Q&A

A: I am a graduate of Saline Area Schools. I went on to college after graduation with a desire to one day become an architect. Just like so many things in life, different opportunities arose. While going to school I started a small business to help fund my education. As time passed, I realized I had an important decision to make - continue with college or focus on my business. I chose the latter and forged through with my business. This has given me the unique attribute of perseverance. As a local business owner, I have had to make difficult decisions, make payrolls, and, most importantly, understand the needs of others and determine how best to meet those needs.

A: Trust > Respect > Excellence! Saline Area Schools is a remarkably high achieving district and families move into this district because of our school system. Excellence is always a destination but never a stop. In order for Saline Area Schools to continue toward this destination, we must have TRUST with all our families. Trust will foster a more RESPECTful environment that will lead us to EXCELLENCE.

A: Saline Area Schools has always been a high achieving school district. We must continue to create and offer classes that challenge, as well as give opportunities to, all our students. I believe student achievement should not be looked at solely based on test scores. Saline and the South West Washtenaw Consortium (SWWC) offer so many classes in the CTE (Career and Technical Education) fields that teach life skills and trades that will benefit our students for a lifetime. In an economy that struggles to find skilled trades employees, we need to continue to lead in this area as well.

A: School financing is incredibly unique, surrounded by many regulations, which makes it difficult for many to understand. Having served as the Chair of the Finance Committee, and continuing to serve on the Finance Committee, I have seen first-hand the prioritizing that comes into play, as well as the difficult decision making. We prioritize our classrooms; Saline Area Schools continually puts more money as a percentage (roughly 63%-65%) into instructional expenditures than other Washtenaw County school district. While serving on the Board we have had no lay-offs, we've lowered class sizes, and we have passed an especially important bond. Our staff and our bargaining units have been solid partners as we navigate the budget. Their willingness to be at the table and part of the solution, when it comes to our budget, must not be understated. Saline Schools has always operated on very thin margins and it is important that we utilize all three of our funding sources properly. These three sources are the General Fund, Sinking Fund, and Bond Fund. With so much of our General Fund being dedicated to classrooms and personnel, we rely heavily on our Sinking Fund and Bond Fund for infrastructure costs.

A: Board Policy 8040 permits Saline Area Schools to have no more than 10% SoC (School of Choice) students. While we continually keep the number below 10%, it gives the district the ability to soften the swings within each class and graduating class. Since most of our General Fund is driven by our Per Pupil Foundation Allowance, it has helped us mitigate the fluctuation within the budget. Charter Schools and SoC sometimes come under scrutiny by public schools. I do not feel these should be looked at negatively. As parents, our desire is to provide our children with the best opportunity to succeed, and that starts with their education. Good competition is never a negative, it only makes SAS focus on providing our families with the best educational experience for their children. If/when Charter Schools and/or SoC start to influence our enrollment, that is a good sign that we need to reflect on what we are doing in our classrooms and providing for our students.

A: I especially care about Saline and Saline Area Schools! The last couple of years our district has faced significant challenges and it has been trying at times. There is more difficult work ahead of us, as a community, and a district. We have also been a district that, through these difficulties, continues to do a lot of good work. In life, sometimes the most difficult work is the most meaningful work. I respect and value our community, our schools, and our students. That is what is motivating me to run for re-election: our pursuit of excellence!

A: As far as accepting the endorsement, anyone can endorse me. I am not taking any donations from any individuals or any groups. The salineparents.org group did offer to help with my campaign finances, and I declined. I am doing this on my own, and do not want to be beholden to anyone. As a Board member, and a loving human being, I believe that it is our duty to create a safe and welcoming school district for all of our students. As far as the Saline Parents Alliance, do I agree with everything they stand for or say? NO. Do I agree with how everything has been handled with the School? NO. For instance, I was not objectionable about the reading of I Am Jazz, but I did think it should have been done in a different manner. We should not have had it as a mandatory reading, in my opinion. I think most school districts around us had readings, but they were not mandatory. Another issue that has been talked about a lot over the past couple of years is the bathroom and locker room situations with regard to transgender students. I know that a lot of parents were upset to hear that students may be using the bath/locker room of the gender they have transitioned, or are currently transitioning, to. It is my impression that these parents were most upset that they hadn’t been informed by the school about this practice. There are privacy issues at stake in this instance and I will not risk a student or their privacy. We have a long-standing practice in Saline to make student accommodations for restroom and changing areas. I support this position. Let’s face it, this is not only an LGBTQ+ issue, there are many reasons that one may wish to have other accommodations. Students, specifically middle and high school age, are all uncomfortable with their bodies and have privacy concerns. Going forward we need to look at the design of our facilities and get out of the old “locker room” design that has wide open showers and changing areas. We need to go to more of a community locker area with private changing/bathroom/shower facilities for the safety and wellbeing of all of our students. Is this easily done? No. But this is something that we have started looking at and Bond Funds can be used for this type of renovation. Everyone’s voice needs to be heard. Whether we agree with them or not, those concerns and opinions are relevant to someone and we cannot just discount them. While I’ve been on the School Board, a DEI Committee was started and has since been moved to a Coalition. I was supportive of Superintendent Graden moving to a DEILC as it’s important that our community is involved in this process. I want all students to feel safe and accepted in our schools and I will use my voice as a Board Member to help make that happen.

A: Send me an e-mail or message me on Facebook!

A: Like so many districts in Michigan, we are facing challenging times. Covid-19 has disrupted the way we educate, deliver education, and the state budget which will adversely affect our school budget. I am a current board member and have served on the finance committee each year. School finance is cumbersome, and I believe my knowledge of school finance will be beneficial.

A: The most pressing issue that is in front of us is our Return to Learn Plan. While winter is around the corner, this may lend itself to some setbacks. I am proud of what Saline has done so far, and their willingness to create a learning environment that all students can feel safe in. I am eager to continue that great work as we work to keep our students and staff safe and trying to bring a sense of normalcy back into these kids’ lives.

A:

• Safety: The concerns of keeping our staff and students safe from Covid-19, as well as the social and emotional impact.

• School Financing: With the looming budget shortfall at the state level, and the gamesmanship being played throughout the budget process, it has made it difficult to plan our needs accordingly. It would be nice to get some stability in this process so that we can accurately project budget needs and school priorities.

• MPSERS: We have seen, in Saline, this increase in our MPSERS (Michigan Public School Employee Retirement System) contribution of 61.6% since 2009/10 - 2019/20, this while the foundation allowance only increased 6.41% in the same timeframe. With this large disparity, it limits available general fund dollars for the classroom. We need to make sure the 147C funding continues, and the State should fund this heavier while lightening up on our contribution requirements.

A: Collective bargaining gives you one voice, a large voice, that is respected and heard at all levels of government. It is critical that you are heard at the State level, especially with so much funding coming from the State. With the School Aid Fund being such a large portion of the State budget, it is important to have an organization advocating for funding at the State level.

A: Saline Area Schools is a very high achieving school. It is also so much more, such as our Learner Profile (Compass), Consortium Programs, and Saline Alternative High School. While we do so many things well, we still have things that we need to work on. We run a very tight budget, so it is important to effectively manage our priorities. We also have our work to do rebuilding trust and respect within the community.

A: Saline Area Schools priority is our classroom! Per the MDE Bulletin 1014, our average teacher salary ranking has fallen as compared to other schools in the state. Our staff is our school’s most important asset, it is imperative that they are a top priority.

A: School sports, clubs, and extracurricular activities are a vital part of our children’s education. In some cases, this is what motivates them to do well with their course studies. With pay to play and club sports a family can have a lot of money invested into their children’s sports. With a tight budget, it is hard for us to move more money into this area of our budget. The teams themselves do a particularly good job of raising additional money to help offset some of the expenses.

A: The State requires a 5% fund balance – if a district falls below that, the State will require additional documentation and become more involved with our finances. Our fund balance over the past decade has hovered just barely above that 5% threshold. While at this level, we must be cautious, as any disruption could potentially lead to additional State requirements. We do need to drive up the fund balance so that when funding issues arise it does not require immediate and drastic steps to fix. Also, the low fund balance hurts our cash flow and we need to borrow millions to smooth out the cash flow, while waiting on State Aid payments. We do not need to have a fund balance that is so high we are not prioritizing our classrooms, however. The other thing worth noting is the partnership with our bargaining units. They understand our low fund balance is because of our priority in the classroom and are always willing to be a part of the solution.

A: We had a presentation to the board at our September 22, 2020 meeting. This was very enlightening and the numbers of Seclude and Restraints do seem alarming. More clarification is coming on these numbers in October, as well as an explanation on how the data is delivered to the State. Making sure all Training of all Special Ed staff in “CPI”, also known as Non-violent Crisis Intervention, is essential. We need to make sure all PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support) are working properly and we are seeing numbers within each case decrease - if we’re not seeing positive movement then we need to reassess our practices. I also think we need to have an audit of our practices done by an outside agency. This could be done by the Washtenaw Intermediate School District. We need to ensure seclusion and restraint are only used as a last resort, in emergency situations, and we need to be diligent in our assessment, monitoring, and reporting of these cases.