[Music] All right. Good evening. I'm Michelle Anderson and I am part of the advisory uh this this the St. Francis Advisory um community education board and I am here with Jessica Bach and Cleven and um we are just going to go through some questions for running for school board and you are currently an interim school board member. >> Currently an interim school board member. Excellent. >> Yep. It started at the end of July. >> Sounds good. So you already have your feet a little wet in it. >> A little bit. >> Awesome. All right. So in your words, what do you feel is the role of the school board here at ISD15? >> Um that the schools are well-run. Um that we are we stay student focused, make sure students are engaged. Um we are very communitydriven here in St. Francis. So I think that's another role. Um and then just to advocate for students and um and make sure they're getting a strong education here. Awesome. All right. What makes you proud of the St. Francis School District? >> Um, I think, you know, I've been in this district since, uh, 8th grade I came here and, uh, just seeing the amount of change here and how the community is involved here, um, I think that makes me proud. Uh people that don't know my background, I did move here in '94, started in 8th grade. Uh I graduated in 99 from here. Um my late husband graduated in 2000. Uh we lost him about two years ago and um I think the way that the community showed up for us uh speaks volumes to how much this community cares and shows their compassion. Um, and I think uh that that makes me proud to live here. It makes me proud to send my kids to school here. >> It's excellent. And you have three kids? >> Three kids. Yep. >> Okay. And they all attend the school? >> They do. I have one at East Bethl in fourth grade. Um, and I have two at the middle school, sixth and seventh grade. >> Great. Awesome. So, what prompted you to run for school board? And what goals or objectives do you have as a schoolboard member? >> Um, what prompted me to run is my three kids and wanting to be involved in their educations. Um, what I would like to make my goal is to bridge our community into our schools. Um, I think that's a main purpose of our school board. Um, support academic excellence. uh and do that while supporting fiscal responsibility and um I want to strengthen our community engagement and make sure that we're investing into our teachers and staff. Great. Um what is the most important aspect of what ISD does for our community? Sorry, I skipped one there. >> You did skip one. We can jump back. um uh what what ISD does for our community obviously education um support students they shape our next generation and um not just through academics but through social and emotional development and beyond the classroom we also have sports and events and um community courses. Excellent. Um, all right. Let's go back to as an individual school board member, how would you handle a situation where the board takes one position and you don't agree with it? Um, and that's a position that's something that you actively campaigned on behalf of. >> Um, I think being part of the school board, it's it's important to realize that I am part of a larger governing body. um decisions are made by a majority vote and um obviously we're not always going to agree but I think to move forward with professionalism is important and if it was something that I campaigned on or felt strongly about um I think transparency with the community is important. uh always maintaining respect about the board's final decision and then I can continue to advocate uh for for whatever it is that I'm disagreeing on and there will be things I'm sure through the years >> that great that happens right um how would you plan to connect and communicate with the older adults in the school district in the community >> um I struggled a little bit with this question just because I obviously am very focused on uh on my three kids. Um and I do think there there are a lot of areas where we could pull in our older adult community members. I am struggling with how how and where that would work. Um I did a lot of volunteering in K through three. Um well throughout all the kids years, but K through three, I see a lot of area of where we could pull in older adults to help with volunteering. the the kids love being read to um helping with their alphabet, helping with their numbers, and I think that's an area where we could do that. Um, I am toying with some other ideas of, you know, could we do like a coffee chat or something in a coffee shop one one time a quarter or something just to to get that engagement and and hear where they're coming from and um how they support the school district or want want support from the school district. >> Excellent. All right. Um, is there anything in your past that could positively or negatively reflect on the St. Francis Area School District? >> I don't think there's anything negatively. I'm uh pretty straight as an arrow and uh nothing in my past that's going to come up. Uh I'm just a mom that wants to be involved. Um positively, I do bring a lot of life experiences, lessons. I bring my values to this role. Um, I believe that what I reflect positively on ISD 15 is my commitment um to our children's education and having three in the district helps with that. Um, and I have my commitment to my community. So, um, I've volunteered in a lot of areas in the school district, a lot with sports. We've done te-ball and baseball and flag football and tackle football. and uh newly this winter I'm doing some volunteering with um the traveling basketball league and um also did a lot with the St. Francis Athletic Booster Club. So we started three years ago and um finally just now starting to see some progress on that and some money kept in our community that can go back into the schools. So >> that's exciting too. Yes. Awesome. Um, what actions can the school board take to collaborate with local cities, towns, and governments? >> Um, this is actually starting to happen thanks to our superintendent and our current board. So, we started meeting with the um the East Bethl City Council, Oak Grove, um, St. Francis recently. I'm actually going to speak with them uh, Oak Grove on Monday. Um, so I think that's a a step in the right direction to um getting our district where we can effectively work with those local government agencies. Excellent. Um, how will you engage the community stakeholders to get a representative sample of the community values on which to make districtwide decisions? uh also struggled a little bit with this question, but I do know um there is the new um St. Francis Area Schools District Advisory Committee that's coming up that was posted all over social media recently. Um this group is going to meet once a month to look at district progress towards Minnesota academic standards. Um they're going to help with school board uh implementation of graduation requirements, examine data, and recommend district-wide goals. So, I think this is a great way for our community to get involved um and engage and give a representative sample of of where our community's values and district decisions stand. Um, personally, I am very active in this community. So, um I do want to hear from the community. If you see me out and about, feel free to stop me and speak with me. I want to hear from you. Um, >> you're right. >> Anywhere. >> You see me at County Market even. >> So, well, we kind of flew through those. Are we Do you have other things that you'd like to share or >> I don't. Okay. >> That was >> that was everything. >> Sounds good. All right. Well, I think that's that's it. And thank you for coming tonight and going through everything and letting us know a little bit more about you. And um we wish you the best of luck. Thank you. Thank you everybody.