WATCH- Willow Springs Voters' Forum
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A transcript of the event is below
5:59 PM
Hello, good evening everyone. Thank you all so much for being here. I'm Amanda, I'm the publisher and owner of Howell County News, which is the newspaper here in town and this is the Willow Spring voters Forum. So tonight we are going to be talking about all things Willow Springs politics. We have to my left candidates for Willow Springs R 4 School District. To my other hand, representatives for the city of Willow Springs. How tonight's event is meant to be a casual chat between you the voters and your candidates. So we're going to be giving preference to questions that will be asked aloud from you as you sit here today, Each of you have an index card at your place where you may write down a question. If you like if you'd like to ask something Anonymously, I do ask that you put your city of residence with the question Or if you'd like to just raise your hand and call out. We're going to be giving preference to those questions that are being asked aloud. Um, we are going to be live streaming tonight's event, we'll be taking questions continuously from the live stream, should they be submitted. And of course, we have some Advanced questions that have been submitted tonight. But before we do anything else, if you would all bow your heads and join me in prayer.
Dear heavenly, Father, We thank you for this beautiful day. We thank you for this beautiful city and for everyone who sits up here offering their time and talent to make Willow Springs a better place. We praise you for the freedom to choose our leaders. Let everything we say and do tonight be for You Father, glory, the name of your son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
Okay. One little other housekeeping announcement is that there is an exit poll at every place. We're going to be conducting an exit poll this evening and publishing the results online. Publishing the results in the paper. So, if you'd like to participate in that exit poll Just a little bit of fun.
Okay, With that, I will introduce the candidates to my left. For Willow Springs. School District. We have Roger Shanks. Lori Foster Logan Lori Foster on the ballot, Megan Jones. For Willow Springs. Mayor, we have Kim Rich. And as you can see, we have an empty chair for our candidate for mayor. Adam Webb is at a fire call in Raymondville. He has been there for five hours When I heard from him last, it was only 50 percent contained. I don't believe we'll be seeing him this evening For Willow Springs Alderman. We have a contested race between Brian Hogan at the end and Luke Bartow. Mike Tooley is also running uncontested for an Alderman. He is not here this evening. With that, we're going to be getting started with some opening statements for the candidates. We're going to start with Willow Springs, candidates, Meghan Jones has drawn, the shortest stick. She has three minutes and candidates.
Meagan: (unintelligible) I know you really strict on the course of the time. You may have been My son graduates, this year. I have two in elementary And My goal is to Just make sure that we're retaining very good teachers and staff members. Um, make it a good place for our students, given the best education so that they can go on and be productive in society and get back to community. That's so giving them...
Proceeding in filing order. Roger Shanks
My name is Roger Shanks and I too graduated from Willow Springs. And it's been a long time 1985. And I have two daughters that are in school. A senior and ones in sixth grade And like Megan, I just want to make sure that we retain good teachers. And I want to prepare students with the future, So there's a lot facing them nowadays. A lot of new things that are grown out of all the time and want to make sure they're prepared academically and excuse, the emotionally prepared to work. We also need to work on budget for school, Finances, a good steady, handling on that, not random business for many years. So I have some a little bit more at home now And I just want to be involved him to help out. That's about all I had.
Lori: I am also a graduate of Willow Springs, High School. I graduated in 1992 After graduation. I went off to college and spent a couple years at a college, in Union, Missouri where I played basketball, and it's a major in basketball instead of academics because maybe that wasn't my priority at that point in life. But and then I went on and spent roughly 28 years in corporate. No jobs working for companies like Bristolmeyers with. Hey, Johnson nutrition. I worked for an oil and gas company in Southern Indiana. All about continuous Improvement Refining operations running budgets. Running multi-million dollar projects When I ran projects, Um, in excess, 50 million dollar projects and then I worked for Ernest and young which is a global Consulting firm before I relocated back here several years ago and bought Pizza Americana a year and a half ago. So as an employer in the community, I feel like that it's really important that we actually have students that come out of Willow Springs High School because 40 percent plus of the students that are graduating are going to full-time employment. When they graduate, I absolutely think it's, we need to prepare our students that need to go to college, and want to go to college and have that opportunity. And we really need to set the bar pretty high for the, their education coming out of Willow. We, I also believe that it's important that we do get great Educators that believe in, you know, multifaceted education from Willow and encourage those students to achieve a greater goals that they might have in life and, you know, being an employer of mostly high school. Students. I have a lot of graduates from Willow that are employed that I have high school students. I've seen the gamut of what the education that they've experienced and I do feel like that there's a strong opportunity to continue to improve that. And I really want to be A valuable member of the community and use my diverse background and provide some input to the school board issues, which are the budget, the teacher retention, and and quite honestly, the students as well.
So Thank you. We're going to move on to candidates for the City of Willow Springs now. Kim.
Kim: I did not graduate from here, I grew up on a dairy farm in Texas County, after graduating from MSU in Springfield. I joined the Army moved away for a few years and then came back in 2001. I started the Help County News and I worked there for quite few years. But in 2004, the city owned, a very large building. They had taken a big risk to purchase that building. Um, and there were several of us was in the community who wanted to make sure that that was successful. So we started meeting at Hillbilly Junction for breakfast and we would bounce ideas and visit and we tried work out those outcomes. and pretty soon. We got a good bite And we had a company that wanted to come down and see the equipment Then. They wanted to come and actually look at the facility. So, when they came we made them a homecooked meal, We met all and Bayonet with former employees members of the faith community the business Community, Uh, representatives who in school and representatives, from the city, we sat and visited for a while. And As we were wrapping up the president of Jasper engines said, We can buy a building anywhere. What we want is a community and this is what you've shown us today. A few years later, I was mayor of Willow Springs Between 2015 and 2017. We had a few opportunities to form Partnerships with private development that brought us Loves that brought us Tractor Supply During this term on city council. We have the opportunity to partner with the Willow Springs Community Foundation. That save a very large chunk of our downtown. I can't take credit for any of this, but I can say that. I felt proud for the leadership that has gotten us some of these things and gotten us to where we are today. I hope to continue to provide that leadership in the future. Thank you.
Thank you. Be moving to the candidates for all the member to be proceeding in filing order.
I'm Brian Hogan. I, I'm running for Ward One, Alderman. I grew up in Mountain View but I actually had lived in Willow Springs. Most of my adult life I work locally. I actually worked at SRC before it became Jasper engines and then I went to work for the city Left and then came back. I've worked Well, I've I've got 30 plus years working for city governments in the police department. Um, but Worked here and Willow Springs for 20 years. I retired In May 22 As the police chief Also, I guess I am the last elected City, Marshall that this town will have, But I know I had some notes tonight. Anyway, as the police chief. I did attend All city council meetings and interacted with the city employees, Pretty familiar with the city here. So, that's all I have for now.
All right, my name is Luke. Bartow, I'm the owner operator Of rtoas Farm and Home in Mountain Grove. I also just opened up a new store an Ace Hardware in Ava Missouri. I moved my beautiful family out here from California. Three years ago. I'm been married for 16 years. I got five kids, three of my three girls are here. The two boys are a soccer practice right now. Um, And I want to run for city council for Alderman because I love this town. I've come from California, I've seen what happens in I'm from a small town in the Northern California. I've seen what happens in small towns When you don't have people in leadership, that care about the town and care about what happens to the Future Generations. And I want to be a part of that, if If I could play a role in that, I would love my children to grow up here. I want my grandkids to grow up here. I love this town, Proverbs 13. Chapter 13, says a righteous man leaves an inheritance to his children, his children’s children, and I view this town as an inheritance, as a blessing That I know you guys appreciate it. But I'm telling you, there are There are worse places in the world and this is something that we should protect what we have here. I'm also a Deacon at First Baptist Willow Springs. I'm actually on the chamber of Commerce board in Mountain Grove. A lot of experience, I've been running retail stores for 10 years, I ran big boxes for Lowe's out in California. I have the business Acumen to bring to the table. Um, I've had to balance P&Ls for my whole career in retail And I run two, I would like to call successful businesses right now. And that's that's why that's why I'm here not to compete with Brian or do anything like that. Just because I've, you know, we should have people on city council that they care and have the chops to do it. So Um, that's not to brag about myself. That's just to say, I do bring some experience table with that.
So, To questions from the audience, and we're going to be taking questions for school board candidates and for the city government. Does anyone have a question, Mr Bailey?
ah, I have a question, and It's a very Specific question. I don't want generalities. I want to ask every candidate is what is the one most important thing That you need to be accomplished In Candidates? One thing not a rambling saying I want him Like that. So, that's my question. What's, what's important?
I think that's the question for both City and school board candidates. Bryan will start with City.
Bryan: Well, Wendell I For me I think it's going to be listening to To to the citizens. That's what's going to be important. To me is to communicate with them and then communicate with the city employees here. Um, When I, When I was working here, It didn't happen A lot. But but Sometimes a an alderman would come by the PD or or I would run into one in town or would give me a call and that really made me feel like they were really interested in what's going on in my department. And I I want to do that as well.
Kim: So, Um, I would say I would like to provide a continuation, we have some really good things in the works, Development, for jobs for housing, and I would like to stay in place to be able to follow through with those things.
LukeMost important thing for me, Wendell would be The financial side ensuring that the budget is Balanced, but also that we're doing things to To bring people into Willow Springs to produce income and whatever way that you can. And just being fiscally responsible, Not over spending where we should overspend Because in reality, you just, we have to protect Our bottom line And that that will be my most important thing.
Thank you. We're going to throw that same question over to the school board. Candidates. Roger, will have the first answer one minute, right?
Roger: The first thing would be budget. We've got to work within our means at the school. We've got to balance that but we also need to keep in return quality.
Lori: Advocacy. We don't have a district to help the students out. I think my main focus as Roger said, there are multiple Focus areas that need to be addressed with the school board but is really advocacy for the students. You know, our students are A high percentage of them greater than 50 that are not proficient in the basic reading math, Um, and other academics and we need those students to be more proficient. So I really think and that's, that's supported by the budget and have supported by great teachers, but it really is the student outcome that I'm really focused on to make sure that they have the most opportunities to succeed.
Meagan: I also is the students to make sure that we are putting them first by that. Also, as Lori said, is making sure that we have the means to provide an education for them and making sure that we have the proper staff, not just teachers, but we need to make sure that staff is a whole that we are providing proper education and that we are providing safe space for them and making sure that they can become productive members of society as well.
We'd like to take some questions from the live stream. The only question that is for the city candidates from an individual who is employed in Willow Springs but does not reside here. And the question is this With the increasing mistrust in government overall? How will you work to prevent that from happening in Willow?
Luke: Friends With the with the increasing, mistrusting government overall. How will we work to prevent that from happening in both ? I mean, first of all, Always operating from The standpoint of what is best for Willow Springs. What is best for our town? And then on top of that communicate, right? Communicating what we're doing. Why? When doing it. Um, Being open to questions from the community. So that they because a lot of times just trust comes from just lack of communication and they're being maybe a, not a, A pipeline for communication to happen. So just keeping communication open and Being open about the interest of the community and seeking to Put them first letter,
Kim: Everything transparency would be the key. I mean that's that's a catch phrase, I guess. Maybe not a good one. But uh, following the rules that would be always following the sunshine law all the time. Every time to make sure you're always operating above board, the other things would be talking to people in the grocery store as he says the age transparent. If somebody asks me a question, I'm going to find the answer and I think those kinds of things positive public relations and just available and open to the community. We serve is.
Thank you, Brian. One minute.
Bryan: Transparency is very important Fit. There doesn't need to be secrets. Uh, but as I was saying earlier, You know, I, I want to talk City Politics with anybody that wants to talk, so I think that's going to be. The key thing is communication and just having an open mind
Okay, we are going to throw it back to The school. Working is for the question is commended advance from Tyler Morris? Who is a resident of Willow Springs? And the question is this, How did they plan to maintain a high quality level of Education for students? Despite the increasing strain on teachers due to higher student counts per classroom.
Lori: Yeah, I think that's a great question. And if you look at the statistics around the area, Um, we actually have currently 14 to 1 student to teacher ratio, which that is really not a bad student to teacher ratio. That's actually lower than several of the other areas of schools. Now that creates another issue from a budgetary perspective, where you may be overspending per pupils and we are overspending for people in Our particular School District, compared to state of Mountain Grove, Uh, that has a lower, uh, has a higher teacher to student ratio and has a lower spending per pupil, but that doesn't really address the issues that Teachers are unhappy for various reasons. I would say that I've heard from various teachers About their dissatisfaction. There's been a lot of discussion around the hybrid school schedule. That's been a very big Focus. It's been discussed a lot. That is not what I'm hearing. Specifically is the only reason that teachers are not satisfied, but I do think as the board part of our responsibility is to How did I plan to maintain a high quality level of education for students disciple increasing stream on teachers due to higher student accounts per classrooms?
Meagan: My answer to that also is the same that we do. Have a smaller teacher for student ratio within a lot of the other districts. We also have seen that a lot of our students have can't say a lot. That's a strange story. Several of our students have left the district homebound Homeschool or virtual. So Hard to say how that's truly going to strain, I think that Something that's being worth encouraging is Working together in school as teachers To try to reduce some of that straight index stress.
Roger: Okay, well just like the rest up and said, the teacher of student ratio is not that high used to be a lot of higher. When I went school here And we still turn down quality. I'm expected expectations from our students. We need to make sure that our teachers are happy in the classroom. You have to have somebody who satisfied with their job to do their best job teaching. Somebody that feels a Christian name and you get better results. Everybody. You just have to have an open dialogue back and forth And That is the main thing. Just put the channel Communication.
Any questions from the audience at this, And we'll keep asking. So if something first you don't be shy, Okay? We are going to go with a question from our Newsroom to the candidates for city council and , Would you be in favor of creating or sponsoring from the city, a community Improvement district for downtown?
Kim: I suppose a good, You know, what does that entail? I mean really talking about how much time it would? What what parameters are we talking about? But in theory. Absolutely. You need to be more to help downtown and come together as a community. I think there's some things in the works for that, That I that I look forward to seeing.
Bryan: Yes, You might have to agree with him and I'd have to know, you know, I had that more information but yeah.
Luke: Not to copy their answer. But I I would want to know the details about The financials and how you know, how much money is going to require? What's the potential risks and rewards? Excuse me, but The the idea of improving downtown improving. The square is, is a great idea. And I think, you know, A town is often known by what people drive in, what is the square? What is the Main Street feel? Like I think that that would be a great idea assuming all the financials play out.
It is this how long your position on the board help to not promote continued Nepotism that seems to continue to expand. First. Answer of that question. One minute.
Meagan: One thing that I think is going to be extremely important, is before to be open for communicate with not saying that they're not now. But there needs to be something in place to where They can communicate their the satisfaction to communicate their concerns. Whether it be with their own self with the students with Administration, whoever there needs to be a good transparent, open-line communication there. I also would very much love to see Some type of anonymous survey or something put in place, where the board is, more aware situations that are going on that they may not be aware of at the moment, But where they can stay in office,
Roger: Nepotism is a big thing. In every industry that you look at One thing about it. You think you are going to have to look at? Who is the highest qualified for the job and you're looking for teachers? And it's very hard when you have two people that have the same qualifications and it's somebody, you know, It's hard not to go ahead and go with that person. We need just need to make sure that we are looking for the highest qualified person.
Lori: I think the same as Roger. I mean when you're looking at Qualified candidates you are looking at what skills that they bring and what the job requirement that they're actually applying for. And so we need to just make sure that, you know, through the superintendent the board is responsible for the superintendent. The policies, The advocacy, the superintendent is responsible for the administration, but as a, as the board, we can make sure that the policies we’re hiring individuals. And for the way we select positions are consistently executed. And I think that's what our responsibility for the board to be to further reduce any of that perception.
Thank you. Any questions at this time?
This is going to be a question from our newsroom, for the city council, candidates are all the city candidates for both mayor and city council. It's a two-part question. So you'll have two minutes to answer it. The choose The question, is this, for all city candidates? What is the best thing? The city Willow Springs has done this year. Second part, what is the decision that's been made? Where you might go to differently.
Bryan: Um Because I am a little invested in the police department. I view like the fact that we have more officers now, Working around the clock. I know it's hard to keep people but when we can get them, it's not nice to have the extra officers around. What was the second one question? I'm sorry.
Luke: Yeah, So I I also agree with Brian added police officers. It has been probably the best thing. Um, and in terms of what I would About it differently on, I don't I don't actually think I have an answer for something that I would have.
Kim: The things in recent history that that we've done that, I have been of which I've been the most proud, we are Partnership with the community foundation So they could restored. It's wonderful projects seeking if you ever going to tour. It's amazing. The other would be Our gift of the MoDot buildings to the school. Um, back allowed Through some really bad circumstances when District 9 left and then many years of Agony when the city happens buildings and Couldn't seem to find a good answer. I I think it was just a real blessing for us this school district considering that the district you know operates on the lowest tax letters you know Buildings or not. And I obviously, I stand by the votes that I've made.
So, All right for the school candidates, this is a question submitted in advance, from Bill Altermatt. There have been 21, staff members, resigned this school year so far, are you concerned with the number of people that have resigned? And what are some things? The district can do to attract and receive the best possible staff for our students?
Roger: Well, with that number, I am a little concerned. You are with this size of a Workforce and that's what teachers are on their part of Workforce. You're going to have turnover. I know there are some that are retired. Some that their spouses had taken jobs out of the area and they moved with them, But way need to be doing some exit interviews with the teachers, finding out what their the ones that are dissatisfied and waving We need to find out why they're lighting. And what, what would the new to address whatever situation it is as far as attracting new teachers? I think we just need to promote this area to be able to area to live and great place to raise a family. And it's always been a good school district and we can continue that tradition.
Lori: Yeah, I agree with Roger on the exit interviews but I do think that the exit interviews are a little past the point of trying to figure out what the actual issue is with why those individuals are leaving or retiring. I mean, you're going to have attrition when you have a school district, then you're going to have a retirement, but I think there's an opportunity to do some what I would consider like, cultural assessments or surveys amongst the staff. The Educators, even the board could participate in it to figure out like, what is it? That people are unhappy with. I mean, there's lots of things that when you hire people and retain them with their pay. There's hours. There's also the student involvement. There's disciplinary actions that impact. How a teacher feels about their whole entire ecosystem. And so, we really need to get to the root cause of what's causing that ahead of time before they leave and and then try to figure out, you know, how do we change the culture of it?
Meagan: I really This question last time, but the exit interviews are definitely important. As Lori said that is a little while. So doing some type of honest, hermit being present in school whenever possible, being an open front and communication With all staff members and students alike, So that they feel like they have a voice and that voice. I think it's really important to have a very good cohesive unit. And so I think our faculty and our Administration need to feel very cohesive and our staff members need to feel supported and if they're not supportive, then why and what can we do to correct that?
Regarding the impending viaduct project, what can we as in town do to represent our interests to MoDot and to the relationship?
Luke: Regarding the upcoming viaduct projects at 137, What can we as a town do to represent our interests to MoDot? The I think it comes down to standing up for yourself if You know, standing up for the town Because they're, You know, it's MoDOT. So they're going to Try to impose their will. Not that they're gonna be overly forceful about it, but it is our job to protect the city, protect the people, and make the best decision for the citizens. Um and just we just need to stand up for something and in the conversation, not back down, just because it's not.
Kim: Um, I mean, obviously Presence including everybody on Council. You possibly can and express any concerns.
Bryan: Definitely, you know, we need input on this but we need to have citizens involved in that. We need to put our voices out there
Moving back to the candidates for school district. This is questions. Submitted from the live stream from Jillian, Lee What are your views on the Block Scheduling versus the yearly schedule.
Lori: Yeah, it's been a lot of discussions. I think I've been at every school board that was the conversation. I think I've expressed my Thoughts that there needs to be a more formal plan and approach because you can't be both block scheduling and try to do a hybrid schedule, even though because we would be the only school in the whole entire state doing that. And as I've said and I think you quoted me in the newspaper, I don't want to, we don't want to be an experiment Um on those types of things and leading edge. So I do think there is need to look at it. We we have to look at the the reasons that are drawing some teachers away to other school district, which would be the hybrid scheduling or the four-day scheduling. This year was, not the right time to do that but now is the time to start thinking about it for the next calendar year. Thank you.
Meagan: I believe that if The goal is to go to hybrid schedule with block scheduling, We're doing a huge disservice to our students. If we continue with block scheduling and do hybrid, because if they may miss a day, they won't have that class again until Tuesday. In the process. Now start Working on it, give it a year, give it a good time Of to get on the case. Worked it out before you roll it out.
Roger: I am not a family block scheduling, my youngest daughter was sick for two or three days. This last semester, She basically missed a week in school and it's very hard for them to catch up on that. And if the Four day calendar is adopted. It is going to be very difficult to use block scheduling in that And we would be the only school in the state of Missouri. And like they said we don't want any mistakes. We don't want to try it The first year and say oops we made a mistake because we lost here with specials. I know some school districts that have Went to the four day, they took a year to a year and a half discussion and planning before they ever took the step to go into. So that's something we need to consider. And look at, Very controversial Listening to the student representative and the funds, just any opinions or not.
(Question from audience regarding cell phone policy)
Meagan: Yeah, I think students should feel that they have a voice themselves after like I need to go. There's a different student representative and have a voice. However, I will say from staff that I have talked to, and some students even, but they have been very pleased with not having their phones, they're more social with each other and we're face to face, I think we're putting the humanity back into it. Uh, whereas your screen if we continue hopefully we'll continue to need perce. I don't think they belong in the classroom during instruction. I'm for sure. And I just want to see our kids, entertaining to Be social.
Roger: Dr. Johnson in the Middle School is doing an excellent job with that, the kids keep regular cell phones but are still. They're turned off and put in their backpacks so they can access them and then emergencies or after school.
Lori: It’s a good idea to have a student representative for the. School. When you're at a job you can't have your phone in your hand or using it all the time. So that's something that just needs to prepare you for later on. I do think the role of the student representatives really important and hearing what they have to say, I have high schoolers. I've heard about it for a week about the school policy on the phone bans, and the pouches and how it's, well, working how it's not working. I still hear that. It's it's, you know, sometimes kids have them out sometimes, the teacher says it's okay. Sometimes it's not. Okay, so again, if you're gonna have a policy, we have to make sure that we're enforcing the policy. The hardest thing of a policy is to enforce it and so the students to provide their feedback. But as they said, you don't get to go to work and get your phone out and look on it and in education, I think that there are opportunities where a phone could be useful, but the majority of the day is probably not. So, I do support the, the decision, the school board made, it was very difficult To make that decision. It was very difficult on the students because it's like one day, you get something in the next day you don’t. So but it is something that was very much needed. I think.
Any other questions from the audience Here? Tonight are index cards.
(Question from the audience Amber Lewis?) We picked up Verses traditional and I'm not going to say I'm for or against it because I think you can argue with pros and cons every single day. But Roger, you were talking about Savannah and absent. And when we have a student absent on traditional schedules, there is seven classes in one day, whereas our block schedule, they're missing four classes in one day. So if somebody's gone, they have seven classes to make up. Whereas on the black they have or even though it's every other day. So, my question is not about that, but I just wanted to make that comment, because I feel like a lot of the community doesn't quite understand that when we're talking about traditional. Um, but my question is um, a lot of, you know, board decisions and things that go into, um, board members. Obviously don't have a background in education and I don't feel like a lot of board members understand the day-to-day necessarily of what teachers do and how standards work. So my question to you is, how much would you be willing to learn and advocate for state standards to be like, going to Destiny to advocating for our school advocating for school? So that's my question to you, is You willing to come to my room? See What we teach day in a day out? Are you willing to learn the standard or are you willing to learn what it is like for the teacher, for us, before making decisions on what we do? Because it is hard to have somebody making decisions on what we do day to day but not understand.
Roger: Thank you for your willingness to represent. As far as I appreciate your comment on the block scheduling and traditional. And but, yes, you do, have if you missed two days The next day, you do have all seven. There is there it is. And I I agree with that. Um I think the board members need to spend more time going around in classes. I know I talk to Adam Webb whenever he was on there. He said he was going around and visiting some of the teachers I think that needs to happen. And some classes, my wife and I have a office in town I'm available to go to the classrooms, every once in a while and that that's something you have to do. Is I've taught Sunday school classes with kids. I know what it is to deal with kids, and that's just one hour one day a week. So I know you have a very, very difficult job And it's definitely what it used to be than when I was. Yeah, So yes, we do need to spend spend time going, we're talking over teachers finding out what what they need and what we can do to help. And address your question. Absolutely, I'm available to come up and sit and learn what you guys do.
Lori: I think it's important as board number to understand what the standards are, what you're being expected to do. There's been lots of things that I've heard, they have a lot of push down type of requirements on the teachers, and you have limited time to teach. So we have to figure out what what is creating that extra burden on the teachers and that reduces the amount of time that you actually have for educational purposes. So yes, I do run the pizza place but I have flexibility to come over and I can go in the middle of the afternoon because I have a great team. So I'm happy to come over and spend that time with you. I have a certification in change management as well. So therefore I may not be a traditional educator, but I have taught many, many educational sessions on on things like that. I think that's important As well to learn from your perspective.
Meagan: I Do not have that ground education. However, I have three sisters that are all teachers, and two of them will put their own school. I have a certification in Early Childhood And had my own daycare and preschool and so I can sympathize with a lot of what you do in a sense And I believe that the best thing to do is to be open to coming and sitting in a classroom. Whenever whenever someone's available, I'll make myself available as much as I possibly can. I do work in West Plains However, I have a little bit of flexibility in my schedule, where I'll be happy to come and sit in a classroom. I'll be happy to learn. Whatever it is that I need to learn standards, find out what we can do to help, make your guys's job a little bit easier as much as we can from our seeds. You know, obviously you can't do administration's job, what we need to make sure that we are supporting the administration supporting the The students in the In the staff. But also making sure that they are doing whatever we can.
Thank you Additional questions from the room?.
For the city candidates, How much time do you spend using amenities in town like the golf course, Parks, and pool? If a citizen came to you with concerns, would you have a personal knowledge of these amenities and can be the first answer?
Kim: Our amenities? No, I do not golf. Um, I have been to the Golf Course but I do not golf. My children are growing up so I don't swim in the park anymore. Like I used to, I do walk at least here once in a while. Are there amenities, but in all of those things, I don't know. At all. I don't have all the answers. I feel my job as mayor. I feel is to get to the people who are smart about it and learn from them and gain the information so I can think of good decision.
Bryan: I'm not a golfer either, but I'd like to be, You know, when my boys were Younger We were involved in the star theater back then, you know, that was a lot of fun. Of course, now they grew up. And I I haven’t continued that but you know, I I love everything that the city here has often Will continue that
Luke: I would like to be like Brian and wish I had time to golf. We do go to the To the pool quite a bit in the summer. Uh, that's been So to answer your question. Yes, I would be happy to answer questions and talk about those things. And similar to what Kim said, in my whole career, I've been in a position of leadership over a business and I don't know, every little thing that goes on, but I know who's going to go talk to and so I would employ that same strategy go find who's the expert? What is their day-to-day like? What are their problems? What are the things that are going well and then, and then work from there, Um, most of the time you'll find everyone wants to do a great job, Talking to them, finding out how it can be better, what are the problems? And then just working to work. So usually would be my strategy
Questions in the room.
For this the school board candidate submitted advance from Tyler Morris. What steps will you take to ensure that students receive high quality School meals that are free from harmful ingredients?
Lori: Well, I own the pizza restaurant and having worked for a pharmaceutical company for 18 of my professional years. There's nothing worse than our food supply. Um, honestly if you don't read the label, there's no telling what you'll be eating Like the creamy Italian that had plastic in it. And we Got rid of it, made our own and now it doesn't have those ingredients in it. So you know, there's Major allergens on the food list out there. Um, I think as part of this role as advocacy, it's also our responsibility to work with the superintendent and the rest of the board. And the school Folks that are purchasing some of the food they get for through government contracts and they get what they get from those. And hopefully there's some changes that we'll see and maybe some of the new Administration that wants to take out some of the red dye and the other really harmful things. The food supply is not like this in America. We're the only ones killing ourselves with the food and unfortunately, we're doing it with our children. Thanks.
Meagan: So what she said, um, I think that we need to work closely with The buyers to make sure that we're getting quality ingredients for our kids. I think it's really important to keep the Grants possible that provides fruits and vegetables to our kids. I would like to see that expanded into the high school as well, if at all possible and beginning to try to buy local is Important because They have a little bit of an investment as well. And so, I think that's Said entirely We do. Have a good food staff that Works there, they have. Most of them have children in the system. They're going to make sure that the food is high quality and
Roger: I agree that local produce food would be good. We can make it known that donated beef and is a tax deduction for the farmer. So what you get a little more that way it wouldn't be purchasing that And there are just some things like that that we could do and make sure that it stays healthy and safe.
For the city candidates from our newsroom. What is the number one Safety concern in Willow Springs?
Bryan: Friends. I know there's been a lot of discussion at the Council meeting about parking downtown, and I'm more parking. I do think that people that park on the corner, I think that it dangerous but we’ve Got to keep parking, You know, the people there. So Something to look at and talk about. Obviously there's You know, we've got guys, out here electric guys. Now, working on the electric lines. I mean, of course, it can be dangerous. The main thing in the police andf the fire department Something, the main thing, I think it is just to make sure that as the city we provide, as much safety equipment as we can, and, and training and support.
Luke: I was also going to say the parking downtown, kind of know that that's been something that's been discussed. Especially now that you know, there's it seems busier down the main road and I know I'm driving. It just seems like there's going to be someone darting out at any minute. So just just keeping That in mind, As well as the police department. But I don't, I don't think that's our biggest issue. I think it's just parking downtown, And just this straight right here,
Kim: Are we talking about safety for the general public? Or we're talking about safety for our city employees because those are somewhat different things. We have made some really good in strides on officer safety. And police department increasing their number of guys on the shift with making sure our ballistic vests are in-date instead of expired. On the other hand, we are, we, we need to get caught up like that for the fire department as well. We will be having to spend quite a bit of money upcoming to get the fire department as well. So, you know, and then, so that's on the, on the city side. There on the public safety side again. Yes the parking situation, the traffic situation downtown Obviously it'd be great to have more sidewalks. good sidewalks you know make things more walkable like especially up around by the school and all those sorts of things but that's that's expensive. It takes long-term long-term budgeting
With the current Financial lows of the school district. What are some of the ideas that you have to resolve the deficit spending in the district?
Meagan: The Thing is looking at our Personnel being efficient as we possibly can be seeing where we might be over spending where we can group things together. And I'll just use an example. You know, we don't need an assistant to an assistant, not saying that we do that, but it would be really wise to look at all the positions and see, where can you fix that? Where can we become more efficient? Where can we Make cuts? But not It's not have our students or really our staffs, you know, or our Frontline teachers, who knows that are, you know, doing the day-to-day, what can we do to help them but also not other programs.
Roger: just like Megan said, I mean, we're gonna have to be efficient. We're gonna have to watch where we spend our money. And what decision between For future purchases or anything like that. There are also other options out there. There are private corporations that have grants that you can apply for federal funding. We don't know. That's kind of up in the air. The with the Education department, probably going to be close down and ship back to the state. And the more Focus is going to be on the state so we'll have a little hopefully have a little bit more say on whether money gets sent to them and how it's spent.
Lori: Yeah, I think one of the things that's really important is to really dive into the financial statement with the administration and the board. I know that was on the docket this last time and they said they were going to revisit it in April. So I recently downloaded the 44 Pages Of the budget and all of the line items that was the questions. We were at the pasta place to, you know, what's the budget? What's the current spending? You got to dig into? Look at it, you got to look at it financially across the board words, where is spending? Where's the majority of spending going and does that line up with the current student population? In each of the great levels? We have a varying amount of student who lost about 20 or 30 out of the junior class. Um, that's a big deal. We're losing a lot of students coming into the kindergarten glass and so we also need to find. Let's see where else we're spending money. So I think part of my responsibility is the budget and meeting with Dr. Spence and the rest of the board to really understand where we spend it. And how do we address that?
So this is our, my last question to all of the city candidates. Final one was for our mayoral. Um, but for the candidates, for the city, What is one concrete way, outside of knees, you see yourself promoting the interests of the City.
Luke: Promoting for Willow Springs like in public life or And is this what I would do or currently doing outside of these? Okay, I think Willow Springs is poised. We're right between West Plains and Mountain. Grove. We're poised to have some sort of draw for kids sports, maybe a park or something, that's not the game a little bit about that. I think that is Really a good strategy Um in terms of promoting Willow Springs interest in other ways, Supporting Sports Coaching at some of the YMCA teams for the kids. Just just being available in public, like Kim said what you're right? When I'm at the grocery store being available, talk them through. I love talking with people so Just things like that.
Kim: Council is more than once a month meeting, but those of us who are active trying to be engaged to more than that, I would say at least once a week, I visit with somebody about a business opportunity or this or that we can do for the community. Again, I think it's just being open and talking to people and Trying to figure out If this person wants to do this, how can we help? It's not a black and white answer. There's not one answer that's going to fit every scenario. One person needs One thing and another person needs another.
Bryan: Probably just being involved in community projects as they come up but also really anything involving you, you know, that's our future. That's what we really need to focus on. So, anything, any projects involving you
For the school for candidates from Tyler Morris Submitted in advance, Will they conform to outside pressure? Whether from the state or federal government or even external ngos to implement lgbtq policies? What about CRT which has been pushed into some schools?
Roger: Absolutely not on my part. I am a Christian conservative. And I believe that Kind of fits the values and most people in this community. And if we accepted in this area,
Lori:. I just don't personally think that's the type of Things that we should be communicating, or setting policy, and being forced down from, from the government to the various government into the schools. I do not think that we should be tolerating any bullying, or anything else towards different people that have different backgrounds than anybody else, in this particular area. But I don't think it should be put into the school systems to use as part of the education. That is not what our school systems are to educate. That is a parent responsibility to provide that Descriptions or explanations to their, to their children.
Meagan: I also agree, I don't think that bullying actually I think that we need to stop that. I think our school has done a very good job of trying to Keep it from being an agenda. But I I think that those that are choosing to live that way need to have somebody that they can go to discuss things with Like a counselor or somebody, but I don't think that it needs to be For everybody. I think yes, it should be discussed in the home and that they need to know that they have support and that they won't be bullied for it, but I don't think it needs to be pushed.
Okay, and this is our final question for the city council candidates. It's actually two parts, mayoral candidate. it's from our Newsroom Can you said is that you want to provide you're running to provide continuity in the Bulls in some way. Can you elaborate on why the city would benefit from the course? That is currently on. What are you doing, right?
(What is the City doing right?)
Kim: Think we're doing a lot of things right. Good decisions financially. We are doing a lot of things to Foster economic growth. My statement Is pure nuts and bolts. We will have three new council numbers We have one Alderman. Who's been on less than a year? My point on leadership is, it would be easier to have a leader. Who understands the direction? What we need to go? We do this every year. This is an annual thing that we approve in that kind of thing. Just the basics of getting through our meeting Would be helpful to have somebody who's experienced to lead.
Thank you very much. Our main questions are for the school board candidates, Unless they're in from the room. No, worries Is also from Bell. Ultimate first answer With the substantial decrease in student enrollment in the school district and the budget shortfall what are some areas often that you are thinking of cutting. For example, administrators teachers for programs,
Lori: I think I I think it talks about this group that you want to talk about the budget a while ago. I think there's a lot of granularity that needs to be looked at, from a budget perspective. As I mentioned, we've lost a lot of students out of the junior class. But you have teachers in high school, that teach all age groups of the students in there. So, you can't just say, I'm gonna cut this section of the student or the teachers or administrators. I do think we have to look at the budget. And we have to look at the Staffing, and we have to look at where the students are coming into those classes. And whether we have the right size for those, we have to look at the other spending. How much are you spending? The CTE building is fabulous by the way.
And what they've done over there is amazing, but we also have to look at the budgetary demands if that is putting on the school district as a whole Specific because I have not spent enough time in the details of looking at every single administrative, activity to have that opinion, but I would shortly thereafter. Once we got on the school board.
Meagan: That would take diving into all the financial situations of the budget finding where we are overspending trying to correct that. And to talk about what's coming with open enrollment, you know, the student choice, what are we going to do to get more students into our area? And if we can do that, then on a bunch of people build up And we can find those areas. Hopefully, Um, and we just opened the best places for those, and that is just diving in. As Lori said, going wide, my line finding out. Why do we have this position? Where can we create a little bit more wiggle room
Roger: Go over the budget. You may see things like not going to replace teachers when they retire until we get the budget under control. We're going to not replace some of the teachers coming. There are some of the ways our area replaced basically, but we'll have to hire. We're going to have to be very careful on that. We're going to have to watch all of our spin me Number for this community, And they're going online. So we lose funds anyway, You need to figure out what to bring them back in the classroom so they can get the best education.
Submitted questions. Last chance for any further. Okay, we're going to move into closing statements, City candidates. You will begin. And we're going to go and reverse work from the opening. The loop we have two minutes to close.
Luke: Okay. So, Uh, my closing statement is, This is a beautiful town. It's something to be protected and preserved. And The reason I'm running is to do that thing and work with Kim or Adam Webb, whoever is the mayor work with the city council and preserve and strengthen This town so that future Generations can enjoy.
Bryan: Well. I am retired. So I do have time to go to city matters and I would do that. I I think You know, this is a great town and you know my my grandchildren go to school here and I just want to You know, make it sure thing they have a bright future ahead of them.
Kim: I talked a little bit earlier about economic development, it was economic development, this community development at any support. I think I believe strongly that we are better together. If we all come to the table, we set ourselves aside and the axes we have to grind. If we leave those at the door, come to the table. Bring in the very best that we can that's when we're best as a community. I believe that our best is just you have to come Willow Springs. I think we will see continued growth at the South Junction. I hope that we see some revitalization downtown as well. I, I just believe, I think you'll see To see additional jobs. I think we also will see additional housing all in the near term. I just would like to be here to be able to provide that Cooperative style leadership to take us. Thanks.
Lori: Thanks so much Putting this on today. So the reason, you know, I really want to be part of the school board is I feel like that was like a verse background with my experience, both outside of of Willow and here that I would be a very good candidate To bring that. Also from a leadership perspective from a budgetary Aspect and from an advocacy That's really the board's responsibility and I feel like I could represent Willow in that atmosphere. I'll I my kids did not actually graduate from Willow Springs High School, Which is not a bad thing because my daughter graduated from Indiana from a high school in Indiana that actually had open school choice. And so I saw that district rise to the occasion and decide that they were going to find a way to be better than everybody else to attract More students to the area. And I think Willow has a great opportunity that we could do that. Because we've got great Educators. We've got people that have devoted their time and want to be here. And as Luke said, what a hub you set in between the Mountain, View, Mountain, Grove West Plains Houston Cabool. And so what better way to attract students to this area and families by creating a stellar educational opportunity for them? So that's that's the vision that I think that I can help bring to the school board. Thank you.
Roger: I also thank you all for being here tonight and thank you for the questions we've got and I just want to let you know that I'd be available For anybody to talk to at any time. I'm in town five days a week If elected, I would be Willing to go visit with the teachers be in the classroom when available and listen to what they're concerns are and be able to take that to the superintendent and talk to the public and what they're concerns are. And I want to help the school To continue to turn out. Good students. I'm a product of Willow Springs. My wife is, I have two children that are currently in school. Now, And I want to make sure that High standards of education That we can improve on them and then continue it.
Meagan: Also want to thank you all for being here, thank you. If elected. My goal is to be an advocate to be an advocate for the students, for the staff and not simply just teachers, but any staff are custodians. Our food nutrition department, anybody, I want to have that transparency with them that aligning communication where they can come to the and they feel like they're occurred. And then my goal is to then go where I need to, to try to correctly for, you know, do what I can to try, try to fix it for them so that they're happy. They're satisfied, they'll stay. We have excellent. Excellent teachers at Willow and I just want to see them. Stay I want to see our kids continue to be loved because I have had so many teachers or I've seen them, you know, not just for when kids but I've seen it come to ball games on their own time and love on the whole team And they're not going to do that with an outside. And so we need Continue to work on that, improve that try to rotate teachers, that are going to be kept at that. Same bar and just Just put out, quality kids.
Thanks so much. Okay, so thank you all for being here and let's give these candidates around your class. It is.