 Okay Mayor Joe. Welcome, welcome. Welcome to the League of Women Voters Davis Unified School District candidate form. Thanks to all the candidates for participating in our forum. This forum is also being co-sponsored by Davis Media Access. Davis Media Access is the nonprofit community media center serving Yolo County. Its mission is to enrich and strengthen the community by providing alternatives to commercial media for local voices, opinions, and creative endeavors. My name is Mayor Joe Bryan and I'm president of the Davis League. As many of you know both the City of Davis and the Davis Joint Unified School District are moving from at-large elections where we all vote for city council or for school district trustees. To district elections where we vote for a candidate who lives in the district where we live. The map on the screen shows you the various districts for the Davis Joint Unified District, the school district. Note that for the election this November, Davis Joint Unified School District will have an interesting mix of one district election and an at-large election to fill vacant seats on the Davis Joint Unified District Board. The one district election will be for District 5, previously served by Trustee Palpenga, who will not be running for another term. The candidates for this election district are Hyder and Greenwald. We also have one district where the incumbent term expired and he is not running for another term, Fernandez, Allen Fernandez. Leah Dara declared her candidacy for this district and because the race is uncontested she will not appear on the ballot but will be sworn in into office after the election. She is here tonight though to give her all members of the community the opportunity to hear her views on the issues. And finally as if to the move to districts isn't confusing enough, we also have one election for Davis Joint Unified School District that will be filled through the old system of a large election voting. Dr. Pickett, the former chair of the board, vacated her position prior to the end of her term to pursue a professional opportunity out of state. Because she was initially elected at large, the election to fill her seat will be at large as well. This means that the Davis Unified District voters, all of them, will have the opportunity to vote in this at large election. The candidates for this a large election are Cullen and Edmondson. The monitor for today's forum is Michelle Famula. Michelle is a longtime member of the League of Women Voters and the chair of our health care committee. Over the past year, she has become a seasoned moderator and we are pleased to have her as the moderator for this forum. Thank you. Thank you, Mary Jo. Good afternoon. My name is Michelle Famula and I'm going to serve as the moderator for this afternoon's forum. Before beginning, I'm going to review the forum format. Each candidate will give a two minute opening statement. After opening statements, candidates will respond to four moderated questions. Three of these questions were sent to the candidates a week before the forum. Each candidate has 90 seconds for the first response to each question. Candidates will be advised of their time with a 15 second and a five second warning from our forum timekeeper, followed by a bell when their time is ended. Candidates will be muted if they exceed the time limit. Candidates, please mute your audio when you are not speaking. Our forum coordinator has determined the order of candidates by random number drawing prior to this afternoon. Candidates have been advised of their order of speaking. After the primary question responses are completed by all candidates, I will ask if any candidate wants to add a secondary response. Candidates will each have five opportunities during the forum for secondary responses of 40 seconds each. If there are no additional candidate responses, I will go on to the next question. If one or more candidate has a secondary response, I will call on the first one to raise their hand, then take the next candidate. Candidates, please simply raise your hand if you wish to make a follow-up secondary response. After all candidates have had a chance to add a secondary response, I will ask if any candidate would like to add an additional response and then move on to the next question when no candidate wishes to respond further. At the conclusion of the moderated questions and responses, each candidate will have one minute for a closing statement. Throughout the forum, audience questions may be submitted either by using the chat button at the bottom of your Zoom screen and submitting your question as a private message directly to the question manager, or by sending your email question to info at lwvdavisarea.org. Audience questions will be asked in the final 30 minutes of our forum. There will be a short break between the end of the main forum and the audience Q&A to give our forum question manager an opportunity to collate questions. Our chapter president, Mary Jo Bryan, will provide League of Women voter information during this interlude. We will wrap up with audience questions where candidate responses will be limited to one minute, and a secondary response of 30 seconds will be allowed for each candidate after each question. Hopefully we all can remember all of those format rules. We will begin now with opening statements. Each candidate will give their opening statement. By random draw, we begin with Betsy Heider, followed by Andrew Cullen, Cecilia Eschemia Greenwald, Leah Dara, Vigdes Asmanson. Please begin with your opening statement, Betsy Heider. Thank you. Thank you to the League of Women voters for the opportunity to speak to voters about my candidacy today. My goal is to help voters better know who I am as a person and the skills that I bring to the role of trustee and maybe most importantly, the commitment level that I bring to serving others and will bring to this highly important position in our community. So about me, I'm a wife and a mother of two amazing children who are about to leave the nest. I have been a Davis resident for 13 years and both of my children have attended DJUSD schools. We have two dogs, Davis and Asia. And interestingly, what I've learned from campaigning is that I'm generally known around the neighborhood as Davis's mom, our smaller, sneakier one that is always looking for adventure. While I believe that being a parent and having an experience within our school district are the cornerstones of my qualifications of this role, I also bring professional skills to it that are relevant. Particularly now, my undergraduate training was an engineering, my career path ultimately led to new product development in a technology sector of private enterprise, analytical problem solving, team leadership, and outward facing people skills were my strengths. After a long while, I found myself in search of more meaningful work. I found it in law about 18 years ago, my specific interest gravitated specifically toward child advocacy. And in that role, I worked in the public sector, as well as in nonprofits that served at risk use. Finally, I think most importantly, I have a strong commitment to everything I sign up for. And frankly, everything I sign up for requires great commitment. I have a heart for serving others, but I gravitate toward meaningful service that often often requires personal sacrifice. And I have a track record of giving it, I'm committed to a high level of professionalism and work ethic, second to none, particularly when working for the best interest of children. Thank you. Thank you, Betsy. We'll move on to Andrew Cullen. Oh, Andrew, are you muted? Sorry about that. Can you hear me? Yes. My apologies. No problem. All right. Hello. My name is Andrew Cullen, and I thank you for your time today. I grew up in the North Bay, and I am a product of the California Public Education System, where I attended public K through 12, the California Community College System, and the University California System. By growing up in public schools, I developed a passion for education, and now see it as the greatest social equalizer with plenty of work to still do. I was moved forward by education, and I want to ensure that every child and family in Davis has an equal opportunity to do the same. I received my undergraduate degree in chemistry from UC Berkeley in 2013, following which I worked as a biochemistry researcher. Because of my commitment to education and social justice, I then went on to volunteer as a basic math skills instructor through the Prison University project at San Quentin, and worked as a chemistry educator at College of Marin for several years. In 2018, I returned to UC Berkeley to pursue a master's of public health with a focus on occupational safety, while simultaneously starting a professional position at Lawrence Berkeley Lab in the Environment, Health, and Safety Division. In support of my partners work towards receiving a master's in education and teaching credential at UC Davis, our family moved to Davis this spring and have since become highly engaged with and passionate about the Davis community in schools. In addition to relocating to Davis this spring, I accepted a position in emergency management at Berkeley Lab because of my continued commitment to protect and improve the lives of others. While 2020 presents many challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic, wildfire disasters, and a looming economic crisis that may leave our schools, families, and children in a situation of perpetual uncertainty and vulnerability, I believe that my skills, experiences, and leadership on the governing board will enable the district to plan, respond, and recover to this and any future crisis. Together, we can make Davis Joint Unified School Districts resilient for many future generations. Thank you. Thank you, Andrew. Our next opening statement will come from Cecilia Eskemia Greenwell. You're muted. Thank you. I want to begin by thanking the League of Women Voters for offering us this opportunity and the community and opportunity to hear our, you know, our platforms and answer your questions. And I want to thank you from the public. I want to thank you for tuning in because you could be doing something else at this time, but you're taking the time to listen to us and ask questions. So I thank you. My name is Cecilia Eskemia Greenwald and I've been a resident of Davis for 30 years. I attended UC Davis, left for a year to go to St. Louis, Missouri as a Coral Fellow, came back and decided to make Davis my community because I love Davis. I fell in love with Davis when I was a student and I knew I wanted to have my family here. I volunteered and served on community and educational boards over the years and been a member of the PTA. I've worked with parents to provide input on the local control accountability plan and I've served on various commissions. I have three beautiful children that are enrolled in Davis schools and their teachers and aides do a wonderful job. Why am I running? I'm running because I want to provide strong leadership and bring my skills and experience to the table to help the board and serve you as parents and your children. By profession, I'm a negotiator and a labor specialist and I believe those skills will help the district as we address issues, budget issues and so forth. I'm also running because I want to ensure that our students continue to earn a top quality education. They've always gotten a top quality education and I want to make sure that continues even during this pandemic. We are in a profound crisis so I want to make sure that teachers, aides and parents and students continue to have the resources available to have a good education and I want to collaborate with teachers, parents and staff to make sure that that happens and I want to continue to promote the current education of students during this profound crisis. Thank you. Thank you Cecilia. Our next opening statement will come from Leah Dara. Good afternoon. My name is Leah Dara and I am running for trustee area 2. I have lived in Davis since 1990. My husband and I raised our four children here. The home is a high school so like many of you, I am experiencing distance learning and having the highs and lows in my own home. I've spent all of my personal career and private time volunteering in our community and pursuing education advocacy. I am currently on the California State PTA Board as a Vice President for Education. I served before that as the Director of Legislation so I'm very familiar with education policy and legislation affecting education in our children in our community but as a longtime community member I have sat in classrooms all across our district proving kids to field trips near and far and been in the trenches with our teachers and our students and fellow parents and sat with you in the tiny desks for back to school night and sat with you in hot gyms for performances at school. So I really have a view of our district over a long term. I was part of the district during the last great recession when we saw cuts to our school district and we saw the impacts that had on our students and I was there to see us climb back out of that and see Davis thrive. Currently with facing the pandemic and the situation that has put us in as a community I feel like I can offer the skills of my policy knowledge as well as a strong focus on student and staff safety. I think that has to be an important factor in whatever decisions go forward in our district for our children because as a community our most important assets are our children. I live in Wild Horse with my husband and high school daughter and a dog, three cats, and six chickens. So I look forward to serving on our school board, serving our students and I'm always open to be spoken to or connected through my website leah4schools.com. Thank you Leah and then our last opening statement will come from Vigdus Asmanson. Thank you it's a pleasure to be here with you this afternoon. My name is Vigdus Asmanson and I am running for the at-large seat. As a lifelong resident of Davis I am excited about the opportunity to serve my community. I am a proud graduate of Valley Oak Elementary, Emerson Junior High School, Davis Senior High School and UC Davis and I have chosen to continue to make Davis my home as an adult. Education has always been my passion. I've spent my entire professional career working in the field including working as a k-12 educator for 19 years in elementary, junior high and high school classrooms. I began my teaching career here in DJUSD as a substitute and summer school teacher and that gave me the opportunity to work on every single school site and with students and families from all parts of the city. In addition I've also worked in schools with many diverse populations including serving as the chair of liberal arts during the founding year of the Abarsa school in Somalia, serving in the Peace Corps in Togo West Africa and closer to home working in a title one school for nine years in nearby Fairfield. While teaching in the classroom I also served as department chair as a coach for teachers and as the soccer coach for our school. I volunteered my time on the site council, district curriculum adoption and planning committees, founded a nonprofit to support steam education and coordinated site level and district-wide science events for students and families. During this time I also received my master's in educational administration and shifted my career focus beyond teaching. In my current job at the California Department of Education in the Science Assessment Office I've had the opportunity to work together with local school districts and county offices of education from all parts of the state in order to better serve our students. My background in science and community health, my experience with diverse communities and my work from K-12 classrooms to the state level has prepared me to meet the challenges that are currently facing the board. Thank you. Thank you. So that concludes our opening statements and we'll move on now to our moderated questions. We begin with the first question to Vigdis Asmansson and then it will go to Heider, Cullen, Eskemia Greenwald and then Dara. The first question is how would you address DJUSD budget shortfalls resulting from declining student enrollment in Davis schools? We begin with Asmansson. We need to make sure that we are looking at the budget in the long term. According to DJUSD's own forecast from last year we are projected to have at least 250 fewer students over the next 10 years and that counts on a continued reliance on out-of-district students and it's not a uniquely Davis problem. Projections from the Department of Finance show a nearly seven percent decline in statewide enrollment over the next decade. So we already have the data that tells us what our future is going to look like. A long-term plan needs to take that data into consideration so that we can make the right multi-year decisions now to prepare us for the future. For example many of our decisions have been made in stronger economic times and we may need to revisit them. I think this is also an opportunity for us to support work the city is doing to make sure that Davis is a welcoming environment for younger families. Once we have those long-term budget goals and parameters set we can ensure that our more nimble goal setting aligns with those constraints. I really appreciate the ability for schools to identify with their site councils what will best meet the needs of their students. I don't believe in a one-size-fits-all philosophy of education and it's important that people at the level closest to our students who know our students best are involved in the decision-making. I think we also all need to be ready to pitch in. Cuts need to apply equally everywhere including at our highest paid employees. As of last July every state employee from the Department of Education to the Department of Finance to the governor accepted a pay reduction and we need to model that we understand this is an effort where we are all prepared to contribute to the solution. Thank you. Our next speaker Betsy Hyder. Same question would you like me to repeat the question. I got it sorry. Thank you. That's okay. This is a difficult issue and certainly is not a new one. In all fairness if it could be solved and articulated in 90 seconds it would have already been done. The truth is is that we are primarily a state-funded entity with declining birth rates as a state not a district. So the constraints are challenging at the outset. The truth is that I don't yet know enough to weigh in completely on this issue specifically talking about declining enrollment. My hope is that my private sector enterprise experience will at least bring questions to the discussion that might not have been brought before. In business there are many ways to approach a declining revenue stream or a lost market share. However education has many regulatory constraints that may void some or maybe even all of those strategies. But attracting students and families into our community certainly is one way. I'm just not convinced it's the only way. This is one I'd like to work on though and see if there are proposals that haven't been put forth to the community just yet. Again I think this is where analytical thinking balanced with innovation and creativity could be helpful to the district administration and the board. I'm one of the candidates that does not have a professional experience in education but I have extensive experience in regulatory state and federal level regulation. I'm hopeful that it's a good thing when it comes to long-standing issues like this one and I'm optimistic that if there's another way at coming at the problem I can bring it to the table. Thank you. Thank you. Next to Andrew Cullen. You hear me this time right? Yes. Okay. Thank you. That's all. Thank you. All right. So the concept of limited resources and competing needs is a common problem in many social programs especially in public health. In approaching these problems I believe that's important to do the following. First the community has to be engaged at all levels to help shape the solution and make decisions. I would focus our efforts on outreach to Davis's diverse and low socioeconomic communities encouraging implementation of wider reaching community building projects and activities through our schools. I would like to see the community become an extension sorry sorry. In this way schools become an extension of the communities they serve creating atmosphere and dynamic in which families feel comfortable with and have trust in their local public school decision-making. Second we have to recognize that there is a difference between maximizing outcomes and creating fair chances. I approach distributing or allocating resources in a budget reduction atmosphere and a mayor that prioritizes helping students and families that are most disadvantaged or vulnerable to give every student in the district the fair chance to the same academic opportunities. Practically there will be cutbacks to services across the state in many local communities like ours due to COVID-19. As I suggested earlier it's unfair for any single governing board member like myself to make decisions and evacuate on how to allocate limited resources without engaging the community including those that are hard to reach. In summary I will fully commit myself towards listening to the curriculum and budgeting experts while engaging in the district's community at all levels in my decision-making as a board member. Thank you. Thank you. We now move to Cecilia asking me a green wall. Cecilia? Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Thank you. You know when we address issues budget issues due to declining student enrollment there's no good answer. I mean we have to come up with a solution but you know there's plus and minuses to address these issues. They're not popular because sometimes there's programs that are cut that people really love and it's a big issue. Davis and it happens in other districts too. We have inter-district transfers and generally those are students that attend Davis schools because their parents either work at the university or work in Davis. If we can provide housing and this is more long-term solution not immediate if we can look at housing for you know young families or families that work here that would be a long-term solution for inter-district transfers. And also the Davis schools foundation in the past they provided some funding around I think about a hundred thousand dollars or so but that's not again that's not long-term ongoing funding. So in order to address this issue we need to work collaboratively and we would do that by collaborating with administration with the state and the city to address these issues. So it's not it's not an easy answer but it's something we need to do collaborate. Thank you. Thank you and finally Leah Dara same question. Hi as many of the fellow candidates have stated we are looking at a statewide trend of declining enrollment. So that's a that's a known issue and we've actually known strict enrollment low back when they were finally deciding to close value. So this has been an ongoing trend for Davis. So in a short term one solution that can bring in some money is to increase our ADA or our daily attendance in our district. We are at about 96 percent attendance which is a close to the state average and by increasing that even a couple percentage points we'd like to get ourselves above average and that will bring in money that could be owed to us from the state with existing money. So that's not creating any new money. That will mean an important job of community outreach so that parents in the community can realize that that by making sure their children attend school each day they can help with funds going back to our school district. But on we need to have affordable housing for families because it is rather pricey living Davis and it's hard for you to attract young families and young employees in our just in our district in our city to be able to bring children into our district. So I think that there is going to be multiple strategies and I agree with fellow candidates who said that it will be a collaborative process working with each other working with the district staff and working with our city. But I do think that community engagement and whatever decision or whatever planning make is vitally important because our communities who bring the children to our schools and they are the people who are serving. Thank you. The candidates will now have an opportunity to provide a 40 second secondary response to the question if they choose to do so. Does any candidate wish to respond to the question with a secondary response? Yes, Leah. Something I'd like to see us do with Davis is to study what similar districts are doing across the state. We don't have to always come up with the best ideas ourselves and I would like us to look at what's working and not working in other districts because this is challenging. This is novel and in order for us to do the best that we can do for our own students. I suggest that we truly measure ourselves against similar districts. Thank you. Thank you. Would any other candidate like to respond to a secondary opportunity for this question? Yes, Cecilia. Yes, I would like to see us as a school board reach out to legislators more. You know, we have good legislators here but I would like to have us visit the Capitol and actually speak with legislators. It's important that they understand what our needs are as a school district and we need to do some advocacy and some work in that area. I would like to see us do that. Thank you. Thank you. Any other responses to the first question? Seeing none, I will move on to the second question. The second question, first responder will be Leah Darra, followed by Asmanson and then Heider and then Cullen and then Eskemia Greenwald. And the second question is, how do you think that the Davis Joint Unified School District should close the achievement gap among our students given the pandemic, budget cuts, etc.? And we begin with Leah Darra. Sorry. Thank you. Well, since my oldest daughter began in her gap and unfortunately, although we've made some progress, we have not closed it. So I do think there's work to be done there. I think we have some opportunities with the recent guidance from the California Department of Education in which we could allow small cohorts of students to possibly attend school. We could start to focus on our special education and our most in needs students who are not getting their needs met. According to information from a candidate forum that we were part of with the district, they're about to start looking at parents and contacting parents about students who could get some resources in that way. And so there might be ways to have small group instruction that would really reach out to the students who are most in need. So that would be my first strategy. I think it's a multi-pronged approach. And I think we have some systemic things to look at to ensure that we don't have policies within our district that might inadvertently be marginalizing some of our students. Thank you. Thank you. Next to Vigtus Asmanson. I apologize. Same question. As Leah mentioned, the opportunity gap has been an issue for a very long time, since long before COVID. The California dashboard shows us that the metric where DJUSD has the largest performance gap is in chronic absenteeism with foster youth in the red, students with disabilities and socioeconomically disadvantaged students doing only slightly better. This is particularly important at this time when it's maybe even easier to lose students. It also does show that we are improving and the district's focus and the funding on our unduplicated students does have an impact. So we are headed in the right direction. At the student level, we need to ensure that all of our students are supportive so that they can be successful in programs that make our district so special. Visual and performing arts, athletics, extracurriculars are all very important motivators, but not all of our students have access to them or are not encouraged or given the support to succeed in them. And that disparity can start in late elementary or junior high and it only gets worse in high school. For teachers, we need to provide training in culturally responsive teaching and in particular at this time, trauma informs teaching so that they're prepared to implement structures that support all of our students. My biggest soapbox, the focus of my research as I am beginning a PhD in educational policy is how student schools can support parents and families. Students with families who are food or housing insecure lack access to health services or have lost their jobs have a harder time in the classroom. I believe that support for families outside of the classroom benefits students so that they can succeed inside the classroom. Thank you, Betsy Heider. Having a child who did not keep up academically within the district as we had hoped this issue is near and dear to my heart. And that we knew before COVID that there are the effects of it. What we know is that the district has some strengths that need to be reinstated as soon as it's safely possible for our special needs learners and or have some strengths to be reinstated especially as soon as possible in particular for our special needs learners. Inclusive learning in DJUSD has shown good academic outcomes for children participating in the general classroom model and we need it back. We also know that if it isn't one size fits all model we have low SES kids who need to be back soon. Soon after that to know that we have their basic needs met for effective learning. We need them back on campus. Yet we still have other children in neither of those categories that just aren't achieving many receiving services but yet still are behind. It's impossible to know just yet what the takeaways are from just learning for some of these kids. It's hard to know how accurate the remote assessments are how low comprehension and retention has how retention and comprehension has been affected and of course the social emotional effect of learning more in a more isolated setting. We will learn. We will learn from it. Getting restarted on one side of instruction is on onsite instruction is a starting point. Thank you. Thank you. Andrew Cullen. Thank you. In order to close the achievement gap among our students during these challenging times brought on mostly by COVID-19 we mean budget reductions and other cascading impacts is critical for us to prioritize the tools and policies that will make this in space learning as effective and equitable for all of our students. To do this I'll prioritize the following. First, I will commit to increasing the accessibility and effectiveness of high-speed internet in Davis for all children, teachers and staff. This will include deploying hardware such as laptops, Wi-Fi hotspots and audio devices for improved engagement. Second, I will push for community-wide wireless infrastructure improvements in partnership with the city and county to not only deliver high-speed internet but reliable internet. We can't have any more instructional days lost like this past Thursday in the district. Third, I will ensure that the students, teachers and staff get the necessary and continued training tools to effectively teach distance space. The district changes entire model in a single day back in March and there needs to be continued support and feedback improvement as we move forward. More broadly, I would like the district to take this time during the pandemic as an opportunity to focus on what is working and not working for diverse and low socioeconomic students in our district and begin the implementation of new programs, curriculum and education, research-based training to restructure these aspects of our schools with these students' needs of the forethought as we transition back to in-person learning. Thank you. Thank you. And Cecilia, ask me a green wall to finish off the question. Okay, thank you. I think that we can address the achievement gap by collaborating with the city and the county to address broadband issues. As was already mentioned, this last Thursday, the majority of the city, our kids got kicked off. There was a big issue. That was an accident, but we've had ongoing problems, so that needs to be prioritized and addressed. I also think by addressing the fact that paraeducators need to have access to students online to support them and provide them the opportunity to work with children that have paraeducators. My kid has an IEP and he has a paraeducator who has finally been able to get on and talk to him, but we need to make sure that happens with all kids so that no learning time is lost. Also, with regards to addressing the achievement gap, we need to make sure that our students see themselves reflected in the curriculum. There are studies done by Stanford and other universities that show that when students see themselves reflected in the curriculum, their grades improve, their self-esteem improves. They see themselves as achieving and doing good things in life and in school. And so that's very important that we provide that. Also, through programs such as BRIDGE and the Academic Center at UC Davis, students who need help with after school, after school with math, science, and English can get the help they need. So doing these things and supporting them helps us to close the achievement gap. Thank you. Thank you. Once again, we'd like to open to the candidates for a secondary response and I see lots of hands. I saw Leah's hand first. Thank you. In addressing the achievement gap, research shows us that some of the most impactful and cost-effective methods of intervention go in the earliest learners. So I'd like to see us, if funds are tight, I'd like to see us invest in our youngest learners. I'd also love to see targeted summer school programs, more use of our avid program, the Academic Center, the BRIDGE program, and other learning support programs for our students. And lastly, I think it's important for our students to see themselves reflected in the staff amongst them, especially in our teachers and our leadership in our district. Students achieve, research shows students achieve more and feel more connected to their school and their teachers when they look like them, particularly a young man of color. Thank you. Thank you. I believe I saw the dishand second. Thanks. I would like to definitely echo my support for having instructors that look like our students and certainly having that reflected also in our curriculum. I also want to second the idea that we should be moving a little bit more quickly on utilizing that governor's allowance for in-person small group instruction for students that are at highest risk. We need to take a look at our students who are already identified rather than waiting for new testing and make sure that we're working quickly with our teachers and our sites on the logistics of making sure that we can keep everyone safe while still moving forward on that. Thank you. I believe Betsy's hand was next. Hi, thank you. I also want to echo the same for diverse staffing and ethnic studies and ways to show our children themselves reflected back in their curriculum. I also just wanted to say that we don't know the effect of the distant learning protocol yet and that I feel like there's potential upside for achievement gap kids that perhaps it's even more plausible for differentiation for those children that is needed. And so I think there's a lot to be learned and I'm actually looking forward to that what studies and research shows from in this particular arena of achievement gap. Thanks. Thank you. Andrew, I believe I saw your hand. I may actually pass on that. Okay. Okay, thank you. That would be fine. That would be fine. Any other secondary follow-ups here to the second question? Seeing none, we'll move on to the third question. Irrespective of COVID-19, should elementary and high school online learning be a permanent feature of our schools? What are advantages and disadvantages of this type of learning? We'll begin with Eskimiya Greenwald and then Dara, Asmenson, Heider and Cullen. Thank you. Distance learning has been an interesting challenge, let's say, for parents. On the plus side, boy, children are really learning to use those computers and they're getting very, very skilled at it. That's a good thing. Research does show that for children's social-emotional growth, whether at the young levels, kindergarten, all the way through 12th grade, meeting in person, having that connection, learning to collaborate with peers, that is better for their development. But we do need to look at safety first. We need to look at is it safe to return to school? I know right now we're talking about irrespective of COVID. There are some children that may do a better job learning online. And so I think we can have that available for some children who either need a hybrid of learning online and in person. But however, I think for the most, it shows that learning in an in-person environment is best for children. They learn a lot on the playground, how to negotiate and work with other children. They learn from their teachers, from their peers. And so I think that we could still have it available for those children that need it. But I'm sure we all look forward to the day when it's safe to return to in-person learning. Thank you. Thank you. Leah Dara? Well, I think it's a large discussion. Online instruction doesn't meet the needs of all students. It does for some. But I think everyone would agree with me that being in an online classroom and in classroom is nothing like walking into a well functioning classroom anywhere in our district. You can feel the buzz in a good classroom. And that's really hard to recreate on Zoom. So I think for some students, the option for online learning, people who have compromised health conditions, immune systems, or who don't feel safe in our classroom settings, online learning might be a tool. But I think it's a conversation with parents, community members, our teachers, our administration to see what's best and what's fair. People who went to school to be tears went to school to sit in a classroom with kids and guiding through their lives, put their hand on their shoulder and help students see and see how a math problem works or to see the beauty in a flower when it's dissected. And that's not quite the same on Zoom. So I think it's important to consider that. Although online learning has been a tool for us because in the times recently when we've had the fires and the air quality being so bad, school would have had to be closed if we had in-person school. So our students were able to access their learning through online school. But again, I think there's no, there's no argument that online school and Zoom learning is not the same when you sit in a classroom and hear a teacher's voice and see all the kids interacting and that's very hard to recreate. So it's a bigger conversation for our district. Thank you. Vigda Sasmanson. My answer is yes. My personal experience makes me think that it would be more feasible at the upper grade levels, but I know that there are many programs including, for example, DSIS that do have a component that is not physically in person. And I am definitely open to that option if it's logistically sound and it meets the needs of our students. The advantages are that it does offer a choice for our students. And DJUSD has a history of providing choice in our programming. It's important to acknowledge that some students may thrive in an environment where they are not around people all day. I know many adults feel the same way. So while many people benefit from in-person interactions, I don't want to assume that that's everybody's normal or their best choice. It also offers some flexibility in ours. I was recently reading about a high school that offers classes outside of the regular school day that then allows students to take court college courses to work or help care for their family. The disadvantages are, of course, that it requires significant parent support, particularly at the younger grades or strong independent motivation, possibly at the upper grades. It also means that students do need to ensure that they have those social interactions and supports outside of the classroom and they would have to identify those on their own. And this is a concern in our current situation as well. It does make abuse more difficult to identify. I also want to note that regardless of remote instruction, DJUSD is putting considerable funding into one-to-one devices and, while that has a lot of advantages, including allowing for continuity of instruction during smoke days and it's been done successfully in many places, including Da Vinci and the site where I used to teach in Fairfield, it also has many challenges and requires significant preparation. Thank you. Betsy Heider. For a childlike mind who was socially very immature and very extremely distracted, I can see a hybrid model of on-site and distant learning being advantageous, advantageous actually. So, yes. Clearly one advantage would be less disruption to an overall classroom and yet freedom to move or tailor his environment to what soothes and comforts him the most so that his mind can rest in the learning process or working at a slower or faster pace and not comparing himself necessarily with other students. I think those are advantages. The disadvantages clearly for us would be at least for us as an example would have been more parental involvement in the day to day while other responsibilities remain unchanged like many families. And another could be unrecognized maladaptive effects from like anxiety of not knowing where they're supposed to be in a text or on a screen and things like that can't turn to a neighbor and say where are we? Education is not the only sector that is and will be studying the effect on productivity from distance and a mental health component of working and learning and an increased level of physical isolation. I think it's exciting to see what can come from these studies and theories and the models may change as a result to fill the gap. It's likely that it can if technology does bridge gaps and in my mind's eye maybe with better outcomes that we actually haven't seen in traditional models just yet but again time will tell. Thanks. Thank you. We now move to the secondary response and if any of them Oh I'm sorry my mistake Andrew Cullen I apologize. Thank you. So to a certain extent yes online learning should become a permanent feature of our schools this spring as I said earlier the district was forced to make drastic changes with little time to plan and I'm impressed with the results so far. Research has shown that public school students are constantly ill prepared for real-world college and career experiences with respect to their technological proficiencies while they amount and degree to which online learning should remain will very greatly depending on on a student's age community needs and other factors that we as a community will need to decide. I believe that the technological education should remain a core component in a balanced way of our public school's curriculum if we want to prepare future generations for the workforce. However, there are several drawbacks to a mostly online learning environment that I want to address immediately if elected as a governing board member. First, there are inequitable opportunities for students of disadvantaged backgrounds succeed especially with access to technology and parental engagement. Second, there is an unfortunate inherent reduction in detection and reporting of child abuse and neglect virtually. Schools play a critical role in our society in protecting a child's safety through day-to-day observation of their health of which can't really happen remotely. Third, there is a diminished effectiveness of extracurricular activities like physical education and music that promote a child's sense of teamwork, leadership and positive mental health. Thank you. Thank you. Again, my apologies. We now move to the opportunity for a secondary response on this question and I'm seeing Leah's hand first. Thanks. Well, I think it would be irresponsible to not mention that my survey size of one student, my daughter, would tell you that school needs to be as soon as it's safe. She totally understands the COVID restrictions but she wants to be with her friends, with her school, with her teachers as much as she might have told me before some days I hate school or school sucks or whatever the things that teenagers say. She wants so badly to be in school and that is an important component of her life and the routines that it has. So I think that we can't underestimate the value for many students not all but many students to literally be in a classroom and be with their peers. Thank you. Andrea, I believe I saw your hand next. Yes. I just wanted to talk about two other disadvantages and that would use as additional frameworks to approach business based learning. First would be focusing on ergonomics. So the way that we're positioned all day now is not uniform or really monitored very well especially with the number of students the staff the district has. So if elected I would focus on making sure that people are safe to work from where they're working or studying during the day. And second I think the district needs to address air quality. I know it was mentioned earlier but often indoor air quality in houses housing especially depending on your income and other factors is worse than what we can control in the school. So I think the district needs to also take a look at what modifications can be on both and plan for only return because air quality is going to be a continued worsening problem in California as the climate crisis worsens and we industrialize further. Thanks. Thank you. And then I believe I saw Cecilia's hand next. Yeah, thank you. Like Leah said my kids have made it clear that they love in-person learning. They miss their friends. They miss their teachers. They miss their activities, their art, their music. So hands down I think the majority of children want to go back to school but we can't do that until it's safe. And I've spoken to teachers and the teachers association and they've made it clear that and I agree it needs to be safe for teachers and for our children. And online learning teaching is a challenge for teachers. So whatever it is that we do we do need to make sure that we work with them so that their voices are heard as well. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wish to make a secondary response? Yes. Biggest. Yeah. I guess I want to clarify that for general education, yes, I like the idea of this as an option if this is something that makes students feel more comfortable for their long term development. In that one to one device instruction I had a significant amount of experience with it. Moving to that more online instruction when I was teaching in Fairfield we had it for very many for a lot of years in a title one school and as I mentioned it just takes a lot of maintenance and it has a lot of drawbacks. I know a lot of teachers actually started moving away from doing some of that online instruction or utilizing their Chromebooks because it also has a lot of detrimental effects on the students learning. So many benefits but it really has to be taken with a grain of salt and a lot of preparation. Thank you. Any additional secondary response request? Yes. Just quickly I just want to iterate that I too think that hybrid is what makes the most sense. Social emotional development of children obviously they need to be with other children and so I think that it's literally a tool that can be added as an option to those learners and those parents who feel like it could assist their child the most. Thanks. Thank you. Any additional secondary follow-ups to that question? Okay. Seeing none we'll move on to our fourth and final moderated question and again the candidates did not have an opportunity to see this in advance. I will begin with Andrew Cullen and then Eskimea Greenwald and then Dara Asmanson and then Haider and the question is how would you describe your leadership style in time of crisis such as budget deficits pandemics shortage of teacher etc. Please pick an example and expand and we begin with Andrew Cullen. Well definitely one of my skills is not public speaking. I spend most of my career and education at the books and looking at problems. I would say that when it comes to leadership during an emergency I'm gaining more experiences day to day just this weekend alone we were racing for another PSPS in the Bay Area and I function at work in the planning section of our emergency operation center and so for me I try to stay calm think through problems I think that one of the most important skills that somebody on this governing board can bring as we move through this crisis because it's going to be years long is to really focus on that community engagement. So if I were elected I would try to get as much data as I can from the community teachers staff and develop solutions that will last for years to come. COVID-19 came this year but it's likely to stay for many and then its cascading impacts are just starting to begin. So in crisis I have been proven to be calm and collected and listen. Thank you. Thank you. Cecilia Thank you. It's an interesting question. I've had people say wow it's busy time for parents and then there's a pandemic and you decide to run for school board and then people that know me say well that makes sense because in times of crisis you excel you do really well. I'm a collaborator I bring people together I talk to groups of people listen to them that's what's most important also not just providing ideas and suggestions but listening and you asked for an example in my professional life I you know I work as a labor specialist and in that capacity the state has seen cuts and we've had to work on addressing issues work on making accommodations I was one of six people that sat at the bargaining table when cuts had to be made and they were looking to have the least harmful impact on people and that takes a lot of skill I worked with a team and so I think working in a team environment when you're addressing challenging issues and crises that's important but most important is working in collaboration and I would do that with teachers administrators parents and students and our number one constituents are students so we need to listen to them and hear what they have to say and make them comfortable and keep them safe thank you thank you Leah I'd say my leadership style is very collaborative I am a good listener and I do try and listen to hear what someone's saying to me and not just try and formulate my response so I think that's really important in a school board when we're getting a lot of data from our from our from our fellow school members as well as our community members and our constituents in terms of leadership style applying to a situation looking at budgeting for example I am very analytical I'm very data driven but I also have the understanding that the data points refer to specific students actual people and so as much as you could say it's a small percentage of students who have this negative outcome that's still real kids so I keep that in mind as I make decisions I'm very open-minded and so I would like to kind of listen to things and hear different points of view and then make my decision I'm willing to hear points of view that are different from my own and I think it's actually very important but I do have my own strong convictions about what I think is right for example in the COVID crisis I volunteered to help moderate a Facebook community group to provide information and resources to our community so when I saw a problem I knew people communication and resources was what the problem was we were all stuck at home I stepped forward to help and that's just how I work in our community so I look forward the opportunity to hearing from people and I don't assume when I'm always right so I'm willing to listen and learn and if I'm wrong I'm willing to admit it thank you thank you Vigtis thank you I would describe my leadership style is very collaborative as a teacher I want all people to succeed and that takes working as a team in order to meet our common goal and our common goal is clearly what we want the best educational experience for our students so that they can all succeed and I want our decisions to reflect those values and priorities I would use the example of working on the site council I was working in a title one school there's never enough money there's never enough money in any school of course and sometimes we do have to make very difficult budget decisions for example we had spent some of our budget on a TOSA a teacher on special assignment that served as a full-time coach for other teachers it was a wonderful service but it turned out that one year that's not where our budget priorities were going to lie and so you have to make those sort of detailed nimble decisions in order to best meet the needs of your students and create those priorities reflect those priorities maybe that would change in a different year maybe there's a different priority or something that you see is going to help the students in another way and you really need to be looking at all of the details and how that's worked and make sure that you're ready to make those changes even though they might be not the most popular decision you need to find ways to make sure that everybody understands how it is supporting our common goal of supporting our students thank you and onto Betsy Heider thank you I think that leadership in a crisis is a strength in the sense that like what do they say preparation meets opportunity and you actually can respond the best when you've had good preparation and training for crises I think for me that happened in the corporate world just being in a very fast moving environment and having different product as a product manager and a program manager so you know issues come up all the time what what happens is I tend to get is take a deep breath tend to get as broad of a perspective as I can and to find the common ground immediately so that we can move forward on what we do know and what we have because if you're not moving forward in a crisis you're moving backward so I feel like that that's something that as long as you're moving objectively and you can get collaboration you can get people and be persuasive that there's a right thing to do and usually get moving in one direction rather than be paralyzed by the crisis itself I think those are all things that I can bring to the table and as an example would be 1112 when I was PTA president at Pioneer it was just after the Great Recession there were pink slips everywhere morale morale was very low on our campuses and I was PTA president so what we did was we connected we found those who were going to be most distressed and found a way to get them through it as easily as possible as a team thank you thank you I would now like to move well you guys know the drill don't you Andrew let me take you this time first I thank you and Leah had your hand at the same time no thank you so one thing I also want to point out as far as my leadership style and that has been largely and it influenced framework for me by a mentor at work and that's to be really accountable for everything that doesn't go right so as I've worked through work problems I have to collaborate in my current job with people of all backgrounds from research operations to operations so um correct is and so if you thank you thank you okay is somebody not muted okay yeah I was just saying that as a my during my crisis I'm very accountable I'm very very accountable and self-reflected for what doesn't go right so I try to practice on a daily basis at work and try to just constantly improve and that's one of the best parts of living is development and improvement so thank you okay thank you and I apologize for the audio interruption I believe your hand was next thank you just through California State PT in my role both as the director legislation and as the Vice President Education now I serve on a statewide board and so we have mission and goals much like our own district and so I do have experience working with a mission statement and goals and we do take time in our work there to ensure that our work is in alignment with our goals and when we have to prioritize projects or initiatives we want to take on we do really look at how they fall in line with our goals and so as a district leader I would also like to see us ensuring that the work that we do works to meet our goals again protecting our most vulnerable students and making sure that whatever our mission and our goals are our community members are very clear thank you thank you do you guys see another hand for this as well yes Cecilia yes thank you so during the crisis the paradise crisis you know I grew up in Chico and so paradise had family members there in the past and friends now that was an urgent issue that not only impacted impacted that area but the general area many of us know people that live there and it impacted children at our school too so what I did is I quickly collaborated and brought together sent out an announcement to the community that we were collecting gift cards and certain resources that families needed we collected those items and we had a big trailer full of things and gift cards and we delivered them to the fairgrounds for families and that's what's needed we need quick actions sometimes when there are emergencies and I'm not afraid to step up thank you thank you and Betsy I believe I saw your hand yeah I ran out of time so I just want to talk a little bit more about pioneer because it was what happened was and I think this is really important as is that in an elementary campus in something like that kind of crisis what we found was coming together as a team and trying to keep our own cells our own morale and our own teamwork healthy so for example families that were new to the campus that had difficulty navigating what we all had was green bands that were pioneer prairie dog bands and anybody with a green band that was on PTA or type could could actually ask that person a question they were a new parent couldn't find their way and those types of things is what actually brought us when we did it together it wasn't as bad as it felt at the beginning of the year and I think most of the teachers at pioneer would tell you the same thanks thank you just to let you all know none of you has exceeded the five opportunities you have so if anyone would like one more secondary opportunity to respond please feel free yes Andrew yeah and then I think the last thing these are pretty broad I leave my ego behind I'm very mission focused and so if that means whatever it takes for the district to navigate those is you know we're all as community in my at least in my framework aligned towards the same goal you know those same goals I don't have any personal agendas especially I don't think anybody of these candidates do either running from for a board say how yeah that's it thank you any other secondary responses yes big yes yeah and I think I'd also like to highlight that I feel like I am a problem solver as a teacher of course you are dealing with problems every single day something new is happening and you have to look at how did that lesson go that day and how is it going to change tomorrow and how am I going to improve it and take that forward I think that's also really a lot of my science background the scientific method you're constantly looking at your results and how does that how is that going to impact your next project and your next question one of the other skills that I had was as a teacher coach and I took a collaborative coaching class which was so amazing because we really look at how do we what do we want to see in six months in a year and 10 years what are our tools what are the best ways for us to get there and I think that that's a very important skill to bring to any problem thank you any other additional secondary yes Cecilia thank you I also want to say that during these challenging times or when we're in a crisis or emergency everyone's rushing to solve the problem we need to make sure that we don't forget those who are more vulnerable such as parents who have students with special needs because sometimes they feel like they're left out to dry and we need to make sure that we have good contact with them continuously also our ELL students if their parents don't communicate English or have a little English ability we need to make sure that we communicate with them in whatever language that is and we don't wait for them to come to us we go to them we need to be there for everyone and that's what I would do as a school board member thank you thank you Betsy I saw your hand as well you can hear me right okay yes I just like to as far as managing through a crisis I just like to speak to the skills of advocacy training what you what can happen obviously in crisis is that we can raise our voices we can feel very passionate about a particular stance and I think what's important in any crisis is to be able to lead and persuade which takes a lot of self-control and it takes a lot of good digging deep into analytical thinking and so I feel like with advocacy training as an attorney that those are things that you bring to the table that you don't lose people in a crisis thank you thank you are there any other secondary responses seeing none we will move on now to closing statements again we have our closing statements by random draw we'll begin with Leah Dara followed by Vigdes Asmanson then Betsy Hyder Andrew Cullen and then Cecilia Eschemia Greenwald so for the closing statement we begin with Leah Dara well once again thank you for this forum I really appreciate the opportunity to hear actually my fellow candidates are looking at and the opportunity to speak to the public so thank you I really am looking forward to the opportunity to serve our district I will be the area two school board trustee so in a sense I have a different perspective than those running but it's very important to me that our community members feel comfortable reaching out to me sharing with me their concerns their ideas their questions they can do that by either emailing me at Leah Dara for Schools at gmail.com or look at my website leah4schools.com I really want to hear from the members of the board and particularly I would love to hear students student voice is very important our students are living through this experience now and if nothing else the current times has shown us that the student voice is a powerful voice and advocacy and students know what they need and their parents do as well thank you thank you closing statement Vigdis Asmanson I want to first thank all of you for taking the time to listen to us and a huge thank you of course to the League of Women Voters for all of your work on this forum our district is facing many challenges including addressing the social emotional needs of our students and our families and our employees during this crisis providing equitable access for all of our students and of course working with our budget concerns my experience collaborating with students teachers families and administrators my background in science and community health my experience working with diverse communities and my work from K-12 classrooms to the state level has prepared me schools are the foundation of our society they provide so much to our community beyond academics and it would be my honor to contribute to those decisions that are required to give that next generation the wonderful experience that I know our schools can provide I would like you to please feel free to learn more about me or contact me at VigdisForSchools.org that's the number four and thank you thank you closing statement Betsy Heider mute thanks again for the opportunity today and for attending I believe what I bring to the Board of Education for the next term has a unique nexus with the times in which we and our children find ourselves with COVID constraints and distant learning we must rethink education in the short term analytically and innovatively while planning strategically for what education looks like post COVID and for when the next pandemic happens we need season thinking and aptitude for managing large organizations during lean budget times as well as designing a recovery plan when we come out on the other side and more than that we need all of that grown-up work to be done through the lens of children with differing needs and challenges that all deserve the same opportunity for an education that will serve them well whatever their endeavors might be and I think that's what I bring to the table and I thank you and please find out more about me and my candidacy at Betsy Heider for school board org and that is the number four thanks thank you Andrew Cullen echo others thank you everybody for your time today as a civically-minded and educationally-motivated individual who is passionate about and committed to the Davis community and its schools I'm excited and honored for this opportunity to serve as the Davis Joint Unified School Districts next at-large governing board member as a representative I will focus on bringing an innovative and health-focused perspective to the district's distinguished public schools while recognizing the complexities of the problems ahead of our schools in the response and recovery efforts to the pandemic as a board member for the district I am ready to apply my technical and leadership skills to build community resiliency through our public schools that will last for through this in any future crisis and to work through these unprecedented times towards a more equitable and healthy educational experience for all children and families thank you again you can visit my website at cullenfordavis.com and it's F-O-R not the number thank you thank you and closing statements Cecilia Eskemia-Greenwell thank you again I want to thank the league for having this forum today it really gives us an opportunity to reach out to the public and I thank the public again for listening to us I just want to say that I really hope you reach out to me you can either go to my website Cecilia for the number four school board.com or call me I'm available 530-400-2511 I want to hear from you I want to hear your ideas hear your questions I'm going to be a school board member that promotes the current education of our students those that are vulnerable with special needs those who are English language learners and those students who are doing excellent are going to be going on to universities sometimes they're taking a gap here because of the pandemic I want to hear from those parents as well I want to collaborate with parents teachers administrators and address these tough issues that we're facing during this pandemic and the only way to do that is to reach out and talk to us I'm here for you and I'm very honored to have the endorsement and support of Bob Poppingay who is the current board member that serves this area please vote for me I will be more than happy to represent you and meet with you thank you so much thank you this concludes our closing statements we will now have a brief interlude with our president Mary Jo Bryant while we take an opportunity to collate audience questions so this is an interlude period for those in attendance but don't go away we will be back with audience questions after Mary Jo's interlude thank you good afternoon this is really exciting because I just listen to everybody speak and I can't believe the technology and how well it's run and how well it works and each of you did a wonderful job and we're lucky to have such dedicated and some interesting people to serve on different commissions on boards and on board of education and then on to the city council next sunday will be the city council candidates in the same situation and we're really excited about that it's a little different format because there'll be three city council meetings of candidates forums but before that happens we even have another another league function it's unbelievable I'm just going to go back a little bit the league started in Davis in 1957 it was a powerful group of women that began this this road to nonpartisan community education and started by Sandy Montlake some of your mothers or grandmothers might remember them and we've had a wonderful we've had they had a wonderful years but in 2014 they realized that their leadership just was not just couldn't go on as it was and they could not attract younger people so I'm reaching out to you guys right now that join the league and provide this continue to provide this kind of service to our community which includes voter education voter registration community service events and forums and the next forum that's going to take place is on health care they've already had the health care committee that Michelle is the chair of has had one health care forum already the second one is going to be even more exciting than the first one I think because they're going to help us differentiate between the two most popular health care reform ideas one is the single pair here and the other one is on health care for all and with two excellent speakers and and they will be coming up this coming went Thursday evening October 1st from 7 to 8 again on zoom you just register right on with the event right right on zoom and I promise you you'll you'll learn a lot the league that has been been vitalized since May of 2019 and became recognized in August of 2019 has really driven to really provide what the league of women voters stood for from the beginning a strong strong nonpartisan voter education kind of program and I'm so proud to be a part of it I've been a league member since 1970 so you know guess how old I am and then but I've never this has always been my my organization of choice we have a website which I'm really proud to announce and it's up and running and it has links to everything that we've done you can you know as this is being recorded today you can go on and listen to it at different times you can you can ask your friends do you want to hear the candidates for the school board this is all you have to do go on www LWV davis area dot org and that's our website very simple so I'm hoping that people will take advantage of this but we've also had forums on housing and on three housing forums one on the general plan one on housing the question of housing and its effects of portable housing and redlining is a big board that stood out of my mind in regards to housing and it really has pointed out recently the reasons why we have so much right now so kind of unrest in regards to wanting people to understand that the life life for some of us is not the same as life for other people and we need to recognize this and we need to understand why and then do something about it and we're also getting ready to do an update on our housing plan you talk about the needs for more families coming to young families coming to davis well we need to build some more housing that attracts that families not high-end housing and not as I supported the the housing measure L for a housing for a more senior oriented or adult active but hopefully that will open up housing in other parts of davis but housing is a big issue and housing is a big big issue in davis and how do we provide that kind of housing that brings more young families that I was when I came here in 1973 with two young kids so it's you know the league is so happy to be back in progress and working and and we can hope to continue that but we continue with new members like yourselves okay Betsy Vegas you know Cecilia I think you wanted I think you'll join I think and lia you're and and of course men are in we have we do have men members we have lots of household members or husbands and wives or partners have become members together so it's open to all when you become a member of your local league you also become a member of your national league and the state league and they are all involved in in issues around government in proving government and working for better laws and better situations so I think it's really exciting and worse and you guys are exciting to us because I really don't know you except for Cecilia and so I'm happy to be part of this this renovation this renewal revigoration of the league of women voters and Davis and if you have any questions again contacting us is is easy through our website or I believe our our info at lwv davis area dot org also is our is our email address but our our numbers are around too we're pretty well known our Vice my Vice President is Bob Fung that does all this tech stuff for us and our membership chairman is Judy Hagerman and Harrison I'm sorry Harrison and our media social media person is is Como Hop and so we've got a strong group Michelle's our chair of that program and we're looking for for people to join us and we do have a large membership but as always we need active memberships too and so think about it okay the one thank you you you thank you are we ready look like we have our questions ready thank you thank you if I could keep you going just a little bit of a dance back and forth guys we're letting you on the background of this between getting the questions ready and yeah and having very to see you right thank you well thank you for letting me talk because I love to talk about the league thank you we do believe we have our audience questions so we'll conclude our program here with submitted questions looks like we have about time for about four of them each candidate will be limited to a one-minute response a secondary 32nd response is allowed for each candidate for each question we hope to present our our panel today with three or four questions and for our first question we are going to begin with Andrew Cullen who will respond first then Greenwald Dara Asmanson and Haider and our first question today is how would you work together with other board of education members to create an effective and efficient board of education we begin with Andrew yeah so I mean I think a lot of it goes back to some of the strengths I talked about earlier in my leadership style a lot of that will be about outreach community involvement so when it comes to working with other is board of education members can you repeat that one more time oh I'm sorry yeah how would you work together with other board of education members to create an effective and efficient board of education thank you yeah so I think a lot of that is about how you work on a team and so I work on a variety of teams one my own but I work with a lot of other teams to go towards a single mission and currently that's doing cutting edge science at in Berkeley but that requires empathetically listening to people trying to understand other perspectives and then being able to make decisions and be accountable for them so that's how I would approach building an effective and efficient team there's a lot more to it than I can get into in six seconds but thank you okay thank you and then we move on to Cecilia yeah thank you for that question I would work collaboratively I think that's one of the words that define me being collaborative and of course we do have to take into consideration we don't want to do brown act violations so we I would reach out to my fellow board members and I would encourage us also to go out to the community people do come to school board meetings or email us when they're able to but when it's safe and allowable it would be good to go out to various parts of Davis even into other districts besides our own and work with other board members you know to hold small little mini town hall meetings if you will because sometimes with varied schedules parents can't make it down to the school board so it would be good for us to have little mini meetings in areas in open areas at a school board cafeteria so I would work with them work collaboratively and get out to the community more and do it in different languages too it's important that we include all thank you thank you Leah to be effective and efficient I think it's important to have good communication with each other the board members staff administration and then with our community members our constituents those whose decisions are impacted whose lives are impacted by our decision making I think it's also very important to be prepared for all school board meetings not just reading the agenda but make reaching out for any additional information you might need to make a decision in advance so that you can be well prepared and I think also listening very well during the meetings and taking in information having an open mind and being willing to consider information provided to you that you may not have either thought of or known before hearing presentations I think those are ways in which we can be effective and then also being mindful you bring each other's time thank you Figdis thank you I think that the most important thing is just to make sure that we remember that we have that common goal what is best for our students families and all of our staff I think that we need to make sure that we have regular planning and communication and sharing my coaching background and my peer helping background actually from Emerson junior high school gave me active listening skills and those coaching skills also allow other people to bring forward their best most positive selves I think it's really important that we work together to be as transparent as possible and make sure that we keep that trust of our community within our parameters of course as you mentioned with the Brown Act making sure that our discussions keep our staff families and students in mind the very top of our mind my work as a department chair leading a group of teachers working at the district level with other department chairs to create a curriculum for our entire district and my current work as the lead for the California Alternate Assessment and the California Science test all given me those skills to help me be a part of a team that is leading everyone else thank you thank you and Betsy hi yeah I think that so the effective part is clearly a people issue and dealing effectively with one another and as I had talked about before finding common ground using analytical thinking and objectivity to step outside of ourselves and work as a team and that's all around human nature I think the efficiency part is really starts right now I think in talking with the district as a candidate group and understanding that we're going to hit the ground running in December that is doing our homework right now a full commitment of what's happening specifically with the budget and the budgeting cycle is really really important and I'd say that that other element of that is of effectiveness is just doing your homework and working really hard and showing up and being available and present to be able to contribute with the best that you have so hard work collaboration thanks thank you the candidates have an opportunity for a 30 second follow-up yes Andrew not good off the cuff being first here but I want to just also point out that I was just thinking that time period about how I've been effective on my own team and I think that importantly is I would approach this by trying to create trust with other governing board members in the community so people feel safe kind of like touching back on like psychological safety principles of people being able to like they can take risks and be vulnerable and throw out their ideas because a lot of people often don't speak up because they have these preconceived notions that they're going to be judged or that they have bad ideas when they're really great so that's all I have thank you yes follow-up Fancy um I just wanted to say that I gosh I lost my train of thought that I I think oh gosh sorry Michelle I've completely lost my train of thought if someone else wants a secondary response I can come back to you another secondary response anyone seeing none Betsy you want to take another crack at it no bummer for me now I'll probably answer it in the fourth question that's okay thanks probably let's move on to the next question what are the top three critical issues you feel are facing students today and we'll go in the order of Greenwall Darra Asmanson Hyder and Cullen thank you the top one is this pandemic and distance learning that is imperative we need to keep that communication open because things change depending upon the numbers from the county board of education excuse me county board of health health department and the statewide health department so we that communication line needs to stay open we need to continue to provide the resources and training to teachers to staff to parents and students so that there can be continued learning and they can be successful so those two things are important and the digital divide we have to address that issue as soon as possible because we as parents I share it with all the other parents when we're online and our kids get kicked off because there's something going on it interrupts their education and teachers you know have frustrations too understandably so we need to make sure that our internet systems are up to date and lastly the budget so those three things thank you thank you Lea Dara I'm sorry please restate the question oh I'm sorry I'm sorry yeah so the question is what do you believe are the top three critical issues facing students today sure okay so number one I think as others have said the pandemic the health crisis that potential and the loss of routine switching to distance learning in a day for our students so that's one I think that leads into the mental and physical health that are been concerns for our students for some quite some long time and many of the issues that we're facing our students before stress bullying suicide ideation I mean there were things happening in our district before the pandemic ever happened fear of gun violence those were there so that was an issue and then I think for some students in our district an issue is lack of resources we have a high number of students who rely on school for more than just their education for their meal or mentors people to be in their lives and all those things are not with them right now and even when school isn't in place those students come to school having faced a lot of outside factors that are impacting their learning thank you thank you and big dis Desmond I think that the most important thing that's specifically addressing our students right now is their social emotional welfare uncertainty really causes a lot of difficulties particularly for students who may already have some aces or may already have some trauma and many of our students are in that situation now even if previously they felt more secure that uncertainty and that fear is very difficult for students I think I think also the disparate impact to our students and that equity really needs to be addressed not all of our students are getting the same resources or have the same resources at home and so we're unable to access them and I think the third is really just that general idea of all of the access that they are missing through that remote learning those resources the digital divide possibly access to food access possibly to mandated reporting because we can't see those things as well anymore all of those access issues that are removed because we are no longer in person I think are affecting our students thank you Betsy Heider yeah I I think first and foremost is what will affect our students very very soon is the budget process I mean what changes for them for an onsite education as they come back in what they left behind might be different and I think that that's that's a big issue and in our work on the budget and how we are going to pragmatically work on a whole experience for the children back on site is critical I think that social emotional learning and welfare is is we're seeing it we're we're seeing the effects of it both on the parent side and the child absolutely critical that we that we get more support to our families and hopefully with onsite learning that's safe and then finally as our low resource and our marginalized kids that just have to have their basic needs met and that's a priority in order to engage in any kind of learning process so those are the things I think thanks thank you and Andrew Cullen yeah it's really hard to still down to three since there's so many facing the district here in community right now first like others have said the COVID-19 pandemic is creating is widening gaps that were already there before it's uh as a public health professional I'm really happy to hear about these social determinants that affect outcomes but I may be focused as a board member at creating that resiliency through adequate planning for this and other disasters and so second for me is also the climate crisis we live in Davis was sitting in a bank of smoke for three or four weeks and it's going to happen again and again and so I think that we need to look at it as a district at developing solutions that keep our kids safe when they do come back to school or when they're at their homes mostly through air quality is a particular area of interest of mine and then I'm really committed third to creating opportunities for future success in a fair way for all children so thank you thank you I want to give everyone an opportunity to have that 30 second response time for this second question yes Leah I think overlaying all of the the topics that I that I addressed in my my answer is that right now because so many factors are changing with county health status and you know school being in person or not there's also this and there's it's kind of underlying feeling of not knowing what to expect we can't tell our kids you know it'll be a month it'll be two months it'll be this many days it'll be this many more zoom calls or this many more soccer practice or things an important factor yes did I see another hand for the 36th yes biggest I think that the response to all of these issues is that we need to make sure that we have really strong transparent consistent leadership trauma informed teaching practices tell us that routine is exceptionally important for students to feel safe and secure and we really need to make sure that we are ensuring that our students know that their leadership is making decisions with kindness with good intentions that we are modeling all of those things and that we are keeping their health and safety in mind the and also the health and safety of their families their parents and their teachers thank you Andrew I believe I saw your hand yeah and I spoke a bit about resiliency and so I think that the school district and we as a community can learn a lot from previous disasters there's been a whole new field largely created after 9-11 set around community resiliency and there are a lot of places I'm sure that we can take from what's worked in the past this is a particularly unique scenario where it's such a long term it starts to have disaster so getting back in the response phase but we're starting to creep into some of that recovery and so I want to use some of those lessons learned as we go forward thank you and then Cecilia I believe I saw your hand and then we'll close with Betsy after Cecilia thank you the other sort of overarching issue that sometimes is mentioned and sometimes isn't is right now you know in our country there's an uprising and people of color feel scared and sometimes unwelcomed we need to address that issues even in an online format and I want to say Superintendent Thurman recently announced that he held a press conference and announced that there are many grants that are being given to school districts for teachers to take unbiased training to help students feel welcome students from all backgrounds so I think it's important that we utilize that and help all students feel welcomed thank you thank you and then Betsy the last point I'd like to just add is a major issue and challenge for our children is the challenge to their parents the stress on parents and how that is in the home just as a presence in the current environment and so I think actually the communication from the board and from the district to those parents and as clear as Vigda said transparent way as possible can go a long way thank you those who submitted questions know that we received many more questions than we were able to get to today but we absolutely appreciate those audience questions we really encourage those folks to contact you all at the websites that you provided and I'm sure you'll be happy to respond to those questions this concludes we are running on time sorry about that this concludes our DJUSD candidate forum we want to thank you all you're a wonderful panel we are so lucky in our district to have you all running and we look forward to your representation thank you for your participation this forum has been recorded it can be viewed on our League of Women Voters Davis Area website you can go to LWVDAVISAREA.org thank you to our audience stay safe to all of you and have a good evening