• I'm Terri Luken, co president of the Northwest Westchester League of Women Voters.
• In tonight's candidate forum, you will have the opportunity to listen to the candidate's views about significant issues
• so that you may make an informed decision in the upcoming election.
• Democracy is not a spectator sport, and I'm thrilled to see some community members here tonight. Thank you for joining us.
• Before we begin, I'd like to welcome the candidates
• on the Mika
• Bhatnagar,
• Sarah Carrier,
• Jake Day,
• Neil Haber, and Elizabeth Ladd.
• Having served on the Croton-Harmon School Board for six years, I know firsthand what an important role and challenging role this is and thank them for their dedication.
• I would also like to thank the school district for hosting this event,
• and we are especially grateful for student involvement this evening. We have two student timekeepers,
• Juliana Albenese
• and Nikki
• Mukherjee.
• And then we also have Bonnie Howe who will share a brief welcome.
• Thank you.
• I became involved in the League of Women Voters because I care about empowering not only my generation, but future ones as well to speak out for change.
• During one of our Tiger Tuesdays, I was introduced to two leaders of the league, Terry and Linda.
• Their passion for expanding the voting community really pushed me to want to be a part of their organization
• and reciprocate this feeling to many more people of all age groups.
• As a student, I've gradually realized the importance
• of young individuals to stay informed of the world politically,
• get involved in their communities,
• and participate in democracy.
• I personally enjoy being involved in certain community volunteering opportunities,
• working with the Crow and Caring Committee,
• the CT elementary school, and many others.
• Other than that, I also enjoy being a part of the girls varsity tennis team here at CHHS.
• All these combined
• involve learning about leadership, collaboration, and communication,
• all of which are significant components of a democracy.
• Voting gives individuals the ability to make change, protect their rights, and shape a better future for upcoming generations.
• Since 1920, the League of Women Voters has been a nonpartisan
• grassroots
• political organization
• working to protect and expand voting rights and ensure everyone
• is represented
• in our democracy.
• The league empowers voters and defends democracy
• through advocacy,
• education, and litigation
• at the local, state, and national levels.
• The league does not support or oppose candidates or political parties.
• The league is fully committed to ensure compliance
• in principle and in practice with the national organization's
• diversity,
• equity, and inclusion policy.
• Membership is open to everyone
• 16 years of age or older. I'm happy to be here to welcome you to the Crow and Harmon Board of Education.
• Thank you.
Thanks, Bonnie. Our moderator for this evening is Laurie Shultz. We're very glad to have her with us. Laurie has lived in Sleepy Hollow for more than twenty five years and is a member of the League of Women Voters of the River Towns. I now turn the candidate forum over to our moderator, Lori.
• Welcome, everybody. Tara said, I'm Laurie Schultz. I am a member of the League of Women Voters of the River Towns.
• As your moderator, I don't live in Croton-Harmon, so I have no stake in this race.
• This event is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Northwest
• Northwest Westchester
• County and the Croton-Harmon Union Free School District.
• Before we begin tonight, please remember to turn off your cell phones or at least put them on mute and any other personal electronic equipment.
• Tonight, you're going to have an opportunity to, meet and listen to the five candidates in the race for three open seats for the Croton-Harmon Union Free to School District Board of Education.
• Tara's already introduced them, but, just to introduce them again. Sarah,
• Jake, Neil oh, sorry. Jake,
• Anamika,
• Betsy, or Elizabeth,
• and, Neil.
• So
• yeah. And you'll get to know them much better.
• Everyone who has all the candidates who are participating tonight or have agreed to abide by the rules of the event, which I'm going to review now,
• so that and so you'll so that you you as a public may hear their views on all the issues.
• We are being livestreamed.
• It goes back there. And the recording will be posted tonight after the
• will be posted tonight on those school districts website.
• I ask that no other recording be done during the, during this event. It's not allowed by the audience. That's part of the rules.
• Let's see.
• This this, forum is to is intended to give voters the opportunity to hear directly from the candidates.
• I ask, you look like a great crowd, that you give the candidates and the audience treat each other with respect. No personal attacks.
• We also ask that the audience, listen respectfully to each candidate's answer.
• In the interest of time, please hold your applause until the end of the event.
• We actually we have 10 questions altogether,
• and I've done the math. And based on I'm going to I'm going to share the minutes. But if we were to get to all 10, we will we will get to it almost till 09:00 already. So that's why we want you to hold your applause.
• Let's see.
• No no cheering, no booing, or reacting to any of the candidates either.
• You've already met our timekeepers,
• so,
• they will, we have Nikki,
• Bonnie, and Juliana.
• They will be holding up candidates for this to see. Oh, you can hold up your signs, guys. One of them says,
• thirty seconds remain. I'll show it to the audience so they all can see. Thirty seconds remain, and the other one says stop. So that will help the candidates know when they have thirty seconds left and when they can say stop.
• Candidates can finish a sentence when started, but we ask that the candidates
• respect the time the time limits.
• So here's the format for tonight.
• Each candidate will have one minute for an opening statement,
• and then I will ask a question. And each candidate will have one and a half minutes to respond to the question.
• Candidates, if you can answer the question in less than one and a half minutes, great. I encourage you to do so. Allow us to get through more questions.
• Questions will be directed to the candidates in rotation
• so that each candidate has a chance to, respond at least once first.
• The candidates prior to us coming into this room drew numbers and, determined the event. They're actually they're they're they're they're order
• they're actually sitting in order of, who will be doing opening statements first, starting with Sarah.
• Each candidate will also be allowed two rebuttals, and each rebuttal is limited to thirty seconds.
• And there's no responses to the rebuttal. So there's a rebuttal, and that's it. No back and forth. That's why it's called a forum and not a debate.
• Candidates may not interrupt each other and may not make personal attacks.
• Closing statements will be,
• no more than one minute each and should relate to the matters covered in the forum.
• At eight this forum is scheduled to go until 09:00. At 08:45,
• I will let the candidates know that we're going to our final question.
• And then after that, they will have an opportunity to to
• to make their closing statements.
• So
• anybody have any questions? Everybody good?
• Alright. So we are going to open up the, the forum. I'm going to,
• we're gonna start with Sarah. Sarah has,
• one minute to make her opening statement,
• and,
• I think we're ready to go. So,
• Sarah, please, why don't you start us off?
Thank you very much. Good evening, everyone. Thank you to the League of Women Voters, Terry and Laurie,
• to Bonnie for that great introduction, and to Nikki and Juliana for being our timekeepers this evening. And thank you to the community who's watching who's here tonight and watching via the livestream and my fellow candidates. My name is Sarah Carrier, and I'm proud to have served on the Croton-Harmon board for nine years. I'm seeking reelection so that I may continue serving this community to make sure our schools remain strong, welcoming, and forward looking. My family and I have called Croton home for twenty years, and my son is a sophomore here at CHHS.
• I am grateful to live in such a supportive community where families, faculty, staff, and community members are working to ensure our students learn, grow, and are prepared to succeed in the world outside Croton. Thank you.
Hi. Good evening, everybody. Thank you for coming tonight, and thank you to the league for having us. My name is Jake Day. Four years ago, my family moved to Croton. We looked all over Westchester, and this is where we chose to be because of what this community stands for and what our schools represent.
• This fall, my son starts kindergarten at CET.
• I'm not running for BOE for a title. I'm running because strong schools make strong communities.
• I spent fifteen years in municipal government and housing finance.
• I know how public institutions work, how to read a budget, and what it looks like when people are genuinely held accountable.
• Last year, I organized 60 families to save our district's universal pre k program, and I learned firsthand what it feels like to show up again again and be left in limbo.
• If you elect me on May 19, I'll bring three commitments to this board,
• to genuinely govern,
• to respond to families as partners,
• and to make sure our spending reflects our priorities,
• starting in the classroom.
• Croton deserves a board that's as as invested in these schools as this community is, and that's what I'll bring.
Thank you to the League of Women Voters, my fellow candidates, and members of the community. My name is Anamika Bhattnaker.
• I'm running for a second term to advance the educational goals our community has set for our children.
• The opportunity for every student to be challenged and excel,
• to develop critical thinking skills and empathy, and to be prepared for college and careers with a clear through line across each of our schools.
• As the parent of an eighth grader and an eleventh grader with a long career in children's books and educational materials,
• I've demonstrated that I'm uniquely positioned to move our schools forward.
• I've spent my first term pushing
• to change the culture of the school board and the district so that more of our work takes place in public.
• I've successfully advocated for a return to reviewing achievement data and evaluating instructional programs against student outcomes.
• I remain committed to engaging in respectful and responsive dialogue with parents and families.
• Most important, I have and will continue to represent our community's values and aspirations for our students at the school board table. Thank you.
• My name is Betsy Laird, though probably unhelpfully. I'll be Elizabeth on the ballot next week.
• Next year, I'll have a kindergartner and a second grader at CET.
• I trained as a clinical psychologist and spent years working with children who had recovered and thrived after extraordinary trauma.
• I'm so grateful that most children in our community are safe from those experiences,
• but what that work taught me about resilience applies to every child. Resilience doesn't come from protection from every hard thing. It comes from high expectations
• held inside a real supportive relationship.
• For the last decade, I've been evaluating whether large scale, highly funded programs are actually delivering outcomes for the people they're meant to serve, asking hard questions, looking honestly at data, and pushing for change when the evidence demands it. I believe that in order to grow, our district must engage the community and families as partners. We must focus on honest accountability and educational outcomes, and we have to meet our students' learning needs with the expectations, intentionality, and support that uplifts the students.
• My work and educational experience combined with my vision for our kids will bring something new to the board.
• You may know me. I've served on the board for a number of years.
• We have two children who attended the Croton schools and
• k through 12 and graduated
• and have gone on two meaningful careers in philanthropy
• and public service.
• I'm seeking reelection because I'm committed to devoting my experience and dedication to make schools even better. I believe in public education. I'm a product of public education.
• I my concern, my work is not about my kids' needs, but for all kids and for the entire community. From my experience, I think I'm able to listen to all sides of an issue, evaluate,
• make decisions on what's best for all students,
• and also taxpayers.
• Very concerned about the financial
• health of our district. I'm a policy wonk.
• That's what I'm known as. So I look at long term and short term impacts
• and I am hoping that after you've heard this
• discussion tonight, you will be able to consider me to be supported in the election.
Neil, hold on to it because I'm looking at my grid. You're gonna be you're going to answer the first question,
• if that's okay. Hold on the the microphone. Yeah.
• Of all, before we get into the questions,
• Tara, I I almost forgot that new piece you gave me, but I want to point out that,
• over 100 questions were submitted in advance of, tonight's forum. So great to have such a, involved community.
• The league then formed a three person questions committee
• who reviewed and consolidated the questions, so major themes are reflected in the final questions.
• No questions will be taken from attendees tonight during the forum. All questions must be may be answered by all the candidates,
• and each candidate will have the opportunity to answer each question.
• So okay. Great.
• So,
• we're going to start with the first question. And, Neil, we're gonna go five, and then we're gonna wanna go one, two, three, four. This is how we're gonna start. So, Neil, for the first question and for all the candidates,
• As a candidate for the board of election,
• what do you think is working well in the school district?
• You. I'm sorry. And you'll have a minute and a half to answer the question. Thank you.
• is the fact that we are
• working
• very diligently
• to
• provide innovative education
• and innovative
• learning experiences to all our students in grade K through 12.
• I think what we have done in
• doing that is
• look at what are not necessarily
• the hidebound practices,
• but the best practices going forward which are in line
• with the, portrait of the graduate that the State Board of Regents has articulated.
• I have been in the schools. I have seen classes. I have seen how kids are engaged in every school.
• And this comes not just from the work of the board,
• but it comes from the work of the board
• along with our staff
• and our administrators
• who
• work together
• to provide,
• the
• kinds of opportunities that our students need and that will help them grow and become critical thinkers, problem solvers,
• and be able to contribute
• to the world and have the confidence to leave us and
• be successful wherever they may go.
• I also think that we do a very good job with regard to our,
• English language learners
• and special education
• students and we should continue that work.
• I think about the work that has been going on over the past several years with the vision map and what started out with a strategic planning committee that incorporated
• many different voices of stakeholders,
• community members, parents, students, staff, faculty,
• and board board liaisons
• as well. And really
• taking that and implementing that into the vision map and
• bringing that to our schools
• and seeing how that how we can innovate
• and push our students to challenge themselves further,
• and how we can bring new
• things and to our district throughout,
• throughout the system, k through 12.
• I think that as we continue to do that, it will be important that we continue to hear about the changes that are being made,
• look at the ways that we are measuring the success of those changes and see what we can do to
• to continue to improve those and innovate further. Thank you.
There's a ton going well, in our district. That's why we're all here. That's why so many of you showed up tonight and are watching online.
• The metrics really bear that out. We're about 95 out of a 100 on The US News and World Report.
• We have ELA through three through eight scores that are through the roof, graduation
• rates through the roof, well above state averages.
• You know, the metrics really show how well this school district is. Kids are ready for college. They're ready for civic life. So there's a lot going well. I think the reason for that is we have people who are invested in this community. We have parents who really care about their kids. We have parents who are willing to show up just like you are tonight. We have parents who are willing to organize and mobilize.
• So there's a lot of great things about our district.
• People wanna move here. They wanna live here.
• And I think that we can see that firsthand. Kids look happy. They're going to great colleges.
• We're really on the right track, and I'm running to keep that. I think we should always strive to be better. I think we should always strive to improve.
• But overall, the general direction of the schools are great, and I'm proud to be here as part of that community.
• So when I think about what's working in the school district, there are things that I can point to. For example,
• the fact that we offer equitable access to AP courses in our high school so that no one's prevented from taking them. The fact that we have unique learning opportunities across our elementary classrooms
• so that everyone has an opportunity to be outside, do something different, unique, and special.
• But the other side of that story is that there's always room for improvement.
• For example,
• when we allow everyone access to AP courses, one thing that I've reflected on is that our course grades, for example, aren't necessarily reflected in AP scores.
• When I hear about the different experiences students have in different classrooms in our elementary school, I regret to find out that they're not shared by everyone across grade bands. I think it's really possible to tell the story of the good work that's happening in our district, but I don't think that that should prevent us from trying to examine where we can do better and where we have opportunities to ensure that these equitable experiences are applied to all students,
• not just some.
• I also think that we need to change the culture of our school district. Asking questions like the ones I'm asking right now aren't looked upon as criticism, but rather as room for growth, room for supporting student achievement,
• and room to sort of regain from our community the trust that we're looking out for the best for all of our students at all times. Thank you.
• I surveyed the community, and what I found was that many parents reported that their their students feel really loved by their teachers and cared for by their teachers, which I think is a really beautiful thing.
• I think that also how many responses I got to the survey reflect a community I'm really proud to be a part of, a community that has really engaged parents who are fighting for their children's educational opportunities.
• We've seen that with the development of the Croton Community Collective,
• with the mobilization of parents supporting the universal pre k and
• as well with some of the way that our parents have been showing up to board meetings. I think that that parent engagement deserves to be
• built on and to continue to grow. Another thing I think is really amazing at the, at CET is the work that has been done with the CET Nature Space, another parent driven and parent led program that is bringing a lot of beautiful things to our children. I'd love to see that connection between the board of education and the community
• grow and be strengthened over the next year,
• or the next three years if I'm lucky enough to be elected.
• And the other thing that I'll just note is that I think that the vision map is really ambitious and and exciting,
• but what I've been concerned about is that I haven't been able to find a theory of change, a clear work plan or clear metrics that go along with it. And so I think to Anamika's points about being willing to see what can be done better, I think there's a real opportunity
• to strengthen the vision map through those clear metrics and objectives.
Great. Thank you, Elizabeth. All right, Neil, you will be answering this next question first.
• Oh, did you oh, sorry. Sure. We can go with Sarah.
• Hey, Sarah. You are answering this next question first.
• Given the many pressures that children are facing in our culture,
• what ideas do you offer to each student the support they need?
• that we continue to work collaboratively,
• that we work to empower our
• and our staff.
• They are they are with our kids day in and day out
• and
• being able to they'll be able to see and to be able to help our kids.
• Yes. And so to be able to empower them by providing them with the the professional development that they need,
• to provide with the resources that they need, which is something that that those the board
• is very much a part of with budget planning.
• I think those are the ways in which we can ensure that we are meeting
• the needs of all of our students and that we are providing
• equitable access to opportunities for all of our kids. So I think it really starts with with our faculty and our staff and really supporting
• them and and encouraging
• them to come to to the district and to the board
• with innovative solutions.
• Thank you.
• support our kids, we need to make sure that their input feels like they have the opportunity to thrive.
• I think that every kid should graduate from high school. Think it may take around the world. I think it be anything.
• I think there's two paths for that. I think the first path is act on rigor, and I think the second path is social emotional. I don't think those two things are mutually exclusive. I think they may need to be fun as one thing that we can bring to our kids.
• Rigor to me means that we're helping every kid reach, you know, reach as far as they can. We're instructing them to start curriculum,
• and we're making sure they're.
• We're also making sure that each child has what they need, whether that's, you know, advanced work or they need a little bit of support. You know? No parent should have to pay to substitute their drugs to the patient outside of the classroom. Social and emotional learning is is for people that, you know, inspires, graduate,
• you know, sort of whole child mentality that they can show that our kids develop empathy. So
• I really think that academic rigor and social emotional learning
• are two things in one, and I think that we have excellent teachers that are doing that tricky balance between those two concepts that are sometimes often portrayed as incompatible.
• So we need to make sure we have academic rigor, social and emotional
• learning, and supporting our teachers so we can achieve those outcomes.
We want them not to feel the pressure, but we still want them to connect folks ready for accomplishing careers.
• And in recent years, I think we've done a really good job of focusing on social emotional learning supports. We've developed a stronger and more responsive and community oriented people personnel. So the system partners with families with their
• foundations,
• with those flash screens and other spaces.
• So we've done a lot of really good work on this front, but it's really a yes and situation to change a set. We we need to make sure that while we are
• supporting social emotional success, we're not turning away from
• the thing that makes students feel successful in the classroom and in life, which is the achievement, whatever achievements is right for them. And so what I'd like to see
• us moving towards is a greater focus on
• specific coursework, breaking on instructional practices that leads to these outcomes, and I really prepare in our studies. But what's going to be kind of a challenging world to job market. I
• think this is work that has to be centered
• at the at the forum to what the board and the district company to
• do whenever we set our
• So
I deeply believe that the key to our children's long term happiness is not lowering the bar. It is holding the bar high and then giving students the support they need to meet it.
• My husband is a teacher of seventh grade English language arts in a nearby district, and he gives a speech at the beginning of every every school year to set this the expectation in the classroom.
• He says to his students, I am here to teach you to fail
• well.
• And the reason he does that is to help his students understand that when they meet a challenge,
• that they're not alone in that, that he can hold them through it, but that it's okay to not do well. It's okay to
• meet a challenge and move through it and grow.
• I also think that to the point about the the giving our students the supports they need to deal with the pressures they're facing. I really think we need a leadership that students need structure
• and consistency,
• and that that is the scaffold that we put in place for our students to be able to thrive.
• That is a this is very
• as
• I'm okay, my my experience is one of the one and the new skills
• is that
• Not defining necessarily
• the students as
• academic
• achievement if students are
• interested in arts
• or
• trades or whatever it is that they
• and confidence
• to be able to meet those challenges as they need us. And for that, I think we focus
• the future,
• continue,
• and enhance
• our focus.
• don't need a focus on academic achievements, and I strongly, strongly disagree with that. I think that students who follow pathways into the arts and trades desperately
• foundational
• academic skills.
• My sister is an artist,
• and one of the things that she spends most of her time on is budgeting.
• Right? She spends a lot of her time understanding the money that comes into her insolvencies
• and how she's spending it on herself, on her staff. She's grown a business because she had a really strong foundation
• in epidemics.
• Our third question,
• educational technology is a hard topic in this district.
• What do you see as the appropriate use of technology in the class?
• not really the question. I think the question really is how do we ensure that we're using technology
• at appropriate grade levels, at appropriate age levels?
• I think that the thing that we really need to be doing more with our technology use and and especially in the classrooms, and there was a very robust debate,
• Thursday night at one of the board meetings. And I think that anytime we introduce a new technology,
• anytime we introduce a new software platform, we need to ask three questions.
• What does the evidence say about that? Right? Does this platform work? Is it working for our students? Is it working for our teachers? What does the national evidence say about that? We need to ask how much it's gonna cost us? How much it's gonna cost us now to buy iPads and Chromebooks,
• subscriptions to all these apps?
• And we need to look and decide what success looks like. What are the outcomes we want from this technology that's in the classroom? Our computer assisted instruction budget
• has grown 45%
• in the past five years, and that's in the budget. I've looked at that. That's a lot. That's a big increase. Right?
• We learned Thursday from our technology director that there's seven apps
• in k through two alone. Kids are using, middle schoolers are using AI in the classroom, NotebookLM.
• We don't have an AI policy in place.
• So there's a lot of questions we need to ask about how these technologies are gonna be implemented,
• how success is gonna be measured, and how much it's gonna cost before we can decide what the proper use looks like.
I don't think there's a one size fits all solution or a one size fits all answer in terms of the appropriate use of technology, but I think the research shows right now that most of the technology that we're using in our schools is not additive
• or really supporting student achievement. And I think that's actually across the board from k through 12. Our focus in recent,
• really over the course of this past year, has been on technology at the lower elementary level. And I think the evidence really shows
• that, instruction
• that is taking place on digital screens
• and learning that is supposed to be taking place via those digital screens isn't quite,
• it's not quite happening in the way that I think we would expect.
• So our opportunity here is to really think about how we can dial back some of our reliance on ed tech in
• k through two specifically
• to reevaluate our one to one device use in k through two, but also in the middle school and also at the high school because it's happening in all of those places.
• One of the fundamental things that I don't think we're spending enough time on beyond just the appropriate use of technology by students is the appropriate use of technology by the district. Are we ensuring that everything that we embark on has an educational purpose?
• Are the appropriate data privacy standards in place? Are they being applied?
• Is there access to AI and other features that we don't even know about when we sign up for some of these programs and features? I think the answer to all those questions is no. We don't know. Yes. We have problems with data data privacy, and it's the mandate. It's the board's responsibility actually to ensure that policies are in place to keep these things from happening.
I don't know how I'm gonna answer this in ninety seconds. I have so much to say on this topic, and I, highly recommend that anyone who hasn't watched the CCC forum a few weeks ago, it is on YouTube, and all of us here speak to this particular issue at length.
• So if you want more detail, I I recommend you go there.
• I'm going to talk specifically
• because the evidence,
• has already been, referenced. I'm gonna talk specifically about the best use of resources.
• So with our EdTech budget growing in the last several years, I think we have to really ask ourselves
• how we are using taxpayer
• money
• to advance educational achievement for our students.
• At the Thursday board meeting,
• there was an item on the docket to spend a $132,000
• on iPads for grades two and grades five.
• That got pushed a week, so it hasn't actually been voted on, which means there's an opportunity to do something different. And I think that the best use of resources in that case, given all the evidence that k through two iPad use is not advancing education,
• would be to take the iPads from the kindergartners and give them to the fifth graders,
• and then use the money that was going to be spent on those iPads on an additional instruction.
• That is what real child centered learning looks like.
• It's a topic that
• is,
• I will say, a moving
• target because things change so rapidly
• that we cannot have a
• static
• policy
• or static
• approach to technology
• in the classroom or otherwise.
• I think some foundational
• things we need to ensure
• that is data privacy and safety as Anamika talked about. And we have to ensure, as others have said,
• that
• any use of technology does not
• replace
• or supplant
• the
• analog,
• I will call it, education that we provide, but is supplementary to it. There may an additive to it for the
• benefit
• of our students.
• Jake pointed out that we should make sure that our
• that the
• cost is worth it and that it relates to success. I agree with that, but that's a hard thing to measure. We have to rely on our professionals
• to
• adopt or to follow the policies that we set and we have to oversee them. And that's part of the process we did when we started this discussion and continued the discussion at last week's
• meeting and I hope we will do that in the future.
• off of Neil's remarks and just say a couple of things about the approach to technology.
• We certainly cannot have a static approach to technology, but we have to have some kind of approach in policy.
• And we don't have time to wait to sort of think about and determine what's best. We need to actually get policies in place so that we're protecting our students right now. While there are things that are hard to measure, I think that our technology presentation last week unfortunately did revealed that we can't entirely count on the professionals for that. We need community input. We need to be looking at research and best practices
• going forward.
• Thank you.
So thank you. In terms of of EdTech and and what is appropriate in the classroom, I think that is different in every classroom.
• As we talked about tonight, right, what what is appropriate in k through two,
• is would be very, very limited, and we want to ensure
• that we are
• focusing on literacy needs, that we are focusing on fine motor skills with our younger grades. And those things shift as we get into to some of our older grades, and we want to ensure that the technology that we're using
• is a benefit to our students and to our educators,
• that it is additive to what is being worked on,
• and that we are also balancing,
• you know, ensuring that students
• also have the ability and the skills
• to enter the a world that is filled with technology and is is highly technological.
• So we wanna be making sure that we are thinking about these rapidly changing things and being able to adapt and be flexible,
• with their use. Thank you.
• So that's fine. So I knew Sarah had her last question. And Ananika, you actually will be answering the next question first. Thank you. Does anyone else have a rebuttal or are we good to go on?
• Okay. Excellent.
• All right. This is a little bit of a long one, so please feel one of the longer ones. Feel free to ask me to ask it again.
• Many questions were submitted regarding Croton's academic rigor relative to other area districts,
• including test scores and preparation for college.
• What ideas do you have for addressing these concerns?
• I think that
• to
• just to continue the conversation that we've begun in recent years about academic rigor, we do have to continue to look at, the performance of our students across a wide variety of metrics.
• Test scores tell us something.
• Evaluating
• curriculum tells us something.
• Surveying student experience tells us something.
• When we talk about what's happening in other school districts, actually looking at the best practices that other school districts have in terms of curriculum development,
• in terms of the opportunities that they offer for students for enrichment such as,
• entering competitions,
• participating in other forms of,
• co curricular and extracurricular activities to support their education. These are all things that we can learn from. I think one of the things that our school district has,
• it's fair to say struggled with is to look outward.
• It's to look outward and see what other districts that we other small school districts in the area are doing,
• to make the most of limited resources.
• I think we need to be spending more time looking at,
• what the most innovative school districts are doing to again,
• put children and students into a place where they're challenging themselves and taking the biggest opportunity taking advantage
• of opportunities that are available locally and even globally,
• to continue,
• to learn and to excel.
• Thank you.
One of the things that I think we are contending with across the nation is the fact that we are in a post COVID world, and we saw a lot of changes to our educational climate during COVID.
• So one thing that I'd be really interested to understand from the teachers is whether they feel like they're receiving students
• who are prepared for their classes.
• And from there, I would like to work backwards into where we're starting to see the slippage happen.
• I'm going to guess it's in the elementary school. I don't think that we are giving our elementary students a really strong foundation in literacy and numerate numeracy that is preparing them for robust,
• challenging coursework in middle and high school.
• For an example, the literacy
• offering
• in third and fourth grade is Storyworks,
• which is a scholastic
• journal that is not an actual curriculum and doesn't give, and arrives to the teachers
• within the week, I think, of the time that they're supposed to deliver upon it. That doesn't give them enough time to prepare a lesson to go along with that.
• So we need to make sure that we have really strong vertical alignment through k from k through 12 that we're building from kindergarten
• to first grade to second grade to third grade onwards
• and so that our students are better prepared for middle and high school. There's a lot I could probably say about middle and high school as well, but I think I'm probably out of time.
• what we
• must do and I think this follows with what I said before is look at the
• strengths,
• look at the needs, look at the desires of every student and make sure that is when we get students have formed where they want to go with their education.
• But that means that we need to make sure as Anamika said or Pobeti said that they have the foundational skills.
• The working backward sense
• that was mentioned is
• certainly
• one
• thing that we must do because we cannot expect students to
• achieve if they don't have that foundation
• of
• literacy,
• numeracy,
• etcetera. But we also need to make sure that we do not stifle student
• joy,
• student creativity
• and student desires to learn.
• I am
• I also say and policy
• is part of this oversight is a large part of it, but we must make sure that our students
• have opportunities
• and I said before not because they will lack academic
• rigor,
• but that they will have the opportunity to move into
• the spheres that they desire to move to and we need to work with our students to understand that.
Many questions were submitted regarding Croton's academic rigor relative to other area districts, including test scores and preparation for college.
• What ideas do you have for addressing these concerns?
• So I think, you know,
• what we need to to do and what we need to continue to do and to do better is to evaluate a broad range of data.
• We need to look at quantitative data and qualitative data. We need to be hearing more student voice,
• and
• hearing more from our faculty. So I think what something we've tried to do, in the past year at at the board level is to be hearing more presentations on different things on on
• different curriculum on data.
• We need to make those a regular part of the discussions that we're having at the board table. We need to make that a regular part of the information we're gathering so that we can make the best decisions for the students,
• And that includes hearing about the ways in which curriculum is being reviewed in ways in which might change,
• ensuring that it aligns with the New York State, inspires
• new standards,
• and and seeking out a, you know, a broad range of opportunities,
• and learning from districts within our area so that we can see what are the ways that we are best meeting the needs of our students, and we are best, and we're providing them a broad range of opportunities so that they can find and challenge themselves to to meet the things that they're they want to succeed in and they are intrinsically interested in as well. Thank you.
So as I said in the previous question to me, rigor means that every student of every ability is challenged whether they need, you know, extra assistance or whether they need, you know, more advanced classes.
• And I think that rigor is curriculum.
• And I think curriculum has to be developed by experts as a board member, not going to micromanage teachers, you know, the board sets the vision, the superintendent,
• you know, figures out the how. I think that we need to take a serious look at the vision map.
• And I know that the vision map is is trying I think to align with New York inspires and Portrait of a Graduate and there is a lot of change coming from Albany. I understand that.
• But a 2024
• report
• from the Tri State Consortium, which is a group of,
• school districts in the area who sort of self evaluate and they do visits. They came to Croton in 2024 and met with the board, superintendent,
• staff, and even students, they issued a report that's online. You can find this easily.
• They said that the vision map has no names,
• timelines,
• or outcomes attached to it and it's left with an intentionally undefined future.
• That to me is really concerning. I would as a board member, you know, insist upon regular reporting out regular metrics,
• making sure that we know what the outcomes are in these curriculum.
• And maybe we do have to reassess,
• this intentionally undefined future that we have in the vision map. I don't think that New York inspires in Portrait of a Graduate. The direction that's going means that we get away from rigor. I think that there's a way to, again, like I said earlier, social emotional learning
• and rigor can be done compatibly.
• read that report. That report was done in 2024
• as our vision map and our programs were being developed.
• And the
• unlike what
• Mr. Dave or Jake has said, what the vision maps,
• what the Tri State report said and you can go look at it is that as you are in the formative stage and you are planning and you are trying to figure out
• what will achieve your goals,
• don't have timelines,
• don't have
• metrics. You'll work on that, you will achieve that, you will figure that out and assessment will flow from it. Okay. It was not negative.
• Actually, Elizabeth?
• You
• can, but it'll be your last rebuttal.
• Okay. Go ahead.
• work on,
• strategies
• and frameworks as a as a core component of my job, and there are three components to making an accountable strategy.
• You define
• what success looks like at the start.
• So during the formative stage, you define what success looks like.
• You figure out how you're going to measure that, then you measure it as you go, as you implement it,
• and then you use that information
• to course correct throughout.
• So no strategy that I've ever worked on has not defined success and metrics
• at the formative stage.
K. And actually, you were going to be answering our first question our next question. So
• anybody have any other rebuttals or are we good to go? Okay.
• Alright. This is the, this one is a longer one also.
• So here we go. This is question number five.
• Croton is not alone in experiencing incidents of discrimination based on race, ethnicity,
• religion,
• gender identity, and other factors.
• What role does the BOE have in addressing these issues in the schools?
• Sorry.
Croton Croton is is not not alone alone in in experiencing experiencing incidents of discrimination based on race, ethnicity,
• religion, gender identity, and other factors.
• What role does the BOE have in addressing these issues in the schools?
• And so when a student experiences
• discrimination,
• that is not a good learning environment for that student.
• The board's role,
• generally, not just related to this topic, is to set policy.
• During the,
• debate or the sorry. The forum last year, it was mentioned that there was no DEI policy
• in Croton-Harmon,
• University School District.
• I tried to see if that had been addressed in the past year, and I wasn't able to find one.
• I know that there was one worked on, but draft policies
• that have not been implemented protect no one.
• So one of the things that I would like to see addressed is to revive that discussion or or continue it if it is ongoing
• to
• identify how we can make sure that students feel safe in our schools.
• I also would wanna hear from more of the community about any experiences they've had with discrimination
• and how we could make the school a safer environment.
• difficult topic because a lot of things happen
• where the
• district does not hear about them immediately
• and things fester.
• Our policies
• and the role of the Board is to
• establish
• strong policies
• against discrimination,
• harassment,
• in equal treatment,
• which we have done and we have championed in our district.
• The
• issue that
• Betsy raises with regard to the adoption of a DEI policy
• has a lot to do with the climate that we have here in The United States
• where DEI policies in those names are being challenged, but it does not mean we do not do that work.
• It does not mean that the Board does not have an oversight role where the Board will ensure
• that when complaints are made
• that they are addressed,
• the Board will support
• initiatives
• such as the High School Take Back the Night,
• a march that I went on and others of my colleagues went on last a few weeks ago and to make sure that students
• feel safe to bring things forth and parents feel safe to bring things forth
• if there are issues or problems and those will be dealt with. Our role is to make sure that they are dealt with and that is something that we are pledged as a board to do continuously.
as as I've heard from we've heard from other, candidates, right, part of the board's role is in policy development. It's also,
• in the setting the vision of our schools. So in both of those aspects, need to be looking at and regularly
• reviewing
• our policies
• and also ensuring that we are fostering a culture
• in which
• our students and our families and our community feel safe and welcomed in our schools, and that includes
• things
• making sure that part of the curriculum is ensuring
• is talking to our students about
• about
• uncomfortable subjects,
• ensuring that people understand
• and have empathy for others to ensure that we are,
• you know, providing regular climate surveys so that students
• can share issues that they've they have, that students feel comfortable sharing those issues with their teachers,
• with a trusted adult in the building,
• with their principals.
• And then as at the board level regularly
• being able to hear those issues and be responsive to those issues and also regularly reviewing things like our code of conduct and making sure that we are
• that we are doing all that we can to foster a culture where these things are,
• where we know that we have no tolerance for these incidents of discrimination and that we are working to address them and make things better.
• And I think that,
• you know, I've heard a lot in these four responses about setting policy and and, you know, the board's role and responsibility of doing that. What we're not talking about is enforcing that policy. That's the superintendent's job. That's the staff's job to do that. So we can have all these policies, but if we're not enforcing them,
• we're gonna continue to see some of the disturbing things that we have seen in Proton and Beyond,
• attacks based on on religion or or gender identity,
• things like that. So we have to have a strong policy.
• We have to have a strong enforcement. We have to define these things and what we mean
• by hate speech and and harassment and discrimination.
• I think that, you know, our climate surveys over the past couple of years are very encouraging.
• About ninety five to ninety seven percent of kids do feel safe in the schools.
• But there are a lot of incidents and we need to know about them and we need to talk about them as a community. I have a friend on the village's,
• idea committee, the the inclusion committee.
• And what I learned was that high schoolers go into,
• you into the younger grades and talk with kids about this and help them understand that, you know, it's not cool to use slurs. It's not cool to make those kind of jokes. So we need to talk about this community.
• We need to learn and teach kids when they're young and impressionable.
• And most importantly, we need to enforce these policies that we have on the books.
• I actually came to the school board from advocacy perspective and my advocacy
• was on the topic of equity and inclusion.
• Others have talked about policy and codes of conduct. We have all that stuff.
• We have implemented that in terms of specifically the role of the board. The board of education was the driver for the school district to actually implement surveys
• on school climate,
• and those surveys thus far have been imperfect.
• But they give us an opportunity to review longitudinal
• data, and I think they're a good start. Unfortunately,
• as everyone has said, what we really need is to focus more on creating a culture of trust
• where students trust staff and students trust other students to be able to confide in,
• when issues when they're confronted with issues. And then we also need to have a culture of accountability
• when these things happen, that action is taken. It's taken swiftly.
• It's taken in a way that makes it clear to everyone in the school community that that type of behavior isn't acceptable.
• We also need to ensure that we are participating in regular professional development,
• not just for our educators and our building leaders, but also our Board of Education and our students. A couple weeks ago I attended an all day seminar on identifying
• anti Semitism in our schools. I have gone to upstander and bystander training. This is something that I've taken on sort of on my own, and I think we need to see it happen more programmatically for everyone involved in the school community.
• I also think we need to have constant reinforcement of all of these things and modeling in the classroom so that students can learn from each other.
• Yep. So Neil will be the first respondent to this next question.
• Everybody
• good?
• Alright.
• This is question number six.
• How does the BOE balance its responsibility
• to hold the superintendent
• and administration
• accountable without being involved in day to day management?
• One, which is our statutory responsibility
• is to
• evaluate the superintendent, which we do annually.
• That's a rather extensive evaluation
• with
• a Likert scale, but also a lot of discussion that goes beyond that,
• which we of course cannot share because it's personnel,
• but we hold the superintendent
• to account
• in that process. But we also hold them to superintendent
• to account
• in our
• questioning
• in our I think one of the candidates use the word interrogation
• of the district as to whether the district is meeting the goals, meeting
• the goals that the board has established for the district or is approved and
• in the other measures that come across our desk. And remember, we're talking not only
• about the academic things, which has been
• a large part of our discussion,
• but holding accountable
• in other aspects of board operations or district operations,
• including finances,
• budgeting, facilities,
• transportation.
• We ask those questions.
• We get those
• concerns
• in front of the superintendent
• and we judge whether or not the superintendent
• and the district has been responsive
• to the concerns that we have raised.
• as Neil mentioned,
• you know, one of the main ways the board holds the
• superintendent accountable,
• for the responsibilities of managing the school district is by our annual,
• evaluation procedures.
• So those are something that actually start earlier in the year. We we hear,
• from the superintendent
• and discuss with with the superintendent
• their goals, at the beginning of the year. And then we have implemented,
• a mid year check-in,
• and then we have an annual evaluation which each of the board members fills out individually, and then we discuss collaboratively with the superintendent.
• So looking
• at all of those different metrics going through that rubric, ensuring that we
• are hearing
• from the superintendent,
• we are hearing from the administration, that we are receiving
• the information that helps us evaluate,
• the measures against those against those goals and the other operational rubrics is very important. And that comes throughout the year during board meetings at presentations,
• during questions and during information that we receive weekly from the
• district administration.
• So that allows us to see where things are going and to be able to raise those questions when we see that there's something
• that has maybe fallen through the cracks or there is a gap in in our understanding of it. So being able to have those conversations and and foster that, that trust with our administration
• helps us to be able to to do that evaluation properly.
So I think that first and foremost, it's important to keep in mind that the superintendent reports to the board, right? When I go to board of directors at my company,
• I go with annual plans, I go with with goals, with outcomes.
• The board needs to keep the superintendent
• accountable to certain metrics and certain outcomes. If you look at
• at least the portions of the annual reviews that are available on the website, on the on the school website,
• the most recent annual reviews for the superintendent are very quality.
• Just
• sort of things like reimagining
• the schools and
• fostering community engagement,
• there's no real hard numbers there. When we do annual goals at with my staff, it's what are our turn times going to look like for our responsiveness to our customers.
• We're going keep that at a certain percentage.
• I'm not saying that we need to say to the superintendent scores have to be a certain way and kids have to get into a certain college. But if you go back and look at previous superintendents annual reviews, again all on the website,
• there were quantitative measures there. How many times are you going to visit the classroom? How many times are you going to meet with teachers?
• How many like literally how many times are you going to engage the community through a newsletter or a form or something like that. So qualitative metrics just don't work. You need quantitative metrics. You need to enforce goals,
• set outcomes,
• and the the board shouldn't be deferential to the super
• superintendent. When we were organizing for UPK, it really felt like, hey, know, we hear you, you guys come to these board meetings month after month, two dozen of you get up to speak. That's an operational matter. Take it up with the superintendent.
• I don't think that's how it should work.
• How does the BOE balance its responsibility to hold the superintendent
• and administration accountable without being involved in day to day management?
• Okay. Thank you. So to answer that question from a governance perspective as other folks have said already, the mechanisms are actually goal setting and the evaluation of the superintendent.
• I just wanna highlight some changes though that have taken place in the last couple of years since I've been on the board because there's these are significant differences,
• that we're sort of seeing now versus the board that I came into three years ago. First of these is actually goal setting.
• Prior to this past year, my understanding is the superintendent was really sort of setting his own goals and presenting to them to the board rather than developing them in collaboration.
• If you've ever had anyone work for you, I'm sure you would agree with me. That's not usually how it works. Usually it's a dialogue, it's a conversation, and there is a there's a portion of that conversation that relates to whether the goals are in are in alignment with what the community, you know, with the bigger picture in the case of our school district is what the community is looking for, what student outcomes need to be, and various other,
• measures. So that's a change that's happened recently that I'm happy about, but I think we need to continue to push on that. In terms of evaluation,
• yes, absolutely.
• There is a process that's become more public. We need to do better as a board to do that. From a practical perspective, however, we need to ensure that our superintendent has a high level view of what's going on in the buildings that involves leadership that's reporting up what's happening in the buildings
• and communicating
• and being open to hearing from the community on what the community is seeing. We also need to ensure that we have follow through so that that follow through doesn't fall to the board and to individual trustees, but rather,
• lives where it is operationally supposed to, which is with the district.
Really more so just just to build on this than to rebut. But I think that one of the ways we can really hold the superintendent more accountable is by increasing responsiveness.
• So we talk a lot about communication. There's a communication committee It was something we talked about as a group doing UPK. Are we communicating effectively? Are we being heard? So responsiveness is one area where I really think the board should assert itself and say, what are we hearing? What are parents emailing about? What are they coming and saying to the board? And superintendent, what are you doing about that? We could publish something, you know, quarterly. Here's what we've heard. Here's what the information is. So responsiveness is really key, and we gotta focus on that.
• Thank you. Elizabeth?
• couldn't agree more with what Jake just said or or what Anamika said, and I I won't repeat the answers that others have said about governance. What I wanna point out is that,
• as Jake said, the superintendent reports to the board. That makes the superintendent, for all intents and purposes, the CEO of our district.
• I work for a very large international humanitarian organization,
• and my CEO has to go to the board once a year to report on his annual report. It is a publicly available document
• that has details about what money we've spent on what and what outcomes we've achieved as an organization.
• Croton-Harmon has not had an annual report of this type since the twenty twenty, twenty twenty one school year.
• I would really like to bring that back. Right now, you can find a lot of the information that used to be in that report, but it is scattered across the superintendent
• reports,
• making it incredibly hard as a community member to get a comprehensive picture of the health of our schools.
• One of the ways that the board can
• hold the superintendent accountable is by bringing that report back.
All right. Sarah will be starting off with our next question which is question number seven.
• A number of submitted questions expressed
• dissatisfaction
• about the quality and consistency of communication between the district and the community.
• What ideas do you have to improve this?
• So I will say at the outset that that I'm on the communications committee of the board this year,
• and that it's something that we've been discussing and that we've been talking about is
• how do we better ensure that we are being responsive to the community. I think one of the things that we've been discussing
• is putting out a survey,
• with regard to board communications,
• but also understanding that sometimes
• we are we are discussing not just,
• dissatisfaction
• with communication coming from the board,
• but there being a gap in the communications and responsiveness
• from the district overall. And so working to ensure that we are improving those.
• We want to be able to launch that survey and hear from the community and determine the ways in which we can
• improve
• that, improve that responsiveness,
• improve the
• quickness of that response time and also be able to have open and honest dialogues with community members because there will be instances in which we don't always agree and that we won't be able to put forth an immediate solution.
• But being able to have that discussion and have it be more of a dialogue,
• I think is very important so that we can
• so that we're we're working
• together and we're not working at cross purposes.
• Thank you.
Yeah, I would agree with everything Sarah just said. As I kind of alluded to earlier, I don't think the question is how do we better communicate? It's more of how do we respond, right? There's a lot of channels for, parents to communicate. You can go to a board meeting, you can email, write it. It's easy to get your opinions, thoughts, questions, ideas out there. It's very difficult to get a thorough response.
• So I think board has the obligation
• as
• elected officials who report to you guys to response,
• especially if we're seeing the same questions over and over again. I mean, it's pretty obvious what some of the biggest issues in Proton are right now. There's widely reported, there's there's,
• parent groups that organize and mobilize, right? So if you're hearing the same question over and over again, you're hearing the same concerns over and over again. What I would do is say, okay, maybe on a monthly or a quarterly basis, we're going to aggregate
• everything we've heard over email, the meetings we've had,
• what people have said at
• board meetings,
• aggregate that data issue report and say, here's the top three or four themes that have emerged this quarter. Here's what we're doing about it. Here's what we can do about it. Here's what we can't do about it, right? When we're organizing for UPK,
• there was a real lack of responsiveness. It was just sort of a deferral.
• We had to push really hard to get,
• frequently asked questions section about UPK on the website and that was a big win for us. But it shouldn't have taken months and months of dozens of people going to board meetings. So I think the board has an obligation to say, here's what we've heard, warts and all. You know, we're an excellent school district and we can always strive to be better and I think responsiveness is one area where we're lacking.
I would agree with you on the FAQ on UPK, Jake, because it shouldn't also take board trustees weeks and weeks of advocating for an FAQ to be put up on the website for that to happen, but that was the reality.
• The quality is the question was the question about the quality and consistency of district communications or board communications. I'm gonna talk a little bit about both. I think, in terms of where we are right now, it seems like we we
• it seems like where we're gonna land is we're gonna need to have a policy on responding because it seems like policy is what actually changes practices in the school district, and so that's probably where we're gonna need to head. I think we need to throw out what isn't working. There's a lot that isn't working.
• And I think we need to center the most key thing that seems to be missing
• from the communications picture in general, which is respect.
• We don't seem to be respecting the fact that when people are writing in to the school district or to the board that they are advocating for a student, a student in their family who needs help with something. We need to change the culture in the school district so that people when they're asking questions, those questions aren't received as criticism or an attack on everything that's going on. We need to be assuming good good intentions also when people are coming forth and and surfacing the needs of their students that they're actually coming from a place of wanting to improve and to work collaboratively. For the most part, I think that that's what we're experiencing, but there's a resistance
• I think in the district's culture and that needs to be broken down. I think the Board of Education actually has an opportunity
• to help break that down because we're in the community, we're talking to you, we have individual relationships with you, and whoever is elected, I hope that the people in the audience will continue to rely on us to be able to do that for you.
This is a topic I know a lot about because I oversee the client responsiveness team at my organization.
• That team is responsible for ensuring that the feedback and response mechanisms are operating functionally in
• be
• So so
• fact
forward. And I think we're that the board and the district have a responsibility to identify trends
• and to respond to them. When people bring up the same issues over and over and over, that is a signal. It is not something to be ignored.
• Additionally, I think a policy in terms of response time is necessary.
• We have metrics in my organization around response time to clients. We should be doing the same thing. How long does it take the superintendent to respond to a community concern? How long does it take our building leaders to respond to to staff to emails from parents?
• I think it's incredibly important that we increase the responsiveness.
• I also wanna note, related to the district communications that I've heard some
• tension
• in the feedback that I've gotten from parents.
• I've heard that there is too much volume of communication
• and too little substance
• in many of the communications they receive that they have to weed through a great deal of information to find what is most relevant
• to their students.
• So I think that an eye to thinking about how we're communicating the most important information, ensuring that everyone in our community is well informed is is something that we need to look at.
• is key.
• But communications
• I think is
• something that we need to look at with a much
• more extensive
• focus than we have previously done. And I'm talking about responsiveness,
• which is very important.
• I think Betsy points out that the mass amount of different
• messages
• to sometimes
• draw the people's attention away from the important messages.
• I think we're talking about something that is strategic,
• something that we really need to know
• how we
• get information
• to the Board or to the district and how we respond. And I think that response
• should be proactive
• rather than reactive.
• We should as a district
• be saying this is a concern we've heard, this is how we are going to deal and not after we've gotten 40 different messages,
• but immediately
• and talk about and I think Jake said this is why or why we can't do it and lay it all out to the public.
• Board communications
• are somewhat different because we are seven board members.
• So consensus
• from a board before communicating
• sometimes takes time,
• sometimes it does not. We have to realize we're volunteers, so we can't spend
• hours and hours working on that, but we need to know how to do that better.
Alright. This will be our last question because we're a little bit after eight, 08:45.
• So, question number eight,
• what do you see as the role of a trustee in setting priorities for the district? And if elect if and if elected, what would be your top priorities?
Well, it's the it's the main goal of a trustee to set the vision and the priorities for the district. That's that's stated upfront in the budget statement.
• So it's our job. It's our job to do that.
• I think one of the first things I'd like to see is more scrutiny on programming and curriculum, especially changes to that. So one of the things I've enjoyed about the last few weeks on this campaign is talking to people, knocking on doors.
• I put out a survey
• through social media. I got about 30 responses, which is actually pretty good for for, survey responses.
• And I collected a lot of information, a lot of data. And one of the things that came up most
• the highest percentage that I saw of that survey was rigor, right, and curriculum changes and things like that. So the first thing I would do is introduce,
• you know, a formal framework for any time we're changing curriculum,
• any time we're changing programming, scheduling. Right? I was with some friends over the weekend whose kids are out of the district, long out of the district, they said, are these high schoolers wandering around, you know, all day?
• So we need to put in a framework, an official framework where we look for the evidence. Is this program gonna work? Whether it's interdisciplinary,
• whether it's a tech, advancement, anything like that. What's it gonna cost and how are we gonna measure success? That would be a framework I would wanna see. And at board meetings, we would publicly ask those questions of the superintendent of, those who are developing curriculum. So that would be sort of my number one goal is to get a a program policy implementation framework in place and communicate and respond that out to our district.
• What do you see as the role of a trustee in setting priorities for the district And if elected, what would be your top priorities? Okay. Sorry. I think somehow I heard it as setting the goals, so setting the priorities for the district.
• In terms of, in terms of establishing
• priorities for the district, I think we have to be listening to our community and we have to be observing what's happening
• across the different across the different buildings. There are different priorities for each of our schools right now. As others have mentioned, one of the things that we're hearing is that we need to refocus on literacy and other foundational skills at CET.
• At the middle school, we need to be determining how those four years bridge the gap between what we're doing at CET and being prepared to go into high school with all the demands of independence,
• self advocacy,
• and executive function that the high school experience at Croton-Harmon Schools requires.
• When we're talking about CHHS,
• we need to ensure that,
• we're not only focusing on,
• academic,
• experiences for all of our students access to those experiences, but also a clear understanding of how course selection and other choices
• end up determining
• sort of what your outcome will be, whether it's career or college, how you'll get there. There are specific specific areas of improvement for each of the schools, and I think to set those priorities, we need to be hearing more from our parents, from our families, from alumni, from our educators, bringing everyone together and actually having these discussions as a community.
As Jake mentioned, the board plays an incredibly important role in, setting the priorities that is one of their main purposes.
• I would have three priorities,
• all of which we've talked about tonight. The first is to strengthen our accountability mechanisms.
• I I think that the vision map is really exciting, and I think that we've,
• we've got a lot in there that needs to be backed and underpinned by clearer
• objectives,
• metrics,
• a work plan,
• and
• names next to those objectives.
• I think, you know, bringing in those three components of accountability, defining success, measuring as you go, and being willing to course correct.
• The second priority is transparency,
• building in those policies on responsiveness to community questions,
• ensuring that we are identifying when there's trends bubbling up through the building leaders or bubbling up through community
• community time at the board meetings.
• Both of those relate to building a culture
• where questions are met with curiosity
• and not defensiveness.
• Anamika referenced this earlier, and I think it's really important.
• I know many parents, myself included,
• who have asked genuinely
• warm and intentional questions
• to people in this district and gotten the wall
• shut in front of us. And I think, you know, not inviting in that partnership is one of the main challenges we have right now. And then, of course, the third is the strong foundational curriculum.
• I've noticed that other districts take a stronger hand in approving curricula, and I think that we can look to them to see what that looks like.
• I think our first
• objective
• and first priority is to have a common understanding
• and a frank
• public discussion about what success means. What success means for every student in every grade, how we measure it and what we have in place as a district to provide students
• with the
• feedback from their teachers
• so that they know what they're succeeding in, what they're not, what they need help in and have the resources
• that they will need to obtain success.
• Secondly,
• curriculum. I know a lot of folks have talked about curriculum and I think curriculum is an important work that we have kind of
• set to the side for a while and we need to pick up and I am hopeful and confident that we will. I think curriculum we have to talk about between schools, among schools, how everything scaffolds
• from K through 12 and make sure that we're doing that. The third, as we heard a lot about communications
• and I mentioned this before,
• is having a strong strategic
• communication strategy
• and program
• both for
• receiving communications
• from the community, from parents and students
• and being able to provide proactive responses
• and proactive information
• so that we can show people what we're doing without seeming to be reactive
• and defensive.
• In terms of the role of a trustee in setting priorities and
• what I would find as my my greatest priorities.
• I think a lot of it goes back to the vision map as I spoke about earlier in the day. I think putting that vision map out there and working through that strategic plan,
• we we put forth some
• some really
• great measures and some great some great thoughts into how we can
• continue to challenge our students or better challenge all of our students. I think where we need to go right now is to ensure
• that we are measuring outcomes, that we are looking at the at what is working,
• and that we are seeing the things that are maybe not working the way that we intended them to, and how we can evolve those and adapt those so that we are better meeting the needs of our students. I think we we've all discussed a lot about tonight about communication as well.
• And I think, you know, ensuring
• that there is greater responsiveness and that there is greater dialogue,
• between the community and the district.
• And also, you know, not
• not having the district be in a reactionary position
• when it comes to communicating out information. I think there are so many amazing and wonderful things going on in our schools, and I think we need to be sharing that information, and we need to be hearing about the things that maybe aren't working as well so that we can improve those and make those better. Thank you.
I just I just want to comment because I think that, you know, on some of the comments that have been made about the vision map. I think to sort of keep centering the vision map when we don't have sort of like the
• things that we need to see sort of operationally,
• going on in the district is a concern. It's great to have a vision, but if it's not being operationalized,
• if it's not being evaluated, if it's not as Betsy said, having sort of like a framework for goals,
• evaluation and improvement aligned against it, it's really not much of a vision. The other thing that I want to say is this question of having set aside reviewing curriculum for a while, it's a dereliction of duty and we need to change that.
• Each candidate will have one minute for closing statement. Closing statements should relate to the matters covered at the forum tonight.
• And I don't think I need to mention this, but it's in the script. Should not include personal attacks against other candidates.
• And you have one minute. Great. Thank you.
Thanks again to the League of Women Voters and everyone for being here tonight. I'd like to end by saying for myself, elections are important.
• The individuals you put into the three open seats on the school board will be making decisions that will impact our students, your children,
• for years to come.
• I'm not just a candidate, I'm also a voter. Here's what I'm looking for from a school board trustee.
• Someone who will put student learning and outcomes at the center of every decision.
• Someone who is willing to ask tough questions and to collaborate strategically to move things forward.
• Someone who understands that staying in your lane as a trustee
• means applying the principles of good governance, responsible oversight,
• and personal integrity to the work. Someone who the community can count on and trust. I hope that for some of you, I am that person, and I do hope to earn your vote next week.
• now, there is not a single member of the Croton-Harmon Board of Education with a child in the elementary school.
• For a BOE to function optimally, we need the direct insights from families with students in all of our schools.
• Full representation is how we will build a deep bench with perspectives from all school ages that provide the district with the information needed to make the best decisions.
• As our schools face new challenges, we must be able to adapt and be nimble with the knowledge that these decisions will affect us all for years to come. We need leaders with new experiences and histories to help us navigate these changes. That is me. And I will bring to this board not just that perspective, but the professional skills in psychology and data and accountability to do something with it. I believe in what this district is trying to build. The vision map represents an ambitious commitment to our kids' future,
• succeed. But innovation without accountability isn't brave.
• The board and the district needs urgently to collaborate on clear outcome metrics and reporting requirements so that the community can be better informed partners and so that course correction can happen in real time.
• I'm asking for your vote on May 19 for every kid in Groton Harmon who deserves a school board that is truly fighting for their best interest. Thank you.
During this hour with or hour and a half, we've discussed some of the most important issues facing our schools.
• It's now up to the voters to decide who can best work productively and cooperatively
• to address these issues and move the district forward.
• Through my experience, my dedication to the hard work of a school board member, I believe I've demonstrated that I have and will in the future consider all sides of every issue and make the best decision for the students we serve.
• That's what I bring to this position, have brought to the position and what has contributed to the accomplishments of our district.
• I am committed to ensuring academic
• excellence for all students,
• not measured only by test scores and grades or by colleges that students get into,
• but also by whether all students reach their full potential at all grades that are working and become critical thinkers, problem solvers, effective communicators and confident to face the future.
• The more information is available on my website, and I do hope that I have earned your vote on May 19.
Thank you again to the moderators, the League of Women Voters, and for to our student timekeepers.
• And thank you to the community who submitted your questions and for being so engaged in our schools. I think we had a robust conversation tonight,
• and anything whoever is gonna be sitting at that board table come July, there is a lot of opportunity for us to
• better meet the needs of our of our community. So it has been an honor and a privilege to represent this community on the board for the last nine years, and I am deeply committed to doing the important work of supporting our district and collaborating with families, staff, and students to make informed decisions about that best meet the needs of all of our students.
• I hope to,
• earn your vote on May 19. Thank you.
Tonight, heard from five candidates talk about what our schools mean to this community. I hope what you heard from me is someone who has done the homework,
• who isn't afraid to ask hard questions, and who genuinely believes we can always do better, not because something is broken, but because that's what this community deserves.
• I'm running because I saw that someone had to bring a fresh perspective to this board, and I think that should be me.
• These schools are great, and I want to make them even better. The way you get there is a board that sets priorities and make sure the administration follows through.
• My son starts kindergarten at CET in September. I'll be in those halls and I wanna be in those board meetings. This isn't a one board term for me. It's k through 12 for both him and his little brother.
• Croton families have always shown up for these schools. I'm asking for the chance to show up for you. Please vote Jake Day on May 19.
I think I mentioned at the beginning, but I wanna mention it again. We did draw names from a hat, and I know I noticed while we're talking that we have the incumbents and the new folks every other, and it was completely coincidental.
• Just in case you were wondering, it was completely coincidental.
• So that wraps things up for tonight. I wanna thank everyone for demonstrating your civil concern. A 100 questions is a lot of questions. It's amazing, and here you are today.
• I wanna thank the candidates for participating and for agreeing to abide by tonight's rules.
• And I wanna thank the audience for the respect you showed throughout the evening. Don't forget to vote on Tuesday, May 19. Voting takes place from 6AM to 9PM
• here in Croton-Harmon High School in the gymnasium.
• Thank you for for coming, and have a great night.