 Hello everyone, I'm James Milan. Welcome to this one-on-one conversation with candidate for school committee, Elizabeth Exton. Elizabeth, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you. We want to get right into it. We know the time is going to go fast. So first thing I wanted to ask you about is that an issue that keeps coming up is the achievement gap perceived or real between students of color, minority students, and white students here in Arlington. I wanted to ask you just to elaborate a little bit more your thoughts on that issue. Sure. So I definitely think that there are gaps in what is called the achievement gap between students of color and students of low socioeconomic status high need students in Arlington as compared to the larger cohort of students. You know, the achievement gap is a term that's used because of with the MCAS and how students score on that. And I really think about it more as what's called an opportunity gap. And so we need to think about how our students of color students from underrepresented groups, students with special needs performing across the board in our schools. Do they feel safe in our schools? Do they feel included in our schools? Do they feel that teachers have high expectations of them so that they can do well in school, whether it's on the MCAS or it's on tests that teachers are giving them if it's just the day to day work that they're doing. I think that we really need to look at the overall the overall sense that students have in our schools. And one of the way that's measured is their achievement on the MCAS, their graduation rate. But I'm more concerned with the overall picture of how students are feeling in our schools. And given that you are concerned about that, what is the role as you see it that you could play as a school board member in ensuring that that is happening? Sure. So I think one important piece is funding for professional development for teachers. We talk a lot about supporting teachers and having difficult conversations with their students, having difficult conversations with their colleagues about what these gaps look like. That would be one thing. I think another aspect is increasing funding around intervention, reading teachers, math teachers, increasing funding for social emotional support, counselors, social workers. So I think there are a lot of areas where we can make changes to support these students. You know, it's interesting to hear your response there and note how often you mentioned increasing funding as part of the key. Clearly, we are going to be opening schools at some point post the pandemic or at a later stage. And by all measures and accounts and prognostications, money is going to be an issue for the town generally. Do you see that it's at all viable that within the next little while you'll be able as a school board to ask for or facilitate getting more funding for those initiatives? So absolutely the budget is going to be very tight next year. But some of the some of these things I've mentioned have already been allocated to those things. There was already an increase in math and reading teachers for next year. So I think that even though we can't do all of the things that might that we might like to see in terms of closing that gap, there are things that are already happening that will continue forward. You know, one thing that came up in the debate was when you were talking about, you know, the the qualifications that make you a good candidate for the school board, you had mentioned being a teacher, kindergarten teacher, a the parent of young children in the schools and also an advocate. So how do you see those things, you know, specifically those different factors playing out in your work on the school board? Sure. So I think first as an educator, I have a view of what is happening day to day in schools. I'm in a classroom. So I see what students need. I hear what parents are asking from teachers. I work with administrators. So I have a really clear understanding of the day to day workings, the demands that are placed on teachers. As a parent, I want the very best for my own children in their education. And so, you know, I do have high expectations of my students teachers and want the very best for them. And so therefore, because they're in the Arlington Public Schools, I want the very best for all of our students in town. And as an advocate, I, as many people may know, in 2018, I advocated to get full-time kindergarten aides in all of the kindergarten classrooms across the district. And I did that because one, because I felt like it was important, but I was able to succeed in doing that by bringing the research, bringing the personal experience, but also collaborating and connecting with the school committee, with the administration, with principals, with teachers, and really hearing and sharing everybody's perspective to be able to know what was going to be best for our youngest students. Yeah, how exactly did you work with or persuade the school committee around that issue? Sure. So, in the fall, it was in the fall of 2017 when this started, and I just started by attending school committee meetings and budget subcommittee meetings and understanding more about how it all worked. Where does the money come from? How is it allocated? Where can it be moved around? And then in December of 2017, I reached out on social media to other parents in town and just asked people to join me in this concern that I had. And so, we attended school committee meetings from December to March every meeting. We spoke at every meeting. I attended subcommittee meetings, but I also had personal conversations with individual school committee members, individual principals, and individual teachers to understand, was this even something that they wanted? And when I heard from certain people that yes, this was something that they had been working on a little bit before that, and yes, it was something that was important for our learners, I was able to keep coming back and bringing the perspective of the community and our schools to make that change. You have young children, so hopefully, hopefully this is not yet an issue for them, but something that I think we all understand is that the level of stress that students feel around their achievement and their experience in schools is something that needs to be addressed. What, you know, either what ideas do you have to bring to the table and what function do you see, again, the school committee as having in alleviating that situation? So, again, I think that increasing the social and emotional learning components of our curriculum across from K to 12 is something that, you know, we need to continue to do. There are certainly those things are already happening, but continuing to keep that emphasis there. I think opportunities for students to be able to talk about how they're feeling about their academics, how they're feeling about their social experiences in schools, continuing to take the temperature of students through, you know, the youth risk behavior survey, and then using that information to inform how we respond. In more severe cases, I think, you know, at the high school, there are certainly students who return from leaves that are caused, you know, have left due to severe anxiety or severe challenges around their academic, their feelings about their academic performance. And so I think we need to think, too, at the high school level about some intermediate program for kids returning from a leave of absence back to the high school. Okay. And how about what changes would you like to see happen to create an engaging, relevant kind of 21st century education for Arlington students if to whatever extent you think that is not yet happening? I think it's the younger grades that I see that happening. I think continuing, you know, in the middle and high school with electives and experiences where they can think about, you know, we always talk about like jobs that haven't even been invented yet. What are electives, what are experiences that students can have to prepare them for things that we don't even know about yet? Okay. You know, we have just maybe two and a half, three minutes left, and I want to make sure that if you wanted to address something that you haven't been able to adequately, as far as you're concerned, that I invite you to do so here because we do have a couple of minutes left. Thank you. I just, I think it's important for the voters to hear a little bit about my experiences in the classroom and the work that I've done there, particularly around issues of diversity and inclusion. I co-facilitate a learning group with a number of other teachers around using children's literature to support students and teachers talking about challenging conversations around race, around identity, around different family structures. And so these issues that we've been talking about in town and that have come up recently are very important to me as an educator as well as a parent. And so there's something that I do carry with me and think a lot about as a potential school committee member. And again, I know that I sound like a broken record in some ways, but what is the, you know, again, what do you think the school committee can do and what do you think that you will be hopefully a propulsive force within the school committee to do about addressing those things? Sure. I mean, I think it's a lot of just revisiting policies. How are we addressing policies that are affecting students of color, students from underrepresented groups, students with special needs in ways that don't match with how we want them to be succeeding? Again, the budget continuing to think about even in these tight times, where can we allocate funds to support all of our students? And just continuing to ask questions of the administration and suggest to the administration things like professional development programs at the high school that might support students. Just, you know, again, just giving that feedback. Yeah. When you say asking questions of the administration, obviously it was touched upon in the debate and you clearly have an excellent understanding of what the relationship, formal relationship is between the school committee and the superintendent, for instance. But when you say asking questions, would that move over into, you know, exerting some kind of, you know, pressure to inculcate these kinds of programs? You know, I mean, a school committee members can strongly suggest a lot of things, but I really believe in a collaborative relationship. And so I think by developing an understanding and a relationship of trust with the administration is going to be the most effective way to garner their support, move them along in their learning or in actions that I'd like to see happen. Okay. Well, that will do it for us then. We want to thank you once again for joining us for these very quick 15 minutes. And wish you and the other candidates well on June 6th. And for you audience out there, this is James Milan. We have been talking to Elizabeth Exton, who's a candidate for school committee for this year. Thank you for joining us. Elizabeth, thank you. Thank you very much. We'll see you next time.