 Good evening, and thank you all for coming. My name is Dulcy Johnson. I'm with the Sheboygan branch of the American Association of University Women, which is the sponsoring organization of tonight's forum. AUW's mission is to provide equity for girls and women through education, research, and advocacy. In that regard, we advocated very strongly for Title IX, which is familiar to all of you, and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act more recently, which is also probably less familiar to you. We do not support candidates. We do take positions on issues, especially relating to education and women's rights. We also give a local scholarship every year to a non-traditional woman student. In 2015, our scholarship was awarded to a veteran of the Iraq War, and we were very pleased to help Angie realize her goal. She graduated from UW—she didn't graduate yet? Okay, next year. She's a student at UW Green Bay. Another thing that we're working on is a STEM workshop for girls in sixth to ninth grades. That will be November 4th. We're collaborating with UW-Sheboygan on that, and you'll be hearing more about that. And we're working with Meade Library to present six great decisions programs this fall, so you'll be hearing more about that as well. So the candidates are seated in alphabetical order, and the questions will be rotated back and forth between them. Our moderator is Mary Jo McRarity, also a member of the Sheboygan branch of AUW, and before I turn it over to her, I'd just like to ask the candidates to stand and introduce your name and how many years you've been on the school board. Peter Mett, and I've been on the school board since July. I'm Jenny Podest, and I've been on the school board for nine years. Good evening. I'm Larry Sameth. I've been on the school board for 20 years and 11 months. Good evening. My name is Kyle Welton. I am not on the school board. I'm a new candidate. These are going to be very straightforward questions tonight. There are going to be five of them as a matter of fact, and each of the responders has a maximum of three minutes each to make those responses. They're seated in alphabetical order, and each of the questions will be directed to a different first starter, so each of you will have the chance to be the first responder. The first question is, what are your primary qualifications to be a school board member? Can you hear me? Thank you. First, just quick, thanks, AAUW, for doing this, and thanks, all of you, for coming out and giving us a chance to hear us before the election in two weeks. Primary qualifications. I've been doing this for 15 years. When I left work today, my colleagues knew that I was coming to this forum tonight, and one of my friends said, why do you keep doing that? And the answer is pretty simple, really. When you get a chance to serve your community in a pretty powerful way, you take advantage of it, and being part of the Sheboyganary School District is a point of pride for me. I think our community has a lot of pride in our schools. Great schools are the foundation of any great community. My qualifications are that we've seen a lot of change in the last 15 years. A lot of it positive, some of it not so great. We've dealt with mandates and tremendous change from Madison. We've navigated through it. We work closely with our employee groups. We put our students first. So I think we have, at least in my 15 years on the board, we've got a strong commitment to having strong public schools in our community. That's a commitment that I've got. Like I said, I think any strong community has strong education as it's based. We're blessed to have a school district that offers a lot of variety and a lot of choice, and that's something that our parents and that our students want, and they can find it in our district. We're also blessed to have a lot of great parochial choices, and we have a strong homeschool network, and I think those are important as well. But when you talk about qualifications, I think it's the work that I've done. I think it's the position that the district is in. We passed a referendum this past November with more than 70% of the voters on the first try, saying yes, that they were interested in investing their hard-earned dollars into what we're trying to do to help build up our school district. Those are things that tell me that we're doing a good job, and I'd like to continue to do that job. Again, I'm Peter Madden. The qualifications that I bring to the position started with my involvement with the schools, as many citizens, when their children entered the district, and I was immediately very impressed with the quality of the education and the outcomes they were getting with our two daughters. And early on I asked, how can I be involved with the schools? So it started most specifically in the middle school at Horace Mann, where I was on the site-based committee, and I had the privilege of going to middle school way longer than my children did because they were four years apart, so I stayed in through the first three years of the first one and then stayed in for the tie-over-year until the next one came in. So I was at the middle school for that period of time. Then I was on the booster club, the committee at South High, and also have been involved with other committees that the district has asked members to be involved with, hiring committees, citing committees with Jefferson School. And then I got involved with something that was new at the time, the charter school advisory committee and worked with that group for quite a while, and that's where I got to meet Kyle Welton because he was on the board at the same time. So he says not experience, but he's been at this for a while. In all of those things, I got to see different aspects of the district at work, the dedication, not only of the teaching staff and support staff, but also the administration and also the guidance provided by the board. And I thought this would be something I would be interested in contributing to. As David said, it's a privilege to give something back to the community and my experience and my focus had been on education, so I thought this would be the perfect place. So when I was elected by the board to fill in a part of the term that was vacated when Barbara Tuzinski stepped down, I was pleased to be selected at that point. And even with the experience I've had before that, it's an eye-opener to be on the board and hear the things on the day-to-day and week-to-week basis. So I look forward to continuing to do that. And I'd also like to say that the quality of the current board and the boards before that is an excellent place to learn the business of education, and I think the proof is in the quality of the Sheboygan area schools. Thank you. Hello. Once again, my name is Jenny Potts, and as I said, I've been on the board for nine years. Prior to that, my husband and I moved here about 16 years ago, and I was, for the first time in my life, becoming a stay-at-home mom. I had been a teacher. And so having that experience, not having taught here in Sheboygan and coming here, having kids, a lot of them it felt like. It's given me an amazing perspective to then, when the kids were a little bit older and I felt comfortable being able to get dabbled back into the world of education, but not from a full-time teaching position. And so the board being part of the Sheboygan area school district board of education allowed me to do that. So I think the perspective of having been a teacher and educator and then from the perspective of being a parent and a community member, a taxpayer has given me kind of a vast approach to the world of education here in Sheboygan. I think I'm going to echo what David said. The nine years that I've had the pleasure of serving on the board, there has been a lot that our community has gone through from a district perspective. And certainly from a budget Terry standpoint, we have had to take a look at absolutely every area of our district and the things that we're working and the things that we had to make some really tough decisions about. Obviously we have had and put before the community and had passed a referendum, so now managing those monies, Act 10, closing a school, vast teacher retirements, they've been huge and I think that has allowed me and very quickly an education into what it takes to have that big picture approach for a school district and combining all of my different perspectives and how to best serve and support our community. And I'm still passionate about it and realize from a very personal view what a quality education does obviously at home and I see it in my kids and their amazing experiences but also from a community and that we are all better off and I think it absolutely begins and ends with education and wanting what's best for our students and so I'm still passionate about that and I think I have much to still offer towards that end. Thank you. Thank you again for the opportunity to be here. I'm not necessarily comfortable with talking about myself but the question is asking me what my qualifications are. I think it all started when I was a young child growing up in Chicago. I came up here to go to Lakeland College now university in 1967. I still can't say I'm from Sheboygan but our children can and going back to Chicago my parents were actively involved in the PTA and my father created what was a father's council which was part of the PTA. It just got dads involved in schools and that brought, was my start here in Sheboygan getting connected at Grant Elementary School with our oldest daughter. I retired now as a social worker but in that role it connected me to the schools, had me involved on a daily basis and when an opportunity came up to apply for the school board I wasn't chosen. Ellen Voida was chosen instead of myself by that current board but I had a desire and an interest and came back to run again and was elected. Early in those years the board was not the board that I was most comfortable with and it's focused, it was not in my opinion on what was in the best interest of students necessarily, it was more on micromanaging. I think it was a lot to do with a lot of the inexperience of the board members themselves. I think they had a passion and concern about students. I just don't think they had the experience of being board members. However the board's changed over the years and got marvelous and it's fantastic and it's joyful to come to meetings because each one of the board members has such unique strengths and qualities, it's amazing. What's even more amazing about it through the process of discussion and deliberation is that we reach consensus. It's rare that you don't see a 9-0 vote on something and there's been plenty of things to discuss. So it really is a great experience but just briefly to speak about myself, I mentioned that I retired as the wraparound coordinator for Sheboygan County Health and Human Services Department. I found at Safe Harbor along with a few other people. I'm on Hearthstone Board, I'm on the Camp Evergreen Board, I'm on the Police and Fire Commission in Sheboygan and I'm on the County Health and Human Services Board and I mention all those things because when I have retired I have time for them but more importantly this is all about collaboration and as we move forward government entities and agencies have to work together if we don't we can't get the job done. We can't do what's best for Sheboygan if we're not on the same page and having these opportunities to be part of all these groups allows me to bring to the board those views, those opinions and express them and helps us I feel factor in our decision making so thank you very much for this opportunity. Thank you. My name is Kyle Wilton and the question of why am I qualified or one of my primary qualifications to be a school board member I think it starts with my education in the Sheboygan Area School District. I was born and raised right here in Sheboygan, Wisconsin the son of a pastor and a teacher and it was the education that I had in the Sheboygan Area School District that has given me the foundation and every single opportunity that I've had to grow learn and succeed in the year since. As a student in the district I was deeply involved in efforts to improve our schools. I attended Pigeon River Elementary, Urban Middle School and then I attended North High School and Etude Half Day for four years. At North High I was on the site based management team for two and a half years and I was also on the Etude Governing Board for two and a half years working on different initiatives around culture and how can we get students more actively engaged in their education. I also served as the student rep to the board when I was in high school. I was at Marquette University and at Marquette I served as speaker of the student senate president of the student body as well as graduating valedictorian of my class. At that time there I also was the first student ever to serve on a provost search. It's the academic vice president, the number two of the university working to bring in outside leaders to drive our mission forward. And so after I graduated from Marquette I went on to Madison and worked at a company called Epic for about a year but I came back to Sheboygan because I love this community. It's the place that gave me the opportunity to grow. It's where my family's from. It's where I learned and I was raised that when someone gives you an opportunity you return the investment. And so coming back to Sheboygan I now work at Acuity Insurance as a business systems analyst but I'm also on the boards of Habitat for Humanity Lakeside as well as the Wisconsin Recovery Community Organization which seeks to help people recovering from heroin addiction. I've got a wide variety of experiences and I know what it's like to recently make that transition in an ever changing world in an ever changing economy. And as we think about the education that we want to provide our students one that can prepare them for a world that is increasingly uncertain. I've got the insight and perspective of living through it right now and knowing what it's like to be competitive in that job market and to know the realities of a changing world. I love the Sheboygan Area School District and as the son of an educator education has been the cause of my life and I want to give back and this is the best way that I know how. Thank you. This is question number two and Peter will be the first responder and then proceed in alphabetical order. What are the most important challenges facing the Sheboygan Area School District in its responsibility for the education of youth in the district? Describe your priorities and initiatives for meeting those challenges. I think the primary challenge is the complexity and variability that the teachers deal with in the classroom. The different realities that the students are bringing to the school each day and making sure that the teaching staff, the teachers and the support staff have the tools they need to differentiate and serve all of those needs. Students bring a lot to the school and some of it is in line with the educational mission and some of them some activities are things that they're dealing with might be barriers to education and I think it's critical that that is recognized and managed. The way I think that's done is by continuing to support the professional development of the teaching staff and retaining the teaching staff. I think that's a challenge that many districts are facing and I think it's critical that the district understand how to support, train, make the teaching staff feel valued so we can continue to deal with the challenges that the schools have. One of the things that you're hearing on a federal level and certainly in Sheboygan is how to deal with issues such as mental health. How to address homelessness which is an issue in the district. How to deal with the things, all of the things, the package, the bundle of things that the students are bringing into the classroom and the teachers still have to deal with the reality of getting through the curriculum and getting things done. I think that's the challenge that we have. We've dealt with that. One of the things that the board has done and I think is very helpful is to set the goals that are needed for the administration, for the district and then have them measurable and make sure that we're moving towards those goals. I think the other thing that the district has been very effective at is building partnerships with the different agencies, different parts of the community handled strictly by the school. It has to be handled by the community. The community has to come together with the district, with other agencies, with government and that's the challenge we have that we can weave together the kind of support and consortium that supports the students with all they bring in so we can graduate them with the kind of skills they need to go forward. Thank you. I think the biggest challenge facing our district is probably a timeless one but I think the environment in which we have to do it is probably the most challenging that it's been and I think that priority is to prepare our students for life readiness and I think that has many different ways in which that looks. I think, you know, like Peter alluded to when those little bodies come into the school at the beginning of their educational career at the beginning of the year they come to us from all different walks of life and family situations and that's amazing and diverse and exactly as we want it to be and with different strengths and different areas of opportunity and I think in moving them forward through our district and through their educational path them being able to realize their personal best and goals social interactions are appropriate and how to be a successful part of a community whether it be a learning community or some day a world and local commerce community and seeing them through then to whatever goals there's going to be that's our challenge and it encompasses every aspect of our district whether it be providing our staff our crucial staff with the resources and the support needed to support those bodies on the front lines creating and supporting and maintaining the buildings and the infrastructure needed to make sure that they're learning in a safe environment and that we have the best of what we need to make each one of those learning days valuable and productive and I think balancing all of that with the fiscal sometimes constraints or foundation that is passed down to us from our state government and so it is a big and always their challenge but I think that what our staff does each and every day what our district does is incredible and amazing and we don't always get to concentrate on that at the board level we see the things that need to be improved the things that are on fire and so keeping our eye on the fact that we have a responsibility to do what we need to do and like I said support all those different entities to get our kids to that graduation day and sending them on to wherever they're going to end up whether it be the workforce two year college university and being successful at that not just getting them out the door but getting them to where they need to be and having them find success in that that is our challenge and I look forward to still being a part of it we have many challenges but I think I'll try and put them into three that jump really out at me and I think all of us on the board mental health issues in this community are troubling us they come at us from all different directions they come at us from traumatic experiences the child's having the home they come at us through opiate issues other panel members have mentioned homelessness they all impact the student when they start their day out with us and our teachers are there on the front lines having to do this and trying to maintain the outstanding teaching that they have given our students over all these years that I know I've been on the board and continue to do so the challenges I see in addition to mental health and our board is working on that and we're moving in a very positive direction with training services looking how we can do this in this ever these times of decreasing financial resources to be able to address a problem and we know we can't necessarily do it with just the existing staff we have so where are we going to find the dollars to even add additional staff that's problematic since act 10 we've had to do this balancing act it's just amazing and so every two years when the buy-in and budget is passed by the state we don't know if our aid is going up or we don't know if our aid is going down or if we don't know if our aid is going to be flat and we have to try and do budgets like this to maintain the staff act 10 caused us to reduce 100 teachers it's just and to think that this doesn't have an impact on what we're trying to do is this craziness but I mentioned three things the first thing we have to do is find a way to make sure our teachers are appropriately compensated and we will find a way to make that happen the second other panel members is that our resources I've talked about mental health and the other greatest challenge we face is the Shboygan area school district has been on the cutting edge I can't tell you about how many initiatives that we can talk about you pick up the paper and see somebody some school district somewhere in the state is putting forth this initiative and getting pressed and we sit back and go oh yeah we did that three years ago so the challenge is to maintain the cutting edge with less resources supporting our staff making sure that they have everything they need to get the job done I know this sounds like a lot of promises we did it with red radar manufacturing we did this through partnerships with others and we will do this with learning how to incorporate medical assistance billing to bring revenue into our district so we can hire more staff and provide mental health services and we will get the job but our teachers have been the key to as long as I've been on the board to making sure that our students are getting the resources that they need and we will make sure they have natural literacy, liberal arts backgrounds, they need civic responsibility to be best prepared as possible to have a successful life in the future post high school, thank you I think the greatest challenge facing the district I think is shared across public education especially in Wisconsin and it ties into the two other challenges that we are dealing with deeply but it's limited resources for the most important investment we have and that's public education we have to make sure that we are preparing the next generation of students to fill and serve the communities of tomorrow we've seen from the state legislatures as other panel members have mentioned over $600 million in K through 12 education has been reduced in the last six years that's a dramatic reduction we've seen 100 staff lines reduced in the Schabillion area school district to make sure we are there but that has impact we've got a class of high school English students at 35 I can't imagine trying to teach 35 English students William Shakespeare right that's a tough challenge for our educators to meet they're doing it but it's stressing them and that leads into the next biggest challenge that we're seeing across the state which is teacher burnout right we have fewer people going into education as a profession than we have in history and it is coming up going to be a massive shortage for us as a state and the more that we don't across the state you reduce funds you can't compensate your teachers as well I saw this personally with my mother in the reductions that she took after act 10 and how hard it's been for her to maintain a quality of life without cost of living adjustments it's personal it's real and so all of this feeds into another looming threat which is trying to split funding in public education into a private sector we can't afford to education systems in this country and subsidizing parochial schools with dollars meant to educate every child is only going to exacerbate the issue and so a lot of this is out of the hands of the school district right but what we can do is ensure that we are building those community partnerships as we have and make sure that we're supporting our educators maintaining those commitments and being advocates throughout levels of government to ensure that they know that these decisions are detrimental to the future of our students and I saw it happen to my teachers act 10 came down when I was a high school student and the opportunities that I had when I graduated aren't there for a lot of students they're still wonderful opportunities in the district I want to stress that but they have been affected thank you one challenge that I'll mention that no one has yet is we have to find a new superintendent Dr. Soto Burr said he wasn't interested in coming out of retirement so we're still looking that you know that that search didn't work out with a candidate that we were comfortable with and we're going to continue looking and we're going to find somebody but that's a challenge that we face I think partnerships is key too Kyle alluded to the teacher shortage I think that's a huge challenge on the horizon for us we see it across the state in teacher colleges that people are not going into this profession I think the profession for whatever reason has always had a bit of a black eye and it's got a worse one since act 10 unfortunately act 10 brought about some changes that I think we've been able to use to our advantage to make our school district better we've also created some issues that have affected our employees personally we've got to figure out a way to work with our state work with our taxpayers work with our employees to overcome that and part of it too is a couple of my peers have alluded to it it's the challenges that our students bring into the schools every day these kids live through some pretty crazy situations where we're serving two 300 students who are defined by the federal government as homeless and you say that to people and they're like what are you talking about we don't have homeless people well no you don't see them you know you don't see them sleeping on over top of heaters but it's a real problem when kids aren't sure where they're going to be able to go to sleep at night and that's just the tip of the iceberg mental health is another one too imagine having to deal with all of that stuff as a classroom teacher with 30 35 kids in the room and the learning perspective is all over the place and you've got it you've got to teach all of them I think we throw a lot at our teachers and sometimes I don't know if we do a good enough job of looking at all the programming we have on their plate and doing a good job of deciding what are priorities and what are not and those things that are not priorities stopping doing them so we don't have them running around like crazy all the time we used to do some program prioritization in the district and I think going back to that would be a good idea but we've got to make sure we're getting input from the employees to hear what's working and what's not so that we decide where to invest those dollars which are limited that's been referred to as well thank you before we go to question number three I just wanted to tell you that we do plan to have at least some limited time at the end of the formal questioning for questions from you from the audience so if there's something that you're thinking about that doesn't get addressed Dulce has some three by five cards here and we'll pass those around so there'll be an opportunity for some questions afterwards question number three and Jennifer will be the first responder what do you see as the positive and negative aspects of charter schools in the district thank you for that question because that was something that rethinking my answer from the last question I think needed to be mentioned positives in general I think a real point of pride within our district is that we are a district of choice and we have provided really varied opportunities for kids to be educated within and when I talk about kids coming in with lots of different strengths and areas of opportunity and family situations I think charter schools speak to that giving kids and their families choices and how they are going to be educated I think so I think that's a positive and I think that our district has done that well I think we have at a fairly measured pace examine them and provided a real diverse offering of charter schools that have been brought about many times by parental movements who have said this is what we want for our kids and we are passionate about it and we want to support that and where is it within the district that we can fit that in and even boards previous to my being a part of them had I think some real foresight in making that happen and managing it well I think in terms of what that I don't necessarily think this is a negative but it certainly makes it a challenge then in the management of a district because you do have from some people's perspective a us against them mentality and I think that has been one of the biggest challenges in breaking down of different doesn't mean better then or less then it means different and I think as I had said before that we're all better off if we're all better off I'm better off if your child is receiving the education that's perfect for them and it works for them and so I'm very excited about the fact that we with as a board we have put a moratorium for the last two years on charter schools because I think from our perspective there were lots of big things in the district and like I had said we had some really great relationships with our charters and the schools that were working and we're really adding such great diversity to our district but to do that it takes a lot of work so we put a moratorium on it within the next year one of our board goals is to kind of take a look at where we are with charters but as David pointed out we're finding a leader and I think with doing that that will give us another opportunity to really take a look at where our charter schools are and how we can best continue to serve them and the part that they play in our district and where that leader comes into play with that and so I think it's an ever going discussion. Thank you. The charter movement came to Sheboygan as it did to many other communities with the idea of offering other alternatives to education the strong opponents of charter schools of course said our model is the best way to do it and if you give us let us do it we're going to get the best outcomes I don't think that's factual and I don't think the data necessarily proves that there are so many different factors that go into a student success starting with parent involvement but that said charters really in our district we thought could be incubators could be opportunities to try things that we couldn't do in our traditional educational buildings and initially charters got off to a pretty poor start because the model that the proponents of that charter school chose was a model that I don't think was really current in educational practices and then you factor in personalities and then you factor in misunderstandings and you factor in fear and threats and all that and it became quite a controversial thing but we got beyond that as a district and recognized the importance of it I think that we got to a point when St. Dominic wanted to join us and solicit us and I think we were at a point at a board where we were comfortable with it and there were enough board members who felt strongly to say let's just give this a chance and see where it goes and I think that's worked out beautifully Leadership Academy is helping bring back that neighborhood right now and students are moving back into the neighborhood in order for their children to attend that school I think some of the negatives are that I don't like the fact that charter schools are under the same building as a regular school we had an incident at the grant that didn't work well I'm not saying that staffs were plotting against it I don't believe that for a moment I just think that charters are unique in themselves that they have certain freedoms and allow them to allocate resources and I think the fact that when you see that and you're in the same building together that breeds resentment and I don't think that's currently we have that going out of Pigeon River I'm hoping it's working out well I haven't heard that it hasn't but I think that's the biggest negative of charters in our district is to try and have them in the same building but overall I think it's been a success I'm glad there's a moratorium and I'm glad we're a district of choice that gives parents opportunities as a board for giving their kids opportunities where they may not have been successful in a traditional school setting thank you very much I have a unique perspective on this I graduated from a charter high school I attended A2 all four years half day and was at north half day so I tell people I got the best of both worlds and I really do believe that now I was a student when I was at north that would have been fine full day at north but I really liked some of the educational opportunities learning it fit with me and I was kind of an arch geek and I still am and so it made sense my sister Lindsay on the other hand really struggled her first year at north my mom was looking at the opportunities and saw A2 and said that might really work well for Lindsay and Lindsay's grades improved at north and at A2 the next year it was something that gave her a revitalized passion for learning so I think what previous panel members have said what the charter program does is it allows parents to have autonomy in the model that their child is learning in and that's exciting and that's good and what we know is that each child is different and that you get these opportunities to look and explore models that work for your child I think it also allows for some innovation and excitement and staff can benefit from each other and it also allows us to learn more about the way students learn I think in terms of negatives I think one thing that Jenny had brought up and I experienced as a student is that us first them mentality there was certainly contention I was a student at A2 I was also student body president at north high some people thought that was really strange and for me it was about I love the school and I love the opportunities that I've been given and so that us first them mentality that competition can get really nasty at times between students I think that it's gotten to the districts inside graduated but there were some arguments in the hallway between students going on about it I think the other is that sometimes it can charters by themselves are limited in their student size and so they will inherently have smaller classrooms and so that smaller class size is great but it can also lead some frustration for other schools where they're seeing larger student class sizes that are going on there so again as a benefit of the charter education that choice that opportunity with the same accountability that comes with any public school and that oversight that's key that's critical right it's public education but there's always a positive and a negative that comes along with it positives in my mind choice these days is something that parents expect choice public school choice has been on the books in Wisconsin for more than 20 years now and choice used to be defined as the ability to live on the north side but choice in the south the amount of intra district choice that we have students that are attending a school outside of the boundary where they live is massive I mean we've got we've got students choosing to schools all throughout the district and it's sometimes based on a lot of times it's based on convenience of dropping my kid off but choice is something that parents expect is going to be there so as a district in my mind we're obligated to meet that choice to the degree that we can do it through charters all of our charters and I think this is one of the biggest positives of our charters all of our charters were grassroots efforts they weren't top down dictated ministrations saying okay we need five charter schools and these are the ones we want no these were groups educators and parents who came forward and said we've got an idea for a different approach not all the charters that have come forward to the board have been approved a lot of them have we put together a pretty rigorous plan guidelines that you have to meet in order to get a charter school we've alluded to the moratorium we haven't gone through the process in quite a while but there's a pretty rigorous set of guidelines you have to meet these parents and these teachers took it upon themselves to put together a plan for the respective schools that we've got some other people have mentioned it we know that kids learn differently and to the degree that we can offer programming and we had people who were motivated to start programming that matches the needs of how some of those students learn in my mind that just makes our district better biggest negative in my mind is perception we've had charters for how many years now and we still have a lot of negative perceptions I think that are attached to our charters they are public schools they don't charge tuition they have their own boards they're under a contract we need to just continue to do a better job as a district and I don't say the charters need to do a better job we need to do a better job as a district charters are us we're all one big happy family we've got to do a better job of educating our community about what the charters are and why they're an important part of our district and they make our district whole and successful I'm an unabashed supporter of charter schools so I'll start from that point but I want to take off from where David left off and that is the public education to let people know what a charter is discussion of charters is in the news it's all over the state all over the country and people have to understand what that means in Sheboygan at a charter school of the Sheboygan area school district is a public school it is overseen by the board it has its own board so there is accountability there is rigor I think if there's any place we got off in their wrong foot it was in not making that clear it was within and without of the district and I think that has been a long time in coming but now it's been naturalized a little bit primarily because we have a lot of students who've gone through the elementary, middle school and high school charter schools and they seem to be doing pretty good so and I think that's the proof in the pudding so I think it's important for people to understand what they are to not feel threatened by them I mean there's some very practical upsides to this district having charter schools and having the flexibility where people can move around where students and families can choice into different schools that helps us with facility management that's not a small thing you can put people where they want to go and that helps us to balance out the resources schools are expensive running them is a challenge and I think creativity and intelligence is a really good way to attack that the best thing about the charter schools has already been mentioned up here it gives a variety of opportunities to students and their families for how they might want to learn it also is a thing that helps us understand at a kind of incubator level how to go forward and do things I think some of the mistakes that were perceived at the beginning of the roll out of charters were the most beneficial things that happened because they said why did that happen we didn't expect that they're much more nimble than trying to move a big ship of a neighborhood school when you're saying that didn't come across that all the way we thought it would let's deal with it the fact that we improved to the point we are now and the acceptance we have now I think is proof that how charters can work and I think they have done that the more the merrier and I think one other thing the size of our district really helps us because we have the resources we have the variety of people and instructional capabilities that lets us really take advantage of that and I'll start thank you thank you question number four what are your views on Wisconsin's voucher programs and their future how do you understand the effect of vouchers on state support for public education sorry Larry you go to go first okay I will tell you I don't have to say a whole lot about vouchers because I'm totally opposed to vouchers um Kyle mentioned it earlier you can't have two educational systems in the state of Wisconsin to expect and if you're going to be crazy enough to suggest that you better put money behind you but to take our aid has gone nowhere but south and our aid has been reduced from about 46% down to 42% and out of that 42% of the aid we get they take the money for vouchers out of that 42% out of that 46% it just doesn't make any sense um I don't think that children necessarily get a better education in those kind of environments I don't think that it's comparing apples to apples when they look at testing I don't think they have to provide the same type of services from transportation to special education to other opportunities for students that public schools have to do the state is talking about increasing aid for the schools this year thank goodness however they're also talking about increasing aid for voucher schools so that means that that's going to come out of our pot so if they say we're going to get something we're probably not going to really get that I think we've grown accustomed to things like that and they're fairly insulated but I could never support vouchers in Sheboygan I don't understand the concept of making choices and we talked earlier about parents making choices for charters when parents make choices to send their kids to parochial schools they're doing that for a particular reason um and I think they make a decision and I think they need to find resources in order to make that happen and not at the expense of public education system I think that there are political motivations behind vouchers I think they want to make choices especially in places like Milwaukee to destroy the public education system in Milwaukee and I think if they had their way they would probably do that nationwide and I think within the strengths of our legislative ability we need to do everything possible to prevent that from happening here we already impacted financially some of our students do choose to attend voucher schools and our aid is reduced accordingly by that it's just not a good idea there are so many ways to channel energy into improving education and this isn't one of them the greatest threat to current public education funding and future funding for public schools is voucher programs we just saw in congress a couple weeks ago they introduced HR 610 which would turn Title I funding into a block grant for voucher schools in the states would drastically affect schools all across Wisconsin we've seen the want to increase voucher programs in the state of Wisconsin as well from Governor Walker and members of the state legislature we cannot afford to education systems in the state of Wisconsin we can't afford it in the United States parents pay in to the public system and they are provided education for their children already it is not the role of the government to subsidize their choice to choose a private entity I use the example of I chose to go to Marquette University when I graduated I had an option I could have gone to UW Madison or Milwaukee and it would have been a cheaper education I chose Marquette because it was the right choice for me I didn't proceed to go to the state legislature and lobby them to give my parents their tax dollars back I would have pretty much the same comparable tuition at a private university I accepted that responsibility on my own and that's the same responsibility that parents accept when they choose to send their child to a parochial school introducing it into Shabuigan again we already talked about how we've had to reduce 100 staff lines talk about splitting off 20% it just is going to increase class sizes and it's going to harm our students and it's going to put bigger burden on our educators I'm 100% opposed to it and it is not in the spirit of public education and the system that was originally envisioned by Horace Mann we good? you'll get no argument from me there's a little over $440,000 that's levied in our community local tax dollars that gets sent to Madison as part of the voucher program that's real money that comes from our community that goes to Madison that is distributed through the voucher program to me it's simple if you're going to accept public tax money you should have to serve all children that's the expectation that's on us right? we can't turn anyone away we can't decide which students that we want to educate now does that mean all parochials in private schools are selectively denying kids not necessarily frankly a lot of private and parochial schools don't have the budgets to be able to serve the students that we do some of the special needs students that we serve who need one to one attention because of whatever variety of challenges that they've got it's tough educating kids today and if you're going to take public money in my mind you have to serve all children it's really simple that's the only way to have a level playing field otherwise the independent schools the parochial schools the voucher schools if you will are always going to be on a higher level playing field always I'm concerned about being able to be playing and expanding the voucher program moving forward obviously our new secretary of education is a big fan of vouchers and I think we have to watch carefully there's an emphasis in Washington right now with de-emphasizing government right? in eliminating departments and that's all well and good but if you take those federal dollars that are currently funding important programs and just turn them into voucher programs and do that across a national level I think it's a real threat to public education as we know it MPS has a lot of problems and I have no doubt that there are some really gifted teachers there who are trying to work hard to work with those kids but the sins of MPS are not the sins of all the public schools in Wisconsin and I think we get sucked up into that sometimes that it's easy to point to MPS and say look at the terrible job those public schools are doing it's not reality look at Sheboygan look at a lot of the other districts that are doing an amazing job and doing things like Charter's Right those are the stories that we need to tell those are the things that we need to make sure that our lawmakers know and you guys can help us I too am against vouchers and I think the discussions up here have been very eloquent in what the problems are I don't think we're going to wish them away I think they are going to be have some sort of an impact on us I think there's going to be they're going to get bigger before they get smaller and where I think that leaves this district this board is how do we deal with that primarily I think our focus has to be to make sure that we can attract the students and their families to our programs I think we have a very good start in doing that but if their vouchers are here to say in some way or in some form or at some level I think the efforts has to be on the part of the communities to support the public schools and indicate to the entities that are pushing that we really should focus on paying the public monies to the people who are educating all the students but we also have to make sure that we don't take for granted that they're all going to come to us they may not and I think we still have to put forward a very high quality education the question earlier is what do you think the biggest challenge facing us is and of course I always come up with really good answers but I think one of the challenges that a district and a school board always faces is getting your message out and explaining things to people not telling them what they should think but make sure they understand what the facts are this is how a charter works in this district this is how vouchers work this is what you lose this is what you gain and I think our job is to say people will get this if we explain things appropriately and if we don't like I said a charter experience then we have to fix our message so I think we're going to have skirmishes about vouchers maybe worse in the coming years we need to be prepared to deal with that and that reality and I think the best defense for that is to continue to have excellent schools thank you so the beauty of being the fifth speaker is basically what I like to say is ditto I think it's been incredibly well explained and addressed and I think from being part of a school board and having that big picture view from a district perspective we have had the opportunity to see from the beginning of vouchers and how it has played a part here in Cheboygan and their impact and so as Peter said not necessarily our job to to advocate for you have to believe this but I think to educate of how it actually affects our district and I can certainly appreciate how from the Milwaukee public school perspective why vouchers came about and why they were important and providing parents and children opportunities to seek an educational setting that they weren't able to get from their common neighborhood schools where they were living that makes sense in terms of Cheboygan as we've said we are a district of choice and we've provided charter schools and I think really really amazing neighborhood schools the vouchers and the opportunity for families to use those monies to take their state per pupil allotments and put them to a private school just doesn't make sense and especially when we've seen since vouchers have been applicable here in Cheboygan the vast numbers of those taking advantage of those voucher monies are families students that are already attending private schools so it wasn't giving them a choice to leave a school that wasn't working for their family it was using public dollars to pay for private education and as our panelists have said I don't think those were public monies needed to be used and if a family does make that choice that is up to them to finance and support that it is becoming a problem that an issue that from a national level with the new secretary of education we are going to be having to face and a very real very impactful way very soon and I think that is the issue that advocating to our community and having them understand the ins and outs and the facts of it is incredibly important but also our job as a board is to advocate to our state and local representatives and understanding the decisions they make at the state level and the impact that they have locally are incredibly important and they need to have all of those facts so I think that's our biggest challenge too is making sure that we are advocating to those lawmakers and having them make the best decision for our district Thank you and we are on to question number five and Kyle will be the first responder what are your views on the Common Core curriculum? Yeah so Common Core is a touchy subject and I think Common Core came together with the best of intentions and had a rushed implementation that has drawn criticisms from both sides right so Common Core started with initiative from the Governor's Association shared by Janet Napolitano and was lauded on both sides saying that we want to make sure that when a child graduates from a public school whether it's in Tennessee or Massachusetts that grade point average means the same thing across state lines we brought together reformers and education advocates and said what does this look like, what does the curriculum look like, what do these standards all look like and then when Common Core was adopted and put into place it just so happened to coincide with the Great Recession it was put in place through the national program Race to the Top and so it was how do we quickly implement this by grabbing at federal dollars that are out there and so there was rushed implementation in a lot of states and it's drawn criticism from conservatives being kind of an avenue for pushing a liberal view of agenda and from liberals as an avenue for more paperwork for teachers and so what I can say is I support the idea of making sure that we have standards across the board for children so that that education means the same thing when you go across state lines it's important that we as a society value education and say these are the things we expect next generation to know before they go into the workforce I think the challenge has been is how do you manage that on a national scale and it comes down the level and you have teachers saying I'm spending more time filling out paperwork than I am producing lesson plans and so I'm a big proponent for local autonomy when it comes to curriculum but also meeting national standards so I'm not trying to be wishy washy on this what I'm saying is it's incredibly complex issue and again I support having a national standard and saying where our students need to be but I think that the implementation was rushed and that it was done to grab that a large chunk of money at a time when everybody was wondering where funding is going to come from and that's made it exceedingly difficult so both that and you hear similar things from education leaders on both sides in the state of Wisconsin so again I support that common standards for what our students should know and I think it's up to our educators in the community to come up and make sure that we have curriculum that meets those standards I would agree that there needs to be some kind of a baseline but I think local control at the end of the day has to prevail who best to decide what our local students need than those teachers and those administrators who are in the buildings working with those kids there are different ways to you know if I want to drive from here to Plymouth there's several different ways that I can get there some are more efficient than others some might be more scenic than others the bottom line is there's different ways to do it none of them maybe is wrong there's just different ways to do it local control has to prevail in my mind we've got to let teachers teach the other thing we need to I think do is make sure that we give teachers time to collaborate together when you get great educators in the room working together good things happen they have time to talk about individual kids have you worked with that kid? yeah I've worked with him here's kind of what I've found we need to make sure they have time to collaborate with one another because good things come out of that collaboration so every time and I alluded to this earlier every time we put another thing to do it's just one more thing that they have to do we need to do a better job of stripping away those things that we've put on them in the past that don't work anymore and understand what those are but as far as Common Core goes I agree with Kyle the intent makes a lot of sense that there be some sort of a baseline so that when a kid graduates from high school whether they're from California, Wisconsin there's a skill set that we would assume that a graduate of a high school in the United States has there's just different ways to get there and I think it's up to the local educators they know best how to get their kids to those positions and we can get that you know who's going to oversee it that's the other challenge I think one of the biggest challenges with Common Core is who's going to oversee it we have a lot of testing and all this stuff we need to always be looking at how much time we're testing our kids between state assessments, federal assessments whatever assessments sometimes we assess too much we have too much time on testing and it costs an awful lot of money and where does it really get us so I think local control has to prevail but I think obviously having standards is important as well I think there's two things that have come up again the comments here first of all goals are important they should be understood but they shouldn't be dictated what the pathway to those goals are I think that echoes how the charter schools and the differentiation that happens in every classroom works it's like we need to get to this point but there's different pedagogies different skills styles that we're going to use to get there and some can recognize what those things should be so it's not a free-for-all the other thing that I'm getting a sense from the district and from the the debate about this is to put them in perspective the idea that there is A number or A grade or some sort of a metric that says that defines this school versus that school and that's a struggle because if that's how you're going to play the game then people are going to teach to the test or they're going to get that number because that's going to be the issue and that may be good if that's what your game is but if it's educating students and recognizing their variability that's probably not the good way to go so I think this needs to recede a little bit from the foreground as the single yardstick of a school's success and be put in perspective with the other things of movement how well are we handling the other challenges that the students are bringing into the school so I think it maybe like everything else started out and we're still shaping it to fit but I think the local districts have to make those decisions and the local people will support it or indicate that they want to see some movement and I think that's the way the system should work yeah I think the explanation by Kyle was well done and I think just in education in general is a pendulum and we have extremes and we go back and forth so years ago before I became part of the district I remember going to information setting that actually may have put on a former board member about no child left behind and what those ramifications were and how that was going to specifically affect our district and so yes as Kyle alluded to the top money is kind of replacing no child left behind and so what did that mean and the idea behind Common Core I completely understand and there was a need for that I can appreciate that but as he said the timing certainly did not allow for the rollout to be as successful as it can be many things when you talk about an original idea or an initiative and the actual implementation of that it looks very very different you know from a state level it's our reality so our state accepted those dollars and so that is our reality and I can appreciate now from a teacher's perspective there being some real challenges with that and that there is no everyday looks the same there is no because this is what I'm teaching in fifth hour it's going to look exactly the same in seventh hour because here's the deal my kids in fifth hour are very very different in seventh hour and so when you're talking about conformity in education it just doesn't exist and so I think the pendulum on Common Core has been to swing back and I think I have always had a from the front lines trust in our local educators and their ability to do what's absolutely best for our students and all of the challenges that they have I think it has been incredibly taxing and with everything that our teachers have had to go through I don't necessarily know there are always real favors but I think there is real opportunity for success in that and I firmly believe that we will find that whether it be from the pendulum or just the amazing efforts every day of our teachers to make whatever initiative it is work for our students and for where we're going as a whole as a district and I think Common Core is part of that Thank you and and I think back to a number of events that I spoke with at a school board member where the mayor was present through the county board chairman or the legislators and by the time they got to me it was like what do you think of those badgers huh but anyway on the subject of Common Core I think a lot has been said here of which I certainly agree with but most importantly I don't think you can in a country our size I don't think you can approach educational standards in a cookie cutter fashion and just say we're going to do it the same I think in Finland and Norway and countries that have limited populations not limited but populations that are 350 million people I think it's much easier to establish nationwide standards and gear your whole approach to that than it is in the United States of America and I think what I really like what's happening here in our district we developed academic career planning and under our superintendent's leadership and suggestion the board accepted that whatever pathway a child chooses the ACT requirements for that particular profession is where we need to channel our energies to make sure they're ready when they leave us to be able to meet that guideline and I think that independence curriculum and local control is really the way to go I think it's important to have testing but we all know that testing is a snapshot of what's occurring on a particular day and then let's factor in what did that child eat breakfast that morning what was it like at that home when that child took that test what if they have a learning deficit that we don't understand so I think we really run into problems when we do that and then as other professionals are so excellently stated and then you want to get us into competition with each other and say okay we'll give you dollars based on how you perform on this it just isn't the way to go so I think the answer really I understand it was well intended I don't think it met its goal I think it's an example sometimes where all of us in this room go we need national government and we're glad it's there but sometimes some of those ideas maybe some bureaucrats sitting in that office came up with that but didn't figure out the nuts and bolts how it's going to actually happen and apply and actually work across this wonderful country of ours so thank you I don't need to go on any further but thank you we did get a couple of questions from the audience what are the most important qualifications in your search for a school superintendent David we'll go back to you I think well there's several that come to mind someone that can be the face of the school district someone that is a visionary these are unique times they're changing times we've talked about a lot of challenges tonight regarding funding regarding the unique needs of students and so it's someone that is able to be a visionary and is able to motivate people to be visionaries we've got a lot of really skilled gifted employees in our district and getting them to the old cliche I think outside the box but getting them to be visionaries as well about what can happen in their individual classrooms in their individual schools is important understanding public finance is important being a champion of public education is important we've talked about some of the challenges that public education faces they've got to be in the ear of our lawmakers and in that sense I go back to them being the face of the district that's important I think the other thing that's important is we have to understand that it's not going to be Joe Sheehan Joe Sheehan is going to cast a pretty long shadow he's been in the game for a long time and has a very positive legacy that he's leaving behind and we need to let the next superintendent not be Joe Sheehan and I think for some people that's going to take some getting well you know Joe wouldn't have done it like that well that's okay Joe did a great job but Joe wasn't perfect and he'd be the first person to tell you that so I think we need to be okay with the next superintendent not being Joe Sheehan I think it's important to recognize that decisions made by a school district by the administration, by the board have impacts for a long time you want to put up a new building you figure the life of a school building is 80 to 90 years that's a long time out and it's important to say these decisions we're making now will shape what the school and the community does so the visionary part has to happen the ability to lead and get people to work together is critical and a person who understands the community the resources that we have in the community not just the financial resources willing to show to the community the schools and the other institutions here is something that person needs to understand fairly quickly and embrace because there is no one institution one government agency one group of people, one business that's going to be able to move things forward has been mentioned by several people this evening that has to be a combination of a lot of different entities different individuals with a common goal and willing to go shoulder to shoulder to move things forward but somebody has to articulate that and I think the school superintendent is a very good spokesperson for a consistent view going forward for the things primarily in education but that spills out into everything else so that's the kind of strength we're looking for experience in making those calls experience in making those contacts and the personality to always be the happy warrior to keep things moving I think first and foremost we need someone who's going to be able to take this the 10th largest district in the state and be able to hit the ground running I think someone who has obviously a strong understanding of the importance of education and the ins and outs of the curriculum and the fast moving needs and priorities of what our students have obviously someone that has an understanding of the financial aspect and the HR perspective of hiring and supporting good staff I think he or she she has to be an amazing advocate for education but representative of our district whether it be within the community itself but to the greater state and education world and someone who has a firm grasp of that entire district goals and needs I think one of the most important things that the superintendent that we are looking for needs to have is the ability to be a good listener be open to the very talented staff and support staff and the EMT that we have the board but at the end of the day needs to be able to make a decision and to support it and to own it and I think that's a hard combination to find someone who has the ability to admit when they need input, support maybe they've made a mistake but then the ego to be also able to lead and lead strongly and I think we have been spoiled with Joe Sheehan I think he's been a great superintendent but I do believe that there are some amazing candidates out there and our district is a desirable district I think people want to come and be a part of us because I think we've done a lot of things right and made a real impact on the state level and the district that values its teachers and expects the very best for our students and does what they need to do to make sure that is available and so that starts and ends with our leader and so I think our quest for that leader is going to end successfully Thank you but I agree with everything that was said I think Sheboygan is currently going through a renaissance right now I think you look around and you see we're operating on all cylinders the chamber is talking with the economic development corporation city, county school districts are working together whether it's laying fiber optic networks and doing it together to save costs we're all on the same page focused on what's best for Sheboygan so certainly whoever our new superintendent has to be has to be somebody who's quite comfortable working outside of the Sheboygan area school district and open to partnering with everything else that makes Sheboygan I think another opportunity would be if that individual came to Sheboygan and fell in love with Sheboygan said this is where I want to raise my family or if I have a family they've raised the family already or he or she this is where they want to be this is where they want to be Joe's strongest capabilities I think is that he's very comfortable with himself and that he has a leadership style that is not afraid to make mistakes that is not afraid to delegate that when somebody goes out there and makes a decision and it doesn't work out correctly instead of focusing on the problem solution he looks at people's strengths and builds from there so in addition to all the other qualities that were mentioned here I would like to put forth those I do believe the candidate is out there the right one and I agree with what David said 16 years is a long time you get real comfortable and watching Joe grow from our head of human health services and become the person that he is is this a beautiful story to watch and I'm sure there is somebody out there who can lead us in our next chapter so thank you so as I mentioned earlier I had the fortune of serving on the provost search at Marquette University and it was a really incredible experience to be a student on an executive level search at a high profile university with a consensus from the community that you're going to install somebody who's about to lead and I think the most important lesson that I learned from that search is that the qualities that define the leader you pick can't be found on paper the resumes are going to be impressive and there are astounding leaders that will apply for the job but it just may not be the right fit for that moment and so I think when we think about the next superintendent that we've talked about there's a lot of changes going on in education I think it comes back to I define leadership as putting values into action what is this individual value in terms of public education is it a guaranteed quality education for every child and that we are going to allow parents choice within the district do we value our staff and the quality that they bring to the community it's also somebody that understands that you're only as good as your kid and that this administrator is going to have to recruit other associate superintendents over time and make sure that we have a cohesive team, a visionary that's a consensus builder, right someone that can inspire a shared vision and carry forward and champion the mission of public education in Sheboygan and the Sheboygan area school district and so I think that falls in with all the qualifications we've been talking about here but really again it's that unknown, we had some phenomenal candidates that came to campus but there was one man that was right for the job and it was Dan Myers, right we made the selection, it was unanimous it's those qualifications that don't appear on paper but in meeting with them and understanding this is somebody who's going to be a servant leader who's going to put the interest of the children, family, citizens and taxpayers of the Sheboygan area school district first build consensus and make sure that we provide the best education for every child What role should the arts and music play in the curriculum requirements and Peter we'll start with you to well educate our students, they have to be well rounded I know that the steam is popular science, technology but I like when they add the A in there for arts and engineering and math that students are given an appreciation and an understanding for the whole spectrum of education I think what that really becomes important is people are going to have to be very have the ability to be critical about the information they receive there's a lot of information out there and it's sipping from a fire hose people have to be able to make a distinction and I think the humanities is one of those ways that we can kind of inoculate people against getting bamboozled of course having a strong base in science is also important because sometimes science is being treated as a very fungible topic and it's actually not so I don't think I don't like the idea of playing one type of educational focus against the other I think there has to be we have to find a way to make sure that all of those things are represented and bought to the students and that they can understand not only what they mean and be able to pass tests on them but see how they're significant in their life and how that's carried forward a lot of that has to happen outside the school district it has to be the community I know there's a lot of talk about how the school district is going to be that device by which all things are achieved but of course it's not I remember my own daughter who of course went to public schools she had been doing taekwondo and she had mentioned that there was another person who was middle school or a little earlier another person was there who was homeschooled and this was his like his fied part and I said well you're homeschooled and she looked at me and said well no I go to schools do you go to museums? do you have conversations? do you have friends? if you only think the education you're going to get is in the school you are going to be shortchanged and in institutions and in churches and in all sorts of places and we have to understand that that integration doesn't start and stop with the school district it's a community issue and I think that circles back to all of those different aspects of education have to be seen as important and taught not say well we're going to get rid of music and punch up math and I think the arts and education is incredibly important and I will tell you a personal story so I my husband and I felt it was incredibly important from the very beginning reading to the kids even when I was pregnant with them and taking them to museums and those kinds of experiences and so much of the fact that we made a priority to even from a preschool perspective put them at the art center and I'm so excited about the fact that we're going to get this really amazing education where gallery walks are a part of their everyday curriculum and art every single class time be from a music perspective from a taking a look at so many different things and outside of the box education model I literally had at the time could be since that has changed but the only student who when it came to the conference you come in you're talking to the teachers and how is he doing and what's going on and well your student has argued quite eloquently that he will not be partaking in the gallery walks he's made it very clear that artists for sucks I believe was the words he used and that if indeed they did take him into the galleries he would be touching the artwork so we're letting him make that decision alright you've got to be kidding me but alright so that dream was dash but yet I persisted and put them into from an elementary standpoint the elementary school for the arts and academics charter school I'll get him art based education if it kills me and indeed you know those were not his strength until he was in the drama class and a kid that would say all day long I'm not good at that, I'm not whatever found his voice and found something that he could still play the sports that he wanted to play and be the squirrelly kid he was but then also could find his people and find his success and his joy in drama and he wouldn't have found that if not for his school experience even though I was trying so hard on the home front I was educating all I could and I think it's incredibly important I think for all kids to have those opportunities that certainly makes them a more well-rounded student but just to I think it makes us all better people so I'm a firm advocate for that I keep forgetting there's a microphone over here to my left it's of course we need liberal arts and we need to expose children to every opportunity possible and us hitting in this room unless to be parents and have children or be children of parents who have given us wonderful opportunities but we have many students in our district that aren't afforded the same opportunities and exposure to life and to know how to question or to to have an ability to participate in something whereas the choice outside of school is trying to figure out how I'm going to survive do my homework or where I'm going to do my homework or all the other pressures that they may face so I think we really have a duty and a responsibility to make sure we're giving those opportunities to every one of our students it's not easy in these economic times and we've been blessed with a partnership through the business community of coming to us and helping us create red raider manufacturing and that certainly gives students opportunities if they want to go to the world to work when they leave they just want to get a taste of it if they want to get credits for technical college or they want to go to Lakeland or some other college they'll be well prepared for it and they'll have an opportunity to do so but that can't be the only way we prepare students and so I think we have to take a look at how we're delivering services right now let's remove the hormone factor from middle school for a minute as we know how that can impact students and learning but let's take a look at maybe our middle school model and how we deliver things and opportunities we create I think more opportunities exist within the high schools than they do but perhaps at middle school we can find a way to afford different opportunities by doing some restructuring that don't necessarily require additional dollars that as we've all said here we don't really have I think we have a responsibility to make sure that our students all have the soft skills it's one thing to ask a question it's another thing to know how to ask the question so that you don't get punched or you don't start World War II so civic responsibility and financial responsibility are all other areas that we owe our students the opportunity to be the best they can be so that they're well prepared so I echo what my peers at the table have said we can't rest on our laurels we've got work to do and it's a very important area that we have to focus on and this can't get ourselves stuck in the tracks and let dollars drive things we've got to remember what we're all about and that's providing a well rounded education and we owe that to our students we owe that to Sheboygan I believe that the arts and education go hand in hand it's critical as we develop institutions, the next educators doctors, lawyers construction workers factory workers it doesn't matter it's critical but the arts do is they're not trying to sound cliche but they really are a window into humanity they develop empathy the ability to look in and walk in somebody else's shoes and it's that same touching moment this isn't a new idea to it Plato and Aristotle talked about both in the Republic and ethics about the value of the arts and cultivating the soul and how important it is the stories of Homer I'm a classics minor so indulge me here when I think about the role that it played in my education as Jenny alluded to I found myself on the stage at urban middle school and then I got super involved and I was able to go out and push my boundaries and be somebody else for a little while I met some of my best friends and I also had friends who weren't all that keen on the arts but they got the exposure to it and gained an appreciation for it I think you can look right within my family Josh is the oldest, Kyle is the youngest the tale of two brothers he played football all four years and really didn't want to do much with the arts Kyle did theater all four years and was really involved with that but as we both graduated we had an appreciation for physical activity and for sports and like that my brother grew an appreciation for the arts and it's because we were both exposed to it right in our public schools and that's really the core of it there so we have to protect that as part of the curriculum as part of the instruction as part of the differentiation and the way that we reach students the arts are a medium through which we learn and I'm a core proponent of the value that they add to the classroom so the two most influential teachers I have are Mrs. Heck and Mrs. Vaisal I grew up in Central Illinois a little high school of 132 students there were 38 students in my graduating class and Mrs. Heck was my English teacher Mrs. Vaisal was my music teacher and Mrs. Vaisal I played the clarinet didn't do it particularly well but I was there and she fed my music knowledge and she just kind of had this inkling and so I would borrow her LPs remember LPs right everybody in here remembers LPs and so I would bring home Wagner's greatest hits you know she was feeding me classical music Wagner's greatest hits and you know a little Beethoven a little Bach and what I developed as a result of borrowing these LPs was a real love for the romantic era composers so I'm 16, 17 years old and I'm borrowing from the library the complete Mahler symphony cycle because I'm loving this stuff the denser and the heavier it is the more I'm into it man and I'm still all about it I'm on the Sheboygan Symphony Board of Directors and you know I love that stuff and what I didn't realize at the time was she was feeding my musical interest and helping me tune into that but she was doing so much more than that she was feeding my creativity she was helping me grow as a person because I'm talking to my peers about it now their eyes are kind of glazing over and I might occasionally get somebody to come over and listen to five minutes of one of these records and say my god what are we listening to she saw something in me and she fed it and the arts music in particular I love a good rock and roll band as much as anybody there's no bigger fan of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers than me and I love the blues and I love jazz but that's the beauty of the arts for me in particular it's music but that's the beauty of the arts it's all of these different things we've heard about well rounded education and all that stuff one of the big schools is we plant these seeds in our kids and we fertilize them and we watch them grow and different seeds grow for different kids and if we take some of those seeds away then we don't know what plants might have grown and that's that would be a horrible thing so the more seeds we've got and the more sprinkling we can do the better and arts absolutely I think we are fortunate to have a very good slate of candidates unfortunate