[Music] good evening I am Peggy Crum president of League of Women Voters of Minnetonka and pray Hopkins and your moderator for the Minnetonka School Board candidate forum I would like to welcome all of you tonight on behalf of lwv Minnetonka Eden Prairie Hopkins the League of Women Voters is a volunteer or nonpartisan political organization which encourages the informed and active participation of citizens and government works to increase understanding of major public policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy representatives for League of Women Voters will be available in the lobby after this forum to meet with the candidates and the audience the league does not support or oppose any political party or candidate the views expressed in this form are those of the candidates not those of the League of Women Voters it is our purpose in sponsoring meetings such as this to provide you with the opportunity to hear candidates discuss issues that are important to you there is never enough time to cover all the issues in a limited time and settings such as this if your questions were not addressed feel free to contact the candidate directly this event is now being broadcast live on community cable TV and will be rebroadcast repeatedly in its entirety it will also be available by streaming video at the city website and w WL w vm e ph org individual recording and photography does that that does not disrupt this event is allowed tonight's questions have been submitted by our live audience and online questions that are unclear hostile or of a personal nature will not be used those that fall in the same general area may be consolidated cards become the property of lwv if the answer was unclear to you feel free to submit a follow-up question or to ask the candidate after the forum I will now introduce the candidates for the Minnetonka School Board and I left mark Ambrose and Donna Murrow see Katy Becker Sarah climber Katherine gibbsy Julie light christine ricci megan cylinder trevor thir ling lisa wagner and Josh Wilcox thank you to all the candidates and the audience for coming tonight the Minnetonka school board election will fill four seats we will begin with two minute opening statements following that the candidates will have one minute to respond to questions submitted by the audience response order will be rotated our candidate forum will wrap up with one-minute closing statements from each candidate so we'll start with Marc and Rosen for his one-minute opening or two minute opening statement it's good evening my name is Marc amrosen and I would like to thank the League of Women Voters for hosting this candidate forum and to thank Minnetonka voters for coming out tonight watching at home online and following along I'd also like to thank my wife and and my kids Delaney and Zachary for supporting me in this campaign election after I graduated from Winona State University with a bachelor's degree in political science I was able to have my dream career as an air traffic controller retiring after 25 years to spend time at home where I could devote my time my family while my wife continued her career as a global partner for Deloitte Consulting we've lived in the Minnetonka school district for 26 years of those 26 years I've been involved with the district for over 15 I've participated in the district from being that dad that was always volunteering in the classroom to youth football and soccer coaches to a member of the city of this tricked citizens financial advisory board and now an elected school board member the reasons i am seeking reelection to the board for the same reasons I originally ran in 2016 after watching our children progress through the Minnetonka School District from kindergarten through graduation I was witness to the never-ending pursuit of excellence in all areas of our schools every year Minnetonka sees our students graduate fully prepared and poised and ready to take on post highschool challenges and they're succeeding I believe that Minnetonka offers the best education with the best support opportunities and co-curricular programs in the state we must continue to focus on our students success and well-being from kindergarten to graduation and beyond I love the Minnetonka school district schools teachers and students and I want to continue to help lead the way thank you next Donna Morelle see good evening my name is Donna morrow see I too would like to thank the league and the city of Minnetonka and for all of you for being here I also like to thank the three incumbent board members that are with us tonight I've come to know the job to be a difficult one a significant time commitment and I think I've often referred heard it referred to as a grind so this fall I'm running for Minnetonka School Board with hopes to change the discussion about our kids education win or lose this is the important part of it to me is the message well I mean by this is that there are more kids there's more to our kids than $12,000 per pupil or 27.7 average GPA or 99 percent graduation rate however you know me you did not know me as politically motivated or even a public servant it's certainly not a scholar or a thought leader in academia so let me tell you why why I'm running after tragedy struck my family and a good part of this community in July of 2018 I went on a on a search to figure out what happened and what I could do in the in the ecosystem in which my son lived to make things better I've been pretty well-traveled event to the capital I've been before the Department of Health Human Services you name it and to my surprise I landed at the Minnetonka School District as a place to find hope and to find change and what if and and what I found was that the minute talk of school district has an awful long ways to go I think that the school district is a fantastic one but when I arrived at it with my issues I was met with with not a lot of help and for that reason I want to be do more for the school district I want to do more for the school district as it retains to children's mental health and I want to make it a happy place in a happy environment for everyone that attends to school thank you thank you next Katy Becker hi thank you to the League of Women Voters for hosting this event this evening my name is Katie Becker and I've been a part of the Minnetonka school district since moving here in 2009 I'm currently the vice chair of the Minnetonka School Board and an honor to have been serving our students parents staff and community stakeholders the last four years I'm married to Pat and together we have three children a ninth grader a 7th grader at Minnetonka middle school east and a 2nd grader at scenic Heights Elementary I'm running for re-election for the school board because I'm dedicated to the Minnetonka Public Schools and to our community I want to continue to provide an outstanding education that inspires children to reach their highest level of academic and personal achievement while keeping our district fiscally responsible as an active parent volunteer in our schools and a candidate with children in the elementary middle and high school level I'll continue to bring the pulse of our schools to the board table as your board member the past four years I'm proud of the work that we've done for our student well-being and the addition of innovative programs like Minnetonka research and the additional curricular support like the Wilson reading program we've also done some impressive improvements to our buildings without adding additional debt to our taxpayers I believe my experiences these last 10 years working in our schools collaborating with parents different school organizations staff and my work as a school board member the last 4 years make me a qualified candidate we have an exceptional school district that offers personalized learning environment with the innovative programs and tapai our highest quality staff this is an exceptional phenomenal value to our community I want to continue the excellence and do my part to ensure success in our schools now and into the future I ask for your support in your vote election election day is November 5th thank you next Sarah climber hi everyone thank you for being here tonight my name is Sarah climber my husband Ben and I have been residents of Excelsior for the past 10 years and we have four children three of whom attend Minnewaska elementary school our youngest attends Excelsior covenant preschool a few years ago when our son was diagnosed with a developmental delay we felt fortunate to be at Minnetonka preschool in a school district with special education resources I have a master's degree in counseling psychology from the University of st. Thomas and an undergraduate degree in child psychology from the University of Minnesota five years ago I completed my practicum in counseling psychology at the first Street Center mental health services in Carver County it's at this facility I work primarily with high school students at Waconia alternative learning center and at a day treatment center in Jordan Minnesota during my tenure there I engaged with administrators educators and counselors to determine what instructional strategies and therapies would provide the most comprehensive and effective services for individual students I recognized Minnetonka's stellar academic reputation however our district enrollment practices have overcrowded our schools there needs to be a thorough examination and redirection of the art districts ongoing motivation to reach maximum student capacity in classrooms and school buildings furthermore parents want answers on how maximum student capacity is being determined not just how but by whom in addition to focusing at focusing on a sustainable enrollment plan we want to make sure that our public school is reflecting and responding to the concerns of parents and residents alike I would welcome open communication on all topics between the board and the community I want to hear from you this would include a meeting with parents with the goal of producing a new annual parent survey that contains questions pertinent to their concerns with objectively quantifiable results so we can readily see what topics and issues the parents believe to be most important and efficiently and effectively act on them furthermore in order to have an open interactive and substantial conversation and partnership with our community every taxpayer and parent needs to have access to the budget numbers and related financial disclosures thank you next Catherine gibbsy thank you good evening my name is Catherine James II and I'm excited to be here tonight thank you for coming my husband Chris and I had three daughters and our family has been fortunate to experience all levels of Minnetonka education our daughters have benefited from an incredible variety of academic recreational and community resources and opportunities we understand the value of a Minnetonka education our oldest daughter graduated in 2018 and her Minnetonka education has opened doors both academically and in the arts I chose to run for school board out of gratitude and out of a sincere desire to build on the great tradition of excellence and innovation in Minnetonka I'm extremely grateful to the teachers administrators and community leaders in Minnetonka for providing world-class opportunities for our students here I would be honored to serve as the school to school board member I'm a public school educator with over 18 years teaching English to multilingual learners and I've taught in both urban and suburban districts in my job I advocate for students and programs daily as a school board member I'll bring my passion for public education and I will advocate for students in the district using data and research to guide decisions that affect students mental health overall well-being and academic opportunities I believe Minnetonka public schools can be a leader in both academics and in supporting student mental health as your school board member I would actively promote and support student mental health and well-being at all grade levels I would work closely at each school to ensure that student numbers classroom sizes and open enrollment policies would support students overall well-being and their academic achievement thank you thank you next we'll hear from Julie light hi I have lived in this district for 49 years and deeply loved our community in its families my husband bill light and I raised our daughters here I taught in the district for 10 years I am a champion for the families the stellar staff are in our schools outstanding programs however in the past few years I have listened to countless concerns from residents regarding our districts open enrollment practices we managed well state required open enrollment provides important school choice for families however now over 1/3 of our students live outside our district and our schools are very overly crowded overcrowding that was brought on by leadership decisions not by population changes overcome overcrowding that compromises the academic social emotional well-being of our students resident and non-resident students alike with over 11,000 students in our district thousands beyond which is needed in all of our schools and programs to be kept open and running I commit to reducing our enrollment numbers beginning with next year's kindergartners without laying off any teachers or closing programs or cutting programs our district communication does not fully aligned with what residents are looking for from leadership district data is often not shared with completeness nor clarity I have over 21 years of experience as a teacher leader 19 of the 319 of which were in three major area public school districts I have a master's degree in education a certificate in gifted education and a doctorate in educational leadership I have a passion for having a culture of trusting relationships between all stakeholders and district leadership not a culture of patronizing intimidation and dismissiveness along with climber furling and world clock Wilcox we are for Tonka this is the time for me to represent you thank you christine ricci hi everybody thanks to the League of Women Voters and everybody for being here tonight my husband Duke of seventeen years and I have three kids we have a seventh grader at East and fifth grader and second grader at scenic Heights we moved here six years ago from Hong Kong we're not native Minnesotans but we moved here intentionally for the schools these schools are just as good as the schools our kids attended in Hong Kong and those were really well known international expensive private schools we've had opportunities to leave but we've chosen to stay here we want to see our kids through school here I know many other families have made the same choices my background is perfect for the board I have a master's in accounting and I've spent my career as a financial risk manager 20 of those around Wall Street or I learned to ask questions push for answers I'm not afraid to stand up for I'd believe in and I can manage stress except when it comes to public speaking by managing people I learned that people just really want to be heard and they want to get information so that they can feel included and in control a few other things about me I ran into a educator in the district the other day who said I'm so glad that you're running for the board because you've always asked really good questions and you're a great critical thinker so I guess those are two other good things I'm pretty even-keeled and pragmatic I listen I took two days off of work last week and spent time in the schools I wanted to see what was going on I wanted to talk to educators I wanted to talk to teachers I wanted to talk to parents I wanted to talk to the students so I did I'll explain why I make decisions and we've been in the district for seven years already we have eleven more to go so I'm not going anywhere I work full time I missed the class parties you'll probably see me at target at nine o'clock on a Sunday night getting the poster board for the project that's due tomorrow during this election you may hear a lot about everything that's wrong yeah we have work to do I'll acknowledge that but let's not lose sight of everything that's going right love them first is a documentary that came out a few weeks ago it's about Lucy Laney Elementary which is about 20 minutes from here watch that or at least the previews then you realize how good we have it thank you thank you next we'll hear from Megan Challenger hi thank you for coming thank you for hosting this forum so that all of you can become more informed voters my name is Megan Sullinger I have two boys ages 7 and 4 so similar we're going to be in this district for a long time I have a second grader at Groveland and the Spanish immersion program and a preschooler who does MCC Spanish after he goes to preschool in the morning my background I have a master's in education from Stanford University and I have current teaching license is actually in both California and Minnesota we recently moved here we only moved here a little over two years ago from California and when we relocated we relocated to Minnetonka for this district we came for the academics for the Spanish immersion that my son was already involved in in California and there are a lot of things that we're doing really well here I've been very impressed with the programs offered the extracurriculars the enrichment opportunities the community education there's abundance of really good things going on I chose to to run you know simply because we're going to be here for a long time decisions that are made now are going to impact my own children as well as the children that I've come to know and love through soccer and baseball and volunteering in the classroom and doing committees through the PTA and I want the best for them I believe that my objective nature I was a chemistry teacher so data and research are number one for me in terms of making decisions I so I think that would be an asset to the board as well as my background in education and my personal investment I think the big biggest issue that we're facing right now is just to remain true to our priority that our students come first continue to offer the academics and the extra programs but also to optimize the learning environment and support the whole student making sure that every student is tied to their school and that mental health issues are both addressed but also prevented at the lower grades thank you thank you and now we'll hear from Trevor Serling thank you very much first I'd like to extend my thanks as well to the League of Women Voters for the invitation for all of us to be here tonight for all of you that are in the audience here as well as watching online and we'll be watching over the next coming days thank you for participating in the Civic process and being informed voters I'd also like to thank the fellow candidates that are here on stage tonight I appreciate all of you running and your passion and care for our students and community and finally last but definitely not least I'd like to thank my wife Stephanie my three young children Calvin who's seven and second grader at Minnewaska my son Griffin who is five and is a RSK student at minute wash too and my daughter Harriet who is three and a half and desperately wanted to get on the school bus this year like many of the other candidates here on stage I'm not a Minnesota native but I moved here with my wife a number of years ago in 2010 for work she rate was born and raised in Minnesota I went to school in Eden Prairie when we chose to move from Minneapolis to the minute on Tatanka district we did so in large part because of the excellent reputation of our schools I'm proud to say that our two children that are in the school so far have received an excellent education they're thriving in the schools and they love it my background I majored in German from Pepperdine University with a minor in economics and I hold my MBA from Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota I'm passionate about human connection and what that means is listening to everybody so that we can make informed decisions about the the strengths of our schools and how to move people forward in a positive way as much as I love the district I've heard so many comments from parents students and teachers over the years that all seem to have the same theme there are concerns on a couple of fronts number one is the overcrowding that a number of candidates have commented here on stage tonight number two is a lack of perceived transparency between district administrators and families families feel as if they're not being informed important decisions are being made for their children and last but definitely not least is a sense that Minnetonka's focus on the upper echelon of students leaves many behind thank you thank you Lisa Wagner is next good evening I'm Lisa Wagner I appreciate this opportunity to share a little bit about myself and my candidacy for re-election to the Minnetonka School Board I've been a district resident for over 26 years and married to my husband Todd for 28 we raised two girls in this community who started an early childhood family education and graduated from Minnetonka high school Nina in 2016 with an Ivy diploma and Lexi in 2019 with a bilingual IB Diploma I'm a graduate of Stanford University and have a bachelor's degree in international relations I'm currently the controller at burl Oaks Golf Club and the business manager at micro G an ik I also have 15 years of experience in human resources I'm honored to have been an integral part of the team that has implemented Minnetonka's formula for success over the past 18 years I've served on the Minnetonka school board for 12 years including roles as clerk Vice Chair and current chair board members are responsible for finances curriculum adoptions data-driven policy decisions and strategic direction I have already been enthusiastically involved in all of these I also have established relationships within the district and at the Minnesota Legislature as a board member I have demonstrated an understanding of the role of governance the importance of the vision for the future and a passion for this district and public education I'm committed to personalized learning and student well-being during my board service I've been an active volunteer at all levels of the district from ECFE to Minnetonka high school I'm in the schools and in the community active in Habitat for Humanity and other organizations I'm engaged in our schools and have extensive knowledge of what it takes for our students to be successful I have a pragmatic and inclusive approach to board service and I'm committed to continue to ensure world class child centered excellence for all children at all stages of all abilities in all levels our community and our children deserve nothing less I look forward to the conversation tonight and thank the League of Women Voters for sponsoring this my website is likely so Waggoner calm and I ask for your vote on November 5th thank you thank you and last but not least we have Josh Wilcox thank you hi my name is Josh Wilcox I live in deep heaven with my wife and three kids our oldest is at Deephaven elementary in the Spanish immersion program our middle child is a first grader at the elementary in English program and their youngest is a preschool at the Minnetonka EC fe building I want to start by thanking the teachers for the great work that they do to educate our children it's true that our district provides a great education to many kids and should be commended for that work I decided to run based on feedback from the community and teachers that feedback and my priorities if elected will be translated into three main themes one I think more can be done to ensure appropriate classroom sizes and sustainable enrollment policies I'm not against open enrollment but it seems to have grown resonantly without clear transparent financial analysis or assessment of the impact to students and teachers the district tells a story about the Minnetonka that would have been if we hadn't adopted open enrollment but that relies on data from over 10 years ago and makes an assumption about residents - neuroma dropping significantly which we know has not happened further the district has has a twenty four point six million dollar surplus this year which has grown from 2.8 million in 2000 coinciding with the open enrollment growth strategies statements about dire financial straits seem to be overblown secondly the well-being of all students can be supported and monitored in a broader and more formal way the OECD and Pisa both have proven templates that can be utilized to track this in a more meaningful way as we continue to see in the disciplinary incident reporting system from the Minnesota Department of Education Minnetonka incidents of suspension and disciplinary events have continued to gone up over the last five years my way of reference Wayzata has gone down during that time 3 we can improve the transparency in all district matters and proactively encourage better feedback more unbiased transparent feedback loop with the community one example of an area for improvement is the use of niche comm for school rankings which the school board consistently touts this is a for-profit site on which Minnetonka spends advertising dollars if you look at US News and World Report Minnetonka is currently 11th in the state behind or in all ways that amounts you Egan Madhumita and Edina want with for private schools all that said I want to reiterate that the district does a lot of things really well and should be proud of it but we need to address those things if we're going to continue the great service for our students thank you thank you now we'll jump right into the questions for our audience and you will have one minute to respond we're going to continue rotating but we'll always move down to the next candidate so we start with somebody new each time so we'll be starting with Donna Morosi with this first question and the question is if the district has to cut spending due to lack of funding what programs would you consider scaling back you have one minute I don't know the answer to that so my view is that as a school board member your role is to is to guide and and ask for in smart responses from the administration and the people that work and in the district I don't think that we have a lot of room to cut cut spending I think that that the choice to me would be instead to raise taxes and that's that seemed to be problematic I know that we have we spend less on our students than many of the other districts already and I think it's something that our administration takes great pride in it's not something that I particularly take great pride in because it tells me that we're under utilizing the resources of this fantastic community and I'll leave it at that thank you next Katy Becker cutting programs is nothing that is in my plan and what I would like to reiterate is that with cutting our enrollment which would drive that budget cut you a hundred students is a million dollars and with that you would most likely start with cutting staff 88% of our budget is based on staff and salaries so the first thing you're going to see when you cut in enrollment and we need to do budget cuts is you're going to see a cut in our staff before you see a cut in programs which then drives your class size numbers to be increased so I I wouldn't be in favor of cutting any programs or staff at that level because it's not my plan to be cutting any budget at at this time next Sarah climber I guess by my response would be if we currently have an unallocated fund or a rainy day fund a surplus of twenty four point eight million dollars we're not looking at cutting any programs and this year my understanding is our budget is going to have a surplus of three million so I guess I don't believe that's gonna be happening anytime soon Thank You Catherine Kinzie Minnetonka is known for the choice and opportunities that it gives to our students and our families I sincerely believe that if there were some kind of a budget need that we would look at the budget creatively we would figure out a way to fund the programs that our families have come to know and love and depend upon and our students are thriving in so I would do everything in my power to look creatively at that budget figure out what fund we could use to allocate to fully support all of our programs because I fully believe in every single option that's out there for our kids and I strongly support our teachers and I can't I can't foresee cutting anything Thank You Jerry light thank you reducing enrollment to a more sustainable level would not in any way require laying off any teachers teachers leave the district through natural attrition licensure for kindergarten teachers is not limited to a kindergarten endorsement or licensure only staff might have to be moved around but teachers would not be laid off further when enrollment dips programs do not need to be cut Orono has thriving programs and has fewer number of student students then we have open enrolled students alone I believe instead in a inviting trusting and thorough communication style from the district leadership to parents residents and all stakeholders we were told in 2015 that school's capacity was ten thousand five five zero but that was not adhere to in our enrollment is now eleven thousand eighty five it is valid and fair and reasonable for us to question if we are told that cutting enrollment would reduce and eliminate programs thank you just to keep keep everybody fresh on what the question is since there's a lot of people I'll just repeat it if the district has to cut spending due to lack of funding what programs would you consider scaling back so next we'll hear from christine ricci thanks for repeating the question that's actually a great question we might have a surplus now but it's not gonna stay that way forever expenses are rising at a rate that's much greater than our funding so we could be looking at that reality soon even if we sustain our keep our enrollment as it is we can't raise taxes we've hit our property tax levy although we actually have less students per pupil than our neighboring districts my first priorities the board members make sure that doesn't happen but if it does I first would look at ways to refinance the debt we have a triple-a rating or one of the districts that does let's take advantage of that Paul was a creative financial wizard I like I said I've worked in Wall Street for a long time and he amazes me whenever I talk to him another thing that you know if it really comes to it if I had to cut absolutely had to cut I would look at participation in cost of the different programs that we have but what we have to understand is that what make our districts so great so I would actually want community involvement on that decision - thank you thank you next megan cylinder that's a good question I I think there is an assumption that the lack of funding is being tied to enrollment I think in reality there's a lot of different reasons that funding can decrease to school districts and so if it came down to it I'm a numbers girl so I would want to look at the number of students impacted the cost of the programs are there redundancies or overlaps and programs where we maybe don't need to offer two that are very similar are there programs that are currently under utilized so I would want to see all those different facts and figures I would want to hear from the community and honestly from the teachers and the staff at the schools about what they feel is the most valuable for our students before making a decision Thank You Trevor thering so first let me agree with two women directly to my right on this on this conversation christine ricci stated that one of the options that would be in front of us should the unfortunate event and very unlikely event given our current budget prediction position happened that we had to cut spending we were in a very strong position relative to our bond rating and should be able to refinance our debt creatively I think that there is not an assumption that programs would have to be cut in a budget constraint we should also as as Megan Salinger just walk through have a conversation with the community and actually listen to what our community members are requiring and needing of these programs we should have a conversation about overlap she stated and we should also make sure that we're not spending an excess amount of money on programs that are underutilized and don't benefit enough students it's important that we recognize that fiscal management is an important characteristic of a school board member and to assume that we have to cut programs just because we face budget difficulty is unrealistic and frankly irresponsible thank you thank you Lisa Wagner so normally I dislike when people don't answer the question but this is a question that I frankly am unwilling to entertain Minnetonka has not had to cut budget during my tenure on the board and actually hasn't had to cut budget since 2005 so at this point if Minnetonka was looking at budget cuts I would be gravely concerned for the state of public education and the funding of public education from the state certainly that's an area that we need to continue to work on and I've been active at the legislature with Minnetonka's legislative action group to continue to look at our referendum cap and other financing sources for all schools for all children the last time that Minnetonka did do budget cuts in 2005 I was a PTO leader at Minnewaska and it was an active process the community was involved there were lists people actually got to their preferences of what they thought we should make changes on and we were very and very involved as community leaders I would look to that kind of process again but I don't see us getting there we've utilized many things to mitigate costs self insurance other post-employment trusts for our benefits as well as transportation contract effectiveness thank you thank you next Josh Wilcox these are all great responses and I'm think we can say we're comfortable with future the financial stability of the district which is wonderful I agree with a lot of what was said just one other additional point to make is that the levy projector for 2020 is expected to bring in nine million dollars due to open and rolled students and so what that tells me is that there's a lot of additional flexibility and when you when you look at the income from the levy and what the residents are willing to pay to support the school district so as you think about moving dollars around and where the money comes in from there's certainly flexibility on how we can fund the schools to the extent there was any sort of difficulty the other point that I would make is that the school district now has one hundred and thirty million dollars roughly of an annual budget but currently there's no tracking to say how much does each individual program cost which students use it as it used effectively or efficiently how are we funding it does it make sense to continue to do that so these are all good ideas but as I understand it currently be really difficult to even say where are we spending most of our a hundred and thirty million dollars outside of teacher salaries to make a really educated decision I want to do with that thank you thank you there last can't answer this question is Markham brozen should be really split by this time that's that's also a question that I don't want to answer because I've been involved with the board and I see how the district has really wisely manage the finances to put us in the position we're in today with that with flattening enrollment state-imposed caps on levies we're looking at a deficit budget in the near future and that's why we have the extra resources we have in our budget we are constantly Paul bourgeois is constantly refinancing our debt to get the lowest so Gail rates that is non-stop to cut any programs hi I don't know because that's why one of the reasons why our district is so popular and that's why people want to come here so I really don't know what I would cut thank you next we're going to have a lightning round question so in just a few words name the greatest strength and the most concerning weakness at minnetonka schools and we'll start with Katie Becker our greatest strength is our variety of programs and what was the other one the most concerning weakness is securing our financial success with the flattening enrollment and the state imposed levy cap thanks Sarah climber I think our greatest strength is our teachers we have amazing teachers and I think our greatest weakness right now is the lack of transparency and the community feel between parents and the board Thank You Katherine gibbsy greatest strength absolutely our teachers amazing can't say enough about them at all levels elementary middle school high school and I believe that our greatest weakness is just how can we continue to fund these amazing programs that we have so I feel like that's kind of our weakness right now next Julie light I would agree that our greatest strength our teachers and our support staff we have outstanding exceptionally well-trained teachers and what if what a thing to celebrate in our in our school district I believe our largest concern is the culture of communication between the district leadership and the families in our schools and our residents it is not a culture that is transparent that is civil that is respectful of questions any parent who has questions needs to be heard with complete transparent respect and an affirming attitude of great concern for what their concerns are thank you this is I'll be really brief I would love to see teachers but that's already been taken so I'm gonna go with the student choice our kids have so many choices here and can choose their own pathway our greatest weakness those same kids feel a lot of pressure next Megan Salinger I would say that our greatest strength is again the academics the teachers the staff the administration and the huge menu of offerings that are available to our students extracurricular and support I think that the most concerning weakness that I have felt palpably is that there seems to be a level of distrust between the district administration and board and community and I think that building that trust is really important Thank You Trevor Ling our districts greatest strength is our students who rise to every single challenge that we present them with and take advantage of the varied opportunities that they have in front of them our greatest weakness is that only a few of those students are routinely celebrated every one of our students deserves to be celebrated regardless of their ability level regardless of what programs they participate in and should be proud of what they are able to accomplish in our district every one of them deserves recognition in that voice thank you Lisa Wagner our greatest strength is our innovation Minnetonka is able to bring personalized pathways and all kinds of outstanding programs to students at all abilities all levels to solve problems with things like Wilson reading and to focus on student well-being with our well-being guide and our greatest weakness is really the stable education funding both from the state and the fact that we are you know locally flattening and enrollment and at our referendum levy cap Thank You Josh Wilcox our greatest strength is our teachers and the greatest weakness is ensuring that all students have the same ability to access education regardless of their natural abilities thank you much and brozen first race or their culture of top to bottom in the district are seeking for excellence and improvement there's no standing pat everybody is looking to improve and our greatest weakness or challenge is our financial restraints that we're looking at in the very near future which will have the effect on programs support and the things we're so proud of thank you finally Donna Morelle see ok well I wish I could just answer it the same way Trevor did but I can't so I'll say it this way it's the greatest strength of our kids they're the ones doing all this stuff not us they're the ones making all this happen and making all these things that we're so very proud of I think our greatest weaknesses are the culture and inability to be vulnerable and transparent about the things that we're not very good at Thanks now we're going back to one minute answer answers and the question is what is your position on open enrollment is it a plus or a minus for our district and we'll start with Sarah climber I think that open enrollment is a plus but I think that we need to remember that and I know this has already been talked about but in 2015 the district told us that we had reached full capacity and by 2017 with ten thousand five hundred and fifty students and we are five hundred and thirty five students over that so while I am for open enrollment I am for a cap on open enrollment and again we need to know how that's being determined and I think that's an answer parents or excuse me a question parents want the answer to thank you next Kathryn gibbsy open enrollment is is a plus for our district my family began as an open enrollment family and I'm really grateful that we had the opportunity to give our kids the education that we wanted for them and when we were able we moved into the district renovated a home and are extremely proud to live here in our districts I have concerns though because I know when we created all the choice we created our immersion programs and all these amazing programs that bring so many families into the district I've seen that it's the enrollment has increased so much and I'm worried that it's going to affect our youngest kids in elementary school and so as a board member I would definitely want to look into it more closely and make sure that everything that we're doing is supporting students well-being and that we haven't gone too far Thank You Julie light is a plus the amount of students we are open and rolling however is a great concern we hear from the district that large problems what if occur would have occurred without an open enrollment practices it is actually much more the opposite as a number of resident students has consent continued to be quite consistent our district has increased open and Road students from 439 in 2007 to 3746 this fall we now have problems because of open enrollment the current total enrollment of eight eleven thousand eighty four over one third of them living outside the district has now brought us overcrowded schools classrooms non instructional spaces important spaces in our school that are being repurposed to respond to this overcrowding our infrastructure cannot support what the district leadership has done with the amoment in the past ten years and our resources are overstretched further any improvements or additions we made to our facilities could then create a situation where we are then dependent upon these open enrollment numbers thank you christine ricci open enrollment saved the district I know the naysayers are kind of rolling their eyes right now but it's true we can't offer what we do without the funding we wouldn't have navigators we wouldn't have immersion without the interest and the participation from open enrollment now that said we are reaching capacity but the district knows that we're already turning away families you know enrollments and art not a science we have to by law tell open enrollment families by February if they have a spot resident students don't have to tell us if they're staying or if they're moving in so we can only estimate now that said I think that we probably have miss Elson made and we might need to revisit how we're doing those estimations I mean it's kind of a chicken in the egg our district is so great now that resident students are coming back from private schools and people are clamoring to get into the district we know families that have been looking for years to find a house here they want to be here they want to move in my goal stick to an enrollment level where we can continue to offer the level of education and support we're proud of but let's revisit the assumptions and continually assess the factors that will impact these numbers thank you Meghan Challenger being positive or negative on open enrollment I don't think it's a simple issue like that I don't think there's anybody here in this district that would say open enrollment is bad I think that it has brought a lot of revenue that we have come to use for a lot of great things for our students I think there's a lot of misconceptions around open enrollment that I think could be cleared up within the community I've heard people saying that we accept every single open enrolled student that applies and I don't think that's true as far as I know there's actually a waiting list and when we were moving to Minnesota we were hoping to open enroll if we didn't find a house in the district and we weren't sure if we were going to get a spot or not we were lucky to be able to move into Deephaven and I've heard though in our neighborhood that there are a lot of families moving in that didn't used to be in our neighborhood so maybe it is time to re-examine and do a new study around resident students to make better projections so that we can maintain the capacity instead of going over it Thank You Trevor Ling I fully support open enrollment and agree with many that have start up here next to me today that are saying that the funds that come from open enrollment allow our district to remain fiscally strong however it seems very evident that we have reached a point where open enrollment has extended beyond our capacity and a district has told us since 2015 that we were in fact at capacity but has risen steadily since at that time we were well under 10,000 students and are now well it's just slightly over 11,000 it's fair to be confused as a parent when we're receiving communication from the district telling us that our schools have been at capacity and yet see more and more students come in I'll end with reading a statement from my son's second-grade teacher this year that came out the day before school started our class has a different schedule for specialists our class will break into six different groups and three to four students from our class will go to each of the other classes to join them for specialists this means that our class won't have the same specialists each day as a whole so it's important for you to keep the schedule for specialists to know what students will need those days that's a symptom of an overcrowded school thank you thank you Lisa Wagner open enrollment is absolutely a plus for our district during my tenure on the board open enrollment has brought in over 200 million dollars to our schools and that has allowed us to bring in programs that meet all students where they're at regardless of their ability it's allowed us to do tremendous things as I've been mentioned we are getting to the target no one is expecting to continue to grow the district above and beyond where we're at the goal is actually to keep the enrollment approximately where it's at right now the principals and the superintendent carefully decide each year what students they can place in their building and we do have to let people know who apply by January 15th by February 15th there are were people that were turned away there were people who are given placements that want the placements that they requested and in fact many many people have moved into our community because they either started in it as open enrollment families or they were attracted by the amazing programs that we've been able to create because of the dollars we have from open enrollment it's not something that you can just quick turn off our resident population isn't growing fast enough thank you thank you Josh Wilcox I support open enrollment when it's done in the right way I think if you look at optimal classroom sizes based on what's good for the kids and if there are gaps in those classrooms and you start to bring in kids but you always focus on north or a classroom sizes for the kids and you go from there I agree it's a very complex topic and you it's hard to plan ahead given the placement timeframes in February not knowing where all the students will shake out but a couple of stats that have struck me is very interesting the district has said that basic costs are covered at 6,500 students we currently have roughly 74 or 75 hundred residents students or more than the students that are required to cover the basic costs the district has said that optimal financial efficiency is achieved somewhere between nine and twelve thousand students so even if you went to nine thousand students you're achieving optimal financial efficiency I get I'm not against open enrollment but when the target keeps moving and even now we just heard that we're close to our target when I thought we've been over the state of cap for the last three or four years it's hard to know what that actual cap is thank you thank you mark and rosin I obviously think up open enrollment has made enables Minnetonka to be the district that it is to afford the best teachers and afford the support that we currently give to all our students saying that I do believe we are about where we need to be numbers wise over the last few years in consultation with principals and staff we have made changes we made more efficient use of our spaces in the classroom to accommodate the incremental growth that we've had in the last few years but we're at where we need to be and I don't think we would be the same if we had a drastic cut in numbers because we would lose way too much revenue to afford these thank you donna Morosi okay so I heard open enrollment save the district and open enrollment allowed tremendous things to happen I I struggle with those two things I because I don't see evidence of either those two things being true and I don't see evidence of a parent seeing that it's true I think open enrollment is great to a point particularly if it creates diversity for our school district I don't know that it does I think it's particularly great if it helps us share our great wealth I don't know that it does I was told that we mark it two out of we mark it to others to people outside the district you through playbill magazine and Lake Minnetonka magazine I don't think that's creating diversity what I would say is I've lived in five districts and in five different states and I've never once heard someone a realtor or anyone else say that being massive was a positive characteristic of a district Minnetonka is massive thank you and finally Katy Becker hi I believe that open enrollment is a plus for a district for our district this year alone we're gonna see twenty million dollars in revenue or if you want to look at it as twenty percent of the district's annual annual revenue budget it really has provided a different variety of programs it has allowed us to add support staff in in classes it really is a benefit through the district a couple of things that I want to touch on is since we had that referendum in 2015 we have redone space at the high school that has allowed for capacity we've bought an additional building along Highway seven that we've been able to use for the Vantage strand and alone this year what has increased some enrollment is we added a navigators class to one of our elementary school so there are reasons why enrollment has gone up the last couple of years what I would not do is and improve a budget that does not allow for a roll ment plan in an increase that we could not support thank you now we have another one minute response question the emotional health of students is a big issue in our state and country what roles should the school district parents and community play in addressing this issue and we'll start with Katherine it's absolutely a major concern I I work currently in a middle school and I know that our teachers are and our administrators we're all in the front line we spend a lot of time with our children in schools and mental health and wellness is something that is at the forefront of all of our minds every single day every interaction with a child it's not all academics it's how are you doing and many days kids aren't doing that great and I believe that there's a lot of growth that could happen in our districts in my current district I see a lot of positive things happening and I would like to bring those ideas to minnetonka to help to support our kids mental health and wellness it's absolutely one of the things that I'm most passionate about Thank You Julie light with my experience in delivering parent education I've spent a lot of time on the social emotional well-being of students and what we as educators in a school district can do to strengthen individual students I do believe we need to enhance the resources available to our school counselors psychologists and social workers is they support and advocate for this social emotional well-being and mental health of our students to help determine to determine exactly how these resources would be enhanced I would seek input from our districts staff along with our teachers and support staff who work directly with their students students we need to continue pursuing mental health grants to develop and strengthen our partnership with relate and put together with Nami canvas help the Living Foundation and so forth too often the language around our students is around about the numbers that they bring as if we're a for-profit organization or in fact each student comes to us with unique and important and those are the needs that need to be addressed thank you christine ricci while i was worried about answering this in one minute let alone a lightning round but let me go fast my kids have depression anxiety neurodiversity on both sides and this is a one-minute question so yeah mental health and wellness it is a nationwide epidemic everybody's looking for the answer the district knows there's an issue and things are being done I mean we did partner with relate there's a resources manual we're incorporating it into into the elementary curriculum my seven-year-old came me at home the other day and she said mom I feel anxious I was like wow that's amazing I don't know when I feel anxious parents are saying though that they need more support but what would be helpful to them like we can't gas tell the district what else do you need so three things we could do right now we need to recognize all the students not just the high achievers except that success looks different for everyone and make that a culture in the community and this is hard to hear but let's be upfront that there are drug and alcohol issues in the schools a parent told me recently that her kid attends high school during the day in Hazleton at night and he's not the only Minnetonka kid there these are good parents as I was staying but I thought it was lightning round my kids have depression addiction anxiety neurodiversity on both sides of the family tree so I'm scared I do want to make this an environment where these won't be trigger but it's gonna take all of us and it's a bigger bigger issue thank you next Meaghan cylinder having been a high school teacher I fully agree that this is becoming more and more of an issue in the 12 years that I taught the number of students with anxiety exploded and I don't think schools have not always been well equipped to deal with those situations and so I think we need to take both a proactive and reactive approach making sure that every student is tied to somebody on campus whether it's their teacher or another staff member so that nobody falls through the cracks continue looking at current research such as around homework policy some schools in districts where they see similar trends have enacted night where nobody's allowed to assign homework to give students night of mental break and a chance for families just to spend family time so maybe looking at some of those different research things that are current right now I also just making sure that we have continued access to support when my son was a kindergartener he had just lost his father the prior year and they have a growing through grief program at Groveland and it's been just amazing for him and he has done and just thrived there due to that program and I want to make sure that students continue to have access to those Thank You Trevor Stirling I think the emotional health of our students is equally if not more important than the academic success of our students one of the greatest challenges and concerns as a parent is managing something you can't control and we can't control the emotional health of our students we can just be there for them when they need us one of the things that parents want is schools that when we send our children off to those schools they can be taken care of they can be safe they can know that there's a space for them to be who they are and that they have an advocate in them not just in their parents but in the school they need to have community members and school and classmates frankly that are standing up alongside of them the school plays a role as a facilitator in advocating for mental and emotional health for our students it's our job to connect families with the school and resources that they need to be successful finally we need to do a better job of letting our kids take care of each other there's nothing stronger than a community that works next to each other and when my emotional health is in trouble I look to my friends first we need to give our kids the same tools thank you Lisa Wagner can I ask you to repeat the question sure certainly the emotional health of students is a big issue in our state and country what roles should the school district parents and community play in addressing this issue thank you and I agree that this is a very critical issue and that's why it's actually been on our board goals as our number one goal for the past several years having said that it there is always more work that needs to be done in this area and it's ongoing it is a partnership it needs to be a partnership between the efforts of the school the efforts of the community the efforts of the parents and the efforts of the students within each other we've done a lot of things in Minnetonka to start working on this issue both within our goal which you can read on the district website but also outside of that goal in developing healthy relationships through our responsive classroom efforts and our all biggest bully bullying prevention superhero kids and even focusing on digital health and wellness because that can give me impact student social and emotional well-being we've put stop teasin at the middle school we've allowed for mass to allow students to get extra support in the high school student well-being doesn't have to come in a package necessarily in one place more counselors more social workers at all levels have also been implemented but it has to be a partnership we need to provide the resources for parents to know where to go do information for them and we need to have the community as a partner as well thank you Josh Wilcox it is a very important issue I commend the district for having this as a goal for the last three years I think that's great and shows that the paying attention to it I think more needs to be done with more rigorous and proactive monitoring measuring of this and seeing what can be done to help our students more proactively I do think that looking at technology and how it's become so engrained in even our kindergarten classrooms with media carts that get rolled around and iPads put in front of kindergarteners should be looked at more closely to understand how much screen time each kid is having throughout their public education classroom and school sizes have a direct impact on this there have been many academic studies that show the connectedness of students is significantly hurt by large schools and large classroom sizes and so we need to think about how that plays into the mental health of students and I think that is a constant barrage of all the how great our kids are look at all the academics and talking about how where we'd be number three in the world if we were a country looking at academic success is sort of nice but for every kid that gets a B or gets a 20 on his AC T he's probably thinking what does that mean for me and what would I be in the world so I think having a better well-rounded measurement of students and their well-being is important thank you back around to the front mark ambrosa we are in an emotional health crisis and it's an epidemic nationally and the first thing we did we have to do is be open about it in a minute which we have as ELISA referred to it's been our number one board goal for the last two years three years and we are trying to increase our counseling training our support staff making sure every student has an adult that they can use as a touchstone in a safe place in the school to increase our culture in the school so that everybody looks out for everybody else from kindergarten all the way through the high school and we have to partner with parents too so that they don't feel alone they don't feel like they're on an island and don't know what to do when their children come home with anxiety issues so it's a partnership we're working on it very strongly and this is going to be going on for years because it's not something to ignore or stop Thank You Donna Morelle see this is the whole reason I'm here I'll go into specifics but well yeah I will we haven't admitted anything in Minnetonka I can tell you we have buried in the bottom of our website a statistic that says twenty three point four percent of Minnetonka seniors had contemplated suicide at one time or another in the same graph it says that 20 or 30 percent of students who surveyed said they felt hopeless in the weeks two weeks prior to taking the the student survey we have we have disciplinary measures that are four times the rate of the rest of the state when it comes to substance abuse we had to have kare 11 come in and tell us on television that we had one of the very worst student counselor ratios in the state and far worse than the national at national average so I would say to this board talk is cheap this is your number one goal and what have you done I I had dr. Peterson tell me that the parents did not want to hear this kind of information and he chose not to talk about students in this way I took it to the board and got crickets that letters on my website look up a Morosi it's probably the only website with a Morosi I'm out of time I'll take anybody else's time if they want to give it thank you and last we'll hear from not list Katie Becker's next high student mental health issues as mentioned it's it's a growing trend and this really has been a goal of the board the last three years it what roles do the key players make it's the school's job to be a support for students and to provide resources to staff it's the community's job to also support students and and staff but also to be that treatment facility for people who are in need and then finally the parents they're key they're the key players in this and they're the ones that drive everything that is needed for a student's mental health well-being so as we what we can do as a school and and what I've done as a parent in the district has been a key direct influence with bringing speakers into the district with parenting and purpose to help to provide education for student or excuse me for parents to help in this field it really is something that we can do more work and we've done a great job these last few years getting this started thank you and finally last Sarah climber to piggyback on some research numbers that Don was talking about scientific studies have shown that the largest increase in mental health crisis is only prevalent in the ijen population and that encompasses all K through 12 students it is absolutely imperative that we have mental health resources readily available and accessible to our students the survey on drug use and health administered by the US Department of Health and Human Services surveyed 600 students in 2017 and one out of five girls ages 12 to 17 reported feeling depressed and the suicide rates among boys ages 18 and 19 has spiked 56% since 2008 I would advocate that we mint excuse me when I talk to currently utilizes Sabres as a risk assessment tool and it's an acronym that stands for social academic and emotional risk screener I believe that the district is planning to use it for all students and this is a positive response to parents concerns I would also advocate that we should put more resources resources excuse me in place that will support the many mental health professionals who directly counselor our students in school on a day to day capacity in addition to our partnership with relate counseling I would also advocate for the application of future grants to continue to support and strengthen our resources for our students and community alright this is our last question already what should the district do to address racial equity and we will start with Julie late this is a one-minute question sorry Minnesota school board members take a note that in part indicates that board members vow to faster excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills and knowledge citizenship and personal development it also states that being morally and legally responsible for equitable quality education for every student in the district there is an issue in our nation's schools that persist the academic achievement gap between white Asian American students and those of color persists I've had the privilege of working with strategies families students staff and administrators learning and working together to provide professional development tiered lessons implementation of instructional strategies and programs that work for students who have been more underrepresented in advanced programs and as seeing academic success I have not shied away from tough questions in this issue our district does have a policy number 604 that indicates equal opportunities for all students I suggest you out of time next christine ricci yes what should the district do to address racial equity so I'm assuming this is in regards to the achievement gap that many people have been discussing lately if it is then Minnetonka has a very low achievement gap and non-white students in Minnetonka outperform Minnesota and nationwide results for all students comparatively all white and non-white students I think the district should continue doing what we're doing our teachers and curriculum are working there are somebody had asked earlier they weren't sure if open enrollment has contributed to racial diversity in our district it has I looked up the numbers without it we would be 8% we're currently 18% which is actually more diverse than Minnesota is in general I think you know there's other things that go into it with there's racial equity but then if you also want to talk about the treatment gaff there's other things such as a socio-economic gap which we're also starting to address one of the things that we can do is I know that Shakopee is having issues in Carver County with with I guess just racial awareness so we can be a more inclusive district work with that under the mental health and wellness Thank You next Meghan cylinder I would agree with some of what has already been said I think that our students of color are generally performing pretty well when compared to their counterparts in other districts but I do think there does there is still a disparity that exists within our district I think you know some things that could be done are to look at our curriculum and make sure that we're on track with a culturally relevant pedagogy and that our teachers and staff have been trained to make sure that all students are tied to the community and are not feeling that they are oppressed by the curriculum or by certain programs or teachings within the district the numbers do say that our students are performing well I do wish we could address the socio-economic piece of it a little bit more but that data is really hard to obtain because of confidentiality so it's a little bit harder I think that they are tied together and the more we can address it and see that gap closed the better Thank You Trevor Stirling when it comes to the achievement gap I think that the district needs to be honest with ourselves and compare our students of color to white students in Minnetonka not to Minnesota or the national average and acknowledged that there is still a very real achievement gap that Minnetonka schools we have to acknowledge the deficiencies and put a plan in place to take care of them as it relates to equity I assume that this question actually comes from the recent controversy in Karpin Eastern Carver County relative to racial differences in the schools and some bullying that took place where the stool school district acted and brought in outside advisors and implemented a plan of equity without community involvement without input from teachers and that has received significant backlash in the press of late I won't the specifics because I'm not an expert on this issue but I will say that I don't believe we're doing our students any services or any good by disciplining them differently based on their background or giving anybody a break based on where they come from we should challenge each individual student to rise to their full potential support each other and be alongside of each other in a quest for excellence and community that means that we have equal opportunity for students not equal outcomes thank you Lisa Wagner so this question is actually and full of a lot of terms that are really difficult as has been mentioned this could be an achievement gap question it could be an equality question it could be an equity question I don't think equality and equity are necessarily the same thing but I think that as has also been mentioned we're doing some things right here we're doing a good job with our students of color they are performing above national norms that doesn't mean we're done with it though we need to continue all of the programs that we have in place that allow all of our students to thrive that includes things like focusing on personal pathways so we meet our students where they're at giving them programs for all levels and all abilities looking at our barriers to success programs that we have implemented that have made a difference for students looking at our response to intervention our work and reimagine Minnesota and most importantly our school readiness and early childhood Family Education issues because that's really where you can begin to address these issues and many many studies have shown that the earlier that you can attack them the sooner you can make a difference Thanks I'll repeat the question again for everybody what should the district do to address racial equity and we have Josh Wilcox next this is a complex question that could go a lot of ways as was referenced to star Trevor is right that we should use the correct measurement on how we measure our students and not look at them compared to national averages but rather in district averages so it's more of an apples to apples measurements a couple of specific ideas that seem to have worked elsewhere as ensuring that there's a heavy focus on math and science in grades one to three that's shown to have real positive results later on education ensuring that there's very active parent involvement so encouraging the teachers to push even beyond what they normally would to ensure that parents get involved in all topics some districts are doing a cultural consciousness training for teachers to help them think about the right way to educate and very were to interact with students so that they're all being taught to in the right way and then finally expanding well-being measurements you can include a variety of topics that could help to contribute closing that achievement captain thank you next Markham brozen well I'll address the academic achievement gap that seems to be first and foremost Minnetonka has a internal achievement gap which doesn't compare with the state of Minnesota or nationally saying that we don't accept any gap between any of our groups of students so we work very hard at bringing everybody up to their optimum level we do this through personalized learning we treat every student individually see where they can improve and push them that way I've spoken with educators of color in Saint Paul and they echo that their students thrive when they're challenged if we challenge our students they step up as far as the racial diversity training we do have diversity panels that we present to our students namely through the Vantage program and they talked to students and we're trying to increase that dialogue thank you it down Dona Morelle see well so as board members or board candidates we got this packet from the school and in it there's six pages of rankings 18 pages of double-sided academic measures five pages of financial information here's the student well-being section for goal number one it's one-sided it's one piece of paper there's nothing in this document so I have a hard time understanding where the gaps are there's nothing that compares class sizes there's nothing that talks about the Deaf just developmentally disabled there's nothing about demographics there is a section that Trevor mentioned that compares Minnetonka students to the nation when asked when I asked dr. Peterson he said yes there is a gap as Mark alluded to and it's significant I think the secret is is that the district needs to be transparent none of this information is public one of the great strengths so I said we had kids nobody said us we as parents we live here for a reason and if we were more transparent about the information and again the places where we're not strong I'm certain the community would rise to the occasion and fix it thank you Katy Becker can you repeat the question sure what should the district do to address racial equity so I think in order to answer this question we need to define what equity is and for me to define what equity is it's providing what is needed for each student and what I think the district does really well is our personalized pathways we do a great job teaching to every child's needs whether it is a high flyer that you've heard about today or if it's somebody who is in need of additional support and we do teach to that average student we also talked about Wilson reading program that we have brought in to the district which also has certainly helped with bringing a personalized approach to help kids build that confidence and get gain better better reading sorry Smythe out there the other thing that we that we do really well is barriers to success and that is when we do not look at any racial or socio-economic we talk we we look at every child independently and find out what it is their personal barrier is to help educate them thank you Sarah climber so if we're gonna do the definition of equity that means that a student's identity race gender sexual orientation religion or disability does not protect and predict their success but if we're gonna talk about the achievement gap it is a quantifiable gap that is complex in origin and the solution is proven to be elusive regardless we want all learners to achieve their personal best and this is different than the district's personal best which is important to delineate all students need to be provided the tools and support services to succeed the district is responsible for meeting the needs of each one of these students behavior and academic success are intertwined and need to be intelligently addressed together school success is predicated not just upon academic achievement but also successes within social and emotional domains communication with the parents of these students is important if we establish trust and work with the family to form a comprehensive plan for their child compensatory state aid as received by the district each year for these children the reporting on how these dollars are being spent should be detailed and readily available to parents with access to full transparent supporting excuse me transparent reporting we would have a better understanding of what programs are benefiting students and adjust accordingly opportunities need to be provided for students to be involved and connected to their student community finally Catherine Gibbs II so racial equity means that every child needs to have full and complete access to the curriculum and they that they have their full potential realized regardless of their skin color regardless of their orientation every single child needs full access and how do we get to that we need to utilize the experts in our buildings we need to make sure that there is no academic language gap for children and that we we take care of every child and give them what they need also important is that we have cultural and linguistic responsive teaching strategy is available to teachers so that every student can see themselves reflected in the curriculum see them see themselves reflected in what is taught and feel honored and a part of the community all right now we're going to have our one-minute closing statements and we will run over time so I hope the cameras keep rolling so we'll start with Christine Ritchie okay first of all thank you everybody for your attention I I know this is a really hard decision and it's a really pivotal election so thank you for paying attention you know I'm not the best public speaker but I hope you got a good idea of Who I am I'm happy to talk to anybody one-on-one I'm much better that way you know everybody have really good ideas but we really need to dig deep and that's hard to do in a minute so you know talk to the candidates find out you know their ideas are they the best for the students how will it impact the financial health of the district is it based on facts and data is it practical sustainable executable please keep asking these questions and feel free to reach out of all of us I'm not going to have any marketing materials I'm running a green campaign so you can find me at Christine for Tonka school or Tonka schools org same at gmail and also on Facebook so thank you thanks Megan cylinder first I want to just thank you all from taking time away from your families tonight to come here and learn more about all the candidates and become informed voters I also am NOT going to have a whole lot of campaign materials I do have a website elect Megan Sellinger dot-com don't forget the a chin Megan but I think my bottom line is voting for me would be voting for an objective and caring and board member my best my best quality I think is that I'm going to come at this with fresh eyes and I want to see data and research to make the best possible decisions for our students and I have a background in education I really am committed to providing the best for our kids and I think that's that's all I that's all I have thanks Trevor Serling I want to thank bargain Bob Westmoreland and the League of Women Voters for the invitation to join you all tonight thank you to my fellow candidates here and thank you to all of you that are watching either in the audience or online or on television I agree that the best thing to do is learn more about the candidates you can learn more about me at four tanka org and I can commit to you that if elected that I will give my full energy and passion to this responsibility I will change the status quo and make sure that our schools can remain fantastic places for academic excellence and become fantastic places for the entire student development if you feel as if one of your students or you yourself as being lost in the shuffle I promise you I am the candidate for you I will give you a voice thank you thanks Lisa Wagner thank you for all of you for coming and thanks to the League of Women Voters I'm honored to have served as a leader in the Minnetonka School Board and I hope you will support me by reelecting me to one of the four available seats through my extensive years of district involvement and twelve years on the school board I've achieved proven results our district is nationally recognized for student achievement has outstanding parent satisfaction and a triple-a bond rating I've moved the district forward as a board leader and I'm committed to the future continuity of effective leadership is critical in today's rapidly changing world and I bring that I have the ability to foster dialogue and build consensus and leverage my relationships at the Minnesota Legislature I work hard listen carefully analyze all options and most importantly do what's best for all children I will leverage my past experience to plan for the district's future I welcome your thoughts on my website elect Lisa Wagner comm I look forward to continuing my collaboration with our constituents and most importantly to ensuring that our district provides that all of our children with the tools they need to be successful I thank you again and ask for your vote on November again Alexa Wagner calm and I do have some literature out in the hallway Thank You Josh Wilcox thank you all for your time tonight and thank you to legal and voters for hosting this what I think is clear to me is that there's a lot of people that are very passionate about the district and our kids and I think that speaks volumes about the district and our community as a whole so I'm very happy about that in the future of the district you know this has been a good forum I think it clearly shows that there are some differences in how we approach what great education means and how we measure that and how we look for the right outcomes for all students it comes down to you know if you believe in looking for smaller classroom sizes more focus on well-being and more transparency and a broader feedback loop between the community and the board and if you wanted to go that direction you might vote that way but you know look at for tanka org for more information and I'm happy to answer any questions after tonight's event thank you thank you Markham Bilson thank you all for coming thank you for watching online you have heard some of our positions on some questions please reach out to all of us dig deeper find out the answers that weren't answered here and I believe that Minnetonka has a great district we've done wonderful things our children are prospering I have seen it work through elementary school through middle school through high school and I've seen how our schools and programs have prepared our kids for the challenges that they encounter outside I've been part of that growth I've been part of it for over 15 years and I've been part of the leadership for the last four years are we a perfect district no one is no district is but we are improving and we are constantly looking to how we can do a better job with what we have thank you thank you done Elmer Elsie okay so thank you thank you thank you I just say that quickly because I only have a minute I do have caman campaign materials I think they're cool and they're fun so I bought some they're out there if you want them there's some buttons and things like that look to me I think it's time for some change I think you think so too that's why there's so many people up here and so many people out there I think talk is cheap if gold number one is well being I'd hate to be goal number three but you know we can always improve I think that the more the merrier works really well for tailgate parties it doesn't really work well for men and wash - Excelsior clear Springs Elementary and if you want somebody that's gonna rearrange the deck chairs on the big ship it's not me I'm probably more of the Colin Kaepernick of Minnetonka schools but I am blue and white to the to the core and I believe in all that's very good about these this school I listen especially to kids I don't think we listen to them enough and I know how to be heard so one thing I'll close with is that I think that this school can be vulnerable and it can still be great thanks Thank You Katie Becker thank you to the League of Women Voters for hosting this tonight in to everybody who attended my dedication to the continued excellence of Minnetonka schools is the innovative programs the personal learning environment and the value it brings to our community is why I'm here today if reelected I'll continue to place an emphasis on the student well-being and to ensure students continue to have opportunities to make meaningful connections in a school climate of respect as our district reaches the flattening enrollment it's my priority to find innovative ways to secure our district's financial success as an active parent volunteer and the only candidate with children in the elementary middle and high school level I'm going to continue to bring the pulse of our schools to the board table I'm committed to you and your family because I believe your child deserves an outstanding education and a school experience today and into the future please visit my website at elect Katie Becker comm and I ask for your vote on November 5th thank you Sarah climber thank you to the League of Women Voters for hosting us and thank you to everyone for being here tonight this was a daunting task for me to try to find answers that we didn't know the questions of and cram it into sixty seconds so if you want to know more I promise I make eye contact and we can talk and back but I'm gonna read off my sheet one more time I want you to know I will be an advocate for all voices in our community your individual voice will be respected and heard I am accountable to you we need a trusting and open relationship that offers transparency and clarity between the board and our community on all issues I will continue to find ways to build upon the social and emotional resources available to our schools mental health initiatives saber screening tool and our partnership with relate counseling are important I would advocate for application of future grants to support and strengthen our partnership with community mental health organizations our students need us we need sustainable enrollment policies our policies or excuse me our schools are overcrowded we need an enrollment plan moving forward that is reasonable and well managed I would commit to a new enrollment plan starting in the fall of 2020 no surprises we are past maximum capacity please contact me in the rest of the four tanka candidates our websites for tanka org thank you catherine gibbsy thank you so much for the opportunity to participate tonight if elected to the school board I would use data and research to actively support and promote student what student mental health and wellness I would make sure that our student numbers classroom sizes and open enrollment policies support our students as learners and I would strongly support our teachers and make sure that they have the resources to innovate and successfully teach all of our students my experience in public education and advocating for students well-being and access to educational opportunities makes me qualified to help lead our districts I'd be honored to serve our district as a school board member and thank you so much you can reach me at vote Kimsey at gmail.com and I have some business cards out in the lobby and finally Julie light thanks to all of you and to the League of Women Voters I attended my daughter's Minnetonka high school graduation ceremony 11 years ago were the very top students and student athletes were highly celebrated and I hurt for the other graduates this attitude has not changed over the years I believe we need to better celebrate and plan for all students even those not planning to attend a four-year post-secondary college and this could even be done by maybe implementing and young scholars program in the primary years now 30% of our huge district is open and rolled student students bigger is not necessarily better and our district leadership has yet to tell us what its new capacity enrollment number is as a school board member I would be responsible to promote district communication of dress'd honor and integrity thank you and I do have literature outside thank you to the candidates the audience and those of Ewing this forum on cable and video for your participation in this candidate forum this forum has been broadcast live on community cable TV and will be rebroadcast until the election on November 5th you can also see w WL WV m e ph org for a link to the streaming video we now conclude our formal event you are welcome to meet with the candidates informally in the lobby outside the double doors this room will be closed at 8:30 p.m. which has already passed thank you [Applause] you