 Hello and welcome to Town Hall Meetings TV coverage of Town Hall Meeting Day 2024. This program is part of a series of forms we are bringing to you in advance of Town Meeting Day of Tuesday, March 5th. Town Meeting TV hosts forums with all candidates and covers the questions that you will see on your ballot, introducing you to the community decision makers, the community decision makers and connecting you with issues that shape your local community. You can also find your forms at cctv.org slash 2024 or at our Town Meeting TV YouTube channel where auto-generated captions are available. On tonight's program, we'll hear from candidates Rita Corey and Martine LaRocke-Gewick who are running for Burlington School Commissioner. Rita Corey is running Uncontested in Ward 1 and incumbent Martine LaRocke-Gewick is running Uncontested in Ward 4. Thank you all for joining us. We have prepared a list of questions for each of you and you will have 90 seconds to answer each question. If you're tuning in live, we also welcome your questions at 802-862-3966. If you call in, we'll do our best to prioritize your question that we will screen calls to ensure that questions are not repeated. We ask that you share your name, the town you live in and the question be directed at the candidates, at both candidates, not just one in particular. Now let's get started with one minute opening statements. We'll start with you, Rita. Now, please tell us why you're running, how you're qualified to serve on the School Board and what will be different for Burlington Schools if you're elected. My name is Rita Corey and I'm running because I want to give back to the community. I went through the school system from K to 12 and I believe I'm qualified because I went through the school system, also went on to college, graduated and will be different if I was elected. I have a different outlook with going through the system, so different perspective. Thank you. Thank you so much, Skye and Corey, I'm so sorry, Rita. I'm so glad that you're both here with me tonight and I'm so happy to be speaking to all of you. This is my fourth term. I've been on the School Board for six years, I'm going into my seventh and I'm qualified because I've been in education as a teacher for most of my life. My two kids went through the Burlington School System. I'm actually Vice Chair of the Senate Education Committee in Montpelier at the state level and I'm a concerned citizen, which is really all it takes to be on a School Board. As someone who cares about kids, cares about education and wants to serve their community, that's what being on a School Board is all about. So I'm really happy to be here and happy to be running again. Fantastic, thank you. Now here's a question about the school budget. So do you support the school year's budget of $119.6 million and associated tax impact of 13.96% and how would you address the challenges facing, sorry, yeah, and how would you address the challenges facing the state education fund and impact on Burlington schools and taxpayers? So we'll start with the first question there. So do you support the school budget? I'll go ahead with you, Margin. Yeah, and do you want me to answer the subsequent question as well? Sure, go ahead. Sure, yeah, so I do support the budget. It is a big budget, but I can tell you, having worked closely with our superintendent and other folks in the administration, now we've really been careful about spending this year and we've basically level funded most of our programs. We're not adding anything new. We do, as most of you know, we do have the high school bond that is that we're starting to feel as taxpayers in the city for sure. And there's a whole story behind the new high school that I won't go into right now, but it was definitely something that was to a certain extent forced upon us. So there's that. In terms of the state education fund, you know, I'm getting a really interesting view of that just being in Montpelier and seeing the stresses that are put on that fund. It's not just paying for academics and for schools. Our education fund is now paying for deferred maintenance on buildings, which have, it's really become a crisis in our state. School meals and a lot of money spent toward making sure that our students have mental health supports along with many other programs that are necessary to keep our kids safe and able to learn. Thank you. And Rita? Yeah, I support the school budget. Although it has a large increase on taxpayers, I believe a new high school is needed instead of the downtown one. I think high school students deserve a real high school opportunity and experience. And part of the budget is to give, I believe, teachers a higher increase in wages. And that's a good way and opportunity to retain teachers back. And I'm not too familiar with the state education fund and what's really in it, so I can't speak much about it. Thank you. Now, the Burlington School District's current strategic plan identifies five priorities. Belonging and well-being, deeper learning for every student, reimagined high school, educators who look like our students, and relationship-based communities through restorative practices. Which of these are you most excited to work on and how will you do it? And we'll start with you, Rita. Most excited with the belonging and well-being aspect because when a student feels like they belong somewhere, they're happier, and they learn more, success is higher. And I will do that by speaking with others, communicating, showing your face, and just getting to know others. And Markine? Yeah, I just want to echo what Rita said. I think that belonging and well-being is incredibly important. We know that kids can't learn when they're under stress. We know that they can't learn when they're hungry, when they are having mental illness or other crises that are keeping them from being in a position where they can learn. So I think that's really important. I was on the strategic planning group that came together. It was a large group of community members who came together to work on the strategic plan. And I'm just so happy with the product that we ended up with. And I look forward to working on all of these priority areas, just continuing that work. I think our superintendent and all of our incredible faculty and staff in the district have really been working hard to focus on these, on these, each part of the, each priority in the strategic plan. And I just look forward to doing, continuing that. It's one way, the success of the strategic plan is one way that we can measure how well our district is doing and also how well our superintendent and his cabinet is doing. So I look forward to continuing this work. Great. Now, what would you say is the biggest challenge facing Burlington schools and how would you use your seat on the board to address this issue? And we'll start with you, Marjean. Yeah, that's a good one. So I do want to point out that whatever issues are facing Burlington, it's likely that there are other schools in our, in our state that are facing similar issues. So I would say having spent a chunk of my summer on a school construction aid task force, I really can't help but highlight the really horrible condition that many of our public school buildings are in. As a lot of you know, in 2007 there was a moratorium on school construction aid. So districts that used to get, you know, 30% aid from the state suddenly were no longer getting any help. So the burden really got placed on municipalities and taxpayers. And so what happened was districts, when they put out their budgets and people were voting on their budgets, they often had to choose between, you know, do we keep this teacher, do we keep this program, or do we fix this leaky roof? And so it ended up being this very, very difficult choice. And oftentimes voters and school boards chose keeping that teacher, that fabulous teacher that was making, you know, huge inroads with kids versus fixing the leaky roof because they weren't getting any help. So what's happened now is we just have hundreds of millions of dollars worth of, of issues that need to be fixed. So I can't help but highlight that as, as a really big issue. And it's one that Burlington is facing as well. You're just dead. Thank you. Yeah, Rita. For me, I'll say probably I'll go with wages for teachers. Education is very expensive and it's hard to make ends meet and I believe the teachers get paid more. The retention rate will return and yeah, teachers are very important for education and learning and building, building, um, connection with students. Great. And about the students. So how can Burlington school's best support neurodivergent students, for example? I'll say, um, having one-on-one support in different techniques because different students learn different ways, maybe visual and things like that. Got it. Um, Martine? Yeah. It's incredibly important. We know that, uh, people learn in different ways and people have various strengths and weaknesses and neurodivergence is, is part of our tapestry of, uh, learners in our district for sure. There are a lot of things we can do. One, I have to come back to the physical space. I mean, again, that's really, really important. So as we think about what our schools are going to look like in the future, making sure that they are, um, you know, calm spaces, that there's natural light focusing on air quality and safety and making sure that our, our students feel comfortable and are, again, comes back to, you know, able to learn. That's really important. Um, yeah. And then of course, a lot of our, I would say all of our teachers understand how to differentiate their instruction to students in their classroom. That's been around for many, many years. So I would say just continuing that ability to, as Rita was saying, you know, teach differently for different students. And we call that differentiation and it's really important in the classroom. Right. Now, how can the school district ensure the safety of its students and teachers in our schools and in the community? Rita, would you like to start with that one? Um, I'll say continue having, instead of having, when I went and I saw the Umbrellton High School, they don't have police officers no more. I like how they have, um, I don't know what the term they call it now. School resources officers? Yeah, school resource officers. I like that because sometimes police officers are intimidating and hard to approach. And the resource officers, I see a lot of kids have good communication with them and easily able to talk with them. And I believe connections are important. Um, Markine? Yeah. I agree with everything that Rita said for sure, um, absolutely 100% public safety and focusing on that is really important. I also just think big picture, you know, one way we ensure safety in our communities is making, is by making sure that everyone is cared for, right? And that everyone has what they need to be happy and healthy. Um, we're seeing, I know I'm going big picture here, but as we see greater income inequality in our society, as we see, you know, addiction and homelessness in these big, big issues that we must focus on, you know, I also have to bring it back to the importance of education because education is preventative, right? When we look at educating folks, we think about giving people opportunities and giving them, um, you know, the chance to, to thrive in our society and we talk a lot about this American dream and this idea of an American dream, but it can't be achieved without an incredibly robust education system for everybody. So, um, you know, it's a symbiotic relationship for sure. Great. Now, um, how do you think that Burlington Schools can best support student mental health? And we'll start with you, Martín. That's a tough one. Um, I can tell you right now in the Senate, we're looking at a variety of bills. One is a bill that would ban cell phones in schools. We've had a lot of pushback on that bill, but I can tell you we've also heard from folks who really believe that social media and excessive cell phone use is, is detrimental to student mental health and well-being. So, we are weighing the pros and cons right now of that, um, but I really do think we need to continue to think about, um, the use of social media and the use of cell phones. Whether we, we have this ban or not, I think it's something that we all need to keep talking about. Um, again, you know, mental health is about well-being, wellness, good health, um, a secure environment to live in, um, so all of these things are, again, I keep bringing back the symbiotic nature of a healthy society. Um, and that is one way that we can support, um, mental health. I also, I just have to say, um, I recently read the Surgeon General's latest report, which is on low loneliness and isolation, and I found that really, really fascinating. I think students need more of an opportunity to get together, to be in a space where they can create, where they can have fun, um, and where they can be with each other off of their devices and just be, I think that's really important, so I want to focus on that as well. And, um, Rita, what do you think? I would say, um, great spaces where students feel safe and they can talk with each other and I'll also say, maybe like a gym, because the old high school had a, um, gym where students can go after school, work out, and I think fitness is a good opportunity and way to, um, build mental health and improve it. Now last year's standardized test results suggest that a proportion of Vermont students, um, proficiency in math and in English decreased during the pandemic and has not made significant improvements since. So how would you measure the success of the school district? And we'll start with you, Rita. I would say, um, I believe standardized test is not a good indication of success and I think a different, um, mechanism should be used to, um, measure it. I'm not sure what, but, um, that's what I think and yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. Hi. You know what? I, Rita is saying it really, really well. I think a standardized test should be one tool in a toolbox, but it certainly shouldn't be the only thing that we're addressing and testing, which seems to be something we do a lot is like we look at those standardized test results. Um, I think we should look at to our earlier point, I think that we both made mental health, uh, wellness, how happy our kids, how many extracurricular activities are they engaging in? Are they doing sports? How do they spend their time after school? Are they going home and sitting on their phones or are they engaged in their community? These are all things that I think we need to be looking at and, and using those as measures of success. Um, and then in terms of, yeah, the math and English scores, I just think, you know, the pandemic was just really set us back. I think we need to, um, shore up our resources and our energies and really put them, um, in places, uh, where we can make a big difference. There are a lot of bills in the Senate and the House right now that revolve around literacy. Um, so if some of those bills get through, I think we're going to be able to really strengthen what we're doing around teaching kids how to read. Great. Now, let's talk a bit about language access. So how can the Burlington School District meet the needs of students and families whose primary language is not English? And we'll start with you, Martine. I was, I had the privilege of knowing how to speak English when we moved to Vermont in 1972, so back in the, in the, in the old days. Um, so I can speak to this from a policy issue, but, um, I look forward to hearing what Rita has to say as well. I know that we have amazing, um, multilingual liaisons who do incredible work, not just with students, but with families. We have parent university which supports families and really tries to, you know, teach parents what it's like to raise a kid in the United States. I think these are very important tools that we have here in the Burlington School District. And Rita? Yeah, I think, um, School District does a good job. There's a lot of, um, translators for different languages. And also, they have an ESL course. When I came to America, I didn't really speak English, and I was part of that. And parents also have the opportunity to take English classes and learn through that. My parents took part of that. And yeah, I believe doing a good job, and you don't really need to improve it much. Great. Now, um, what do you understand to be the current level of morale in the district? And what, what is the role of the school, school board in retaining good teachers and support staff? And Martine, we'll start with you. That is such a good question. I think morale and climate has ebbed and flowed over the years for sure. And it's a really, really important issue. I feel as though when teachers and staff are energized about their job, when they love what they're doing, they show up to work and they're, and they're happy to be there. And I generally think that is the case for many of our educators in Burlington. We have incredible people who are so dedicated to our kids, to our, our families. And so I, I, you know, I want to give them all a shout out for sure. But yeah, you know, this is something we've talked a lot about on the board is retaining principals, retaining teachers, having the year after year stability is so important for student success. It's something that we need to work on, that we are working on, but it's, it's critical. At the same time, you know, it's been hard. I mean, we had the pandemic and right after the pandemic, our high school closed. We had to move into an abandoned department store. I mean, this, it does put stress on our educators for sure and our, and our administrators on our students. So, you know, we're getting through it, but I think we all look forward to the day where we have, where we have a campus and a high school that is safe and healthy for everybody. Definitely. Thank you. Now, Rita. I believe our educators are really good working hard and our job and role as a school board is to reward them. As I said earlier, we have to try to find ways in the budget, increase their wages and a package for them somehow, some way. And I'll play a big role in retaining good teachers and support staff. Great. And, and now let's go on to any closing comments that you might have. So, Rita, would you like to start? Just happy to be here, give my view a viewpoint and thank you for having me. Martina. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks so much, Channel 17. I always like showing up and supporting you. I'll do wonderful work and it's so important to the success of our democracy to have small news outlets like Channel 17. So keep up the good work. I'm also really thrilled that Rita is stepping up to serve his community and serve on the school board. It's going to be great for all of us to have him closing remarks. You know, I, I keep saying the same thing over and over again, but education is absolutely critical to our democracy. It's critical to the success of our, of our kids who might not have all of the advantages that some folks in our country have. The system is generally rigged toward, you know, supporting privilege. And so those of us who might not have been born into privilege, you know, it's a, it's a harder, it's a harder road. And so I think education really plays an important role in trying to narrow the opportunity gap and narrow the achievement gap. And I think in Burlington we really strive to do that. And I just want to continue doing that work. It's critically important. Fantastic. Thank you so much, both of you, for coming out today. Now, and thank you for tuning in to Town Meetings TV ongoing coverage of local candidates, local budgets and ballot items. You can find this and many other forms at cctv.org slash 2024 or on our Town Meeting TV YouTube channel, and you can tune in onto our live election results show after you cast your ballot on March 5th. Contact your local clerk to find out how to obtain a ballot and to register and how to register to vote. In Vermont, you can register to vote on Election Day. Thank you for watching and sharing Town Meeting TV.