It was very clear that there is a deep alignment, in her own language, of a heart, we are a heart match, of her own values with our district values, and that was incredibly clear.

I thought Andrew Beaton's presentation was by far the most effective and direct and targeted. Um I think he's he comes off with precision and he's very precise uh and direct. And I see that really as a positive.

I really appreciate his analogy around turning over the rocks and then like getting the like looking at the wiggles under it cuz sometimes me even about turning over a rock and you see a bug under it like you run and scream. But like turning over a rock and then just facing your fear of what's under that rock really does stick out to me as the transparency of what needs to change and like you are there to turn over that rock regardless regardless of your fears.

Education and its betterment is his personal mission.

I don't think he'd be need to be brought up to speed on our audit situation. He wouldn't need to be brought up to speed on a lot of the conversations we're having at the board table. Um, and that felt really reassuring to me. Um, knowing that um there are some some stuff that we're that we're grappling with as a district and I feel like he's he's already has an understanding of that.

I think he can relate in a different way to curriculum and classroom instruction than um someone that may not have that direct classroom experience. The other thing about um Andrew Beaton was he seems to be he he he's he's he he seems tough, right? He seems tough and he seems like maybe the parent that's going to give tough love.

And that he demonstrated over and over again kind of empathy for the plight of teachers and uh demonstrated kind of understanding and respect for the demands of that job. And for the kind of mental health and burnout aspect and just for the great load that they carry, not just, you know, for themselves and is their 9:00 to 5:00, but you know, upon which we're kind of building a society.

He said schools are administrations primary customer. And I'd never heard that before. Um and just It just really And that just kind of colored everything he said after that. Um which really Yeah. It It just really struck me. Um and throughout the interview, I felt like he put responsibility where it belongs.

And that really struck me then not to to overly weight this or you this Teresa Heartland that you did I'm sorry Teresa. >> I think all of us every person we talked to said that said that is our loss. And if we're going to hire someone I I mean I think people would say that about both of them um and for a proven leader to have people say about them it's a loss. That's a big deal especially if you're a superintendent and people are sad you're leaving um or the idea of you leaving that's no small thing in today's educational landscape and so that to me also says this is a person who doesn't just have theory but has shown demonstrated results in that I think does matter in our community needs to see that in a leader.

I think somewhat facetiously, I think, you know, it's probably top five in my life decisions, right? Probably marrying my wife, having children, and then this, right? Like in my mind that's that's that's probably where I'm at. And so, you know, it's the it's the it's the futures of 7,000 kids and, you know, 1,000 plus educators. And, you know, we all have kids in the district and, you know, we we think that this Dr. Thomas will give us the best shot for having a better outcome.

reading resumes and applications, my gut reaction as well was Dr. Thomas. Just after reading 18 people or whomever whoever we ended up with something like that who were interested in invested in Hopkins. He is the candidate that felt like he might be at home here.