hello and welcome to channel seven teams town meeting television and another in our twenty nine hundred candidate forums i met kelly on this show candidates vying for school board for burlington commissioners we have candidates returning  opposed to serve the east and central districts joining me on the podium this evening are kathy all well serving the east district that is wards one and eight as well as jean waltz serving the central district that is wards two and three ladies welcome to you both i have to say my mother served on the burlington school board in the late seventy's under then superintendent lansing reinhold so it is an item here that i welcome you here the seating reminder that if you do have questions who are candidates you are welcome to dial on at eight six two three nine six six our format begins with the sixty second candidate opening statement followed by a round robin question and answer and we'll begin with you kathy you're sixty second opening statement please i'm running because i'm deeply concerned about the education of our children of the children of this city i've spent close to twenty five years in this city and of work for with youth for twenty four those years i opened in ran the new north end you center in the miller center and gus court i was instrumental in starting the after school programs in the district i ran the hunt middle school after school program for sarah hope work community center and organized the burlington when new ski summer middle school program which was a five week program that serves three hundred kids during the summer and gives them riches sort of hands on programs to choose from in the arts that let it can stem i've been on the school board for two point five years and served in the ninety's on the board for three years i want to see this district write itself after the cuts  last four years we of a very generous populous a community that has always supported schools if they trust they are being given the information they need to stand behind the board and the administration's very good thank you cathy jean welch your opening statement please very much like cathy i've been an education for my whole adult life we met back in the that was mid through the arts and after i graduated i was in america i did stuff what is now as say sustainability academy and integrated arts academy it's hard to i also ran an after school program at the riverside housing so yeah there's still some remnants of work from my program there those kids are all in their late twenty's wowsers yeah but i've been teaching art rock point school for nineteen years now so and deeply involved with the community of the old north and so i've been then the old north pretty steady i think there is maybe six months where i moved out of town for a little while we don't talk about that but i also have been involved with the ramble which is the celebration of creativity and community of the owner then and i've been helping to coordinate that since two thousand and ten and we kind of think of it as an arts festival is the base of it and it's kind of melding more into like a cultural festival which of course is all about the her that would be a great way to put  to so being involved in the community and in education seemed like a very good fit for my skills at being a good fit for work on the school board i'm very curious i hope i'm going to be helpful very good this evening kandor sours and jeff what were unavailable for this evening's candidate for and we hope to have  them reschedule for form at a future date we want to then go on to kind of a question and answer offer tonight here and with both of you and you know it's just an opportunity to be rather a little bit more informal i will want to just kind of ask how would you rate the relationship right now between the board and the administration there seems to have been passed been maybe some friction do you think that that has on your a little bit or is there still that i can honestly say i don't know enough about the history and i almost purposefully tried to come onto the board with a very clean slate my agenda was to not have an agenda and to really hopefully kind of be a way to take the temperature of the group i think the board itself has sincerely bonded over the past couple of since i've been on the board i have seen much as gene that i think that the board has i was there under more for just but you know i think those are things of the past and we've got to look forward  just make sure we're doing what we can do to make this a good experience you know so i should probably tell people that i bet on the board for five months i replaced ryan mclaren who left his seat early so this is my i'm running from my first term myself first term but so i have been on the into a bigger question and it has to do with political compromise and interest in effect political parties do you think you know political parties serve the students the best or do you think the school board being free of political parties and maybe you know should that extend to city council as well or are you see that those are is there adamant time when they were supposed to be like representatives from political parties on the board was that there was ok years ago  i think it was in the ninety's sometime that they stopped it and i when i was on in the ninety's it was right after they made that decision not to have it's parties involved in school board and i'm very happy that that happened because i don't think i mean there can be enough strife just in dealings about education let alone putting political stuff in there or a top of even though certainly we all have our political opinions and they come out in but it's not that but i i don't think they should let me just remind you if you have a question for either of our candidates our phone number is eight six two three right to you you know five months it's not a long time on the board what are your initial thoughts as to what are you seeing is the challenges ahead for the the students primarily and the teachers what are they having to  well i actually think teachers are i was really happy to hear that the negotiations with the b s a went very well so that felt like a very positive move in the right direction i know the past couple years have been really hard on the teachers so hopefully we're mending that relationship and you know when you have happy teachers are going to have ere's not a primary thing there's so many different moving parts and and i just want to say i feel like they're all important and i do want to see more of a way for everything to be taken care of without there being this you know somebody gets shoved in the corner because something else is you know the pot is boiling over and i know my approach to how i'm hoping things are going to move forward on the board is having more of a tiered sort of plan with how we go about programming and funding programming or just having you know because like education is all about building on skills so consistency but those are relative terms for very lofty things kathy you've been on for a number of years lots of things let me just say this isn't the school district of my mother from what was a leg a little you know the late seventy's so it's a lot of different challenges today for teachers and ministers what do you see is the biggest challenge that the  district faces whether be you know the teachers themselves the administration is it cost containment what do you what do you say i mean certainly costs are always the biggest check to any school district anywhere in this country and yes we i don't know that it's so much containment as where are we getting the funds to educate our children and i think one of the big problems is that that there are all or social problems in this district and all over this country due to poverty due to you know  social emotional problems we in this country don't support the social services that would support our populace and it's constantly being loaded on to the school right and so it's not that i don't think we should do this i do but i think that we need to get the support in order to do that and a big problem i think in this state is that the formula that education has is not correct in that years ago when it was put together they realized that those very needy districts were going to get a lot more money then not so needy districts and they happened to be in the wrong geographic area for everyone to support them and it goes back to feeling that shit in county is wealthy and yes it is that that it is wealthy but we also have some of the budget that has been proposed it's an increase and i'm wondering if you can kind of speak to that specifically because there are a lot of additions for full time exempt teachers or age or whatnot that are there to solve some of the issues that you specifically said that aren't being addressed by any other agency either from the state or from the city therefore that's in a school yet there doesn't have this on social emotional needs being  and also early learning pressure started practices the board unanimous hands down everybody was in favor of making her restarted practices was furthered can enhance can you for a moment explain to the audience and share with the audience what you hope the results of this increase in funding for those specific services will promote within our community and how does a community  having a deeper connection with your teacher or your neighbor or having more ways to communicate with everybody and it's just seems like it's supposed to the ripple effect could be that these kids you know after practicing for storage of after being part of restorative practices could go out into our community or other communities and have this effective community way of communicating and have a better understanding of how other people live feel whatever it is whether it be culturally or economically just have a better understanding if feels like it is about what these programs actually are you're on the school board you've approved can you kathy now tell me what you think the benefit to the community of these programs will be in this expense of restored practice or  things that are addressing the social issues that you and intimated are not being served through the community at large well our children kill learn a less they're healthy both in mind and body and i think many of these programs are there in order to help them give them the supports they need to be able to learn and a child who comes in who's homeless who's not sure that it next evening where they're going to live or where their next meal is coming from cannot concentrate when he's sitting in the classroom child with with emotional problems has a really hard time usually concentrating and being able to sit still and you know we could go along and you know we're not the effects of of things like like parental addiction or parental incarceration kids come to school these days many of them and i'm not talking that all kids are like this but but you have kids coming with really deep problems and they're not getting the the supports they need to to help least be in class ok and so again you know i was kind of looking more for like can you go through the budget and specifically identify that's where some of the there's going to be guidance counselors ok ok and this actually brings it back to another question about guidance counselor mischa's so i would be interested to hear you continue to talk about that you want to talk about mario this is just for there is no way i'm going to go well i said like lee i mean i just feel really uncomfortable because i wasn't a part of right right any of that but i mean it's really hard now you're on the school board the last five months on the education board has deemed him to be unfit i believe in is now in the process of revoking his certification there certainly so there's certainly concern out in the community was he always unset or did this just occur and if he was always unfit why was he hired in the first did you get to read the  i think that any personal matter we are not and this is a personal that or that still is before it is allowed to finish so we really aren't allowed that's  about i said that it's certainly a concern for the community but back to your point that this budget actually includes guidance counselors can you speak to that and the importance of that and those of the people that are connected to services student council president class speaker graduation so i don't necessarily think my teachers prepared me for the world outside of the classroom budgeting centered satirize the guidance forecast for the student population in terms of attendance are you seeing increased student populations decreased population in the stephanie from five ten year projections and how in  sense is that affecting your ability to budget and provide what we're seeing years the necessary services again that are being i mean we've really only last a very minute  the last five years that i think it's twenty students so while we're down where one but we're not down like the rest of the state right rolling pin is one of the only thinks growing state cities or towns that has pretty much stayed the same well and you know i guess with all the building going on in this city you'd hope that they're going to be a lot of families moving in that well then you know have kids going to the schools so it's very hard to figure that out before those houses and apartments are built and people have moved in to know exactly how many children we're going to have so as some populations decrease the fact that we're actually building in this city for the first time in oh years means that we probably will have more famil want to just touch base down on the renovation of the school the voters passed the bond watching on the school budget presentation had great things to say about it that progress is already underway lots of meetings are transpiring can you give us some updates on that as well as and from your own vantage point as to how things may be progressing and and your own excitement for the projects as well i'm very excited i mean we have needed move for many years so it is wonderful and i think everyone out there for first supporting the bond because it is needed our kids need a new high school i like the design of it because it will not have to be everything won't have to be torn down and they will build around some of the structures that some place it's seen that we're supposed to start twenty twenty spring of twenty twenty so you know i don't think it can come too soon i'm excited about it yeah gene your thoughts on sale again and i'm i actually worked at bennington high school in eighty seven head of the capital needs are they where you want to be are we funded where we need to be do you see any future capital needs that are on the horizon that  you know haven't sort of been addressed a ticking time bomb as it were i mean i feel like they're being addressed it's just there's i mean there's projects that are being kind of hanging in the balance  but if i feel like the facilities and if a structure what is the name of their candidate to destruction physicalities command they are they're working with marty they've got a timeline they seem like they're  organized you know i mean that's part of that's part of the board it's you know we're not supposed to be experts on everything or have our fingers in every every mean it's actually kind of a good thing you know concentrate on what you're good at and but  and trust the work that the other board members are doing and the committee i guess this is an opportunity to speak about some other questions here and one of the questions here is  about racial bias unconscious rachel bias it seems to be in the news a lot lately how do you think the school is addressing this post you know directly in the school through is a big part of that but i have not witnessed it personally and you know i get updates from reports i'm i did join the diversity equity and inclusion committee meeting me committee  essentially they're really looking to collect data if you feel worse finding the idea of what data is actually going to be affective in collecting months it seems like it's been a long time coming to come to suss that out if you feel that it is actually present in the high school on time just racial bias i think everybody is by is i mean burlington vermont in general i don't know just there's been a lot of news about maybe where not as forward thinking it's moving we are and i think it's horrible to admit that i think it's productive sure but i think it's really hard for people to be vulnerable especially when it comes to race that's and you know it's but culturally do you feel like we're growing as a community and we have been i think about how things were twenty years ago thirty years ago very different when you were in high school i mean very different so have your thoughts on on conscious racial bias do you think the district is doing enough to to promote awareness i do know that yes i do i think there is unconscious bias both in and outside the school in this community and really in our nation in general and i i do i think that we have been working on that i know that in the past when when i was working in the after school we did they did training with us on unconscious bias and i know that we did them with teachers so was with the whole staff and and we as a board have done those things so i know that the are going on you know it's always that question how much training and is it enough and you know there's there's money in the budget this year for that as well we are at the end of our debate here it's an opportunity for you to just give some final comments on your candidacy the school board race and your service to the city in general and kathy will begin with you i know i'm well you know i've been on for two and a half years i would ask the people of my two wards to give me another two years to serve you and i am very much enjoy i guess you could say it's hard work but but i have enjoyed and i want to keep working to see this district move ahead so very good your final thought exactly the same it is this is a very engaging process it is never boring it feels very important i very much want to be a part part of this important work  and it does feel like over time we are sincerely going to make a positive change here so it feels inspiring to me to be a part of this group and i hope that yeah i'm not a quitter either inspiring to be on the stage with you both it's very difficult to give countless hours of unpaid service to the city but the ladies before you are doing just that they ask that you go to the polls on march fifth and cast your ballot and a reminder that you can cast an early ballot as early voting has already begun just contact your local town clerk and request your ballot today and join us for complete election night results beginning at seven pm right here on channel seventeen and for all of us a town meeting television i met thank you and good night