 And welcome to ongoing election coverage by town meeting television. I'm your host for tonight, Stephanie Leigh-Hart. And tonight our forum is on South Burlington's school board races. And we have three candidates with us tonight, all three candidates. We have Dr. Travia Childs, Scott Bronson and James Johnson, Jr. So welcome to all of you who are running to be on the school board. Thank you. Thank you. Yep. And if you're watching this live, we welcome your questions. We'll start out with some opening statements. I'll ask some questions, but we would love to have questions from viewers. And if you're watching live, call us at 802-862-3966. And we'll include some of your questions in this discussion that we'll have for the next 45 minutes. So I'm going to go ahead and get started. I'm going to ask Scott Bronson to start us off with an opening statement. We'd love to hear from you, Scott, why you're running and what will be different for South Burlington School constituents if you're elected. And then we'll hear from Dr. Childs. And then we'll hear from James Johnson, Jr. All right. So Scott, tell us what you're running. Thank you, Stephanie. I've decided to run for the school board because I wanted to give back to the community that I grew up in. I graduated from South Burlington in 1982. And I decided I wanted to run because I want to keep our schools at the high level that they are. South Burlington has a strong sense of community support. And I'd like to stop being a spectator and to be a active participant. I will work hard to maintain the high levels that we've achieved here in South Burlington. And we have also want to represent the taxpayers of South Burlington who and be a voice for them. I may not have the most experience, but I certainly will give everything I got and work hard, do my homework, and work with all the other school board members and be superintendent and the administrators. Thank you. Thanks, Scott. Dr. Childs, would you like to tell us why you're running the South Burlington School Board? I decided to run for the South Burlington School District because I love this community. And I saw a need for a voice not represented. I have been a South Burlington resident for over three years and my son attends South Burlington High School. Being a woman of color, I am running to ensure that the voices of the minority members in the South Burlington School District are encouraged and heard. I also have diverse educational and work experiences that will allow me to make an immediate impact across a range of issues that come before the board. I am privileged by being an American and a Canadian, which allows me to view problems and solutions with different optics. I care about keeping South Burlington affordable as a single mom. I will look for ways to make the district more efficient while providing all kids opportunities to be ready for their futures. Now that my son is a senior, I don't have to worry about backlash. Now I can be free to take a stance, even if others do not agree. As our community's dynamics and diversity changes, it is imperative that our minority student body and parents feel respect, I mean, represent it. Great, thank you so much, Dr. Childs. And James Johnson Jr., tell us why you're running. Let's go. I run to protect the students and the dedicated teachers, for there are others who, despite easily identifiable needs for more investment, chant, cut, cut, cut the teachers, cut the salaries, cut the classes, cut the benefits, cut the retirement, cut the AP courses, so on. I've paid taxes and voted yes here for more than 50 years. It has been a great investment because I have one child who's an electrical contractor. I have three who are UVM grads. One is a CPA with an MBA from NYU, Stern School of Business. The other two have corporations. I'll always listen to constructive facts to improve learning. In my opinion, the wolves are to education as John Becker and Tom Brennan are the basketball top gradies to football and Tony Fauci is to vaccines. Let's not kill the goose and lays the golden eggs. All right, thank you so much, James. All right, I'm gonna go to some questions here. I think, you know, when I look at school board candidates in my town, I always, I'm thinking also of how the candidates view the school budget. So I wanted to ask you, I'm gonna start actually with Dr. Childs on this one and then go to James and then Scott. And I would love to have you share any thoughts you have on the school budget as it's presented on the ballot and tell us whether you support it and you have up to two minutes each. So Dr. Childs. Yes, I support the budget, but that does not mean that I am not concerned about the increase. The proposed budget results in an estimated tax rate decrease of 4.15%. The most recent guidance is that there will be a surplus of roughly 18 million in the education fund as of the end of the fiscal year 2021, which is created by higher than expected internet sales tax revenue. And then the yield bill that has been passed from the houseways and means committee to the rest of the work, I mean, the house would significantly increase the yield that is used to calculate our property taxes, which would mean an even bigger tax rate decrease than the one projected in the budget. Now, one part is negotiation with teachers and support staff are complete for the next year. So the only tool available to the board if this budget goes down is making further cuts to programming and or operations. And it was based on an article I read in the Vermont digger that estimated tax rate decreases likely to be closer to a negative 9% rather than the 4.15% discussed before the board passed the budget on the ballot. Given the rate is expected to decrease so much, I am hopeful that this will mean flat or lower taxes for most South Burlington residents. I will look for ways to limit expense increases in future budgets, but further severity measures in this particular year will put the district at risk for not being able to provide the programming and support students will need as they return full time in person, I mean, in person learning. Thanks so much for your thoughts. I'm gonna go to James next to tell us how you feel about the school budget, whether you support it and what your thoughts are. Okay, I've zoomed more than 16 school board meetings, totaling close to 70 hours till 10 o'clock at night. I've read all the justifications for money. The original wish list has been reduced and I unequivocally support this budget and I'll support the next budget and the third if it's necessary. Principal Burke has explained that an additional teacher is needed for financial literacy because the parents had asked him over several years and the kids want financial literacy. Principal, the superintendent has explained how at two elementary schools where you have 22 students in a class and that doesn't work because it was supposed to be separated by six feet. He needs another teacher, he needs another classroom to keep those classes safe. I'm just satisfied, just making a difference. I'll adjust my check to the new taxes, whatever they are. I'm not worried about it. I simply support the budget. That's it. Great, thank you, James. Scott, your thoughts and position on the school budget. Thank you. I am not supporting the budget yet because as you know, South Brownton's going through re-appraisal and it's been like 15 years since the last re-appraisal and I can't vote for the budget yet until I know what it's gonna cost me. Until I get the appraised value of my condo, I don't know how that's gonna affect me, the budget. There's ample time to vote in April after the numbers come out in April so we can find out what it's actually gonna cost us. That doesn't mean I'm gonna vote no on the budget. I just want to be responsible enough to know what is gonna cost me because you wouldn't buy anything, you wouldn't buy a car without knowing what the total cost is. I just wanna know what the cost is to me because I think a lot of the numbers that are floating out there, they talk about a lower tax rate and that's great and that usually happens during a re-appraisal. But the problem is the home values have skyrocketed and I just wanna know what the value is before I can make a decision on whether or not to support the budget because I'd like to know what it's gonna cost me before I can support it. Thank you. Great, thank you so much. Okay, I'm gonna just stay on somewhat of a money topic for one more question and I'm gonna ask you, James, to start and then Scott and then Dr. Childs and to, it's about school constructions and bonds. And so with the failure of the $2009 million school bond for the redevelopment of the middle and high school campuses, what's next for South Burlington school buildings? Okay, how long do I have? Two minutes. Oh, great. All right, the first thing is they have to deal with the $2.5 million school bond, okay? The interest rate on that is extraordinarily historically low at 2.01% interest. So we can make a big mistake or we can make a little mistake. Big mistake is we do nothing, the school is declared unsafe because of the roof and then we got big problem to deal with like Burlington High School. So we can make a small mistake, finance it over 20 years at 2.0% interest. That's the big issue in my opinion and that's the same issue with everybody on the school board deal with the new floors that need to be done in all the schools and other maintenance. The second issue is the future construction. I think everybody concedes that the last budget for doing a new middle school and high school, the whole thing was finessed poorly and the backlash was dramatic. So I support forming an advisory committee of 50 or 60 citizens to study, identify what do we want in year 2070? What do we want the high school to look like, okay? And then when we reach a consensus, when we define the goal, then we'll break it down into steps, five years, 10 years and so on. That's what I think the construction issues are. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. And Scott, what's your, what are your thoughts on what's next for South Burlington School of Business buildings? I'm sorry. We were talking to me. Yes, you've got. Okay, yeah. I support the two and a half million dollar bond because there are some things that need to be fixed. But as far as the bond that was voted down last year, it was kind of excessive. I find it hard to believe that a bond over $200 million will ever get voted yes on in South Burlington nowadays because the demographics have changed in South Burlington. The South Burlington is an older community and I just don't see it happening. I think the bond that $200 plus million was something that would be nice in a perfect world. But I think we need to look a little closer to reality and it was kind of extravagant. Maybe we need to look a little closer to home, not be so extravagant and, you know, there's some things we can do without with and like, especially in the sports complex, it was pretty elaborate. I find it hard to believe it'll ever get a $200 million bond unless you get some help from the state or something. I don't see it happening at the local level, especially with the school budgets increasing like they are. But I do support the $2.5 million bond. There are definitely things that need to be fixed in order to maintain the education and stuff. And I think that's it. Thank you. Great. Dr. Childs, your thoughts about the school buildings in South Burlington. Maintenance has been delayed on the middle school and high school while the board has considered long-term options for facilities at those two schools. 1.8 million of the proposed 2.5 million bond would go toward a new middle school roof. If the district continues to delay a new roof at the middle school, the risk of deeper damage to the building resulting from leaks increases. The bond addresses critical maintenance that is needed now and buys the district time to access all five schools to determine the right long-term approach to ensure there are safe, healthy, accessible facilities in which to educate the community's children in decades to come. I am committed to making sure the community is deeply involved in those discussions as they move forward so that the talks outcomes reflect the community's desires concerning the future of its schools. I remember going into the high school and walking around and realizing that most of the high school doesn't have AC. So I was just sweating during the tour. So I feel that people start visiting these schools. Maybe they'll understand more about the need. Thank you so much. I wanted to remind viewers, if you're watching us live, please feel free to call in with your questions. We'd love to hear from you. It's the number is 802-862-3966. OK, I'm going to go to a new question. And I actually like to switch to the topic of racial justice. And I'm going to ask Scott to speak first, and then Dr. Childs, and then James on this one. And my question, Scott, is where do you see opportunities for addressing racial justice in the schools? And how will you use the school board seat to meet this challenge? Well, thank you. I think the current school board and administration have all of the plans they need in place to make sure that racism isn't happening or in the schools. There's obviously no place for racism in not just the schools and any part of society. And I think that the students in the SOARS group in the middle school and the high school students have done a great job with the Black Lives movement. I think they made their case to the school board and the administration. And I'm all for them flying the flag as long as the administration's in with that. I don't have a problem with that at all. I think it's great that the students are so involved, because that's how you're going to beat racism. It's by getting the younger generation involved, because a lot of the adults could actually learn from a lot of these children in our schools. And we could fight racism and be done with it if we would just listen to our children in the schools. They really are an amazing group of people when you look at what they've done. And everybody in South Brown Latent should be really proud of all the students, because they've done a great job. And I think that's it. Thank you. Great, thank you very much. All right, I'm going to go to Dr. Child's next about the question of opportunities for addressing racial justice in the schools and how you can use the school board seat to do that. On February the 3rd, during the school board meet with Mr. David Young, he mentioned training and teachers being required to take an African-American course. However, those methods are not enough. We people of color need to have a critical discussion with minority students. We need to hire minority teachers, allow students to see someone who looks like them and understands their daily struggles. I spoke to one of, she's a freshman, and she mentioned that the teachers are trying to help her, but they don't really know how to help her. I am the only candidate qualified to lead the board through the dynamics of diversity, through the eyes of experienced women of color who grew up in the South, moved to the true North, which is Canada as a teenager, and have been exposed to racism, including in South Burlington. Furthermore, I will be a part of the search team looking for qualified persons of color. Raising the Black Lives Matter flag is just like placing a band name over a bleeding cut. The blood continues to spill, which means the cut will never heal. We need a solution that allows students, teachers, and the community to understand the purpose of those types of racism movements. Great, thank you so much. And I'm gonna go to James to have you address the question of racial justice and using the school board seat. Yes, from all the meetings I've zoomed, I've been impressed by the school board is very respectful to all the Black students who call in or whatever. They're very supportive. The students have been brought issues to the principals and up to the school board does work very beautifully. I do support the Black Lives flag at all schools. Over my few years, I've seen many examples of racism as I crisscross the nation. George Floyd's suffocation of the needs of the policemen is symbolic of Blacks suffering under white domination for over 400 years. They rode billions in reparations. They'll probably never get it. The Japanese Americans did and the American Indians every season too. So I would support investigating a kind of a unique exchange program where six or so students from South Burlington would spend a year and one in North Carolina, one in South Carolina, one in Georgia, one in Mississippi and Louisiana and Missouri. And we'd have five Black students move up here. And then at the end of the year, they would make up videos on what they've learned about racism and racial justice and so on. Let's see. Yeah, I think that's, I'm very impressed with how the board is handling it. Everything's gone very nicely. Wonderful. Great, we have a caller. So I'm going to invite the caller to state your name and to state your question. I'm going to give all three candidates a chance to address the question. I'm going to start with Dr. Childs and then go to James and Scott. So caller, you're on. Hello, my name is Kristen Johnson-Kellcanny and I'm calling because I'm curious what every candidate sees as some of the implications or perhaps not the implications of waiting to pass the budget until August of last year. All right, thanks, Kristen. So the implications of waiting to pass the budget until so late, I'm going to have, Dr. Childs, why don't you start us off with your response? Based on the information I have, it would cause more teachers to be laid off and more programs to go away because we took some AP classes and don't have as many as we had in the past. And if the budget isn't approved, we're going to have to find cut and usually it's going to be related to teachers. All right. So let's see. I'm going to just get my platform. I'm going to go to James Johnson, Jr. next. Right, yeah. Would you repeat the question again? What were the implications of the both things? I was asking the buzzer, it's so late last year. Yes, there were definitely cuts. But what it did was it mobilized a lot of people to get out there. I was out and planted probably 40 to 50 signs about voting yes. So it got a lot more parents, very willing to talk with me and very willing to, they came out and I think the third vote was kind of majority of 300 votes. So the downside was there were cuts. The upside was people got more involved and passed the third budget. Great. Thank you. Scott Bronson, tell us what you think the implications were of passing the budget so later any response you have to the Kristen's question? Well, you know, after the last budget defeat, there were some cuts. But in this budget that they proposed, some of those cuts have been put back in. And I think there's even some extra teacher salaries or teachers in this budget. So I really think there is still some room to maneuver if this budget should fail. But I don't, as much as I said, I wouldn't vote for this budget this time. I think it'll probably pass because they keep talking about the lower rate. And I don't think people really understand that. But it was a tough year last year, but we're making some progress this year. And it always happens with reappraisal because you have a little bit extra leeway when reappraisal comes because of the common level of appraisal and stuff. It gives you a little more flexibility. Thanks. Great. I'm gonna go to a question, you know, we've had such a year with the pandemic and of course the pandemic has had a big impact on schools and on students in schools. I'm wondering if I'm going to ask Scott for you to speak first on what impacts you've seen that students from South Burlington have had to face. And how might your role on the school board address or address or work with these impacts to make things better? All right, well, thank you. I think what concerns me most about this pandemic learning is the remote learning. I think there are students that will excel in it, but I also think there are a lot of students who are doing it from home who get very distracted and aren't learning what they should learn. But I also think the school board and the administration have a policy in place that hopefully will keep these kids from falling through the cracks. And if I'm gonna get elected, of course I'm gonna work with the board and the administration to make sure that doesn't happen to make sure that they get to tutoring or whatever they need to get back up to the speed. And hopefully this pandemic remote learning and stuff will all be over pretty soon and we can get back to normal. And a lot of the students, I'm sure feel the same way. I'm sure they'd rather be in a classroom rather than remote learning being in there with their friends and with their teachers because a lot of the teachers are their friends too. All right, and I think that's it, thank you. Great, yeah, it would be nice wanted to have more opportunities to learn in person again. And I'm going to go to James next to talk about the effects of the pandemic and how you might address these from a school board seat. The feedback I have is I'll quote them, I've learned zero this year. Teachers were excited, learning was fun, but not this year. There are a lot of very unhappy, depressed students. The relationship between a student and teacher should be exciting, stimulating, encouraging, supportive, personal, and that's what happens in the classroom, not online. What will I do? My only role on the board is to support or clarify or reject remedies brought forward to the board by students, teachers, principals, superintendent, and consultants. So I'm just there to clarify and support it or reject their ideas. I, how much time do I have to go? Okay, okay. I know that no one person getting on this board is going to turn this ship around. I know that there are four other people on the board who will, you know, if the things are too radical, they will outvote and return stability to the board. So I just want to emphasize that that no one person is going to make a big change. We're here just to react to the proposals the superintendent brings to us. I just want to emphasize I'm a modest man, modest income, modest home on a modest street in the modest section of South Millington. Thank you. Thank you, James, very much. And Dr. Childs, what have you seen in the pandemic? How might you like to see the school board address it? Well, this is Sarity, I attended a Zoom meeting and a colleague mentioned their impact on COVID-19 has on learning. As a parent of a high school senior, my perspective is different than parents with younger children. My son is doing better with hybrid learning, maybe because he does not have the traditional learning distractions, but I do feel that he missed out on the fun of being a high school senior. We also discussed how other households could be affected. A few of the participants were either educators or merit to an educator. So we have the tools to keep our children on track. My primary concern is connected to the elementary school children. Elementary schools are the foundation of their middle school journey and they are suffering the most. And what could I do? During one of my United States Navy tour, I was assigned as the continuity of operations coordinator, which is cool. My main task was to prepare for the relocation of 67 employees during disasters so operations could continue, which is similar to us having the pandemic, but we haven't planned for anything. You know, my task was to create playboats to make sure we have fly kits with batteries charges and fly kits for the students would be like computers, chargers, whatever calculators, whatever they would need. And I was also responsible for making sure that the government credit cards were active and items like that. And furthermore, I organized and directed two national disaster scenarios. And I think that's what's making me a great candidate for this position because I have the skills based on what FEMA believes in because I'm not the expert, but FEMA is. So I can use the required skills to help create contingency plans for potential future disasters. Thank you. Great, thank you very much. And let's see, I think I'll, I'd like to ask about educational initiatives. I'm going to ask you to speak, I'm gonna have James Johnson Jr. speak first, then Dr. Childs and then Scott Bronson last. And I had a friend, a young friend who is in the big picture program at South Burlington High School. And there are alternative educational forms and initiatives that Burlington is exploring. And there's a big picture program at South in South Burlington. And I'm wondering what you're thinking is about whether our schools need more alternative learning opportunities or whether we should focus on improving traditional learning models at this point in time going forward. So James Johnson Jr., you're up first. Let's go. I'm impressed that people will move mountains when they're self-motivated. So all you have to do is look at that big picture program and see how the kids did and what they're interested in and what their turns them on. I'm sure most of those kids are up till mid-length as the hormones such as adrenaline are powering them through what they enjoy. So that's great. I think that's good for a part of their student body. It's not all that new. CVU has had an alternative school system for decades. So just put that in perspective. But I think we should just leave it just as it is. Keep the traditional learning for the people who want calculus, history, literature, STEM courses. Focus on both models. It's not binary, zero or one. It's both. Just keep on. So people can do what they want to do, internships and so on. Whereas the others can concentrate on chemistry, biology, physics, labs, French, Spanish, all that. I think it's probably going beautifully just as it is. We don't need to mess with it. Does that answer your question? It does. Thanks. Thank you. All right. Let's see. And I'm going to go to Dr. Trayvich Childs next on alternative learning versus investment in traditional learning models. I don't know the specifics of Burlington trying, you know, new academic methods or South Burlington's picture approach. But one thing I've learned that as a board member, our hands are tied. And the board operates as a policy governance board, which means that we develop policy, monitor policy, develop the outcomes we want for our students and hold a superintendent accountable for meeting those targets. The board specifically does not make decisions about the details of curriculum or the school's day-to-day operations as long as the district is meeting goals. Now, part of that I don't know if I agree with because I wrote curriculum and I know that it's very important for people to be involved who knows how to write. But I'm not sure how it is, but I've just learned more and more the more I researched that the board can make an access administration to make recommendations about topics like this but are not licensed educators or administrators. Which means the board is not able to determine the specifics of a program. However, as a parent, I believe that South Burlton High School needs to research alternative methods such as project-based learning and go beyond the classroom where virtual field trips would have been helpful during this pandemic. So it's always room for, I believe in traditional too, but I believe there is always room for alternative learning methods which WELCAM would have been helpful during this pandemic. Great, thank you very much. And Scott Bronson, tell us your thoughts on alternative learning models versus traditional curriculum. I am all for alternative learning. I was looking at the school district's website page and they had a thing on there on their big picture program. And when you look at those kids' faces, the enthusiasm, the motivation, that just, they are gonna learn, they're eager to learn and they're so motivated and it was so wonderful to see them so interested in learning. And so I'm all for a program like that. As long as it meets, as long as the administration and the school board, everything meets the curriculum requirements. Anytime you can get students enthusiastic like that, they're gonna learn. They wanna get up and go to school. They wanna learn. And I think that's great. I would love to see more like that than the traditional. I think traditional, you tend to get a little bored and students don't get interested. But with that, a program like that, you should have just seen their faces light up. I mean, that's what it's all about. I mean, you're gonna learn a lot more when you're excited like that. You wanna learn and I'm all for that. Thank you. Thanks a lot. We have another caller. So we're gonna take a question from our caller now. If you, caller, if you could state your name and say what your question is. And I'm going to ask Dr. Trevi Childs to speak first and then Scott Bronson and then James Johnson Jr. Caller. Sure, hi, this is Diane Bugby calling. And first I just wanna say thank you to all the administrators and the educators in our school district who have just been working so hard to support our kids in a very, very different climate and learning environment. Specifically, I wanna ask them now about children who are learning through individualized education plans. And this has been very different for all kids through remote learning but what will you do specifically to make sure that our children who have individualized education plans are receiving what they need in this climate of remote learning and the pandemic, et cetera. Thank you. All right. Dr. Childs, did you get the question? Or do you want me to repeat it? Repeat it, please. Okay, Diane asked children who have individualized education plans, what are your thoughts on how to make sure that they're receiving what they need, especially with all the challenges of remote learning that we're facing during the pandemic, et cetera? Accountability to those programs are very important since some students learn differently. And I just feel with the pandemic, I can't say what we could have done in the past but I'm looking for ways to do it in the future as far as especially we can start now because it's different ways and I'm a researcher by nature. So I look at different sites from other schools that are having the same issues and try to figure out what the best way is for all school because as you mentioned before, all students are different. It's a diverse group with different medical issues. And so we have to make sure that when we're voting for stuff or when we're talking about programs that we include everybody in not just one, just the regular kids. No, we have to make sure that we have a great plan that includes everyone. All right, wonderful. I'm gonna go to Scott Bronson and ask you Diane's question as well. Students on individualized education plans, how to make sure they're receiving what they need? Well, I think the pandemic of course has offered a lot of challenges and I would hope that the parents and school officials are gonna work together to make sure that a lot of the students don't slip through the cracks and that they get the learning that they need. There's only so much the board can do but I believe the administration's policies and they're probably policies that are probably being redone because we've never been through a pandemic before. I mean, the important thing is that everybody works together to try to make sure that all the students are getting everything that they need. All right, thanks. Great, thanks. And I'll go to James Johnson, Jr. Do you want me to repeat the question? Yes, please. Okay, Diane's question is speaking of children who have individualized education plans. How can the school board make sure they're receiving what they need, especially in the challenges we're facing in the pandemic, et cetera? Yes. I think the first thing I would recommend is you go to your teachers and if you don't get satisfaction there, go to your principal and just follow the chain of command and up to even the superintendent and that way it'll get to the board and that will be a basis for an appraisal of the superintendent, the principals and the teachers. I would just say you advocate and relentlessly. All right. I wanted to ask the candidates if you have any questions you'd like to pose to the other candidates on this call and I'll just give you a chance. You can pass if you'd like, but actually James Johnson, Jr., do you have a question that you'd like to pose to the other candidates? No, I'll pass. No, thank you, I'll pass. Okay, Dr. Travia Childs. No, thank you. Okay, Scott Bronson, do you have a question? No, thank you. Okay, you're being easy on each other. But I'm going to ask you one last question for a short answer and I hope, I mean, it's not a short answer question, but I'm going to ask you to keep like maybe a one minute answer for this and then we'll have a chance for you to say something in closing about your vision for education in South Burlington. So I just wanted to do a quick go-around about whether you support school resource officers and if you have a reason why or why not. Scott Bronson, would you start us off and then we'll go to James and Dr. Childs. All right, thank you. I support it. I think it's an added layer of security and the way things are happening out in the world today and added layer of security can't hurt. Thank you. Great, thank you. James. I think I'm probably opposed to it. In 50 years, I know of no knives, guns, cocaine, gangs. I think it's totally unnecessary. I have a situation I'm aware of where the boy is selling drugs. He's been selling drugs for three years. The police have been called probably 25 times. At times there are four cars at this house and nothing can be done. The district attorney has said, don't bring me any of those cases. So I think the money can be better spread elsewhere. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right, Dr. Childs. Yes, I do support school resource officers. I taught at two high schools and the school resource officer's main purpose is to protect the students. We can no longer assume that South Burlington schools are exempt from mass shooting. In 2017, right at South Burlington, a guy was charged with a felony, unlawful mischief and misdemeanor aggravated orderly conduct and a hate crime. And then in 2018, Jack Sawyer, not 63 miles away, had planned a shooting at Fairhaven Union High School. So in between the name change of a mascot in the Black Lives Matter flag, employee employing school resource officers is a must, not an option. Thank you. Thank you. Dr. Childs, I wanted to see if you would just close us off with just a last word on anything about your vision for the South Burlington schools, as we say, as we start to wrap here. This election is not about a yes or no vote, but it's about which candidate has the best qualifications. I am the only candidate who has a student enrolled in South Burlington, taught high school, a university professor, and an expert in budget data analysis and operations. Moreover, I am an educated, experienced woman of color with a servant's heart. Thank you. Great. Thank you. James Johnson Jr., any last word from you? Yeah, one of your questions was, what are the big issues of big problems facing South Burlington? There is only one big problem. And it's just like in many marriages. There are problems with communications. So we have a segment in South Burlington that is holding a grudge. They're bitter, they don't trust, they lost the case on the Black Lives Matter. They lost the case on the rebel versus the wolves. So there's a segment of this pie that is anti-school board. And the rest of the pie is what we have to work with the reasonable reasoning with the reasonable. And I think that's it. We've got to find ways to communicate with the public, point out the issues, point out the consequences and try to form a consensus. Great, thank you very much. And Scott Bronson, your last word. Well, I've never run for office before and I'm very thankful that I did. I'm very thankful that the voters will have three choices because many times we've gone to the polls and there'd be one choice. So now they have a real choice and I think that's great. It's great for the city, it's great for the school. And I'm just thankful and I'm glad and I wish nothing but luck to Dr. Chiles and Mr. Johnson. I think it's been a great time being out there. I wish we could be out there and meet people personally because I really like to meet people. And thank you. All right, well, thank you, Dr. Travia Child, Scott Bronson and James Johnson Jr. for showing up tonight for the community and on town meeting TV, on the YouTube channel and on cable and really a pleasure to speak with all of you, thank you so much. And thank you for smiling through the whole thing. Good evening and welcome to town meeting televisions continuing coverage of town meeting 2021. Today we are talking with two candidates for one seat in the South Burlington School District. It's the three year school board seat and we have Rebecca Day and Stephanie Sec. Thanks so much for joining us tonight, really appreciate it. And I'll just remind people that if you have any questions for the candidates you can certainly feel free to call us at 802-862-3966. So why don't we just start Rebecca with you and ask you why are you running and what qualifies you for being on the South Burlington School Board? Sure, well, first of all, I just wanna say thank you to everyone that's tuning in and taking time out of your evening to watch this tonight. I appreciate it and I hope that you walk away with a little bit more information about who I am and why I'm running for school board. So I moved to the South Burlington School District in 2008 and I moved here with the intent of sending my daughter Elizabeth to South Burlington High School. I purposely chose the high school because of its reputation for excellence in both academics and co-curricular activities. I was not at all disappointed by her experience at South Burlington High School. I only have wonderful things to say about that. She was welcomed with open arms by everyone that she encountered. So for that, I'm very grateful. In terms of my background, I have been a lifelong educator. I have been a classroom teacher for 20 plus years and a school administrator for eight plus years. So I really understand sort of all of the facets of the educational system and I've looked at every nook and cranny and so I know a lot about how schools are run. And at this point in my career, I really feel like it's time for me to give back something in a civic capacity and I would like nothing better than to serve all of the members of the community of South Burlington. And my number one goal, I think, is to bring our community together so that we're on the same page with all issues. And so I would make myself very accessible to you in that capacity. So that is my promise to you as a candidate. Thank you. Thank you, Rebecca. Stephanie Sack, why are you running and what qualifies you for South Burlington School Board? Well, first of all, I wanna thank you for hosting this. And like Rebecca, I wanna thank the viewers who set aside time to watch because they genuinely care about South Burlington schools. As a 33 year resident of South Burlington whose children were educated here and a retired speech and language pathologist who worked for South Burlington, I believe providing a high quality education is one of the most important missions of the community. One of the exciting things about education is that it's rarely stagnant. We face many challenges and I expect that we'll be discussing some of those this evening. We also have great opportunity to continue to build on the proud tradition that South Burlington has established. Like the nation, our community can get gridlocked by competing points of view and strongly held opinion. I hope that I can facilitate thoughtful dialogue and collaborative problem solving so that we can move forward together. So I wanna thank you both for your opening statements. Before we go to the formal questions, I hear you're both really interested in engaging the community, but are you satisfied with the way the school district has run, Stephanie? I think that we have had a history of a lot of tension between the school board and different community members, different community factions and groups, and the teachers union. That's been an ongoing thing. And although I don't fault anyone, I think everyone is good hearted and genuinely intense. Well, communication and working together has been a sticky point. How about you, Rebecca? Are you satisfied? You talk about how you've been very carefully at the mechanics of the school district and I wonder, are you satisfied with how it's run? Actually, I feel like in terms of certainly the work that I've done to look into what's going on with the budget process for this year, and I know historically there's been some contention. I am very pleased with the way that the school has communicated information, made things accessible to me as a community member. And I feel like I'm well aware that there are some community members who do not feel like they have necessarily had a voice. And so I would like to bring their voice to the table and I would like to encourage that. And I would like to say that I have a certain relatability having had the experiences that I've had with regard to being a teacher and an administrator. And I feel like I could help clarify a lot of misconceptions potentially on the part of community members who have a lot of questions and I would welcome the opportunity to do that. So I see both sides of it. Thank you. Thank you. Rebecca, why don't you go ahead and tell us what you think about the FY22 school budget? I think that it is 55 million dollar budget of what? Yeah. Yeah, so you know what? The budget process is very complex as we all know. And I think one of the things that South Brongton has done very well this year in terms of the school board that they've really illuminated for the lay person out there exactly what the mathematical piece of the budget is. And for that, I'm grateful because it brought back all kinds of flooding memories to me when I was a school administrator. And it's like, oh yeah, I know these terms, et cetera. And I think one of the things I want community members to realize is there are a couple of numbers there that are in flux still and one of them being the equalized pupil and the yield. And so we don't yet know precisely how that's going to play out, which is fine because the numbers are pointing favorably and I don't want to get into the weeds with that. I think when I look at the overall budget and I look at some of the expenditures that have been added for this year, I think they're reasonable. I think that certainly when you're talking about overcrowded schools or you're talking about things that had to be cut prior that you might want to reinstate because you see the impact that it had on students and the community, I think those are fair requests to ask of the community. And I just think that I would encourage everyone at this point to, if you haven't, to look at some of the video presentations that have actually been done with regard to the budget process because it brings a great deal of clarity. And I can tell you the teachers and administrators work very hard to bring that to you. Thank you. So you do support the budget? Yes, I 100% support the budget. I put my ballot in today. Thank you, Rebecca. Stephanie Steck, what's your view of the 55 million FY22 school budget in South Burlington? I also would support it. I think it's a very careful and thoughtful process. I believe the superintendent administrators worked hard to propose a budget that is not filled with fluff or unnecessary things. And it was a good faith process. I think the school board went through a very thoughtful process too. There are multiple opportunities for the community to weigh in. They've had a lot of Zoom forums and there are things posted on the internet. There's the great PowerPoint and the video presentations that Rebecca referred to. So I think it was a very open process that people could weigh in on. And I think that the board did ask the administration to parapet and they did that. I think it was a difficult process. I think any further cuts would make it really difficult for South Burlington to maintain the quality of education that it currently offers. I think the other thing that's like enormous and looming on the forefront is the maintenance of our buildings. We have old age buildings. So in addition to the budget, there is a bond issue that's been proposed. And I also would be fully supportive of that. I'm a retired person. I'm on a fixed income. I live in an old condo near the airport. And it's very modest. I empathize with the plight of people who are feeling they've kind of hit the wall in terms of taxes that they can pay. But I think as Rebecca said that the process of funding is very complex. And because of our, if you go to PowerPoint presentation, it will help illuminate that. But because of the common level of assessment, theoretically, again, there are some unknown variables coming from the state, but the overall tax rate for education should decrease slightly. So that kind of makes this proposed increase in the budget, which is in the 5% range, not as having a great impact as it might appear at first look. Thank you, Stephanie. Why don't we go ahead with the next question, Steph? And that is, what impacts has the pandemic had on learning for students in the school system? And what would you do in your role on the school board to address or work with these impacts? Right. Well, clearly the challenges of remote learning that have been known by parents and students alike highlight the importance of personal connection that our teachers offer, administrators, custodial workers, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, you name it. That's become resoundingly clear that that's a really important ingredient to education. Although I haven't been personally privileged to any data, I know that at the elementary level, for example, they collect literacy data in a very thick schedule. So I haven't seen any of that, but I would expect that even from schools closing in March until this fall that we're going to see some regression and perhaps most impactful at the elementary level and students who are struggling learners more so than others, but I think we will see some regression potentially or not the same gains we would like to see in literacy and math skills. But we will have solid objective measures because the district does have a very good assessment plan that they follow faithfully. So I think the elementary level impact will be greater. I think that at the high school and middle school level, we're also going to see some impact, but students are more self-directed learners at that point. It'll probably less of a concern. So what we're going to have to do, what I would say we would need to do if I were on the board is we're going to have to examine that data very carefully and then figure out what to do to address any gaps that may occur. And whether there'll be any federal funding down the pipe for schools that would help things like some summer programs to beef up things for some kids unknown, but we definitely will need to pay attention. Thank you, Stephanie Stack. Rebecca Day, you're on the pandemic learning environment and the role of the school board in remediating it. So first of all, I want to just acknowledge that the pandemic has been very stressful for many families and educators in our community. And I think that cannot be overlooked. And one of the things that I think about a great deal is how the pandemic has illuminated or sort of exposed the inequities that perhaps are hidden in our community. And by that, I mean, how are kids surviving distance or virtual learning and what has it meant to them and where are some of the potential gaps that are occurring? And I know at this point, the secretary of education, secretary of French has put out a, I guess it's a plan so that we can start phase three of the COVID recovery. And so all districts should be looking at that at this point. And that really for the South Burlington School District and as a board member, I would say, let's make sure that we're in compliance with this. And it would mean making sure that you have a district coordinator that oversees the process, that it could be an EST person or it could be another designated person that would be the liaison with the AOE. And we're specifically looking at mental health concerns as well as academic concerns with our students in the school district. And so this is really an opportunity for us to collect that information, to report that data to the AOE and come up with a plan to support all families that have gone through the COVID pandemic and really look at how it has most impacted them. So again, as a school board member, I would make sure that we were in compliance with that. Thank you so much. You know, the question of the school safety officer has school resource officers has come up as whether it's mission critical for the schools and what kind of message it sends. And I know there are other issues that I am not actually up on. So I'm hoping that you will talk about Rebecca starting with you, whether you support the presence of school resource officers in the school buildings and why or why not? Okay, that is a great question. And I can tell you that I 100% support school resource officers in the building. And I know it can be controversial and I do not see SRO officers as people that are there to have some kind of a police state in a school. And I can say with confidence that as a former assistant principal and a school principal that I worked closely with our SRO person in our building and I worked for a very large high school that provided many, many services through the SRO. And the one thing that I think of and that no one really wants to talk about in this day and age but it's clear and present is that the potential safety issues around people entering into the building that are not supposed to be there. And that one aspect alone is very important when you think about what the SRO does. He knows every single space in the building, all of the potential things that could happen, how our students might be in danger, how do we best protect our schools? And that isn't meant to scare anyone but it's a reality that that extra person in the building along with the school administrators is really invaluable. The other piece that nobody really sees is the relationship building that the SRO does in a school setting. And oftentimes they are the voice and the conduit between community members and the school and they support kids who specifically need that extra help in feeling very well assimilated in a school system. So I think they're a new valuable part of a school and the running of a school. Rebecca, when did school safety become, when did schools as an unsafe place become a thing in our culture? Unsafe schools, I mean, I think just the rash of any in society today, any potential person being able to walk into a setting and use some form of force and be able to harm other people has always been in the forefront and it continues to be in the forefront nationally and we don't know at what point locally that this could happen to someone in one of our schools. So I see that as just a very strong preventative measure to ensure that that happens. So I mean, it's a part of our history as a country. Thank you. Stephanie, your view of the school resource officers and why not that they should be present? I think I just read that in Williston, they've decided that they will no longer have a school resource officer. I didn't read the whole article, just the headline in the local paper. So I'm not 100% on that. I know CVU has terminated their contract with the SRO program. I am personally not in favor of having school resource officers in schools. And I need to say I am not criticizing the people, the officers who have taken those positions. I believe that they're committed to students. But I think that policing is a skill set that is not what is needed in the public schools. I don't think they keep us a safer. I worked at South Berlin High School when we had two days of lockdown and we had a really viable shooter threat. And it wasn't our school resource officer who kept us safe but the police department as a whole who was phenomenal. And they were there in a flash and a heartbeat on two days after I was a very caring experience. I think that I would prefer to see the money just like our conversation about policing as a whole go into increased hiring of social workers and counselors because I think the skill set that they offer to students is different. And I don't, so I'm not in favor of them. There's currently a bill S63, which would ban it but I saw on Thursday Rutland representatives or senators also proposed a bill S76 which would actually create more funding for SRO. So it's definitely a topic for discussion. Education week analysis, this was a report in Vermont Digger indicated that black students in Vermont account for 23.3% of school-based arrests. Now that doesn't say that's South Burlington as a whole but I think the reality is there is that troubling pattern that we need to be sensitive to and how it may make students of color and students who are immigrants from other countries feel uncomfortable and less safe at our schools. So can I respond? Yeah, please Rebecca. Okay, so I think one of the things and while I appreciate Stephanie's perspective on this I think one of the things that we have to keep in mind and I mentioned it when I spoke is the relationship building piece that an SRO serves in a school setting. And so oftentimes they have knowledge of many of the resources that Stephanie mentioned in terms of additional mechanisms in ways that we can support kids and they again can be the conduit to those outside agencies. So my experience in working with SROs has very much been in that capacity that they have been an advocate for kids and they've been an advocate for all kids and they actually, I've sat on boards with them. For example, with restorative justice and inequity and all of the things that come up for many marginalized students in school settings. And when those things come up it is often been a very strong SRO that has been able to bridge that gap in schools. So they serve many purposes outside of just the safety factor in a school setting. So I just wanted to let the community know that having worked with one personally for many, many years. Thank you. I was just kind of mulling over this question of really is the question whether there should be SROs and should the question be what is it that we're looking for in terms of this institutional capacity and some of it may be served by a security presence and some of it would be served by a social work presence. And it sounds like the school resource officers are serving or expected to serve all these functions and is that realistic? That would be the question that I would ask as well. Because again, I think in terms of resources a social worker can provide those things and with in addition to the counseling skills that you wouldn't expect a school resource officer to have. So I would weigh in more on looking at what is the need that we're trying to fill? And if we're worried about substance abuse with kids then who's best gonna address that? We're not really, we wanna get to them before we're getting to the arresting point we wanna be addressing it with the substance abuse prison. So there are many ways and clearly from what's going on in our legislature there are very strong opposing points of view. And as I think both Rebecca and I said earlier this is something that would be an appropriate topic for community dialogue. I don't know that unilaterally the school board needs to go oh, we're going to eliminate I think we need to hear and weigh in here with everybody. But my personal bias would be against. Right, so yeah. So I'm just gonna close by saying that many times the SRO person is the person that creates an environment of preventative measures in the school along with many other school personnel and many of the school administrators now are wearing multiple, multiple hats in trying to do that work. So just keep that in mind when we start talking about these positions it's educating the community on what exactly that role the role is that they play in the school as well as is it a stressor on the school or does it help alleviate some of the issues that are in the school and sort of weigh the pros and cons of that. And my experience has been SROs reach a very large percentage of students in the building. So thank you. Thank you, Rebecca. Can you just move on and move on to the question about do you see opportunities for addressing racial justice in the schools and how would you use the school board seat to meet? Those issues. Yeah, so did we, I know the question involved raising the flags, the BLM flags in the did you want me to address that piece of it? Oh well, yeah, great. The question says, do you support raising the Black Lives Matter flag on the Southern School campus? Thank you. So I am absolutely delighted that the flags have been raised and that there'll be an opportunity for those to be up year round in our school district. I think that when we talk about racial justice I think it is a subject that is very uncomfortable for a lot of people. So as a school board person, I would first work to really bring all stakeholders to the table and to try to have that open dialogue and conversation around what racial justice and injustices look like. And one of the things as school board members that we really have to look at or I would be looking at is, you know what are our policies? And should we review those and see exactly how they address anti-racist schools and what does our curriculum look like and what is professional development for teachers and what is our pedagogy and how our school administrators creating gatherings for students and assemblies that actually that address anti-racist education and what is the community involvement in this role? So I think this is so multifaceted and I think it is a matter of making sure that everyone has not only an education piece to this but that they understand that we are in a society where we have to understand multiple points of views around racism. Rebecca, thank you so much. This is a topic that deserves a lot more discussion. So I'm sorry, we only have a couple of minutes for your answers. Okay, that's okay. Thanks, Stephanie. Stephanie Stack, your view on this question. Where do you see, ooh, let's see the opportunities for addressing racial justice in the schools. How would you use a school board seat to meet the challenge and do you support the raising of the Black Lives Matter flag on the South Brunnington campus? Well, first the very quick one. Yes, I totally support raising the Black Lives Matter flag on all of the campuses elementary through high school. I think the question that we're asking is how do we build a school culture of anti-racism? And I think I agree with Rebecca. There are kind of four prongs to this. There's curriculum and I know that in South Brunnington we've already undertaken this work at the high school level. It's looking at our curriculum, looking at the materials that we use so that we validate the experience of Black Americans and my cat's gonna join us. I'm afraid here. And to help promote awareness of the experience of Black and Brown Americans and challenge the dominance of whiteness. And we have to look at our curriculum and how does it accomplish those ends? There's been some work at the elementary level. There's been a lot of work at the high school level. We need to further teacher training. And I know again, we engaged in the courageous conversations, training. We sent a number of teachers to that and they came and did some work with us in the district. That's just the beginning. We need to help teachers become comfortable in understanding how to discuss issues of race and identity. We need to look at our hiring practices. Not just are we hiring a diverse group of teachers but with those people we interview are we being careful to discern any bias that they may have and filtering out people who might embrace a white supremacist culture. And then we need to definitely examine all our policies. We make assumptions that because we're in Vermont, we think that we're very progressive and we don't have problems. I gotta wrap this up. Okay, and we can't just ignore things. We need to look at all of our policies. Thank you so much. Thank you, Stephanie Stack and Rebecca Day. We're gonna go to closing comments. It would be interesting to hear how you might be different from each other. Except for one issue, I'm very similar in your concerns and approaches to school board leadership. And I wanna thank you both. I'm so lucky to have you both willing to take your stuff. So Stephanie, perhaps you could start with a minute closing comment. Okay, you're right. I think I thought that was striking as well. I think that Rebecca and I both having an educational background. I worked at the collegiate level at all. So I feel like I have it from like kindergarten through where they're beginning to where they end up. My children were educated in South Burlington. The difference might be that I actually worked here in the trenches at South Burlington. It gives me a little bit of the different perspective than nuts and bolts, but education is education and the environment in which Rebecca's work would be different, but have some commonalities too. We did have one clear difference, but I don't think there are big glaring differences. In us, our experience is a little bit different. Stephanie, thank you so much. Rebecca, tell us your closing comments, please. So I think one of the strongest attributes that I have that I would bring to a school board setting is that I am an analytical thinker. I have been in many leadership roles. I also know how to listen well and entertain conversations from many different constituents. And I know how to make decisions that are for the greater good for the entire community because I've been put in that position before. And so that really is a strength that I will rely on and that I will bring to the school board position. I think Stephanie and I do have a different background. I think that my perspective as being a school administrator allows me to know quite a bit about the details of how things function in all aspects of a school setting. And so I feel fortunate to have had that experience and to be able to step into a school board role. Thank you. Thank you, Rebecca. Just Stephanie, one more PS because I kind of derailed your closing comments with that question. Anything you wanna say about the strengths you offer to the voters? I mean, I would say similarly. I mean, as a special educator, I was trained in collaborative problem solving, which means that process of listening, bringing diverse stakeholders together, listening to what they have to say and figuring out how you can work together to reach a decision that everybody can live with that might not be perfect. And so I think that that would be a strength that again, my knowledge of the district and deep involvement here, I think would be an asset. Well, I wanna thank you both so very much. Rebecca Day and Stephanie Stack, you're running for the three year South Burlington School Board seat. As I said, South Burlington is very fortunate to have both of you living in their midst. I really appreciate you stepping up to run for this office. And I wanna thank our viewers. Stay tuned to continuing coverage of town meeting 2021 here on town meeting television. Thank you so much. Thank you.