a second good evening I am Sharon Bine president of the League of Women Voters minona Eden Prairie and Hopkins I'd like to welcome you on behalf of the league we are 104 yearold volunteer nonpartisan organization which encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government and works to increase understanding of major public policy issues influences public policy through education and advocacy the league does not support or oppose any political party or candidate the views expressed in this forum are those of the candidates not those of the League of Women Voters it is our purpose in sponsoring forums such as this to provide citizens with an opportunity to hear candidates discuss face Toof face the issues that are important to you this is a nonpartisan forum and we ask that campaign buttons or campaign t-shirts not be worn or signs that or literature be distributed in this room please also silence your electronic devices and now I would like to introduce your moderator for this evening's Forum Deb Brinkman of St Louis Park and a St St Louis Park League member good evening tonight's forum is provided to give you the opportunity to learn about the candidates running for Eden Prairie School Board their background motivations and goals in relationship to the seat that they seek candidates will be answering questions submitted in advance or during the Forum to the extent possible these questions have been reviewed by an impartial committee familiar with the issues It's Our intention in good faith to select questions that represent the interest expressed by the voters that are are that are focused on the future and not based on hindsight that are relevant to the office being sought and are not personal in nature hostile embarrassing or unclear questions will be answered to all candidates and may be Consolidated or edited there's never enough time to cover all the issues in a setting such as this if your questions were not addressed here tonight please feel free to contact the candidate directly the rules for this evening's form are as follows candidates will be allowed an opening statement with a maximum of one minute during the question and answer period answers will be limited to 1 minute opening statements will be given in alphabetical order by the office being sought and questions will be answered in a rotating order a 15c warning will be given to the candidates the candidates will also be given the opportunity for a one minute closing statement candidates please finish your sentence quickly when you see the stop sign or you'll be interrupted we ask that there be no demonstrations in support or in opposition to the candidates or their positions and that the candidate be allowed their fulltime to get their points across recordings of this event whether in person or on computer may not be used without the express written approval of the league the league will only allow audio visual of this event to be broadcast its an entirety except by the media reporting on the event if you have a question please write it on a 3x5 card available and one of our volunteers will um pick it up when you raise your hand all candidates were invited to participate in tonight's Forum candidate Kim Ross has covid and does not meet the CDC guidelines to be present she's prepared an opening and closing statement which will be shared at the appropriate times candidate John surmac also has Co but meet CDC guidelines he's president and seated separately and masked the remaining candidates are an bradshire Kim Johnson Dennis dubs jod Ward Rena and you will be selecting three candidates in the November election so we'll begin with the Eden Prairie um candidates um giving them their one minute introductory remarks first Ann bradshire oh good evening to my fellow candidates and all the attendees and to our moderators really appreciate just being invited here by the League of Women Voters so thanks for having me I'm Anne bradsher and I'm seeking a seat on the Eden Prairie School Board you could say I have a vested interest my husband Neil and I have five daughters we have been in Eden Prairie schools for 18 consecutive years and just kicked off our 19th yesterday um our oldest daughter is in graduate school now we have two additional daughters in college all three of them are EP graduates our fourth daughter is a junior at Eden perie high school and our fifth daughter just started seventh grade at Central Middle School so we are all over the board I'm a licensed CPA I have a heavy Finance Focus I'm an author passionate volunteer and I'm running for Eden Prairie School Board to insist that we bring respect back to the halls of Eden Prairie schools respect for each other respect for your teachers respect for your elders respect for volunteers thank you thank you an and John thank you to the League of Women Voters for hosting this forum tonight my name is John surmac my wife Nikki and I have been residents of Eden Prairie for over 20 years and have two sons who have gone through the public education system here in Eden Prairie uh starting in ECFE um then on to Prairie viiew CMS and Eden PR High School my oldest just started his freshman year at the University of Minnesota and my youngest started his sophomore year this past Tuesday I was a volunteer head coach in both Eden Prairie baseball and basketball for both of my kids for over 10 years and I started commissioning rookie Camp prior to my Eden Prairie coaching work one example of service that I was extremely proud of was uh co-founding miniapolis hope Dollars for Scholars which is an organization founded on providing post-secondary educational opportunities for young people regardless of income tonight as I answer questions I want you the voters to understand who I am and what grounds me in my personal life three things I lead with values specifically mutual respect for others listening compromise and being authentic I believe and value our public education system and I seek to apply Common Sense whenever possible hopefully you'll see these in my answers tonight thank you and uh I hope you get my vote in in the fall thank you John and Kim Johnson well thank you League of Women Women Voters for hosting this event tonight and thank you for all of you that have attended I'm Kim Johnson and I'm an Eden Prairie resident for the past 35 years I am married with three grown children and a grandchild my children were part of the inen Prairie School District and and I am a recent college graduate in the last past 24 years I have worked in learning development as an instructional designer and a People leader I am running for school board because I believe in the importance of education and bring a fresh perspective to this role I'm committed to ensuring high quality and Equitable education for every child safety in our schools is Paramount and I will prioritize in enhancing safety protocols and accountability I'm dedicated to fostering a strong community Through engagement and open communication I'm dedicated to sorry with my background dedication and commitment I aim to create an environment where every student can Thrive I look forward to earn your support thank you Kim and we'll pause now for a statement from Kim Ross because we're going in alphabetical order so this is where we'll pause for her opening statement and that is on the video that will be shared just a moment for hi thanks to the League of Women Voters and to the candidates participating this evening and I especially want to thank Eden Prairie for the opportunity to serve on the Eden Prairie School Board for these past four years I'm sorry I can't be with you this evening due to having covid but I'll watch The Forum and post my answers to the questions posed on my website and on social media I believe the most important work of the district is ensuring that each student achieves their academic potential and given the opportunity to continue serving I'll focus on driving achievement by engaging students in their learning advocating for the well-being being and safety of students and staff and ensuring that the district is operated in a financially and environmentally sustainable way although I have more experience than any candidate it's about more than just time served it's about effective leadership and making decisions that enhance the educational experiences and success of each student you can learn more about me at kimar ross.com I humbly ask for the opportunity to continue serving on the Eden Prairie School Board and for your vote on November 5th thanks thank you for playing that video for us and in one moment we'll wait for our audio visual representative to get to the back then we'll proceed with Dennis stubs go ahead Dennis thank you good evening um I want to thank youall for hosting this event and for the opportunity to participate my name is Dennis stubs I'm the incumbent candidate and I've been serving on the Eden Prairie School Board now for two years um my wife and I have lived in eaten Prairie for 10 years and we have three young kids in the E Prairie School District um my son's a fifth grader I have a daughter who's a third grader and my youngest daughter just started kindergarten um and for one year they're all going to be in the same building so um being on the school board has been a lot of hard work uh takes up a lot of time I've served on the community linkage committee as well as the board development committee um and uh I'm going for this position again for the same reason that got me elected two years ago um I care a lot about the kids in this community um I've gotten to know so many of them and their parents um through coaching youth groups School functions um after school activities I've made it a point to get out to as many events as possible so that I can be available to parents teachers and students um in case they want to share something or have any questions so I'm happy to be with you all here tonight and uh thanks again thank you Dennis and jod Ward renell no uh good evening and thank you to the League of Women Voters for hosting this event and thank you to everyone for listening tonight um as I said I'm I'm jod Ward Rano and I'm a candidate for the scho school board for Eden Prairie I believe that we have a thriving District amazing resources for our fam families phenomenal teachers and students for whom the sky is the limit I believe for our district to continue on our upward path we need board members who will help our district leaders consider policies and practices on a deeper level at every meeting and I think that we do that by asking questions at the board table while we're considering the policies a little a little bit about me taking a step back I've been living in Eden Prairie for about 12 years I am married with a fifth grade son Ben at at Eagle Heights and an eighth grade daughter Emily at CMS um I've been deeply involved in our schools that entire time that Emily has been in school and throughout my involvement in our schools I've never been shy about advocating for others if I thought that they needed help and I'm asking for the opportunity to be on the board to continue to advocate for our families at the table thank you you thank you Jody all right now we will proceed with our um first question John you will be the first person to answer followed by Kim and the topic is educational achievement new data from the Minnesota Department of Education show reading and math scores remain well below prepandemic numbers Eden Prairie schools are doing slightly better than the state averages but they're still well below the 19 2019 average scores for math which was 55% and reading which was 59% why do you think that is and what will you do to turn around academic test scores so that the students succeed academically again John surit please thank you for the question um I think there's a lot of reasons why that's happened I think covid definitely had a huge impact as we all know clearly um that that had a huge impact on on on our kids it was a really devastating time and there was some slipping that occurred during that time and so I think to answer the question about why I think I think the pandemic had more of an impact than we initially thought um I think that's part of the why I think the way we're going to fix this or at least attempt to fix this is to dig into the data a little bit more I think we have to really depend on good metrics and measurements to understand where the gaps are in what's happening uh within those two particularly very important areas we need to consider cultural awareness when we're doing that we need to consider the demographics of our students we need to consider a lot of different things um that maybe we don't always think about when we're trying to determine what the problem uh in something like that is so I think if we really dig into the why um now that we know the pandemic is clearly over um we can get to the root of some of that thank you thank you JN Kim Johnson yes I can repeat that Thank you new data from the Minnesota Department of Education show reading and math scores remain well below pre pandemic numbers Eden Prairie schools are doing slightly better than the state averages but they're still well below the 2019 average scores for which math was 55% and reading was 59% why do you think this is and what will you do to turn around academic test scores so that students succeed academically thank you for repeating that question I agree looking at the data looking at the data will tell us any kind of demographics that might be um despairing the um the reason for that Gap I do believe that Co did have an impact on our education I do know that some schools have hired intervention teachers to help fill in that Gap so those individuals that can help fill in those gaps of where it's needed um as an example my daughter is actually one of those individuals that is a teacher a math teacher to help fill in those gaps so I applaud her in that space and I think that that's an area where we can definitely improve as is really focus in on those individuals that need that that area I believe that in preschool districts has the best teachers in this in this area and I know that with that extra attention and detail they will be able to bridge that Gap thank you thank you Kim and Dennis stubs okay um one of the things that I've learned in two years on the board um and I keep hearing the word over and over again all the time and that's each and they always say each each each each student each student um this District does an amazing job um and just recognizing that you know not every kid is going to have the same starting point um and some of them need a little extra help special treatment and they go out of their way to get everyone caught up so that we can achieve the same finish Point um and that's it graduation having everyone get there and just be ready uh for what life brings next um they do a good job recognizing that I think that's part of the reason why we've done well in grades and um you just hear a lot about that on the district just no one no one gets left behind and that's that's huge and I think that's probably what makes the biggest difference why our scores kind of reflect a little higher than some of the other districts so thanks thank you Dennis and Jody uh so curriculum is set in our district by our wonderful Professionals in our district offices and they are incredibly smart people who have education on how to build curriculum so what would my role as a school board member be to Foster and grow and help students uh my my role would be twofold first like Dennis was saying we focus on helping each student and each student learns a unique way and each family has a unique experience in our district and how they're interacting with the curriculum so I would be out in the community talking with families and finding out how they're experiencing the curriculum so I could bring that that point of view to the board table when I came to a meeting and second I would use the board meeting time as an opportunity to ask questions when curriculum is presented to us to ask how have we considered how a policy or practice or curriculum impacts each student including students that don't fit in the middle of the bell curve when you're talking about test scores a lot of times you're looking at kind of the middle the bell curve how you're you're working with those students and I want to look at how we're impacting students that don't fit in in that that top of the curve thank you Jody and Ann Brer I think it's my own opinion is that Co gave our students especially the younger Elementary way too much Freedom that they weren't ready for to try to succeed on their own I happened to be home with my kids and they still had too much Freedom the kids who didn't have parents there witnessing every day because they were trying to do their jobs unbelievable so I think kids got used to that there were so many absences and then I know I know children who were using the excuse that oh we might have Co I think I should stay home suddenly kids weren't attending school five days a week and I'm familiar with high schoolers who are still saying oh wow I just went to school five days that week I'm not used to that that's not acceptable our kids need to be in school and we need to tighten the reins and I think I think what's really important and I'm you're going to learn throughout this evening I'm kind of an old school kind of gal but bring back pencils and paper because my youngest child seldom uses a pencil and paper and she's doing math on an iPad bringing back pencil and paper is a universal equalizer and I think that's really going to help bring all these kids together and work with their teachers thank you thank you an all right then next question the topic will be vouchers we're going to start with Kim on at this question and then go to Dennis uh the question is do you support School vouchers and please State the values for your support whether or not you support it Kim Johnson thank you for that question and I'm going to be totally honest and transparent but I don't know what school vultures are um so can is there a clarification that I can have in my somebody else can jump in but it is providing financial support for children to participate or enroll in students outside of the public school system thumbs up everyone okay thank you okay thank you do I support vouchers I think that uh having individuals be able to choose where they want to go to school is very important if in a parent wants to have their child go to a a school that is extremely talented has a great education I believe that they should have that right to be able to go to those open open schools thank you very much Kim and we'll go to Dennis um yeah as far as vouchers I think I think it's good to allow people to choose where the kids want to go to school and if vouchers means giving them financial assistance to pick a school they're choosing that's great I think this school district um has got so much to offer uh and the things that they do I mean I tell people all the time I wish I could be a kid again and go back to school at Eden Prairie um the amount of programs and things that they do I learned something new every day on the board um the presentations they put forth this is an amazing District I'd hate to see anybody go anywhere else and we do everything we can to entice people to come in and keep them here um I'm okay with vouchers I just prefer we keep them here and keep them in our schools and that to me is more important than anything and I and we do a great job with that the team does and um so I'll leave you that thank you Dennis Jody uh no I don't support School vouchers uh School vouchers take money with a school voucher it's money that the state would have had for that pupil and if they're not in our district if they take the voucher somewhere else that's money that comes out of the district that we then as a district cannot spend to improve the education for the students remaining in the district so um as a member of the school board if I were to have the honor to serve I would focus on listening to the community and the parents who are making choices to leave the district to see what we can do to try and bring them back to make it so that people aren't looking to use vouchers to leave um similar to what Dennis was saying I think we have a great district and I'd love to keep the resources here to help everyone thank you Jody and bradsher um I agree with a lot of what jod was saying I don't have a giant opposition to vouchers but I feel like there needs to be a good reason behind it and like you're saying we need to keep our funds within our district but at the same time I attended graduation 2024 and it was a debacle and when it was over I looked at my husband and I said are we really going to send our seventh grader to Eden prey high school and the answer is yes I want to with this is our school district and I'd like all five of my kids to graduate from here I don't want to open enroll somewhere else I want to make our school district better let's just improve what we have because we have a great Foundation here so so I guess I it's a a middle ground of if there is a true genuine concern to open en roll I'm not completely opposed to it thank you thank you an and John excuse me um I agree with this whole group about how great our schools are and I certainly Echo that um what I would say though is I do take a little bit of a different approach um I tend to agree with what jod was saying I I I think as I said in my opening statement I I'm really uh passionate and and see the value in public education with vouchers you're taking um public funds intended for public schools and essentially diverting them into private schools and and other institutions which I don't necessarily think I I agree with um I certainly understand the desire for choice but I also I think sometimes vouchers seem to treat learning almost like a commodity and I I I think it's it's better to keep Public Funding in public schools for the purposes of that and not necessarily again diverting them I also don't know in my research I've seen a lot of evidence to suggest that school vouchers actually improveed school performance either so I think you know if that was the argument we would certainly you know have a conversation but in general I I think that I I would keep the Public Funding in the public schools thank you John all right the next question the topic will be we've got a couple different questions on the budget and expenditures and Dennis will start with you this question is a little bit long so bear with me here some districts are having to make Cuts because of budget concerns from recent legislative mandates made for all Minnesota schools and the expiration of covid funds Eden Prairie schools May face a shortfall of $500,000 to pay for unfunded mandates such as unemployment for bus drivers and lunch seasonal workers what changes would you recommend to make up for the budget shortfall and how will you be able to accomplish this without large larger class sizes or teacher layoffs uh another thing that i' probably been the most impressed with on this district is the finance team and their ability to balance a budget and not go after more and more taxes um this year we were one of the only school districts in the entire state that did not Levy to the max um meaning we could have asked for more and we didn't um when you have too much money you tend to waste it so being on a very tight budget and I'm by no means a budget expert um but I have learned a lot and I've read a lot and I've learned a lot about how things are done in the school district um they're very good at taking what they have and making it work and stretching it as long as they possibly can and we don't have that position like many of the other districts have we just gave our teachers a great contract um well taken care of super important um without having to make those cuts that you're talking about and financially I would put this District up against almost every other District in terms of our financial position and that's all credit to the admin and that uh and the business department um leave it at that thank you Dennis Jody uh so it's my understanding that in recent years the number of administrative roles that we have it both at the district level but in the schools has increased significantly um and so I think that's one of the areas that I would look at first is non-teaching uh administ ative roles um if we're looking if if we have to make Cuts in that way looking at why we have those roles and what we could do to consolidate if needed uh but I agree with Dennis there's a lot of smart people and our district does a really good job I was a candidate in uh two years ago and uh when we were going for the referendum we do a really good job of stretching our money and finding ways to save money and so I think there's a lot that we could do on that front as well um but if we need to make cuts the first place I think I would look was is looking at the administrative roles and seeing what we could do there because we did great with less roles previously thank you Jody and an I think I have I have a finance background an accounting degree I'm very budget oriented and I think we just look at what funds we already have and what they're going towards because if the question is do we spend money on aesthetic changes to a building versus paying unemployment our bus drivers to me that that's a no-brainer and maybe I'm sure other people feel differently but I think Eden Prairie is doing a lot of aesthetic updates and changes to the buildings and perhaps that's where we look to do something differently playground equipment is being replaced that's perfectly good playground equipment as far as my again old school opinion is a jungle gym works just fine and when we're trying to really support our seasonal workers and the unemployment for bus drivers absolutely so I think we look at where we can not cut corners but let's think about what are the needs versus what are the wants and weigh those and see what we can do with the budget and stick within those constraints thank you thank you an and John well I was uh at the school board meeting this year when the the annual budget was approved which was really fascinating and again to the point up here this is an incredibly smart group of people in finance that help make sure that this District does what it's done to Dennis's point for the last several years and that is to be extremely fiscally responsible which was really good to see as an outsider looking in and and understanding the process but I'll I'll say I'll Echo some of what was set up here I mean I think there's a lot of levers that can be pulled in a budget that size and so I think to me it's a priority exercise where the School Board gets together with the other constituents and says okay what's important and what isn't to me unemployment for seasonal workers as an said and support for bus drivers that that seems to be one of those things that you know I would prioritize much higher um than other things and I think like any smart budgetary process you go line by line and you prioritize what's important and and what can be put off so that you don't have to sacrifice the things that are most important thank you thank you and Kim I'm going to agree with everything that was said here and I have been watching the Schoolboard meetings for the this past several nine months and every time the financial individuals come up to the table to talk about through finance and it's a lot of information but they do a really really good job in dissecting and sharing where that money is going and they're very transparent to the public um we've passed a referendum and that means that our public trusts what Eden Prairie is doing with our with our money one of the things that I would do um in learning development for our people in culture area that I support I am part of their budget and we always go through this exercise of looking at our expenses 10% cut what would we have to cut what's our needs and what is our wants what do we need to do to run and then look at our expenses where are we um where are some expenses that we can actually cut and then look way look for ways to actually bring in some Revenue within the community let's partner up thank you thank you Kim all right again we'll kind of stick with um with a budget and finance question here and we will start with jod on this one recently the Eden Prairie schools purchased the former superv value UNFI facility please comment on your understanding of the long range plans for the use of this facility for the educational benefit of our students uh well as an an outsider looking in um Dennis probably has more information on this than I do but um my understanding is that it's being used for the tassel program um in addition I'm on the board of the um foundation for Eden PR schools and we have an office in there as well uh but I also understand there's additional space and the district is looking for ways that they can use that space for potential Community uses rentals and other things so the space I think is a space for the district to grow and there isn't as my understanding a complete plan for the entire space but it's a home for tassel which I think is an important program um and if people aren't aware of what tassel is uh definitely something to check out it's a fantastic program thank you Jody and an um I have very limited knowledge about what is happening within that building other than like what Jody was mentioning I think my family and myself very supportive of the special needs program within Eden prie high school and we've been really involved and my kids been really involved in it so knowing that tassel is getting some attention a bigger space and what that can mean to those students is enormous especially with the sensory um limitations that some of the students might experience I think whatever can be done to use that space for our students with special needs and their families who are Beyond imp parenting where I have ever been so really impressed with that plan and the administrative offices that's great but I'm curious what the additional space is going to be be and who gets to decide that thank you thank you an John yeah I was actually thinking as you were saying this Deb when I think about the Strategic plan at uh Eden prey for for what we want the district to be it's around authentic personalized learning well-being inclusion and belonging and if we're not doing something that supports one of those goals should we be doing it so an answer to your question I'm getting there was when we the the fact that we actually purchased this building and that it is dedicated to tassel to me is around um the inclusion and belonging piece and that we're willing as a district to invest in something that will provide opportunities and infrastructure and resources for that group of people which is part of what we say we believe in and part of the foundation of what we're trying to do um so that's my understanding as well to what jod said as well as some of the community work I also was under the impression that it it also was an opportunity for special needs as an said as well so all of those things to me fit under the bill of inclusion belonging um and so um I think it's great that we're willing to invest in something that's you know was a pretty significant investment thank you John and Kim I'm actually really excited about the purchase of this new building because if it supports the tassel program it is supporting another um group of individuals that if my commitment is high quality and Equitable education for everybody inspiring every single student every single person that comes through the school district and if tassel is going to do that and have the expanded location that is I am very very supportive in that it is also another opportunity to partner with the community and um reaching out to other communities and also thinking about our curriculum could we expand it even farther to experiential type of learning and give some Hands-On practice into a community or a public um Forum like that thank you and Dennis yeah I'll be real careful with what I share because I don't want to get in front of the admin and their plans uh they like to unveil things themselves a lot um I will say uh doing site visits with tassel that's such a great program and if anybody's ever seen the facility uh for starters we're releasing that facility from the city and it was very small and we were getting the most out of that space we could get uh the city decided to that they needed that space back for for their plans um so then we look at do we continue to rent something or do we continue to buy and if you look at this Market postco Commercial Real Estate you can pick up for pennies on the dollar uh in fact we got such a good deal on this building uh there were folks from Department of Education saying why are you buying such a big space for so cheap they would almost rather us get something smaller that costs more um huge potential here I've heard millions of ideas I'm not going to say them um I think you'll find out but they're really good at planning and there's so much we can do with this space I've already heard a bunch of them and I just think it's going to be great it's probably one of the coolest moves that I've seen take place since I've been on the board so thanks great thank you Dennis and the next question one more question on on the budget um a little bit more of a clarifying question we'll start with Jody after recent large expenditures made by the school district without taxpayer input please explain your views on how the school board can improve transparency and open communication between the board and all stakeholder holders including taxpayers who do not have children in school Jody will start with you oh okay sorry can I I started the last one that's why I was little can you read that again um yes after it was a long question that was a long question and you're right you did start the next one so no that's okay we'll start we'll stick to my grid please yeah all right otherwise I'll really get lost okay after recent large expenditures made by the school district without taxpayer input please explain your views on how the school board can improve transparency and open communication between the board and all stakeholders including taxpayers who do not have children in schools so I would say that I think that that's a little bit of a a two-way street because the communication that front that's it's both the Board needs to be more as transparent as it can be but I think also the community needs to be involved as well to receive the information um there are reasons I'm sure and Dennis I'm sure can speak more about this but we just saw there are reasons why Dennis can't be fully transparent on some things um when he's you know involved in his board work in order to make sure that the deal is protected or or what have you and so there are certain reasons why he may not be able to speak about what's happening in order to for the best interest of the district I will say I think that what this highlights is that it's important to have members on the board board who you trust their values and the way that they look at things so when there are private matters or or private deals that need to be done you trust their decision-making and know that they are focusing on the best interest of the district thank you Jody and Dennis yeah since I've been on the board there's been very few um closed door sessions where you know behind the scenes and for good reason we have to go in there and discuss um you know property Acquisitions or projects that you know we we want to you can't disclose until the details are finalized I guess um they're good about being transparent as soon as possible and and and the superintendent his staff have very good full access that you can ask them questions through all day long about anything and they're they're very transparent um some stuff for a good reason is just um kind of kept quiet until until it's approved and then once it's approved we make it public and I've just found that I've had questions on things especially construction projects and stuff going on in the district that's my background um they've been very transparent and I've gotten all the answers that I need and sometimes when I don't like something you just have to listen and I could find something in an email that I don't like when they've done one year of preparation and planning and thought that goes into it so when you hear the reasoning for making some of the decisions they make it makes sense it'll actually change your view on it um but they're very good at at doing that and I guess I'm overtime so thank you Dennis and Kim can you repeat that question again just real okay after recent large expenditures made by the school district without taxpayer input please explain your views on how the school board can improve transparency and open communication between the board and all stakehold holders including taxpayers who do not have children in schools our parents and our community they trust the school district they trust them to do what is right with the dollars and in in the money that they that they've entrusted into the school district so when I think about you know the transparency I'm about open communication um creating those channels of here's what we're doing and here's how we're doing the um here's the resolution for that and then sharing that when they can and that makes sense but having a forum for individuals that they can go to um when they want to um and definitely making sure that um we're communicating to parents and um Extended Community across the board is really key and important um just to keep everybody knowing what we're doing in the in the school district so thank you thank you Kim and John so so not ever having been on a school board before and and you know obviously Dennis has and and understands a little bit more about this as we've discussed you know clearly I think we all want transparency I think we all want to know um you know where where dollars and cents are going what I would say is this as as a community member here in Eden pry for a long time I've never seen any history of Reckless spending in this in this District District in fact we've talked about this already twice how fiscally responsible that this uh particular district is compared to the other districts the school districts in this state so um I had I have no reason to believe and I would hope taxpayers within our district would have no reason to believe that the money that is being spent in this District isn't being spent for the right reasons um and and and making sure we have the right resources for the right things so again comes down to the trust thing um that Kim mentioned but um without knowing the rules and how things can be shared and not shared I would just say we have a really good history in this District of how we spend our money and I um and I believe and trust in that so thank you thank you John and an I think really important to be transparent I think everybody agrees with that we need to set a budget and to have really clear bullet point line items that the average homeowner the average taxpayer can see and understand what's happening and yes there's going to be some deals that are not sharable prior to them being made but seeing where that money might be coming from could be helpful um I think as taxpayers it's really important as homeowners important to attend board meetings or a board meeting to understand what some of the function is because it's very very easy to sit in our houses and complain about what's being spent and say that we weren't given the opportunity to understand what was happening and perhaps in some of the private deals that information is not going to be given but I think that our community as a whole just being better educated by attending more meetings that myself included and learning more there'd be less dissent and a little bit more understanding and I think again the old school sending paper mailings with budget and line items to people who might not be so internet Savvy could be really helpful thank you thank you an all right the next question we'll switch topics we'll talk about the curriculum and Dennis will start with you through several years of feedback forums and Community meetings a large portion of feedback has been related to well researched outdoor time and res recess needs what will you do to ensure the district finally implements changes in response to this feedback John or Dennis excuse me um yeah this one's easy but only have a minute um so the first thing on the board development committee that I got on um one of the things that we heard a lot from parents about was screen time like you mentioned earlier um I've got young kids I I understand screen time and being divice Savvy in high school and you know uh the middle school but in elementary there was just too much of it and that was a huge concern with a lot of parents especially parents I'm connected with because of the age of my kids in the elementary schools so long story short uh we spent a lot of time discussing screen screen time we developed a piece we were trying to put it in a policy called uh protecting human to human interaction we don't want kids staring at an iPad and poking we want them looking up at teachers listening and learning uh we got a guest speaker from uh the University of Minnesota to come in and do a presentation in front of the board uh we fought really hard to try to get that policy pushed through it got voted down but I'm by no means done with that fight um I'm a huge advocate for outside and less screen time and more pen and paper I was happy to hear you say that um that's been one of the biggest fights that one of the biggest pushes I've done since I've been on the board so thank you Dennis and Kim if I understand this correctly curriculum is set by the superintendent so the superintendent works with their staff and making sure that they have all of the state requirements and I know that the school board will take a look at that and and we will work with the superintendent in that in that space I think outside time is really super important to add that in especially in the age appropriate grades but I also think it's really important for um the older students as well and I look at adding do we add experiential learning and experiential learning is more Hands-On is it getting up and going places is that include the outside time does it take a student into a different area so that they canar learn at the same time that they're getting up and moving around so I think that that's really super important but I trust what our superintendent is doing and what the curriculum looks like and we would just have oversight on on making sure that we're asking the right questions thank you John could you repeat the the question please yes through years of feedback forums and Community meetings a large portion of the feedback has been related to well researched outdoor time and resour recess needs what will you do to ensure the district finally implements changes in response to that feedback thank you um first of all I I I Echo the group here I I think it's an extremely important thing if Co taught us anything uh way too much time in front of a screen I I I think technology and being fluent in technology is obviously super important too but um I also think this bleeds into a lot of other things without the ability for our kids to be outside um we have mental health problems we have uh a lot of things around um just the inability to socially interact with each other as children I see it all the time um within especially within the middle school and high school years I think because they spend so much time alone or in front of a screen and not actually socially interacting which a recess or outdoor curriculum would help provide um we're we're we're actually missing out so I think of this as an opportunity a giant opportunity for the Eden PR School District to do something a little bit different a little more Progressive than how we think about getting our kids away from the screen and outside where they can learn to the skills that they're going to need more so than what a tablet can teach them thank you thank you John and an um agree with everybody outdoor time very important physical activity is really important for these kids endorphins just giving Positive Vibes to these children um I do agree outdoor time is necessary we need to follow through with that we also need outdoor time monitoring and if it's recess we need as much supervision as the kids are getting in class I had experiences my kid was physically harmed by another girl and nobody really saw what was happening and they're taking they're interviewing children and trying to take the word of her friends versus the other girls friends instead of having enough monitoring so perhaps that's coming back to the budget and the extra administrative help that we're are we allocating enough to that help to be able to provide that a safe environment outdoors and I think if there are classes like Kim was alluding to with actual academic classes that we could include some experiential learning and get the kids outside and we could include those minutes as part of what's require required with the teachers curriculum that'd be fantastic and a way to ensure that they're being engaged and monitored and also getting getting up getting moving and getting some fresh airk you thank you thank you an and Jody uh like everyone else up here I agree that more outside time is important and would be fantastic in fact some students need that physical activity in order to be able to concentrate academically on their math and their their reading and writing so I think that's really important um I think as a Schoolboard member it would be my role to ask questions and to advocate for um some re a review of what would be possible Outdoors so for example on the PTO at Eagle Heights we our teachers were asking they wanted to do outdoor time we wanted to support that and I had no idea the the Hoops that you have to jump through and able to be able to do that for one Eagle Heights and Oak Point that building is so close to the creek and has so little amount of Green Space the fields flood um at various times during the year so it's hard to get out door time just because of the the way the building set up uh in addition in order to build outdoor spaces I think there's certain contractors the district has to use as well and so there are reasons why sometimes things might not move forward and I think being transparent and having that review would help find Solutions thank you Jody all right our next question will be on book bands and Kim we will start with you as a school board member you play a crucial role in shaping the educational environment for students one contentious issue that has recently come up Banning or restricting certain books from school libraries or curriculum how do you believe the school board should approach challenges such as parental rights related to the selection of books in schools Kim this is a very interesting and a challenging question all all at the same time I want to be very careful about banning books because if you start to ban books then you start to ban the things that you might be totally um important to you but as a school board I know that other districts have done this is is that you bring the community together you bring different voices to the table to look at what is what is in our Liv libraries we have to trust our Librarians that they're putting the the right books in on the shelves um age appropriate of of course but then if there's something that is questionable bringing many voices to the table to look at that and say is this the right thing to do or not and then make that decision as a school board but I think that this is not something that just uh one voice has to be it has to have a collective response thank you Kim and John so I think my my well I know my opinion on this is a little more black and white my understanding unless I'm incorrect is that in May of this year the Minnesota legisl Legislature approved a bill prohibiting book bands in public schools and libraries so I mean I think from a legal perspective that's not something that can be done but in general outside of that um I mean I guess I want voters to know I'm I'm against that um I think that you know in the spirit of of making sure we provide access to our students for things that you know we may not necessarily agree with letting the parents be involved if if the child brings something home that the parent has a question about then they can have that conversation with them at that point but the idea in my opinion of of of having any sort of and it sounds like to me the law supports this in Minnesota um I would be um I would be against that so thank you thank you John and I am against Banning books and I think my position really comes from being a mom and recognizing that the shest way Ure a child is not going to read a book or is going to read a book is to ban it as soon as they're told they can't those kids are all trying to find it online they're borrowing someone else's copy they're getting some who knows what bootleg copy of the band book and so if we don't want them to read certain books books were also limiting what their knowledge is what their understanding and they're not really necessarily understanding why yet they're still reading the book and so instead let's not ban books talk to kids about what the issues are why do we not want them to read this or that who where did that originate and it kind of ties into inclusiveness like what are we trying to to keep our kids away from or not understand or not see so they're going to see it either way they're going to hear it either way so let's let them do it with our supervision thanks thank you an and Jody I I agree with what John said my understanding is that the Minnesota Legislature passed a law um this year that um takes that decision away from the school districts as far as Banning books but to answer the question about my views I would not ban books uh I agree with what Ann said that I think if a student there's a there's a topic or something that we're concerned about students reading I think the answer is to have critical conversations and deep conversations I think that's how students learn by addressing a topic head-on and having that conversation and I think uh Banning books is a slippery slope that I don't want to start down thank you and Dennis um so school board's role is not necessarily to um get down on the weeds and regulate curriculum and book Banning and stuff um I will say in two years I have yet to have any email or complaint from anybody ever about any book in a library um I think our district does the admin team does a good job of screening books and putting appropriate material in there I have yet to see a complaint um if there was a book in there um I think it does need to be age appropriate um I'm not for Banning books I think kids are pretty Savvy with the uh internet I remember this question two years ago and uh Isaac my running opponent I he brought it up he's like kids are good on the internet they're going to find it anyways um I just don't think we need to promote it in our libraries though um that's the thing for me I put it in there uh let kids discover let kids learn I don't want to see anything promoted uh if they want to find it and research it and look into it that's fine um I don't promote books and it has to be age appropriate uh by all means if it's pornographic and young kids are getting their hands on it and I will do something about it um even though that's not our role but yeah I I just I think uh there's a certain age limit to everything I don't want my kids I don't want it in their hands um as you get older and you want to learn about it then okay we don't need to ban it but let's have discussion about it and go with that thank you Dennis all right we um we'll switch topics now to school safety John will start with you with his next question each time a tragic school shooting occurs in our country there are calls for increased safety measures in schools are there additional saf guards that are being planned right now and what actions would you support to be taken by the school board to increase safety in our schools well obviously this is very poignant right now considering what happened in Georgia so I appreciate the question um my understanding and and and I've seen it firsthand we have a a really I think facilities uh and safety department that helps keep our schools as safe as they can be um I worry about my children going to school every day I think all of us have some worry about sending our kids off to school every single day because of what's going on so from a gun safety or just from a a public safety issue like that I I would support as a school board member any any resource or additional thing that we can do to continue to unless something on the on the on the national stage changes would support any resources that would help to ensure we do something more in our schools um and I also think just in general on Public Safety in general I want to make this point I had a a really good friend who was a a student supervisor at CMS um see a lot of interesting things going on from a safety perspective and a violence perspective as well so this is a super important issue and one that I think should be top priority for all of us um so I guess I'll leave it there amount of time thank you John and an think in light of the school shooting in Georgia this is just really at the Forefront of so many people's minds and I think our security within our Eden pry schools our security guards need to actually be given full authority to protect our physical health our emotional safety I had an experience at Eden pre High School I was there volunteering I was carrying a big box of things some girls were walking down the hall one turning chatting with her friend she happened to crash into me knocked me off balance and instead of what I would expect my own daughters to do and saying oh my gosh I'm so sorry I didn't mean to bump into you are you okay she cursed at me over and over and a security guard witness heard it but didn't see came around he said who was that said can you do something and I pointed out which girl it was and he said I can't do anything about her so until our security guards are able to at least stop at actions like that I feel like we have so far to go so we need to empower our security team teams and we need to beef up our security teams thank you thank you and Jody I think I would work on building as much as many trusting relationships and sense of community in our buildings is absolutely possible um last year there was um a school shooter threat at CMS um and then that person or somebody posted another threat the next night and said oh well we're still on for for tomorrow and there was just a lot of confusion going on and parents were very scared um and I think there could have been um a transparent like postmortem done on a debrief on how the district did the best they could do they did a good job but how can they do better because there was a lot of confusion that was going on I think it's important to learn from every unfortunate experience that we have um but I also think as I was trying to figure out how do I get comfortable sending my daughter to school there was a a fellow parent who said I know this principle and I trust her and I I feel comfortable and I reached out to her and said I don't have that relationship but you do and I trust you so help me get there and I think that's helpful if we as a community can help each other trust and and build those relationships that helps us feel safe when people tell us I can't give you the details but I've done what I can do and and your child can come today thank you Jody and Dennis um this District does a good job uh in training and preparation with the Eden Prairie Police Department um the way they work together is really impressive um just everyone on the same team they just completed training I think a few weeks ago you going an empty school during the Summers when no one's there let everybody know hey this is going on don't worry but anyways the training is there um there's mechanisms in place that you can't talk about protocols that you can't talk about it's not public information there's a strategy behind that um when something does happen like a thread or anything and schools are on lockdown and stuff uh we do get debriefs in it and it is in closed session uh I can't say what goes on in there but I will say that they do do a post analysis they what went good what went well what did we do good and what did we do wrong um and I and I know and I can say one of the things that they are working hard on and they're aware of is is uh communication communication during those things is key um being able to and they can't communicate everything there's a lot of privacy issues and and stuff that prevents them from doing that but communication is one of their biggest areas that we're working to improve on uh otherwise the schools are safe and having inside information I'm I'm very comfortable sending my kids there and it's hard because not everybody gets to hear what I get to hear and you can't actually tell them the behind the scenes stuff that's going on um but they are very safe and they do work very hard post uh event uh and dealing with it and assessing how they you know how they handled it so that was way over the time thank you Dennis and Kim safety is one of the most important things that I can see in the school district and I'm going to come at it in two different two different ways we know that we have safety protocols to keep um Invaders coming into the school but there's also safety in the classroom so there's two points that want to make is is that it is it is really super important and I'm glad that we have the education that the teachers are getting that the security I have had a situation where there was an emergency but this was more of a medical emergency so it's not just what happens to if there's somebody that comes in and intrudes but what happens if there's a medical emergency and how do the teachers have the are they equipped to what that protocol is and to keep the rest of the students safe so that the emergency can happen and and so that student can be safe um also um making sure that um when it when things are happening in the school district I know that I've heard that there's a lot of violence happening in the hallways but making sure that we are holding those individuals accountable those individuals that are jeopardizing the safety and the protocol of our school district thank you um we'll kind of have a variation of of the safety topic um it so this topic will be on student discipline and an will start with you Eden Prairie schools our face was student behavioral issues both in and out of the classroom what will you do to address student behavior issues so that disruptive students are not infringing on the rights of other students ability to have an environment conductive to learning conducive to learning excuse me I think I've been clearer this evening at least that bringing respect back into our high school our elementary school CMS super important the teachers need to be able to teach there needs to be really clear guidelines on what we're expecting from our students and clear consequences I do see some guidelines I don't see a lot of consequences and that's why it's perpetuated so until we have very clear written handbook and I have seen changes in the handbook very much appreciate that but we need to follow through on consequences because these kids get a lot of warnings and a lot of slaps on the wrist and until anyone is seeing consequences they know that they can kind of get away with whatever they feel like or talk their way around it so let's have clear expectations clear consequences and as a board I don't think that we're following through on behavioral issues but I think that we need that trickle down we need to demand that of the superintendent demanding that of the principes demanding that of the rest of the administration thank you thank you an next we'll go to Jodie so as a board um the board doesn't deal directly like an said with the you know behavioral ISS in the schools but the board does oversee the superintendent and and he is responsible for his staff in monitoring safety issues and holding people accountable when there are safety issues and so I think as a board member and as a board as a whole it's the board's job to ask to see incident reports and um how incidents were handled and how um issues that presented safety issues in the schools were addressed and then understanding whe whether those were addressed appropriately and asking questions again it gets back to that's kind of my theme asking the questions on what else could we be doing what else could be done and and um making sure that the administration is thinking through all angles and what else they can do so that our students feel safe in the classroom and can learn thank you Jody and Dennis um so over the last year um I've said this in lots of meetings over and over again directly to the superintendent his staff multiple times um all the great things this district is doing um behavior is casting a shadow on it um putting a scar on it and I'm like all the good work you're doing is kind of getting ruined by these behavior problems um it's well known I've witnessed it I've been to homecoming games with my nine-year-old son I've been to graduation obviously uh but this goes back to the high school and everything else um Behavior and we've been talking a lot about it in school board meetings as of late is like the main concern I've gotten hundreds and hundreds of emails about it so the community's concern is my concern um it starts with the handbook and we've been talking a lot about that we just approved the new handbook uh I shouldn't say new but we've approved the handbook and the handbook is good the way it is but it needs to be enforced and that's the biggest problem and I don't know if you guys have all seen the uh Community linkage uh article that we put out called it it takes all of us um I encourage everyone to read that we're pushing it hard we're putting it out there over and over and over again and we cannot stop talking about behavior in the meetings and pushing that um I've got more to say on that but I'm out of time um but yeah that's probably like my main focus right now um is dealing with that and and seeing if we can't do a better job thank you Dennis and Kim well like I had mentioned before safety is really important to me and especially in the classroom and it is disruptive to the teacher and one one of the things that we look at especially when it comes to the teachers is that they're stressed they're o they're overwhelmed and one of those could be that they're focusing so much on the behaviors that are happening in the classroom and so we do need to have expectations we do need to have clear consequences and hold people accountable and when I say about consequences is that maybe it is about doing community service within the school district so doing something that will help bring back to the school district and hold those um individuals accountable for the for the things that they have um respect is another one and so making sure that we are maybe we bring in a group of students and say hey this is an issue what do we do how do we solve this and get the students to be accountable for their own actions and hold their peers um responsible as well thank you and John yeah I would just I would reiterate my original um example of the the gentleman friend my wife and I are close to he he was a student supervisor at CMS and you know I would ask him about his experience is it's interesting because he would tell me examples of of the same children disrupting the halls in different areas at the same time every day not going to class and I'm like how is that possible so I go back to the handbook to Dennis's point and I'm like reading it and I see that there are policies in place that good policies with with things around you know students who engage in violence the three the five the 10day suspensions different different ways that we can that it sounds like would effectively help the problem what I think we're we're lacking is accountability and consistencies in in in some of the way we we do that so while we seem to have policies in place that we believe in and that we have put in place are they actually happening I don't know that they are so I guess I would focus on more of the accountability and consistency and consequences came up by an I agree I think if if we have consistent policy we should have consistent consequences regardless of who's doing it um to ensure that we we we ni the problem in the bud so that's my answer thank you John all right we'll have one more clarifying question that has to do with student discipline and we'll start with you again uh and the question is how can the school board get more or how would you improve communication and transparency about fighting incidents and other disruptive behaviors occurring in Eden Prairie schools can you repeat that please yep we'll just go with the last part how would you improve communication and transparency about fighting incidents and other disruptive behaviors occurring in Eden Prairie schools so this is more about the communication piece and transparency how to be more transparent about the issues that are happening sure I think there's the issue of student privacy and so and I'm not understanding maybe the question completely if if we're trying to explain to the school as a whole about what happened with an incident I think there's a lot of privacy regulations that we can't just share whatever we feel like but at the same time when I find out that something went down at CMS I'm like all right who was it let's talk where are their parents what's going on and so I think as a parent of course I want to know we need to protect kids personal information we need to protect their families but also this comes back to what the previous question was which is let's have clear expectations let's have clear consequences let's follow through on them and I don't care what their race is or what their Creed is or what their reason was for knocking out another kid because they just happen to have a bad day and while mental health hasn't been one of the questions that we've dealt with today if a kid is struggling let's figure out what in the world is going on with them and give them that support but I don't think that transparency with incidents I don't think that that's really sharable information beyond what the police or health professionals would allow thank you and John uh one one thought on this um would be you know would be to and I don't even know if this is if this is legal since I've never been on a school board before but the idea of just having a student representative uh that either is not necessarily on the board but uh maybe a liaison by by by campus right so so we can get actually the the firsthand account of what's actually happening in the hallways and actually happening in the classrooms it's an advocate on behalf of Eagle Heights or pray review to say hey School Board you know I'm not sure if you know this and we get we get all we get all we want from our kids when they come home and and tell us what happened in the hallway or somebody did this or somebody did that somebody's bullying somebody's violent but to actually have an advocate that feels connected to the board um or or to have even a teacher or staff who has more of a personal connection to the board I'm not sure how all that would work but my my wheels got turn in a little bit about could we have student representation to say I am an actual Advocate to the board and I'm going to deliver transparent information about what's actually happening in the hallways um just a thought thank you John and Kim it's a very interesting uh topic to to think about and I agree with an that there is some confidentiality that needs to protect the student but I know that in the years that my daughters went to school if there was anything that ever happened there was always an instant communication that went out to the parents there was either an email or there was some type of notification that was to let us know that hey an incident happened we are taking care of it and we will keep um individuals in informed but that kept individuals protected and it kept the parents informed that there was an incident and just making sure that we have those communication protocols in place that is consistent throughout all of the the all of the schools so that way you know you know that we're always going to expect to have this type of uh Cadence of communication if something happens thank you and Dennis yeah just to kind of continue on with what we've been discussing in the last few months in the year um you hear it all the time safe kind responsible and I've been pushing just to add respect and obedience to that and I'll go back to the handbook again um and also it takes all of us that we put out there in the handbook you'll find the uh role and responsibility of a student teacher staff School Board parents people in the community everyone plays a part like the school district by itself cannot fix a culture and you do have to be culturally aware and I agree with that and it's good to be um you know it's good to get down to root causes of why behavior is what it is but regardless um it can't be disrupting classes it can't get in the school it has to be enforced um I don't support expulsions and things like that but if necessary then it needs to be done and we don't ever abandon anybody um we will remove and help and I remember saying that two years ago that's my feeling and it still is remove and help so that other kids can continue to learn the behavior has to be controlled and it starts with the staff um the security guards in the school the the admin and just the parents and everybody at home uh it really does take an entire group of people and uh I hope you guys find that piece and read it I think it's good and we're going to keep putting it out over and over and over again um and that's kind of our mission statement for this year with I know I'm over time but I will say I am happy to with the moves that they've made with the admin um with the new principles at the schools um you know with the way they've sort of restructured I think this is a new start and a good opportunity for them to get a handle on this right now going forward and we've made that clear in the Schoolboard meetings to the superintendent and he's aware of it and so is his staff like things are going to be changed this year thank you Dennis I I know this was a pretty hot topic so I think the extra minute or few seconds is is acceptable so sorry everyone I hope you're okay with that the um next is Jodie I could deliver an two-hour long seminar on this topic I'm a lawyer uh I'm an employment lawyer but one of the issues that I also cover is privacy um I've been to dayong seminars legal seminars with legal professionals who work with schools uh the privacy rules aren't necessarily as broad as the district necessarily uses them and so I there is you can't disclose furpa and other things can't disclose identifiable information from students but there are ways that we can communicate with our community so when I hear the district say we can't tell you anything else there's a law that gets to me because I know that there are ways we could figure things out to make people feel safer in the buildings and so as a board member I'd use my expertise and my knowledge on these laws to ask the questions about how do we make people feel safer the other thing I think would be helpful is if our district had um sessions about what these different holds are that the students have during the day my student will come home say I had a soft hold today and I had to go on Eden Prairie moms and talk to the other moms about like what's a soft hold I didn't know what it was um I think there are ways that the district could communicate with people and with my knowledge I would love to be at the table one last thing the handbooks I had reached out to the board and the superintendent that the title n policy in our handbooks needed to be updated and it didn't get updated in the last round of the handbooks I would love to have been at the board table to ask the question then about how we could get that updated thank you all right the the next question that we have this will actually be our last question this evening and John will start with you for this question what will you do as a school board member to ensure mental health is being addressed and supported financially in our schools I'm glad you asked this question because it's really really important um it's part of our strategic plan as I mentioned before around the well-being piece I know every building has at one at least one licensed mental health professional in it so that's a good start um I think your question was about resources and I think again it comes down to how do you prioritize and where do you think it's important but to me I think um this isn't this is an issue across every level in every school in every in in every count in every state Across America it's no different for Eden Prairie and it should be a top priority so when it's time for Budget season again um I think you know we would be doing a disservice to the community if we didn't address this and you know you get issues like what happened yesterday in Georgia that if we don't get a handle on this now and we start to to address this with resources money people Administration um professionals that can that can be more uh visible to our students we're going to be in a spot um um that we don't want to be and so for me I think it's it when when it comes time to priorities and resourcing um if this isn't at the top of the list as a school board member I would I would make sure that I um you know got involved in that conversation so thank you John Kim I actually love this question because this isn't just a school district concern this is an everybody concern it's even happening in the corporate world it happens in in in my world World in learning development and in the organization that I have is is mental health and what are we what are we doing about it and it's important to know that it is now I think about this when you're on an airplane and what what do they tell you they tell you to self to protect yourself first so that you can help those others we need to equip our teachers so that they know what they need to do to help their students we need to give them the the education to identify those uh triggers give them what are the coping mechanisms to help mental health specifically and then give them the resources and give them the library of all the different places that they need to go to be able to help that also align with the parents if the parents if we also educate the parents then they know what it is that they can do to help support uh the students thank you Kim and Dennis um I know I keep bragging about the district all night but shout out to the teachers and the staff in our schools um that's another thing where I'm telling my wife all the time there's so many good things I wish everybody could see them I get to see them because we do site visits um to see the staff uh and we are well staffed um to see the one-on-one attention that a lot of these kids are getting from our staff and they do such a great job just being there and just helping um I've learned a lot about mental health in the last two years it's not something and I I claim to be an expert on but um it is a huge concern and it and it's not just within the schools it's within it's like you said it's in the entire Community it's everywhere the workplace um but I love the work that this school district and and the staff is doing uh in that area and I've seen it firsthand and in in every school and just I mean I've seen just some areas the classrooms just the way they're set up and structured and the and in the the relaxed environment to where these kids are just being able to communicate and stuff so um I like what I've seen and and I know I need to learn a lot more about it and and I know that everybody's working hard on it too so stop thank you and Jody I think that um helping with mental health is a CommunityWide solution I think it's it's everyone looking out for their neighbor um as um I so as since I'm on the Eagle Heights PTO um we have a president's Council where all of the PTO meet and it's a topic that comes up I'd say almost every month uh and the Eden Prairie High School PTU actually brought in Nami which the National Association for mental health I don't remember exactly what that stands for but Nami um and and they did a presentation because parents are concerned about that and they're looking for resources friends are concerned about their friends and they're looking for resources our teachers are wonderful and they're amazing but it's lot to put on them to recognize everything and so we all need to help out I would love to find ways that our district could partner with other organizations that have expertise in mental health so that we can bring in resources for anyone who wants to learn more about it thank you Jody and an I think this is another place where we could reassess the budget and identify that this is an absolute need versus some of the wants that end up on the budget in some of the line items so if we can reallocate some funds in future years to increase our mental health advisers within the schools I think that would be huge um and I think anyone dealing with mental health issues it can be debilitating and I feel like there are sometimes illegitimize by kids who want to claim I can't go to school today because I'm struggling with anxiety if they're not because now they know that that they can just use it as an excuse well this is real for so many kids and for teachers and for families and so if someone is struggling with mental health let's have a clear protocol so teachers know exactly who to go to let's get these kids talking to their counselors and also followup and I think parents too because parents some parents I am familiar with will call in and my child is struggling today with and whatever they decide to throw out well for those kids who are truly struggling I think that really illegitimize is their feelings and their struggles um I think if this is not already in place an anonymous communication line for kids who know their peers are struggling I can think of kids that I'm familiar with that I would love to know who I could talk to to get these kids some help so just a few ideas thank you thank you Ann all right now we will proceed to our closing remarks what we'll do is I we'll reverse the order that we did for the opening remarks we'll still take time for Kim Ross's closing statement and she will be third so we'll start now with Jodie for your closing statement one minute please thank you to the League of Women Voters for hosting us tonight thank you to the fellow candidates and thank you to everyone who's listening tonight um as I reflect on what we've talked about tonight we talked about several different topics but I think the theme that runs through pretty much all the questions is how do we know that we can trust you as a board member and that we can trust in what our District's doing I I think trust is one of the most important issues um and I I think that you can I'm asking for your trust and I'm asking for you to learn more about me based on my history in the district I've been involved since my daughter was in kindergarten and she's in eth grade now uh I have never shied away from advocating for students if I've seen a need even if it doesn't involve my own students I tend to do that um but I also uh I ask if you know me and you support me please reach out to other people who may not know me and help them if they trust you trust me uh share your experiences because I think it's important as I learned through my CMS friend that's how you build those relationships as working together so I hope to earn your vote if you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to me thank you thank you Jody Dennis um I didn't prepare a closing statement but something I just want to share with everyone um just being on the school board two years ago I didn't quite know what the scope of work was but my two favorite things and I tell this to people a lot is uh they're like Dennis what school you going to pick on opening day um going to prayview Elementary first day of school and watching the kindergarten run in um it was the coolest thing I've ever seen just the excitement on those kids face um and then at Oak Point it was a little boy crying just scared I'm like hey bud I'll help you I'm lost too I don't know my way around this building helping him in his classroom that was like one of the coolest memories and then on the back end of that like hey you got to be a graduation you hand out diplomas I I didn't even know Schoolboard directors did that at the time but being able to see the back end of it the look on those kids face like mission accomplished um to me that's just what it's all about um and if there's anything I can do uh to help make that happen and just help these kids along the way is that my two favorite Parts about being on the school board and yeah just leave it at that it's it's something I'm proud to be on and I'm just happy uh to be able to help um you guys thank you all for stepping up and being here tonight too um it's for a good cause I can say that thank you Dennis and now we'll go to Kim Ross's prepared statement closing statement one moment please thanks to the League of Women Voters and again my apologies for not being there this evening hearing the questions asked has helped me to understand what is top of mind for Eden Prairie residents and I'll post my answers on my website and social media in the coming days although we have made much progress there is still work to be done the impacts of the pandemic on student achievement and well-being are still a challenge and we need to continue the work that has made Eden Prairie a top District in the state of Minnesota I've lived in Eden Prairie for 40 years my daughter is a 2019 graduate and I have more experience than any candidate or current board member you can learn more about me at kimar ross.com I'd be honored to continue serving on the Eden Prairie School Board and humbly ask for your vote on November 5th thanks thank you you and we'll proceed in just a moment we'll wait for the screen to change all right Kim Kim Johnson thank you everyone for your interest in joining us today and thank you for the women's league of Voters for hosting this event I'm here today to earn your vote I bring a fresh perspective and a strong dedication to education when I decided to run for Schoolboard I knew that there was going to be a learning curve for me I am up for the commitment to serve you the students and the staff this is my time to give back to the community that has served me and I'm dedicated to serving our community and helping our schools become the best place to learn and work I am committed to offering a high quality and equable education for every student safety is a top priority open communication and Community engagement are also vital to building trust and unity within our district with my background in learning development I bring a unique set of skills that allows me to be different and a a different point of view I am committed to creating an environment where every student can Thrive together we can make a lasting impact on our school and our community and thank you for your support thank you John well again thank you to the the League of Women Voters this has been a lot of fun and to my fellow candidates this has been a a really interesting experience for me um I I want to just say this as sort of my my close here I I realize for all of you watching like who you elect to your school board is a really big deal and that's not lost on me um and I also realize I'm new to this process I I've never run for public office before um but I can tell you two things if if I'm elected I'll make the best interest interest of every child within the Eden Prairie School System my top priority and two if I'm when I vote on an issue or if I'm providing input on a topic I I promise I'll lean into the values I talked about earlier so you got my mutual respect for others the trust the compromise and the listening and I realized this is hard work and hard work is good work and um there are a lot of important and pressing issues we need to solve now and things we don't even know about um that are going to come up later and I'm in it for the long haul um so I care about this community I care about the future of all of our kids I'm ready to serve um and I I hope I earn your vote and I I thank you for the opportunity thank you John and an um as I've said already tonight I am an accountant by trade I deal with facts and evidence I'm direct I'm honest and I'm transparent if there's a budget let's follow it if there's a spending cap or any other kind of limit let's respect it what we should be exceeding is respect let's set new expectations for respect and challenge all the students and the teachers and parents to exceed that what an amazing limit to exceed so bring respect back to our schools teach kids what it's like to respect their Elders I think some kids aren't hearing that at home and it's huge that's an old school value I think most of us in this room grew up with that respect your elders and I think that could go a long way in helping with education inside the class CL rooms out on the playground our kids need that I think it's time thank you very much thank you an this concludes the Eden Prairie School candidate School Board candidate Forum on behalf of the League of Women Voters I thank the candidates for being part of the democratic process by running for office and for being willing to serve our community also thank you to the League of Women Voters volunteers our audience here tonight and those viewing this event virtually for your particip for your participation in this candidate Forum thank you to the League of Women Voters Eden Prairie excuse me thank you to the Eden Prairie City staff for supporting this event and Eden Prairie's broadcast provider for broadcasting live live streaming and recording tonight's Forum on demand viewing can be accessed at lwv wepa.com [Music] at vote411.org the League of Women Voters awardwinning One-Stop shop where voters can register to vote find their polling place and learn how candidates stand on issues please remember to vote on November 5th um and the election by absentee or in person again remember you'll be voting for three candidates your vote is your voice early voting begin September 9 the League of Women Voters welcomes both men and women please consider joining us this ends our candidate Forum thank you good night and audience please join me in thanking the candidates with an [Applause] Applause thanks everyone great job e