November 14, 2024 — Meeting Transcript

Machine-generated transcript — may contain errors.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you Welcome Lucia Lorena Lucia give a wave Lucia is our student board rep who is normally at the board table but because she's not a voting member, she's just wanted to come watch in the audience. I'm going to ask Chris to read the motion to adopt the agenda before we go further. I move that we adopt the agenda as posted.

Second. Okay, all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Okay, motion passes. Okay, I know those of you that applied for the vacancy kind of read a little bit about the process of the evening, but just to remind everyone and also to inform the community, what we're going to do tonight is each applicant, and there are seven applicants for the board vacancy, Thank you. Thank you. I do want to point out to just so to remind the board and also the applicants and certainly the community, this is an interim position, of course, until the school board election in April.

So, and any of you, of course, may choose to file for election to run in April. But being that it's an interim position, I thought I would point out to everyone, what are some big topics and priorities of ours between now and April that we are focusing on and certainly looking for a board member that can help us advance that work? A few of them are certainly our long-range facilities master plan working with Paragon Architecture. Thank you.

And we try to stay active in that as well. The last thing I would say, and these are in no particular order, that's coming up that will be a topic that we'll address is the counseling programming. So that just gives everyone kind of an overview of large topics that will be coming up in this interim period between now and the election in April. So that's what we're looking at and looking for someone that can help us work through each of those.

So, without further ado, we will begin. And the first candidate to address the board that turned in application first is Nathan Singh. No, you were first. Here?

Okay, great. Hi, everybody. Hi, everyone. Thanks, first of all, for taking the time to meet with all of us.

I know this is not an easy position that you guys are in, so appreciate you being so generous with your time and hearing all of us out. So my name is Nathan Tseng. I live in Davis Place. I've got a third grader at Merrimack and a young daughter who's going to be starting there next year.

When we moved to Clayton in 2019, I have to be honest, I didn't think that this was going to be a place I ever called home. We've lived in Philadelphia for a long time, and I thought this was going to be a pit stop in the life of two academic parents and their young kids. The reality has been different, though. Over the last five years, I've become really deeply invested in Clayton, and specifically in the schools that I've come to learn really are the fabric of this community.

My interest in joining the school board really is to give my time effort attention energy to give back some to the school district that we already gotten so much out of and really help support all the families in this community that make it so great In another life, feels like a very long time ago, I was a community organizer in Philadelphia. I started and was the lead of a nonprofit organization that was focused on civic education for the Philly community. We grew to a membership of over 1,500 people, and being the leader of that while it was an extracurricular was really one of the most meaningful things I've ever done and really sparked an interest in civil service for me. Professionally, however, I'll say, I'm faculty at the Wash U School of Medicine.

I'm an oncologist and see patients with aggressive blood cancers. I spend most of my time, however, running a basic science research lab and teaching graduate students. As a physician scientist, the majority of my job is dedicated to generating and analyzing data so that I can use that data to make informed decisions for my patients and for my students. In my professional life, I sit on several administrative and leadership boards at the medical school, some that are focused on curriculum development for the graduate school, and I'm also on the board of several biotech companies.

The majority of this work has not really been education focused, but it's given me a lot of board experience. My goal really over the next few months if I were selected would be to bring these skills in critical thinking, healthcare, data-driven decision-making, civic education, and I think importantly consensus building to support the superintendent, to support the board, and the broader community. Really to make sure that every kid in this district has as fantastic an experience in school as my son Max has had over the last few years. Understanding well that this is a temporary position, I think, you know, medical training has some benefits.

I intend to, you know, get up to speed quickly to be an effective, perhaps a little quiet, member of the board to really help you guys get the work done that's in front of you in the next few months. Thanks for your time. Thank you, Nathan. Thank you, Nathan.

Okay, next up is Nathan Peck. Nathan, Nathan. Nathan, Nathan, yeah. As soon as I speak it starts, right?

No? Okay, just checking. All right. I think I might be the district's number one fan.

I've worked in several private schools. I've served on evaluation teams for a whole bunch of schools, public and private. And I've come to know what a special place that the School District of Clayton is. And if there was, and as I'm currently teaching at Burroughs, if there was no tuition, I would still send my kids to Clayton schools.

We're rocking. Not to say that the district is perfect. Early on in my career when I was at Mary Institute, it's an all-female school, we spent a lot of time talking about gender equity. And I remember one of the leaders of PD was like, you know, education is like walking up a downward moving escalator.

And that if you really want to make progress, you got to hustle. And even if you want to stay put, you got to go. And if you sit around doing nothing, you're at the bottom again. Anyway, I believe that's true in my experience.

I've worn many hats here. I've been parent of three kids that have all gone through K-12. I've been a teacher in Clayton for 24 years. I've had administrative duties working with K-12 students, including founding the Summer Quest, which is an amazing K-8 enrichment program here.

I've been directly involved with major school improvements here, including Prop S. I think my strengths, I'm an excellent listener, planner, and most importantly, an implementer. I understand budgeting and finance, and I've always made decisions based on data. I teach students about how to analyze data.

I believe I work well with others and I'm a team player. I'm not shy about speaking my mind and I welcome dissenting opinions. In all the decisions we've made here at Clayton and elsewhere, I've tried to stay aware of unintended consequences of decisions. As a board member, I help to play a role in bolstering communication between the district and the greater community.

I believe that as a trusted member of this community for over three decades, that I can help strengthen trust within the school district and with our Clayton community. And thank you for considering me for this position Basically why I want to come on board now is I want to help us continue our climb up the escalator Thank you Thanks Next up is Nicole Whitesell. Thank you. Hi, my name is Nicole Weitzel, and thank you for having me here tonight to tell you about myself and why I believe I would be an asset to the board and why I believe I'm the best candidate for the vacancy.

You have my resume and I just wanted to, this is just a highlight of the experiences on my resume over the past 30 years. As you can see, I have a variety of experiences in education, 26 years in public education. I was a high school math teacher, high school assistant principal. I spent 13 years as a building principal.

I also had the opportunity to serve as an assistant superintendent. One role was a secondary only and another role was early childhood all the way through high school. I also had the unique opportunity of starting the St. Charles County CAPS program, the Center for Advanced Professional Studies program, for five school districts in St.

Charles County. When I retired, I ran a Goddard school, so it's a private early education childhood center, for two years. We had infants through kindergarten, 200 students. So that was a unique experience and really to go full circle with the deep involvement in early childhood.

I've been a, was a Clayton parent for 11 years. My daughter is a freshman in college, so I'm a new empty nester. I currently work in Clayton for my post-retirement career, and I have recently joined a board, so I have experience serving on a board. I'm the president of the House Corporation Board for my sorority in Columbia.

I believe that I'm an asset to the board and the best candidate due to my vast experiences in education throughout the past 28 years, early childhood through high school and central office. I have a deep knowledge about teaching and learning, equitable access, school staffing, long-range planning, to name just a few. I understand the relationship between the school board and the school district administration. I understand school district policy.

I understand basic school finances. I'm not sure what button I hit. I also have the ability to provide perspective as a parent, building administrator, and a central office administrator. And I'm committed, highly committed, to student success.

I am dedicated to ensuring that every student, regardless of their background or abilities, receives a high-quality education. I believe in fostering an environment where students are challenged, supported, and encouraged to reach their full potential. In summary, my husband and I moved to Clayton so our child could attend a student-centered, high-performing public school district. Given that, along with my experience in education, I understand the importance that that education provides to students and their outcomes.

I also understand the importance of meeting the needs of all children. I would like to certainly give back to the district that has given my daughter so much. I truly value the School District of Clayton, and I want to continue to foster that student-centered, rich and rigorous educational environment while enhancing the future for our students and for their community. If I were to be on the board, I would be honored to serve.

Thank you. Thank you, Nicole. Next up is Benjamin Beinfeld. Good evening, Clayton Board of Education.

First, let me say that it is an honor to be here and be part of this group under consideration for the board vacancy. In my three minutes, I'll try to cover some key points about me and why I feel ready and eager to be your choice tonight. So first and foremost, I'm a parent of three students in the district, two girls in seventh grade, and my son is a sophomore at CHS. You may recall my daughter Olivia addressed the board during the last meeting, and I just want to clear, I did not put her up to that.

That was entirely her decision. Okay. I am in my second term serving on the Clayton Parks and Rec Commission. I have served on several nonprofit boards.

I have been a Clayton Rec sports coach for a total of over 20 seasons. I worked on a volunteer basis with numerous schools, particularly in the city of St. Louis. And professionally, I have over four years experience working in schools as an IT director and team leader.

I am twice a school board campaign treasurer. I have volunteered on multiple campaigns and most proudly was part of the successful Prop E campaign in 2019, where our community rallied behind our schools to ensure our financial stability for years to come. This was also my first introduction to how Missouri school funding works and why this is so important for us all to be educated on that topic. I've also found that Missouri is in the bottom third of all states in terms of the funding it provides its schools.

I say all this to demonstrate that I have a passion for public service, for schools, and a commitment to help the improvement of our community. Since submitting my application for this role, I have taken the time to educate myself on much of the board business as I can by reviewing past board meeting materials, familiarizing myself with the strategic plan goals, learning about the interconnections with other organizations such as the MSBA, Special School District, the City of Clayton, in particular, the Clayton Center, and also, of course, the long-range facilities master plan activities. Thank you. Thank you.

Todd Smithers. Good evening. My name is Todd Smithers. I'm a Buckeye born and raised.

I've lived in St. Louis now for 11 years. We moved here initially looking for a great school district. We looked at maybe, it felt like a million different school districts and we just kept coming back Thank you.

After three years of looking, it took us two weeks to find a house. And so we were very, very fortunate, very, very lucky. We moved into our house, and my son was born, and we named him Clayton. So I have two kids in the district.

My daughter is an eighth grader at Y-Down, and I have a son who's a second grader at Captain. We love this school district. We're excited about our choice, and we want to stay here and contribute to the community in any way that we can. I'll tell you a little bit about what I do professionally.

I consider myself a consumer marketing fanatic. I've worked on more than a dozen brands across a range of industries, five different categories, including health, wellness, and nutrition. I have worked on mainstream consumer brands that you have probably heard of, like Purina Pet Care and Campbell's Soup. And I've worked on growing these to be bigger businesses.

I've also worked on a lot smaller brands that were challengers in their industries. I've worked on acquisitions and turnarounds. And a lot of that work is really like trying to be resourceful to try to go up against big companies like P&G that have a funding advantage over us, but still trying to be crafty and coming up with creative ways to grow those businesses. So the thing that I'm really the most passionate about is finding the hidden value in brands and looking for ways to leverage that.

I feel like that's a skill that I would bring to the school board, and it's something that really drives my passion. Did you know that 3,500 businesses are located in the city of Clayton? I didn't know that either. I was really surprised.

And many of those, there are several Fortune 500 companies in there, and some of them are consumer-facing as well. So they're going to want to really have a presence in the community. So I feel like that's an underleveraged resource that we could really tap into as a school district. I feel like those companies should be mentoring our kids They should be doing internships They should be sponsoring our field trips I think they should be putting their name on our library I just think that possibilities are endless And as it looks like I running out of time I just wanted to close by saying that I would be honored to be considered for this role I feel like my 30 plus years of business experience mostly at Fortune 500 companies driving influence getting things done working collaboratively and through teams would really benefit the school district and have a reputation for being a team player So thank you very much and I really appreciate the opportunity Thank you, Todd.

Meade Greenberg. Hi, everybody. Good evening. Thank you for considering me for the vacancy for the school board.

I'm very excited to be here. I have two children in the district. My daughter is five. Chairman, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

I think that my position as a parent of children in the youngest years in the school district is an important perspective to have on the board and it's currently not represented. I know that this board cares deeply about all the children in the school district, obviously, but I think that having a parent that is day-to-day connected at the family center and with the lowest grades in the elementary school is an important perspective. I do believe that there are a lot of conversations that are happening at the school board level that we use the profile of the graduate to center some of these conversations, which is a really useful tool. And I believe that it's a great way to focus some of these conversations.

I also think that it tends to steer the conversation towards high schoolers and the high school. And I think that having someone who is a parent of the youngest students in the district is an important perspective. My background in education could also allow me to help the Board connect the dots from the profile of the graduate down through the elementary years and into the early childhood years. I am very passionate about Early Childhood Education.

I think Family Center is an incredible gem in our school district. The Reggie and Amelia approach is phenomenal, and it's lucky that we have it here in our Public School district. I will say also, there are a lot of topics such as school safety that you mentioned, the technology topic, the personal electronic devices, where the conversation does, like I said, tend to focus on the high school. And I think that a perspective of a parent of young children, particularly, I know the technology conversation is one that the board will likely address in the years to come, but COVID really changed how technology looks in our elementary schools.

And I think that having a parent of children who are experiencing that day to day is an important perspective. Also, as a former teacher, I naturally empathize with the people that work in our schools. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, Jennifer Rhodes. Hello, my name is Jennifer Rhodes. I'm a mother of four and a grandmother of two. My youngest daughter is a junior at Clayton High.

I am a nationally board certified occupational therapy assistant with an emphasis in pediatrics. This past August, I celebrated 27 years of experience. For over 25 years, I have been employed by public school districts within the state of Illinois. I am responsible for the I am responsible for adapting, modifying, and enhancing students' learning environments.

I have changed the lives of over 1,300 students during my career. Not only do I help the children, but I assist the educators to understand the specific conditions of the child. I educate, brainstorm ideas and techniques that help the students to learn to the best of their abilities During my entire career I have faced the challenges that students educators and administrators overcome I seen firsthand the increase of children that live with ADHD autism sensory processing disorders prenatal alcohol and prenatal methamphetamine exposure During my career, I have probably seen just about every diagnosis under the sun. My entire life has been taking care of and loving our future generations.

I understand how a school district functions and the importance of a strong leadership. I live in Richmond Heights in the tiny area beyond Clayton Road that is a part of this district. It would be an honor to support the area of those students and parents along with the entire township of the School District of Clayton. If I am given this opportunity, you will see how much I can bring to the district, the students, educators, paraprofessionals, principals, administrators, custodians, nutritional staff, secretaries, and parents.

One of the main reasons I'm pursuing this position is to give back to the fantastic school district that has forever changed my own daughter's lives. Let's raise the bar and make School District of Clayton once again number one in the state and top ten in the nation. It takes a village, and I would enjoy being an important part of this village. Thank you, Jennifer.

Thank you. Okay, well that concludes all of the oral statements from our candidates. Thank you all very much. Are you going to?

Okay. Right. So if you would follow Kelly here, please, the applicants. Like I said, we're going to have you in a separate room while I one by one call you in just for some follow-up questions.

Thank you. Thank you. I was going to say, do you want me to go? Sorry, we should have just had you stay.

That's all good. Because we're going in the same order. Well, thank you again, Nathan, for your interest in this position. Thank you.

And we appreciate your statement. So, I just have three questions for you, and when you're done answering, you can just have a seat back here, and you'll be able to hear everybody else's. So, first question is... I get the fun job.

Yes. What is your understanding of the district's strategic plan, and what is the role of the school board to help advance that work? Well, I'm going to be honest. I'm going to start with the first.

You know, strategic, the, I've looked a little bit at the strategic plan on the website and, you know, I think the components of it that sort of have made the most sense to me have been, you know, the things that you talked about earlier, sort of education mission broadly, the real estate stuff that's going on and, you know, ensuring student health and safety. My understanding, really, of how the school board engages with that strategic plan is to support largely, I mean, budgetary and financially, certainly, obviously, but then support, you know, the motions to advance the strategic plan that are brought by Dr. Patel. Logistically, primarily, and in some degree, you know, with input on how that mission would be shaped and crafted over time.

Thank you. Second question. Do you intend to run in the April election? Why or why not?

I thought that was going to be one of them. You know, I've given this a lot of thought over the last few months, and I think that my perspective on this has changed over my discussions really with all of you. I initially really was thinking that you know if chosen for this interim position this would be a little bit of a tryout to see how it fit I think you know my time on other boards has really emphasized to me that board dynamics and interpersonal relationships are really important in board success And so making sure that I fit with the group was how I was considering whether or not to run I've sort of changed my opinion on that a little bit, though. I think in part that's honestly because I've just really enjoyed talking with all of you.

And I think as I've learned more about what it means to be on the board, I think this is something I am really interested in. So, yeah, I think I am going to run. Okay. Thank you.

And last question is, do you have any questions for us? And by the way, any one of us can answer. Do I have any questions for you? I get, you know, I interview people all the time, and that's always one of my questions, and I should have been prepared for that, I suppose.

I think my main questions for you are how, you know, with the turnover that happens every year, How do you sort of maintain momentum that doesn't get staggered by adding new people on a relatively regular basis? That's a great question. I actually think because we have new members every year, that helps us stay fresh because the new board members have to go through an onboarding. We kind of all do that in some ways together.

So it keeps us all a little fresh and on top of things. And the new dynamic always creates, I think, new energy. Okay, yeah. Does anyone else have any other?

Anyone can answer these questions. Anything else to add to that? Yeah, I mean, I think that Stacey's right about that. It can also cause chaos, though, let's be honest, right?

I mean, the reason you're here is a little bit of chaos that's been caused, right? So outside of the things that kind of come up ad hoc for the board, which you can't anticipate, There's always a calendar of what has to be done in terms of regular board business that is scheduled throughout the course of the term upon which the board needs, right? So we always do a curriculum review. We always approve the budget.

We always approve salary increases for teachers, whether or not it's a negotiation year. So there's just certain board business that is always on the table no matter what. So that even though, you know, from the public perspective, if things look like they get gummed up here, the wheels of the machine are still turning underneath the board. So the wheels of the machine can turn faster, you know, to another candidate's point where, you know, the escalator's always going up and you're going in the opposite direction if the board is efficient and good at its job.

But the wheels always somehow manage to crank along. Just by nature of having to do it. Yeah, okay. And sometimes we're here for a lot of time because you just have to do it.

I have watched a few of the board meetings. Yeah. I can tell. Okay, thank you.

Thank you so much. So you can have a seat back here. Oh, I guess Kelly has the list. You have the list.

Yeah, yeah. Thank you again, Nathan, for being here and for your opening statement. So I have three questions for you. Okay.

First one is, what is your understanding of the district strategic plan and what is the role of the school board in helping advance that work? I am not altogether familiar with the current strategic plan, but in terms of the Board of Ed's role in that is to help support the district staff. Thank you. And next question, which you did address in your written statement, but is do you intend to run for the election in April and why or why not, which I know you said yes.

Pardon me? Why or why not? I think I can contribute a lot still to the school district, and so I'll be running again in the spring. Great.

And the last... I will be anyway, even if you don't appoint me, so... Great. And last question is, do you have any questions for us, any one of us?

Okay, so this is a quick question, but in terms of the terms that people will be running for, the fact that this is a Interim position, is it a shortened term? And how does that actually look like in the election in terms of if, say, you're going to run again, that would be for a three-year term? So, that's a great question. Okay.

So, to finish out this Gary Pearson's term, the vacancy, there will be a separate standalone ballot item that is for a one-year term to finish out his. There will also be a ballot item for two seats that are three-year terms. Anyone can file to run in either of those races. So, you could run in the one-year spot or the three-year spot.

It has, being appointed to this position has no bearing on that at all. Does that answer it? It does answer the question, thank you. Yeah.

Yeah. Any other questions for us? No, that's okay. All right, thank you, Nathan.

So you can have a seat back here. Thanks. Thank you again, Nicole, for being here and for your opening statement. You're welcome.

Thank you. We just have a few questions for you. The first one is, what is your understanding of the district strategic plan, And what is the school board's role in helping advance that work? When I think about the strategic plan, what comes first to mind is the profile of the graduate and that work that's been going on for the past several years.

And certainly the board's role is to give, as the administration presents that, well, prior to that, there could be things that they may want the school district administration to study related to it. If they want information around different pieces, could be any component of it that they're looking for more information, and then they are going to provide feedback. When that's presented to the board, they're going to provide feedback to the administration. It's almost, I would consider it to be somewhat of a partnership to some extent, as that is developed and then brought to the board for approval.

And then obviously there's the ongoing piece of when you develop it, but then how are you monitoring it, and then what data is being brought to the school board to be able to show the progress on how they are achieving in the various areas of the strategic plan, and how does the data support that? And then, again, what adjustments and tweaks are you making along the way? Thank you. Second question is, do you intend to run in the April election for school board?

Why or why not? I would say I don't know yet. Obviously, if it's an experience, you know, I would think that I would enjoy the experience. And if it's something that I would decide wasn't a right fit for me, then obviously I wouldn't do that.

So I would say that I would have between now and whatever the date is, I don't know off the top of my head, in December, that December, January date that you have to decide to file for the election, I'll have to decide between then. And so it's only a couple of, I believe there's just the November 20th meeting. I don't believe you guys have two meetings in December. I think it's just one.

So it'll be a short turnaround for that decision. But I would think, you know, I would want to think about it and make sure that the experience that I had in those two months, is that something I would want to continue for the possibility of a three-year term? I think that's an important decision to think about and make. Good.

Thank you. And last question is, do you have any questions for any of us? Let's see, I was just looking over the list that you had talked about. You have one more session, I believe, for the long-range facilities plan.

That's the one on December 4th. One more community one. And then what, I guess, what is the goal in terms of that time frame to have that process, like a plan that's presented to the board for, or to the community and then to the board for a final decision? Or is it kind of ongoing all year?

I would say it ongoing but I think is it January So we have the district community forum in December and then between now we actually started in September right with all the community forums, the subcommittee meetings, gathering all the data. They did a lot of analysis over the summer as well, and the goal is that the January 22nd board meeting for Paragon, the architect firm that's working with us, to present all the data to us Thank you. Thank you. So the strategic plan is really the framework for policies and what we're really here to do.

To educate and to both in head and heart, as I recall is part of the goal statement there. Integral to that too is also the profile of the Clayton graduate, which was developed thinking about the end in mind, like what are the attributes of the students we want to see and develop and grow in them. Which is kind of a cool way to look at it. Start at the end and we'll make our way backwards.

So I, my understanding is that the plan really kind of guides how the board looks at policies and what needs to be either updated, existing policies or new policies. How does that feed into the strategic plan? Is it consistent with that? And the strategic plan itself is also a living, breathing document that also changes over time.

So, yeah. Thank you. Second question, do you intend to run in the April election? Why or why not?

Well, at this point, yes. Yes, absolutely. I've come this far. Thank you.

And the last question is, do you have any questions for us? Ah, well, I guess since you are all fairly seasoned board members at this point, fairly, except for Leo. No, I'm just kidding. I guess my question would be, what would you say to yourself if it was your first night on the board?

Like, what have you learned in that time? What would you tell yourself? Go back and say. Guess what?

This surprises. Maybe I would direct it towards Kim. Oh, boy. My first night on the board.

Well, similar to the experience you described of having participated in the district through Prop E and through other volunteer work with the board, right? Long-term financial planning committee, whether it's PTO, anything that happened before that. I think I thought that I had an understanding of what the board does. And when I got here, I realized that the board does so much more beyond what my understanding was, which I could only appreciate having now been on this side of the table.

So I would say, you know, in the first, oh gosh, in my first year I probably did, I spoke very little. If you go back and you look at the board meetings from the first year, I really sat and did as much absorption as I could to learn from the board members at the table, as well as to learn from the administration and from the community that, you know, comes to present information to the board. In the second year, after I discovered where the proverbial bathrooms were in the building and everything else, then I got a little more comfortable providing input. But I tried to provide it from a place that I guess had a little more confidence.

My background's in finance. So the treasurer at the time of the board kind of took me under their wing and said, hey, I think this is a good role for you to be able to step into. Spervantage of Education Proposition O levy agenda motion carried That my understanding because school finances are complex and very different than corporate finances as you probably know from your work with school districts and from PropE itself And now, frankly, I'm probably ready to be done. Oh.

But, you know, I think that it's a very – I have enjoyed my time serving on the board. I'm in the latter part of my second kind of term, and I think there's so many great candidates here tonight that, you know, that there's a lot of room for people to contribute, and I'm thrilled to see the quality of the candidates that we have here. Excellent. Thank you.

That's it. Any other questions? Nope, no other questions. All right.

Thanks, Ben. Okay. Okay. Thanks again, Todd, for being here and for your opening statement.

I have three questions for you. The first one is, what is your understanding of the district's strategic plan, and what is the school board's role in advancing that work? So I did look at the school's district's strategic plan, and one of the things that I was impressed by was the focus on equity and making certain every kid has an opportunity to move forward, and that there's individualized learning plans as a part of that. That was one of the key passion points that drew me into wanting to take this role on the board initially.

And then just having a long-term vision for where we go from an educational standpoint was really impressive to me. I think the role of the school board in that is just working at a high level to make certain that we're getting the right policies in place. We're working with the right contractors. We're being visible in the community.

There's transparency in the work that we're doing to advance those things. Thank you. Second question is, do you intend to run in the April school board election? Why or why not?

Yeah, I thought that might come up and I've been thinking about it a lot. And I would like to step back, if I'm appointed, see what my value is and make certain that I'm really truly adding value. So my commitment would be for the vacancy that I'm applying for today. But I would ask each board member if you think that I'm doing a good job and this is something that I could continue to add value for, then I would consider it.

Thanks. And the last question is, do you have any questions for us? Any one of us? I'm just, I think I've talked to each of you individually just to get a better feel for what your expectations are and what your experiences are on a board.

I would be curious though on the facilities long range plan in particular, how you feel the community is likely to receive that. I feel like from my research, the community is, you know, blessed to have great resources here, but they feel it seems like somewhat conservative from a financial standpoint. Do we feel like we're going to be able to get the support of the community to advance that project? Maybe it's too early to know.

That's a great question. I do feel like we're going to get community support, and I'll say we've made a concerted effort in this process to gather feedback from the community. We have community members on our steering committee. We've had forums, you know, to give information and to get feedback at each of the schools.

And we had our first community-wide district forum last night. We have another one coming up December 4th. There will be a survey given to the community. So, and we've publicized the website.

There's a page on our website that has a lot of information and a guide on it. So, I am hopeful that with all of that effort and communication around what we're doing, that we will get community support for whatever the vision becomes from the process. That's great. I feel like one of the values I add potentially for this role is being able to create a marketing plan to look at how we communicate with the community to build trust and awareness and transparency and then to drive it through and get it done.

So that's one of the areas that I'm most excited about if I'm selected for this role. Good. Thank you. Any other questions?

Do you have any questions about my background or resume or anything I might have missed? I don't think so. It was pretty thorough. Okay.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thanks again, Meade, for being here and for your opening statement. Thank you for your time.

I have three questions for you. Okay. The first one is, what is your understanding of the district's strategic plan, and what is the role of the school board in helping advance that work? My understanding of the strategic plan, and it was written a few years ago, if I'm correct, and it's to help guide the vision of the district for the next five years, I believe.

Is it five years? Just with regards to outcomes, priorities, facilities, curriculum, kind of big picture sort of things, and help the superintendent focus her efforts on those various things. And what was the second part of the question? What is the role of the school board in helping advance that work?

Oh, the role of the school board, as I understand it, is to support the superintendent in making decisions and helping run the school district, and to help craft policy, but not enforce policy, as I know, but to help craft policy that reflects the strategic plan and help the schools think through how to enforce it. Is that my understanding? Yeah. Thanks.

Next question is, do you intend to run in the school board election in April? Why or why not? I do intend to run. I think I do intend to run.

I have, ever since my daughter started school at the Family Center at two, and I began to get the emails from the district, I immediately had to know what was happening and why and who was making the decisions and how the decisions were being made. I feel like I've, you know, my husband from the outset was like, you're going to need to be on the school board. So I know that this is kind of in my future. This vacancy was a nice kind of, it came at the right time for me, and so I wanted to jump at it.

But I feel that now after going through this process, learning about the board, attending meetings, speaking to some of you, So I feel that I'm ready and I think it's an important time for me to join the board based on things that I care about and my kids' age. So yes, I plan to run in April. Thank you. And the last question is, do you have any questions for us?

That's a good question. I had a chance to ask you all questions, so I don't have any that are jumping out at me. Sorry. No, that's okay.

But thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jennifer, for being here, and thanks again for your opening statement. I have three questions for you.

The first one is, what is your understanding of the district strategic plan, and what is the role of the school board in helping advance that work? The role of the school board is to take the information that's given to us and decide what we feel is best and take a vote on it. The strategic plan is, I guess, individually going to go through the different schools, and there's committees for that, so then we will all get together and discuss that. Thank you.

Next question is, do you intend to run in the school board election in April, and why or why not? I haven't quite decided yet. It would depend on what happens tonight, whether I want to pursue that or not. Okay.

That's okay. And the last question is, do you have any questions for us? I do not. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you. So what's going to happen next is the board will be scoring each of you in areas to, I Of our role, of looking back on not just your oral statements tonight and your answers, but your written statements, your resumes, and some of the skills you might have that could help us with things that we're working on, and as well as maybe understanding how the district runs and the strategic plan. So we're going to take a break while school board members do our scoring.

There are drinks, I think, in the back, if anyone wants. Is that right? And coffee. There's some coffee and water in the back.

And when we are ready and Chris Wynn, our secretary, along with Heike Janus, our administrative assistant, executive assistant, are going to go in another room to add up the scores, and then we will make an announcement. Thank you. So take a break. There's bathrooms in the hallway, drinks in the back.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. We are reconvening. That's the proper term. Okay.

We did not have a tie because I had a tie-breaking question ready. But before I announce who the candidate will be who we are appointing to the school board and before we make a motion to vote on that, I do, and I'm looking at the scoring now, too, and it confirms what I was about to say, which this was a very hard and difficult decision. I think you all heard from each other how qualified this pool of seven applicants is. You each have experience and skills and qualities that would all benefit this board and this district.

And I say that with total sincerity. I really mean it. So I would encourage any and all of you to consider running for school board, whether it's this April or the following April, and or getting involved in board and district level committees. That's another great way to be involved at the big district level without being on the school board.

Because truly, I would be happy to work with any of you in any capacity, really. This is a really, really qualified group. And I think I told some of you that, you know, as the deadline approached, I was getting worried that we weren't going to have any applicants. And not only do we have seven, but we have seven excellent qualified candidates.

So I want to thank all of you for your interest, for the time you put into the written application, planning your oral statement, answering our questions, your resume. Those of you that reached out to us ahead of time with questions, I want to thank you for all of that time and effort. And I hope that you all feel like it was valuable time well spent to learn more about the board and the district so that in the future, in whatever way you get involved with the district, that it will help that. So thank you very much.

Okay. Without further ado, I would like to announce, and then Chris will make a motion, that the candidate who has scored the highest, who will be voted on and then sworn in at the November 20th board meeting, is Benjamin Beinfeld. Congratulations. Congratulations.

So I am going to have Chris Ms. Winreta, motion to vote on that officially. I move that we appoint Ben Beinfeld to serve on the School District of Clayton's Board of Education until the April 8, 2025, general municipal election. All those in favor?

Aye. Any opposed? Okay, the motion passes. Congratulations, Ben.

And I mean what I said to the rest of you. Please don't be strangers. We would be happy to have you join us and join the district in our work. I think, like I said, I'd be happy to work with any of you in any capacity, whether on the school board or on a district board or committee or what have you.

So don't be strangers. Keep our cell phone numbers if you have them. Ask for them if you don't. And call if you have any further questions.

I really, really was impressed, and I think I speak for the whole board when I say, with all of you, truly. And I look at the scores, and I can see that everyone also feels that way because they were very close. So thank you, everyone, and you can call the motion to adjourn. Yes.

I move that the Board of Education adjourn. Second. Okay, all those in favor? Aye.

Any opposed? Okay, meeting is adjourned.