. And you look at different polls, different ones you want, but we're never top of the food chain. Thank you, Earl. The next person we're going to be hearing from is Roger Drury. Good evening, everyone. Fatima, thank you very much for hosting and thank you very much to all the RAD team for hosting as well. My name is Roger Drury. I'm an eighth generation Vermonter and a third generation product of the Essex education system. There's some debate whether earlier generations actually graduated or just attended. So I'm just going to brag about three for now. I, I'm coming as a running as a representative for the school board to continue my service to the community. I am a 36 year veteran of the Vermonter Army National Guard, and would like to continue my service to the community as something a little bit bigger, a little bit more and be part of the school system. I'm excited to be able to run as a, as a candidate in open seats and not trying to vie against somebody who's currently sitting. I think that's really important. And I just want to be something, be part of something bigger. Thank you. Thank you. Now we're going to be moving on to question two. And from here on out, all of you will be allowed one minute per question. The second question is, what do you see as a role of a school board member? The first person that will speak is Robert Carpenter. I would say for a school board member, especially I think first and foremost for me personally would be to listen to learn and be well informed before entering into a board meeting. I think it's a huge responsibility to do that and also to be accountable to each other on the board in itself. So many times we can get distracted and attracted by many things, but there is much work to be done at the school board. So I think there needs to be a little level of commitment. And not just commitment to doing the work but commitment to having a collective voice and a commitment to the policies that are in place. And school work can be seen by many as extremely boring and as it should be at times it's going through policy and many different things but that is an area where I really enjoy and really thrive in. And I think the more that we can dive into that as board members and ensure well efficiency at the board level and productivity, it's just going to then down flow from there through the rest of the educational system. And I think that that as a board member needs to be our primary focus is to listen, learn, and be well informed when we walk into the board meetings to get the work done in an effective way for our students and taxpayers. Thank you Robert. The next person we're going to be hearing from is Laura Taylor. I believe the board, the role of a board member is, is very simple and it is what the description is on the webpage it is to ensure the educational welfare of all of our students, regardless of their race of their gender identity of their economic background, you know, that we meet students where they are, and we help them to flourish and to grow. And I think the school board members need to be as Robert said, well prepared, going into the meeting. And I also think it's, it's important to say that, you know, we don't expect board members to know to know everything and it's important to say that like, you know, I don't know the answer to that question. I should find that out and to do some, some research, and I think to be vulnerable and to, to ask for help when needed. I think it needs to be a unified front, and that the students really do need to be the center of all of the work of the school board. Thank you Laura. We're going to be moving on to Elle Bumber Deer. Thank you. I would say the, in addition to what I've already heard, I would say that the members work as a team. It is a dialogue between the various members, vote is taken, decision is made, everyone supports the decision. There's a, there are a lot of responsibilities, but the way I think about this is you're sitting in the balcony in this huge theater, and you're looking down at this organization, monitoring results, organizational performance, how things are going, where needs are appearing, thinking about those needs, checking in on our legislators, checking in on, on the legislation that's being proposed and the impact of that legislation on our organization. There is a, there is a lot to think about. And in fact, under policy governance, it requires strategic thinking. Thank you. We're going to be moving on to Juan Coleman. Yes, thank you for the question. My firm believe that the role of a school board member, first and foremost, is to be knowledgeable on the topics at hand. I firmly believe in active and reflective listening, but also transparency, not only transparency amongst board members and the administration that, you know, you work with to see policies and things like that, but transparency with the actual parents, the community and the taxpayers. The school board, in my humble opinion, the role of a school board member extends far beyond the school and actually into the community as well. And that's something that I believe we really, really need to work on. So the school board is, the role of a school board member is, is threefold to hold those accountable that you're on the board with, obviously, and to be knowledgeable about the topics at hand, and also to work with the administration and ensuring that policies and things like that coming down are in the best interest of those in the community and the students in the school and working with the community and informing them of what's going on, what you're voting on, and bringing them in on some of those things as well. Thank you. Thank you. The next person we're going to be hearing from is Earl Barber. Hi, I agree with the other candidates of you should be knowledgeable before going to the meeting you should always be prepared for meeting. That's an easy thing but I also think that you like wanted said I believe you need to be a conduit to the community at large. You need to be able to share information about the budget, the rankings and you know performance in with the rest of the community and you need to advocate for what the community needs. Of course in the end you need to come to a single conclusion as a team. That's what I believe the, the role is of a school board member. Thank you, we're going to be hearing from Roger Drury next. I agree with all the points of our other candidates. I would like to also add that the, in my opinion, the school board member is also primarily responsible for as part of that team to establish bylaws policies procedures, as well as prioritize taxpayer spending in how it relates to the school and its function. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to be hearing from Marlin there son. Yeah, I think pretty much everybody covered pretty well now that I'm the last one to go but I was guess I agree with everybody. The key those the students, the students and the staff. We're here to provide quality education for everybody that comes through our school system with that though, how do we do that we provide oversight for the school system. The policies that help enrich our school district. And we work with the staff. We bring in the best that possible and empowering them and giving the tools they need only helps our students. All those things at the end of the day come back the same thing. It's about the students is about, you know, all the people that come through our school system. I believe that's really the main point for a school board member. Thank you. The next question is, how would you ensure a safe and inclusive district for all individuals, regardless of identity from whole district to the classroom. And the first person we're going to be hearing from is Laura Taylor. Thank you. I think our equity policy is a really great start for that. The equity policy is about taking down barriers and offering of a safe place for students where they are accepted for who they are. And I think education goes a long way in that. I think a lot of the celebrations that we have at school are really important for our students to see themselves reflected. For example, we had a national coming out day, there are events around that I think that was really, really important that students could see themselves reflected as as members of their community. And I think the outreach is also really important about this. So that, you know, the community knows that we are a diverse group, our community is changing, and that, excuse me, we, we, we honor, and we welcome everyone who walks through our doors. Thank you. Thank you. Next person is L Bombardier. Oh, sorry. You know, I did want to say that outreach is critical in this area, and it's a major item that will be changing here shortly. Today, in our meetings, there's an opportunity for public to be heard. But those are very short time periods. And there isn't a lot of time. What happens is there is a significant amount of business that's going on during the regular meetings. As a result of the shift to policy governance. There will be dedicated and hopefully multiple opportunities to meet with the public and to have a dialogue with the entire board or individual board members regarding items that are of interest to the public. And that could be on any topic. Those, those sessions should be starting soon, probably in the March, April time frame. We're not sure yet, but that's the direction we're moving. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to hear from one comment next. Yes. Thank you again for the question to ensure. I'm going to preface this with the fact that I don't, I firmly believe that nobody regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity, religion should be discriminated against or, or hate it on. I don't think there should be a tolerance for that across the board regardless of what anyone may think there's no tolerance for that at all but one of the things I think that we do need to do to improve this is I think a lot of things stem from a lack of understanding. And what I mean by that is what kind of dialogue are we encouraging amongst people that may disagree on things that may come from completely different backgrounds. If that makes sense. And I think that's highly, highly important as far as working to increase that dialogue first and teaching people that hey, it's okay to maybe disagree on certain things and, and not necessarily come to certain conclusions and firmly believe in a dialogue first and then understanding and educating people. Thank you. Thank you. The next person we're going to be hearing from is Earl Barber. Hi, I think for a safe environment, we've got a lot of tension going on in the school right now. There's a lot of divisive issues that have creeped into the school system. There's a lot of discord in the schools. And that is something that I would like to, you know, try to minimize it best. When you have a tense environment, it's not a welcoming learning environment and the kids cannot perform as well. So I would like to, you know, try to minimize that as much as possible on that. And I know that's somewhat controversial to try to take, you know, politically divisive issues out of school but I don't think it belongs there. There are children who are afraid to, afraid to speak their minds on certain topics out of fear of being ostracized or being bullied. And to me, the way to make it more safe and more welcoming for every student is just to minimize the very controversial ones from our school system. It just doesn't belong there. It doesn't help us with our test scores with our rankings with our budget doesn't do any of that. That's what I hear about, you know, safe environment. That's what I want to focus on. That's time. Thank you. We're going to be hearing from Roger Drury next. I would like to start by saying that every student has the right to an education and to pursue their life through their human experiences as deemed by their students as as where they stand in life. What I would like to learn more about is what exactly is the problem. How do we define the inequities that are being identified. How do we identify where people don't feel safe. A lot of this is in terms of definition. I think you're seeing some pushback from the community where we're looking at maybe a definition in our community of safe means one thing. But if they're seeing some pressure from the national news, safe means something else. I believe we need to identify the problem and listen to each other and get good feedback both positive and negative from our community. And that's how a board member needs to interact. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to be hearing from Marlon bear saw me next. As far as providing a safe environment for schools. I think listening all the other candidates talk and just kind of my thoughts right now. I feel like there aren't issues, not just in the school dishes across the country there are. When you're dealing with issues just for existing, because of your gender identity, color, skin, who you choose to love those are things that you know students are dealing with as they grow up. We can pretend that that we can say we can just shove those issues aside and we can just talk about school and that's it. But that's not the reality for our students. We have to deal with it affects them as members of our community. We have to speak up and we have to talk we have to have hard conversations throughout our entire district or through our entire community. That is the only way we can understand each other, we begin to respect each other more, and we'll be able to support each other. No problem goes away by not talking about. To provide safe environment for all of our students by having these conversations by finding out what our students need. Again, our equity policy is already starting to do that and help them remove those barriers. That's the way I feel we have to be able to build a safe environment for all of our students. Thank you. Thank you, Marlin, we're going to hear from Robert carpenter next. I think this is where leadership really comes into play and when I look at the board as a whole. That's leadership of the district, and it has to start with us. And personally it has to start with me, and the way I look at it is, I have a very privileged life, and I need to recognize the others who don't have that same privilege. I can never fully understand or grasp things that they have been through experiences they have been through, but I have the responsibility to listen and to learn and to be informed. And I think that that's the key thing is, I don't know what I don't know. So I need to do my due diligence to understand fully so that I can be able to help remedy those things. And as of right now we have an equity policy and as board members, we need to uphold that and continue forward with that to ensure a safe environment for students for all students, and not just students but also the teachers within the school too. So I think in terms of safety. I think that we should be continuously looking and listening more than trying to define what we should do from our limited perspective. Okay, thank you. We're going to be moving on to the fourth question, which is, what do you see as the biggest challenge your school district is facing right now, and how will you address it. The first speaker is going to be Al Bombardier. Okay, thanks. Thank you. Didn't want to crack down a couple of things. One of them is the achievement gaps, but COVID has seriously impacted learning throughout the school. There is no question about that. The equity student report and the K to five report, I found was disappointing. We know that we have excellent teachers support staff and administrative support there that that is doing everything that they can. Those achievement gaps are occurring for a particular reason. One of them is we cannot find staff with we're short 27 key positions in our district right now. A year ago, we might have 100 applications for each position. Today it's closer to zero. And that makes a big difference. The other thing there. Okay. Thank you. We're going to move on to Juan Coleman. Yes, the biggest challenge that I firmly believe right now is affecting the school district is the actual academic performance is that's what I think we're facing right now. The last that I checked based on the currents, the latest stats that I was able to find is that the math and the literacy rates are not where they should be. So my aim is to figure out why I have reached out to individuals in the administration and I've been having conversations with parents and students throughout this community to figure out what it is that we may be missing, you know, differentiating between the rates and needs, but those scores and those literacy rates to come up. And I'm trying my absolute hardest to figure out how we can stop the drop so to speak and get Essex back to the top of the literacy rates right now to me or number one priority and making sure that these students can perform to high levels reading writing arithmetic math and science. Thank you. We're going to move on to Earl Barber. I would echo that the biggest problem facing our schools right now is our performance both in reading and math, according to the scores that I've been able to find. We're not proficient in that I mean 50% for reading 70% per math. It doesn't lend itself well to developing our children to do critical thinking. We're below where we should be and that's, that's frustrating and it's hard to find data on this that kind of goes back to the transparency and being able to find this information anywhere on the EWSD website it's just not there. I've dug and dug for it. I can't find it. As a taxpayer, I know that we are paying for a Porsche and we're getting a Toyota. I mean it's a good it's reliable but where's our money going. You know, why aren't we performing better we're, we're not near the top of the food chain in Chittenden County at all. And I'm frustrated as to why we don't perform better. Thank you. Thank you we're going to move on to Roger Drury. I think the biggest challenge that our school district is dealing with right now is multiple lines of effort that sometimes do not have their primary focus their mission and state for educating our children, our students. And I say that I don't say that I'm kindly because I, I felt the energy from our teachers, I felt the energy from our, from our staff. And I know that they are doing the very best that they can. What I would like to see is how can we ensure that our teachers and staff have the tools and resources to finish those get to bridge those gaps, and make sure that our reading and math scores are good for everyone so that we have a successful students going into the community. Thank you. We're going to be moving on to Marlin Varisani. I do agree with, with a lot of those school members that are sorry, the candidates have said about the scores across our area but I think it kind of leaves out the big elephant in the room that we haven't talked about is that we come out of a two year pandemic. It's been two years since most has been staying in home doing this here right now. It has had a huge effect on every student on every staff member, everybody in the community. It's done a lot of harm to everybody and I think we, we kind of take that for granted that how much it's done so it's easy to say will scores are down. Well there's a big reason why scores down students are struggling right now. I'm listening to the presentations that curtain school board of last, you know, almost year now. A lot has been put into social emotional learning for a reason because we have to look at those barriers as things that are holding students back. We just can't say hey you know just just do do the work do the reading right. There's more to than that. Looking at a total student looking at all the issues that affect them are key for us to be able to get students backward to where they need to be. And so we do that students are going to continue to struggle. Thank you, Marlon, we're going to move on to Robert Carpenter. I think one of the biggest challenges that we're facing is not just this year and not next year, but what does it look like five 10 years down the road because the decisions that we make now will ultimately impact future plans and that especially goes around things with building things with facilities there's a lot of different things that will be coming up within that area. But also that will directly impact the educational performance because of the environment that students are within themselves there's so many different facets that we have to have on our plates to be thinking through, not just as a school board and as a school district but as a whole community. So I think one of the key things that we need to be able to do is have clear cut communications and I've been excited to see the board engaging in more community engagement, more conversations around these things because I really believe the community does care about our kids, it does care about the future growth of our students and while some of us might disagree on what exactly that might look like at the end of the road. I think we can all agree we all want the best for our kids. So as long as we can stick to that I think that that is the biggest challenge is sticking to that key idea of our kids matter deeply to us. Thank you Robert, we're going to move on to Laura Taylor. I'm saying this kind of where in my teacher hat here. We can't approach academic performance we can't be able to even address it if our kids aren't okay. And our kids aren't okay. The pandemic ripped a band-aid off of kind of a dirty little secret like, you know, families are struggling and I think the pandemic really brought that to light. And more so now after the pandemic, our kids can't learn if they're hungry, our kids can't learn if they're not sure where they're going to stay at night, our kids can't learn if there's violence in their life. That's why the social emotional learning is so important. That's why it's so important to look at the whole child test scores are important, but they do not reflect everything that's going on. Thank you Laura, we're going to move on to Al Bombardier. We're switching subjects. I'm sorry, what was the subject. I think we're at our next question. Yeah. Wait, you're on mute. I'm so sorry. We're going to be moving on to question number five, which is public schools are the heart of the community. What services do you think our district school should provide the community. And the first speaker is Juan Holman. Excuse me, can you may you repeat the question. Yes, yes, sorry. The question is public schools are the hearts of the community. What services do you think our district school should should provide to the community. When you say, quick question though when you say for team when you say services or what is there anything in particular you're talking about it just couldn't be just general just anything. Yeah, it's really what services mean to you. Right, so one of the things that I think as far as service those is is public service. And within the school system over the course of the last two to three years, you know, in the last question people brought up the pandemic. And other there's also been other controversial issues to be brought up at school board meetings. One of the things I think is is public service and volunteering within the community. And, you know, hopefully we can get to a point where the school in the district offer opportunities for kids to get out in the community and the volunteer and to work with local come come out to our base, go and bother yourself with the local police department the fire department see these acts of service, do these different things bring in also speakers on different topics and things that may interest kids to just help continue to build relationships I'm a firm believer I understand that the pandemic was was a very stressful time, but you know, we need to get to a point where we start looking ahead and understanding that we got to move forward so thank you. Thank you, we're going to be moving on to Earl barber. Yeah, as far as what services does, you know, school should be providing to our children should be providing core curriculum teaching, I would like to see our students really focused in on on more on learning on on political activity. Personally, political activity they can do with their parents outside of the school. They can participate with their friends outside of the school I just don't know why it belongs in the school. It's a distraction as far as I'm concerned. That said, for, you know, maybe that's it maybe that's really the best thing to say I just don't want to see our school become a political entity in any way shape or form. I think it just needs to go. Thank you. Thanks, we're going to be moving on to Roger Gary. To be honest with you. I don't think the schools owe the community any service at all. I believe the community owes the school the service. I believe the community members should be volunteering and helping and helping our educators, whether it's assisting in the chow hall for meals, or whether it's volunteers and in the classrooms. I think our, our schools are doing the right job for the for the community, and I think the community can get behind the schools by by helping them out. Thanks. Thanks, we're going to be moving on to Marlon bear saw me. I agree with Roger there that we should be as a community should be helping out the schools where we can. I think for students themselves though I think, you know, as we saw through the pandemic, pandemic, helping with school meals, providing extra meals for students that have not been able to have had food and security, as we've seen that happen over the last two years that's something I think that provides the community because of students able to not worry about the next meal they can actually focus on the rewriting that people are very, very focused on providing social services to students to be able to help deal with the issues that we've had we've seen over the last two years. I think it's key. Oh, I think you're so thank you're unmuted Earl. No problem. Sorry about that there so I think that those are things we need to focus on is being able to help the community because we have the students in the long term it's going to help the community. So thank you. Thank you Marlon. The next person is Robert carpenter. Yeah, I think, especially as we've seen through the pandemic, the school is already doing a lot in terms of service for students and providing the meals and meal programs have been awesome. The additional services, social services to students within the school but I think as we look at overall education schools have now more and more on their plates to be providing to students. It's important for us to remember that we need to keep supporting in them and and it has made a huge impact because educational success isn't just by going and showing up to a classroom. But it's by having those additional supports having those teachers that care and can kind of keep an eye on oh hey something seems off about that student today, and be able to really engage with them and that is what I've been so impressed about our district is teachers are going beyond what is on their job description to do that. And I think that that's what really makes the difference and ultimately will help the success of all students to make them strong leaders, and to make them really involved members of our community, and that's the best gift that the public school can give to our community. Thank you Robert we're going to be moving on to Laura Taylor. I think the public schools are sort of the center and the hub of our community, and some of the services I think they should be providing they already are, but I would definitely like to see more of it and more funding for it. Mental health services is something that I think we really need starting at very early ages like I said earlier a lot of our kids are really struggling and not okay. Universal meals, you know breakfast lunch snacks. I know in my district we have meals that kids can take home over the weekend. I would I absolutely support that and I hope that we can continue to do it. Counseling family and student counseling again you know we're the center of the community, we want to support our students and supporting our students also means supporting their families as best that we can. Thank you. We're going to be moving on to Al Bombardier. Thank you. Well I can I can certainly agree with Laura on these. Some of these items. I did want to mention I think the mental health universal meals and counseling are very important. But there needs to be a linkage between that need, the teachers and families. That being said, I think we're, we're beginning to realize that family outreach is really important. And that it's not, it's not a, it's going to take resources, it's going to take money, but it's important to do and I'm, I'm seriously looking at supporting a major initiative in that area. Thank you. Thank you so much. We are going to be moving on to question number six, which is how do you see yourself responding when conflict and or differences of opinion arise between school board members. And the first person that's going to be speaking on this is Earl Barber. One of the things you have to do as a school board member is advocate for basically your platform, why voters voted you in to begin with you can't give up on that. But at the same time, it is a team effort, you do have to come to conclusion and then go on it. You can't sit there and spin your wheels forever. I get that. I know if I became a school board member I'm not going to get my way on many things, but that's okay. I still advocate for the things that I think are important. And I believe probably, you know, everybody's like that, you know, there's going to be give and take. We all want what we want, but we're not going to get what we want. But in the end, we have to come to a path forward or stay stuck. Thank you. We're going to be moving on to Roger. Like conflict resolution is kind of a hot button for me. I have as a father of three boys I deal with it on a daily basis, as well as from some of my experiences with the military both in Iraq and Afghanistan. I think I think the important part is to is to listen to be engaged and to ask those active questions so you can really receive that that community that that understanding what is the other person trying to trying to convey. Try to find that middle ground and then work, and then work from there to see what the other person's wants and needs are. As far as if there is truly heated debate. I'm a huge advocate of taking that five or 10 minutes and just saying hey we need to agree to disagree for a second or two, take a knee drinks of water, and then re engage in a friendly friendly discourse. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to be moving on to Marlin there. As far as working people's nose with different opinions. Same thing like Roger being in the Air Force taught me a lot about conflict resolution, doing with folks from different backgrounds, different opinions. But the key is always this. The one thing I always learn is that we can disagree in issues, we can be passionate about issues but we have to be able to respect each other enough to have, you know, respective respectful conversations and talk to each other so that we can find some common ground. And we have to remember what we're what we're working on in this case here, it's the students in our district that's what comes first and as long as we put them first. We're going to be moving around in issues we may take as well they get there we may have different avenues we want to work there but we can do it together. And that's the key and just constantly listening to each other, working together, and as they refine that common ground because again, the people they're going to are going to prosper from this as our students. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to be moving on to Robert Carpenter. I think it ultimately starts with me I need to be focused on listening but not just listening but also hearing for understanding and listening to all the points. And I never want to walk into a conversation thinking that my opinion is the only valid opinion. I think that at a board, especially there is actually great power and disagreement. And I think that ultimately, if it's done well, and within discussion it can produce a stronger and more effective board handled correctly. There's ultimately always going to be disagreement even on the small administrative tasks there's always going to be disagreement on different topics. There is the need for the board to speak with one voice, and I think that's really what we need to focus on. Thank you Robert, we're going to be moving on to Laura Taylor. Well, 20 years of teaching high school has taught me a thing or two about conflict resolution. I just did that today actually right after lunch. I'm a big believer in pausing and taking a step back when there's any type of conflict and take, you know, I don't know if you've heard, you know, to two feet one breath and just sort of like, centering myself and being like okay. What is this person trying to say how how can I listen to this this different opinion. I think I'm pretty good at finding my common humanity with people. I would assume that everyone serving on the board with me has the same goal as me which is the educational welfare of our students. And I would start there at that at our basic common humanity. What do we have in common. We have this we want what's best for our students. We might have different ways of getting there. But we come to an agreement that, you know, between the two of us, we can agree that whatever we do has to be what is in the best interest of our students. Thank you Laura, we're going to be moving on to Al Bombardier. Yeah, I think the one of the key points there is active listening. Trying to understand the goal or objective of the other person. Putting myself in that person's position, get a better understanding, reflecting on what they're saying. And trying to come to those areas, which is really important is where do we agree. And then going from where we don't at least building that trust. Finding out if information is missing or incorrect. Talking it out over. And just, it just takes time. But you just have to trust the other person, build active listening reflection. Thank you. We're going to be hearing from Juan Coleman now. Yes, I actually engage quite often with individuals that don't agree with me, whether it be in my career or whether it be on the outside, throughout the community, social media, you know, different different projects like that. But one of the main things is is understanding. You know, I take into consideration that this, the school board position is something that people are doing in conjunction to other parts of their lives. So sometimes it's very quick and to have an emotional response to everything and this is where emotional intelligence is key. You know, obviously I have, you know, a lot of conflict resolution skills as far as training and those different types of things go but understanding hey sometimes guess what this person. Disagrees here or X, Y, Z, but maybe they have other things going on. So once again you're active and you're reflective listening skills and just being patient and really not not coming from a place of emotion. Using logic and reasoning in our decision making is extremely key in solving any issue that or conflict that may present itself and I've had a ton of conversations. That's time. Thank you. We're going to be moving on to our last question before the public public comment section, which is what role do you think parent voices should play in decisions about the school and the school district. And our first speaker is Roger Drury. I believe you need to. Well, first of all, I believe parents deserve and should receive a voice in decisions that are made. And the question is, is are we talking about policy content or requirements versus desire. And what I say that is, are we ever going to ask as a parent or listen to a parent who says, we need to stop teaching math, probably not. I do think that parents do deserve a voice, but we also need to balance it with the needs of the and the goals of the education system. There are some state guidelines, there are some state federal guidelines that we do need to be here to, no matter what. Thank you. We're going to be hearing from Marlin Varisami next. I think parent voices should be very important in the district. I think the key starts right there is being engaged, understanding what's going on, learning about the subjects, talking with people and right now, look at this room right now we've got parents, we've got grandparents, we've got tons of people that can be right now who are actively engaged to learn more about us to see if we're the best candidate for them for school board. It starts there starts by, you know, going to the meetings of the school board, talking to school board members talking to your school board member that, you know, represents your district. That begins the conversation and then therefore being more informed and engaged parent allows you to be able to, again, ask the questions, the important questions that are needed so that we can help guide policy in our school district. Like I said, for it starts right now starts about being engaged and then being able to, you know, and with that engagement, you're able to ask the questions to be able to help continue to shape our policy and guidance in the future. Thank you. Thank you, Marlin. We're going to be hearing from Robert Carpenter next. I think one of the big things is this falls upon the responsibility of the board, especially to inform the community and the parents at large to understand what is the role of the board. What is the capacity of the board and how to interact and engage with the board. I know we've been doing a lot of that through policy governance and now especially with building into more community engagement. I think that it's a two-way street of the board and educational system needing to clearly define the parents. You know, here's some proper ways to engage and if there's complaints or different things going through a proper chain of command through administration through Beth and then through the board. So I think it's important all together that parents have voice and are engaged because we want to, as they are part of the community, have that voice and have that engagement within our school systems. And I think ultimately we all need to be clearly communicating with each other through these community engagement events as they continue to be out there. Thank you, Robert. We're going to be hearing from Laura Taylor next. I agree with, especially with what Marlin and Robert just said. Our parents have plenty of opportunities to be engaged with their students with their students learning. I was thinking, especially of the thought exchange that we've had over the last couple of years that maybe a year or so, those are a lot of people participated in that. Being engaged, communicating with your kids' teachers and again going up the chain of command if there is a problem. However, I do believe that we need to trust in our teachers and our admin and our staff to, they are professionals. They are highly trained. They use best practices and they use research and they need to continue to have the autonomy to work in the professional manner in which they've been trained. Thank you, Laura. We're going to be hearing from Al Bombardier next. Thank you. I do support the community and engagement on an ongoing monthly basis. And parents, grandparents, community members can all join. Clearly the responsibility of policy governance and the board, the board is responsible for actively encouraging and scheduling regular meetings with the public on an ongoing basis. And there is any topic, any need, any subject that comes up is welcome. So thought exchange has been productive. It's been a quick and easy way to get it, get the information, but having the opportunity to talk with individual board members and question them about certain policies is fine. It's a, it's a, it's part of democracy and we need public engaged. Thank you. Al, we're going to be hearing from Juan Clement next. Parents should absolutely have the first right to their, their children. I, I stand upon that. I believe that's one of the reasons we have so much contention now between the school board and the community and the administration at times is because the parents don't feel as though they have the, the rights to their child or the first rights to their children. Even when I was growing up parents were still the sole proprietors of their children's education and didn't realize solely on the public school or whatever other school system they were in to educate their kids. And then actions do speak louder than words and it's easy for us to sit up here and say that parents should be involved but just how transparent are we willing to be on the other end with these parents so that we don't have this contention that we have in the community. As far as parent involvement goes to include curriculum and for example the equity policy was brought up how many parents were actually involved in helping shape and develop that. That's all I got. Thank you. Thanks Juan. The last person we're going to be hearing from is Earl Barber. Yeah, for parent voices I have to agree with many of the folks there. Engagement is key, but the problem is there's no way to be engaged if you can't see what is being presented to your child. There is it's very hard to see the curriculum to see what surveys are given and all of this needs to be seen beforehand because if there is something that the parent doesn't like or thinks their child is not ready for. I think the parent should be able to opt out the child. I know that there's always research done and you know people want the teachers to be the most informed person but on some issues that are controversial and divisive. I don't think we should have that being taught by a teacher because you don't know which way they lean. They could lean in a direction that you don't want your child to learn. I am strongly opposed to teachers giving our children moral values. I want our parents to give our children the moral values they need. That's it. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you candidates for your answers to our arranged questions. We will now take some questions from the audience. Mia has been collecting them throughout the show. As many as time permits and the same format applies each candidate will have one minute to answer audience questions. And the first question is what kind of preparations have you made to become an s express for school board members specifically so you can add value to the board from day one. And the first person that will be speaking is Marlon. What kind of preparations have I made? Well, first I started by making sure I was attending meetings from, let's say from last year. I'll admit, as a parent, you know, there's so much going on. I didn't have time always to pay attention to what the school board was doing and I'll admit there was a time early on when we first lived here, took it for granted. And those times have changed. So I made a point to first get myself aware of what the school board was doing, learn their work, learn what was important, so that can be able to have a more informed opinion before I could go forward. Once I decided to run, I made a point to start more and more about what goes on in the district talking with with Brian Donahue, who put together this current budget and fire budgets and learned a lot from him about how the budget put together the issues that we have going forward that might not affect just the current fiscal year, the next fiscal year, but probably the next 20 years. I talked with Erin McGuire, learning more about the equity policy, working with her, asking a lot of questions, where are the successes and the weaknesses so far as the policy was really eye-opening for me. I'm working with Gary Peters, who's overseeing the facilities for our school and learning the consolidation that's come from that, from law services, from safety facilities and everything that's all known to one umbrella that he has a lot of work to do and a lot of changes in the school decisions we've seen. So for me, it's been talking to people, learning and basically what's possible. Thank you. Thanks, Marlon. We're going to be hearing from Robert Carpenter next. One of the things that I did prior to joining the board was obviously attending board meetings, but most of all, digging into the policy, making sure I understood what the policy was because as a board member, that's the policy that you're going to be upholding. So understanding the policies that are in place, especially around the equity policy too, so that especially when doing the work of the board, ensuring that I'm doing it through the correct lens of what is in place. In addition to that, just continuing to basically listen and learn from current board members, but also listen and learn from teachers, from administration, from students, and from the community to be as well-informed as I can. And I think that that's the ultimate responsibility that I have to the community and to the taxpayers is to understand how to balance the student needs with a taxpayer dollar and be able to optimize that as best as possible. And being able to really go through the data to ensure that that is happening. Thank you, Robert. We're going to be hearing from Laura Taylor next. Similar to what Marlin had to say, I have been attending meetings since last year. I always go through all the board notes and materials once they're posted online so that I know what's happening in the meetings. And if I don't know, I am not afraid to reach out to some board members and ask for clarification. Marlin and I met with Brian Donahue, the COO, and he was gracious enough to give us an hour of his time to go over the budget with us. We also met with, like you said, with Gary Scott, who is the Facilities and Safety Director. I learned a lot about what goes into keeping our students, our staff, and our spaces safe. It was really interesting. And talking to students, talking to parents, talking to my neighbors, talking to friends who have served on boards before, and speaking with some former members of our Essex School Board as well. Thank you, Laura. We're going to be moving on to Al Bombardier. Okay, well, there's a number of ways of getting really prepared for these meetings. The SBA seminars. There are special Zoom meetings on current topics, like teacher pension system. Very, very informative, working with and listening and joining the Zoom on Operations Committee at the state level, and the Finance Committee, talking to legislators, and, and just the policies. And the development just doesn't happen in a vacuum. It takes a lot of research as well. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to be hearing from Juan Coleman next. Can you hear me? Yep. Okay. Yeah, so for myself, I definitely believe in personal accountability and responsibility and one of my weaknesses initially was understanding the budget because you know when I look at it I'm not. I understand it to an extent, but I definitely feel like that could be a little bit more detail there and making it more understandable. I've reached out to teachers, I've reached out to students, to faculty, to staff, parents within the community and just talking to them and learning what their needs are throughout this whole process as well. And I've sent some emails and different things like that. I've had different meetings with folks and just really brushing up on the things that I didn't really understand that I initially took for granted and admittedly not even understanding the importance of the budget but definitely wrapping my, my head around that and becoming more well versed in those things and I firmly believe you can only prep so much for some of the stuff on a tactical and a strategic level but I've definitely been out there having conversations having meetings and applying the things that I learn. And I'm going to continue to do that. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to be hearing from Earl Barber next. Yeah, the preparations to be ready for a school board member. I think, for me, life experience. I've had four daughters go through the system one still in it. But along the way I've worked side by side with teachers trying to get the IEPs in place the 504s in place to make sure that you know we optimize the learning environment for my children. So I know how to do that so I have experience with that. You know, even my current occupation. I'm an engineer. I designed ships. I've worked on teams between four to 20 people designing something very, very complex in a timely manner. So I know how to sort through data, work as a team member and, you know, get things done. And that's what I plan to do if I get elected onto the board. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to be hearing from Roger Drury next. We had been preparing to be a member of the board if selected by our community is I've been following the notes I've been attending the zoom meetings when I could and I attended my first full disclosure. I attended my first in person board meeting last night. I could continue to be impressed with the team and how well they do. My life experiences throughout my career has been working with large and small groups for conflict management, the development of policy, strategic planning as well as tactical planning. And when I say tactical, I just mean small scale. What are we going to do tomorrow, as opposed to what are we going to do in six years. I have knowledge of how long term and short term goals and vision are nested. And I bring that to the board and I will continue to learn more about the specifics for our organization. Thank you. The second question is, what steps does our district need to take to ensure the protection and future success of our transgender and non binary student population. And furthermore, which resources you have used to educate yourself about this part of our student population. And the first person that will be speaking on this is Robert carpenter. I think this kind of goes back to one of my previous answers of I need to listen and learn, because I do not understand from my perspective, because I don't. My life so I need to ensure that I'm not seeing things through my perspective but through the lens of others. So I need to first of all make sure I understand what is feeling unsafe within the school district and how we can make that better. Secondly is we have an equity policy in place that is there to ensure that all students are giving equal access to an education and not just to an education but be able to be successful in that. Accessible education is not just the academic side of things but everything that wraps around that student through kindergarten all the way through high school through graduation. So we need to ensure that that is in place and that the equity policy is upheld and stays there for the sake of those students especially. So I think that's a great question in terms of other resources outright Vermont is another great resource to be able to learn more and most of all just for putting myself around people to be able to ask the questions time. Thank you, we're going to be hearing from Laura Taylor next. This is something that's really important to me as a teacher and as a mom. I really feel that our students cannot feel safe if they're not acknowledged. If their identity is not acknowledged and welcomed and celebrated and part of that is again seeing themselves reflected in the books that they read and the materials that they have for class. And just knowing that school is a safe place for them because I think for a lot of our students that might be their only safe place. I just it's it really it keeps me up at night wearing wearing about our kiddos like this. Some of the background information or work of them outright Vermont again is is fantastic. They have a lot of great resources and then over the course of my career, I've done several trainings with with different organizations on how to how to best support our non binary and transgender students. Thank you Laura, we're going to be hearing from Al bombardier next. I think the, the staff is a key to this. We have a system now where the concerns of the of the various ethnic groups are actually come through a SEL or through a, what's it called. It's the advisory committee that works with students, minority students, they those requirements and concerns are brought up and reported publicly to the administration and filter through to the budget as a board member. I don't have any control over that particular part of it. The equity policy is there for the protection of all students. And it gives students opportunity. It's, it's a great. It's a great way to ensure their success. Everyone's success. Thank you. Thank you out we're going to be hearing from John Coleman next. Yes, as stated before, I don't believe anybody regardless of their gender, non binary transgender, whatever they identify as should be mistreated in the school system whatsoever. Now, as far as having a safe space for them, if you, if anyone is mistreated and those situations arise and they are dealt with accordingly, then that should contribute to that safe space. As stated before, nobody regardless of anything should be mistreated. There should be conversations had because even amongst that community. People's lived experiences are different. What I've actually done is I've actually talked to people who are transgender and who identifies both transgender and non binary to kind of learn more from their personal experiences and none are the same. None are the same. So, involving them in the community as well and then some of these policies that we implement but also understanding from a lot of different levels there are psychological elements into this. And a lot of other things so involving doctors and other folks as well teachers parents and things like that. Thank you we're going to be hearing from Earl Barber next. Right. So as far as, you know, the transgender goes I would kind of put it in together with, you know, any, you know, all the students as in protected classes, I think, you know, because of race, or if you're deaf, or if you're of a different religion, you know, all students should be treated equal I think it would be disingenuous to say that anybody running for the board believed otherwise. And I think the anti bullying policies that we have and the anti harassment policies that we're going to have should take care of this. I mean if there is a student, any student that's being bullied or harassed and should be reported and and taking care of I think there are policies already in place that can, you know, help with this situation. That's it. Thanks Earl we're going to be hearing from Roger during next. We have really good information from from all the candidates. Would you mind just repeating the question so I could reset. Of course, the question. The question is, What steps does our district need to take to ensure the protection and future success of our transgender and non binary student population. And furthermore, which resources have you used to educate yourself about this part of our student population. As resources go, I am, I am still learning in this journey. This is a new topic for me, and I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on any of it. As far as my resources to how to help any student who is suffering with with a challenge is to ensure that they have the resources to succeed. So, if someone is struggling, no matter what their race color or treat is in a topic. How do we get those resources to lift that student up so that they can continue to graduate and produce. Thank you. The last person we're going to be hearing from and this question is Marlon there saw me. I think the equity policy first and foremost we need to continue to support that and strengthen that because it empowers all the children are community learning it's, it's causing learning I agree to I'm still learning through friends through my daughter's friends. It's a constant evolution and learning about the needs of people who are their friends and their family the proper community. I learned, and this is straight from the training that everybody that goes through for each of us days as far as staff goes. You look at the numbers there, half of students, you know, in this community, they skip school because they're bullied, at least once they admitted that that happens to them that's a part of their reality. The dropout rate is three times out of their head or peers. This is again part of their reality. And the other part is a hard one is, is there four times more likely, you know, to think about it or you know our thoughts of suicide. That again is part of the reality. Those are the things that we all need to learn really understand to realize this not just a simple hey bullying is bad know there's more issues that are deeper than that we have to talk about and learn from people in our community. And only through that, that's step one all these are through that and we actually help and really raise up everybody in our community. Thank you, Marlin. So we don't have time for another question but we're going to do a quick lightning round. For the final question, which is, do you support universal meals in schools and just answer it with a quick yes or no. The first person is Laura Taylor. Oh, absolutely 100%. Next person is Al. Bombardier. Absolutely. It's a great idea. One woman. Yes. Earl Barber. Absolutely. Great idea. Roger Drury. Universal. No, universal access. Yes. Marlin Verasame. Yes. Robert Carpenter. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much for your answers to these questions. Back to me. Everybody. Let's give Fatima a round of applause everybody when I come on up mute. Thank you so well. Thank you Fatima for moderating in a little bit of chaos we had going on in the background. And I want to give a big huge thanks to our audience members as well for participating and sending us so many questions that we could really fit them in, but we tried to condense them and make them so that everybody had a question kind of answered within the ones that were already asked. Thank you to our candidates. Thank you for stepping up, having the political courage to run for office in the first place and to come to this forum to speak about what you believe in. And just as the education justice organizer at rights and democracy, we believe that all of our Vermont youth deserve culturally responsive and fact based curricula, equitable access to educational students in a safe and supportive school environment, but we have a long way to go. If you're interested in hearing and joining in inviting for this vision, please sign our petition I'm going to throw our link right here in the chat. Yes, again thank you to all of the participants the candidates, especially Fatima here to as well for keeping us all on task and in order. I want to say this is one of the most attended forums that we have had. And that speaks a lot to the community of Essex and how they care about our schools. So thanks again, and have a great night everybody. .