An interview with school board candidates Allison Samuels and Leslie Pollak.

This evening May 14 the League of Women Voters will host a candidate forum at the Croton-Harmon High School. The election will be held Tuesday May 20.

Allison Samuels (left) and Leslie Pollak (right.)

Editor’s Note: Candidates Will Begeny and Theo Oshiro have also agreed to a sit down Q&A with the Chronicle. We are currently working on the scheduling.

CHRONICLE:  Let’s start with why you decided to run. When someone runs for office, it’s usually because they think the people already in office are not doing a good enough job, there are many reasons. But obviously you are challenging the status quo in a certain way. Why did you decide to run, and what was the need you saw on the Board of Education that needed to be addressed that you, by running, could address?

ALLISON:  I’m a mother of two children who, by the time I would start this role, would have both of my children through the K-12 system. I’m also a professor at Baruch College, a major public educational institution that’s an engine of social and economic mobility. So I really spent my entire career dedicated to the idea that through education, people have opportunities. That’s really been one of the passions of my life. 

Fast forward to today, and we see that there are a lot of changes right now in the educational landscape, a lot of shifting, and a lot of pressures on it. And I think given my background I am really ready to take that on. In addition to being a professor for seven years I ran our college’s Center for Teaching and Learning in an administrative role. I was in that position during Covid. So I have experience in having to rapidly deal with very complicated and stressful changes in a system. In that role I helped onboard over a thousand faculty to teach online, and I helped the senior administration figure out policies about educational technology, not only at Baruch but at CUNY which has over a quarter a million students.

So I have a lot of experience when public education is under a lot of stress, and having a role of leadership to try to create as many equitable opportunities for our students to learn as possible. I feel that it is very urgent right now for there to be leaders on the Board of Education who have experience with dealing with details in the education system, such as myself and Leslie. So we’ve already been in the weeds with how things work.

The second reason why I’m interested in running is that as someone who views education as one of the most powerful mechanisms for opportunities, I see one of the roles of the BoE as helping to set the strategic direction of the district and also to supervise and manage and work with the superintendent. There have been a lot of changes in the Vision Map and What School Can Be, and frankly I’m concerned that we’re actually eroding opportunities for our students.

CHRONICLE:  Leslie, same question to you?

LESLIE:  You can say that my career in strategic planning, nonprofit board management, and budgeting does play a role in making me a good candidate for the Board of Education. But I believe that advocating for students for the last 15  years, and having attended many Board meetings and worked with many administrators, to discuss curriculum, ask questions, and actually resulting in positive impacts on the school district, have really enabled me to realize that now would be a good time to actually step forward and have more of a seat at the table.

I’ve seen many changes, and like Allison, I really believe that having a foundational education opens up doors. For me, giving students access to literacy, whether it be in English, ELA, or math, and in every discipline, is really the way we give all students access to opportunity. So that being said, I believe that someone like me who’s really been there to ask questions and to step forward and expect answers, is important.

I am stepping forward because  believe that there is some great progress being made in terms of a vision for the school district, but I also think that there are certain aspects that need to be analyzed further. And we need to really look at them, because I believe they are also taking away opportunities from some of our kids.

The second reason is that I’m extremely concerned about the lack of accountability, collaboration, and transparency in terms of the Board of Education and how they are working with the community. I don’t believe that our board should have a policy that they do not need to respond to parents, both in writing or if a parent steps forth at a board meeting, that they’re simply not followed up with. To me a board member represents the community, and we represent the voice of the people we are elected by. So that’s a very important reason. As an individual who has held academic meetings for the last eleven years, I and a bunch of parents established a group that meets regularly to talk about different aspects of the school district. And I have been having those meetings for many, many years.

It’s not just about academics. I have been a resource in the community for everything including safety, working with individuals who couldn’t afford lawyers–I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve been doing educational advocacy for all different types of learners, and parents and students that have been struggling, and who couldn’t afford to get help. I just believe that now is the time to step forward. I know that  I haven’t been responded to, and I know many parents who haven’t been as well. I also believe when I speak of access to academics, it’s also social and emotional learning, inclusion, equity, and it’s something that works together and is built upon. It’s very important to note that.

CHRONICLE:  There are two seats and there are four of you running. If I asked you what is the weakest aspect of the Board of Education as it currently exists, as a body, that you feel you could address by being elected to it, how would you respond?

LESLIE:  I believe that a board should exist with checks and balances and to ask questions and to analyze some of the conversation being given forth by an administration. What may be lacking is individuals who question the status quo, and I believe that Allison and I are very analytical, and very research-oriented. I believe it is my role to provide accountability, as we all have in our day jobs. No matter what I’ve put forward to the school district in all the years regarding questioning curriculum maps, or extracurricular activities, or policies, it was always based on research first.

ALLISON:  Right now what we bring to the table, in addition to what Leslie said, is a different set of expertise and experiences. Should we be honored to be elected to serve on the board, we will be the only people who have recently gone through the college admissions process with our children. I’m an educator, and I’ve held higher education administrative positions, and I know that Leslie has been an advocate, working through the system. We have a different hands-on approach. Not to say that others don’t have other expertise, but especially with the stakes being so high, and what is happening in this country right now, you need a group of people that do have a strategic, high-level and background. You need to have people with seats at the table who know what it’s actually like to navigate through K-12 and post experience, and also, how to get an IEP [Individualized Education Plan], and 504s, how to advocate for people.

We just have a different experience than the current members of the board, and my understanding of the other candidates.

CHRONICLE:  Is the current board giving enough guidance to the district superintendent and administration, or is it not giving enough guidance to the administration? Too much, just right? How do you see that relationship between the administration and the board?

LESLIE:  So I’m not in their meetings, I don’t know what goes on behind closed doors, so I can’t really speak to whether it’s guidance. I do know that there’s a job description for an administrator, a superintendent, there’s a job description for the faculty, and in theory the board is not supposed to set curriculum. They are supposed to set goals, and I’m not quite sure if there are sufficient checks and balances and accountability, from what I have seen.

ALLISON:  We are not there, so we cannot actually speak to that. But you asked about other people on the BoE and what they’re saying. You see what’s on the public meeting, and you can go to a BoE meet and greet to talk to people, and you can see things on social media, but it’s hard to say. I don’t like to make assumptions. What I know is what I see and how the interaction is when members of the community reach out to them.

CHRONICLE:  Let’s talk about academics. What do you see as the district’s strengths and weaknesses, in the education that the children are getting? As I understand it we are certainly not at the top academically, of all schools in New York state.

LESLIE:  In general, the overall environment is not just academic. It’s nurturing, welcome, inclusive, I think there’s been a lot of progress made in terms of equitable access to programs. Unlike other school districts we actually allow all students to take AP classes without certain prerequisites, so that’s actually an advance in equitable academics. There are things that the school district does very, very well. Group projects, presentations, making students feel comfortable to learn, are really done very well in the school district. I think we have a lot of passionate teachers, and I think that our kids actually enjoy going to school.

In terms of academics, I do believe that there’s room for improvement to really allow students, who are all different kinds of learners, to have access to unique learning experiences. Where I think we’re a little weak is in terms of communicating and laying out a clear pathway of curriculum, so that a student can establish a goal and obtain their goal.

So what does that mean? Many school districts provide a clear pathway in individual disciplines so that if you want a certain outcome at the end, whether it’s a trade school, whether it’s college, whether it’s a certain major, you know what you’re doing early on. I do think that we can do a better job communicating that to our parents earlier.

The second thing is, a clearer communication of changes that are occurring, whether its with the Board of Regents, etc., and what does that mean for our children. I think we can do a better job of communicating that. I was very upset and disturbed to be at a board meeting when a community member asked that question, and it simply wasn’t answered publicly. That is a vast departure from the previous administration.

CHRONICLE:  You mean the current superintendent?

LESLIE:  Yes. In terms of education, I think that we just need to be mindful of what the expectations are. If a child wants to go to college, what the expectations are in general in society and not ignore them because of a philosophy within our school district. It’s important to pay attention so that we can help our students obtain their goals.

CHRONICLE:  Could you or Allison say just a little bit more about the philosophical approach that you’re talking about, and how it might impede progress or impede the children?

LESLIE:  I think that the school district has made a lot of progress in terms of exploring new options for children and I think that it’s wonderful, but I think that some students may not fit into that model. So I think that there may be students who may not have yet established a passion and maybe they want to explore many different interests. I think we need to be open to the fact that there might be many different kinds of learners, many different children with different interests, and that maybe offering… we need to be open to the possibility that all students’ needs may not be met.

CHRONICLE:  So we need, perhaps, more flexibility in the courses that students can chart?

ALLISON: . There are going to be so many changes, it’s not about what’s been working it’s about what are moving towards. And that’s one of the things we have some questions about. We believe in an excellent education for all students, full stop. If you look at the Vision Map, which is presented at almost every single meeting to justify a lot of their programs and shifts, a lot of it talks about curiosity and passion, and to me as somebody who is teaching in a classroom, and teaching students who are coming out of the Covid learning loss, with these shifts–like at CET, we have the Tiger Days, they’ve introduced, we have the house system–we are in agreement that a lot of the social and emotional learning, a lot of the work around inclusivity, is really strong in the district. But one of the deep concerns we have is, with these shifts–for example these Tiger Days at CET–that takes away instructional time. Pure and simple. 

So questions we have with Tiger Days, are what is happening with the students who are neurodiverse? Is this helping them with their learning? Now that there is a Tiger Day every eighth day in CET’s schedule, there is less instructional time. Is that okay? Is the balance a little bit off, and do we need a little more time to be spent on reading, writing, and math? If we don’t have these fundamentals, it’s really hard to later on have the foundation for these interdisciplinary passionate projects that they’re talking about. We’re just concerned, having gone through the system, having kids who’ve gone through the K-12, a lot of these programs sound great, but the devil is in the details. And that’s what we know through our careers and our lives. Leslie has done a lot about mental health, are these things that are supposed to be happy and impassioned, in reality not leaving enough instructional time and so causing a lot of stress among families and kids, and having a counterproductive impact?

In the high school, they are shifting around to these interdisciplinary classes. It sounds great, but the reality is that these are now combined classes. It’s double the number of students. I teach 20 students in some of my classes. Forty? That’s very different. My ability to provide one-on-one instruction is limited… Why we’re running right now is because we really care about making sure our students have enough of the skills and the foundation so they can follow their passions and curiosiites, and all these things. But that’s why we need to have people with a seat at the table who know the whole K-12, all the details, and the range of what the curriculum has been, so we can ask questions.

We feel it’s important to [have] people who understand what it’s actually like in the classroom, and for the kids to be able to ask those kind of detailed questions. Any moment of how you spend instructional time really makes a difference.

LESLIE:  We also do pay attention to results. That’s something the community has shared with us, there are great concerns about some of the results that have been coming out to the public. We would be mindful of that. The role of a Board of Education member is to do an annual assessment of outcomes. That’s something that we would like to look at, examine, and assess where we can actually improve upon things we are already doing. While doing that, we do believe in piquing the interest of kids, we do believe in deepening their critical understanding of topics, and encouraging analytical thinking. And doing teamwork and group work. That is not at the expense of examining a foundational education, of literacy, and really encouraging positive results.

CHRONICLE:  A lot of parents are hiring tutors to help their kids. Are tutors being hired because parents are very anxious for their kids and just absolutely want to put as much resources as possible into having their kids do well on these exams, or are the tutors fulfilling some shortcomings in the classroom?

LESLIE:  I think there has been an increase in the number of parents that are using tutors in the school district. I don’t know if it’s partially because some parents have increased resources, or have different ideas that they need to hire tutors. I do know after doing some research that there has been more of a need for more tutors. The feedback has been that there are significantly more teachers tutoring kids in the library after school, and that the performance in English language arts [ELA] and math has not been as great as it has been in the past.

I don’t think that a community completely changes its outlook overnight. There may be a greater need for tutors than in the past. At least after speaking to many parents who have multiple children, they feel that maybe there is more of a need at this point in time. Perhaps it is because some of the classroom time has decreased, because of all the changes in the curriculum that perhaps there is less instructional time, therefore students need to be making up some of that with tutors.

CHRONICLE:  It’s interesting that a lot of the tutoring is done by teachers themselves.

LESLIE:  Truth be told, my son is a tutor… he has a thriving career. Full disclosure. Often referred by many of the tutors. But yes, many teachers do tutor.

CHRONICLE:  Let’s talk about DEI. It seems to me that the term has kind of lost a certain amount of its meaning, it’s become an epithet, used as a political attack. And the district has been working on its DEI policy for more than a year. I get the impression that the board did not have a very good handle on what DEI was, and/or how it would be applied in practice and what kind of guidance they would be giving to the administration. And I have the impression that they have tabled this since Trump was elected for fear of losing federal funds, even though [New York state Attorney General] Letitia James has affirmed that this is New York state policy, and the courts have weighed in at least for the moment and blocked cutting funding for schools that continue their DEI programs.

ALLISON:  To me, just taking a step back, with the original core of that phrase, it’s what I’ve been doing my whole professional life. I teach in one of the most diverse schools in the country, where over 60% of our students are Pell Grant eligible. We have students that speak over 110 languages… I have students from many different countries. Some of them are my age, they took a break and then they went to community college, and they have their own businesses, and English is their second language. I have two women in hajibs, I have two Orthodox Jews, I have a born-again Christian, I have everybody in my class. I have always been used to being with a group of people who are just here to learn. Through education they get opportunities, and part of that is cutting through our conceptions of each other. Who are you? I want to know you.

I respect who you are, I want to support you to learn, and be the best you can be, and let’s have dialogue and communication about that. To me, it’s really sad that things have deviated, and things have become so politicized. In terms of what a BoE can do, we can develop and uphold and maintain policy. A policy was under development for a period of time, but it wasn’t passed. I’m not quite clear why. I do know that in the work I do, I’m on my faculty senate executive committee, and we’re having conversations, how do you still maintain momentum on these ideas within the new landscape. We have to be careful. Leslie and I feel very strongly, we do not want to go backwards. But that being said, the school district does have a series of policies about code of student conduct, there’s the Dignity for All Students Act, there are policies that are out there.

So there’s the policy, but there’s also the maintenance of policy. How do you uphold the policy? From my experience I think we could do a better job of embodying those principles with the policies that we do have in place. 

CHRONICLE:  It sounds like you are saying we’ve already got a lot of policies. Perhaps we don’t need a whole bunch of new policies?

ALLISON:  I think some of the policies could be a little bit more tightened. For example, the Dignity For All Students Act, that’s a New York state law, a lot of it’s about anti-bullying, harassment, things of that nature, it includes a number of different scenarios. A lot of it is about things between students, and I am assuming their HR manual has a lot of HR stuff, but there is not a lot of language about something that happens between adults and students. We feel very strongly, the only way students will be able to learn and be successful and strive, they need to feel safe and secure, for all students, full stop.

Given the complicated political environment today, we have to use whatever tools we do have, and possibly explore more, but what do we currently have and how can we do better to support all students?

LESLIE:  Allison really covered everything. I guess we were both a little surprised that they were unable to put through the DEI policies. I have attended a lot of board meetings. I was very surprised that with all the hard work that they put in it did not actually get enacted, and it’s a shame that did not happen. I do believe the school district does a great job of supporting all kinds of students, I think that we’ve always done a good job enforcing policies of protection, that would certainly made it a little more reassuring to the community. Something we both feel good about.

But I think we can do better with transparency and tracking of what happens. We’ve heard anecdotally, things being brought up to the board and the administration and not getting responses. A fundamental problem of a Board of Education policy and an administration policy that parents do not need to be responded to at all, or in timely fashion, is something that needs to be addressed. Very often parents contact the school district over an incident, or an occurrence, or an issue that may pertain to a student’s situation, and if they are not able to respond to it or willing to respond to it, it does affect the student’s safety.

CHRONICLE:  What do you see as the basis of the lack of response?

LESLIE:  I don’t understand it. To me the most fundamental responsibility of a board member is to be responsive to the needs of the community, and to be their voice to the administration.  As a board of education member I would love to propose a policy that, first and foremost, every parent be responded to in a timely fashion, which is the policy at many other school districts. That would probably be the first thing that I would want to establish. And I don’t believe there is a rhyme or reason. It’s very frustrating.

CHRONICLE:  Let’s go to the question of antisemitism. If I understand correctly, Allison, you are a founding member of PASA [Parents Against School Antisemitism]…

ALLISON:  I am one of the co-founders.

CHRONICLE:  And Leslie, you are a member, is that right?

LESLIE:  I am a member, as are many other members of the community. And there are non-Jewish members as well.

CHRONICLE:  I was at one board meeting where there was a certain amount of frustration expressed quite openly about the lack of response from the school district about acts of antisemitism. Obviously October 7 was a horrific event, and very traumatic for Jews around the world, no matter where one stood on Israel and Palestine. I know there have been concerns about an uptick in such incidents in our school district. Could you briefly describe to me how you perceive those incidents, and the reaction of the superintendent if not the board itself? And what would you do differently if you were on the board?

ALLISON:  I just want to say, the question is about antisemitism, but I really do believe that no student should encounter hate. We’re parents against antisemitism and also hate against any and all students. I will talk a little about this, but this is not why I’m running. I’ll give you two specific examples of things that have happened this year, since we came together as a community and since our presentation to members of the BoE on September 11.

On a high school team, a coach was complaining that they couldn’t practice because of a Jewish High Holiday, and then went around asking who was not going to be able to come. And a student was in tears, felt like they were singled out, and that they were letting their team down, and embarrassed and feeling like an outsider, which is very much against the school’s goals of being welcoming and inclusive, and for students to be able to express their authentic selves.

CHRONICLE:  Was the coach expressing annoyance that the student would not be able to be there?

ALLISON:  I wasn’t there, but, yes, it was expressed as something that was getting in the way of us being successful as a team. That was one incident. And then the other incident I’ll bring up, since forming this group, other parents have been coming to us who aren’t even Jewish. A parent reached out to us, not a Jewish family, their child is trans, and after the election was very dismayed to find swastikas in a high school bathroom. The student didn’t want to go to school for a couple of days, as a trans student they saw this as a hate symbol in their school, in their environment.

I don’t believe there was anything done to address the underlying reason for why it was there in the first place. Basically, we started PASA because we heard anecdotally that a number of people were scared. Given that the school is interested in data in their decision making, we had a survey of over 50 families to ask what had been their experiences, and are they are afraid, do they feel the school understands this, are they responsive, why they feel this way, and also it led up to a series of recommendations for how to improve the situation.

CHRONICLE:  Recommendations that PASA put forward?

ALLISON:  Yes. In the spirit of collaborating, something like the Pride Club has done. They are an example of a group of parents coming together and advocating for their concerns about their kids in the community, and providing educational resources and support. So we presented findings to an ad hoc committee in September, and the recommendations that we came up with were to define antisemitism so there would be a common understanding to help, to assess things that were happening, but also to help give people resources so they can more effectively communicate with each other. Sometimes people  don’t say things because they’re not sure which words to use .

So we proposed a definition, and some faculty and staff training, similar to what they did with the LGBTQIA+ community, if you offer something there should be some training and understanding about it. We suggested that if you are going to do that you should align the new policy with this new thing you’re doing, which is common practice in an institution. And the last thing we recommended was to promote in the curriculum moments for students to engage in civil dialogue, getting practice with debating around certain issues. In today’s polarizing environment, help equip students to deal with that. And engage in discussion and dialogue.

You asked about the IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition of antisemitism, that is something that is something that was recommended because it aligns with other government entities, but we have been open to having a different definition, but nobody’s been interested in engaging in that discussion with us.

CHRONICLE:  When you say nobody, you mean nobody in the administration?

ALLISON:  Yes. And the BoE does not seem to be interested as well.

CHRONICLE:  That is disappointing. It was clear in the post you did on your campaign Facebook page, which we reprinted in the Chronicle, some people were challenging you about the IHRA definition, as the one that should be used as policy in the schools.

ALLISON:  I thought it was important to explain the rationale, but we were aligning ourselves with other entities that the schools deal with. But frankly, we’ve been trying to get dialogue about having just any definition. I think our school does an overall good job with social and emotional learning in terms of curriculum, but I do think it’s inconsistent with making all students feel welcome. I think they’ve shown inconsistency in terms of which students or which types of identities they’re interested in putting a bunch of energy into. 

LESLIE:  As someone who has attended meetings, in all fairness, that in meetings with the superintendent it was very simple, we just want a simple definition. No definitions were offered at the beginning, at all. That’s all PASA asked for. It’s very important to point that out. It wasn’t about a specific definition, it was just about offering a definition. I think for a school district that touts as being very friendly to the entire community, we just need consistency. I keep going back to, if I were a board member, I really believe in policy, procedure, and protocol, and whether it’s proposing policy that doesn’t exist, upholding policy that does exist, or revising policy, it’s an important part of being a board of education member. We also shouldn’t say we have policy when we don’t have policy, there’s a bunch of inconsistencies, and it affects everything from student athletics to stuff like this. As a board member, it’s about checks and balances, and that inclusivity of the entire community, and responsiveness to the entire community.

ALLISON:  One of the things that’s been interesting in this process is that people heard about PASA, and came to us about totally different issues, how do I navigate this system. There’s the Dignity for All Students Act and there’s a filing form, and somebody was interested in filing one. Earlier in the year, it was ’ hard to find, and the appeal form and process is not on the CHUFSD website. I’m doing this because I’m concerned for all students. If as someone who is an experienced educational leader in a very complicated bureaucracy like at CUNY, if I’m having a hard time navigating getting a response, and trying to have dialogue, I know others are experiencing it too. Take the DEI policy that was a draft- one of the premises was about community engagement. I think we could be doing better. We are pretty savvy, if we’re having a hard time getting responses, what is it like for the parents who didn’t go to school here, or English is not their first language, or working multiple jobs? It’s pretty formidable, and it’s hard enough to advocate for your own kids. It’s a very uncomfortable thing for most kids. That’s really one of our motivations, we just feel like we want to create opportunities for the students, but we also want to make sure that we can be more responsive to the community when something pops up.

LESLIE:  It’s extremely important that we communicate especially to parents who may not be college educated, or experienced with public schools, or it’s their first child, or maybe English isn’t their first language, it’s extremely important that we provide clear communication on all fronts to those parents as well.

CHRONICLE:  I know that both of you were very outspoken supporters of the school aides in their year long struggle to get a decent contract. I’m not aware of any member of the school board having ever made a public statement about that. The support for them did not come from within the district, and the district fought them hard for a year. Do you have any thoughts about why, with “equity” being in the middle of DEI, the board and the district took the position that it did with these lowest paid workers?

LESLIE:  I’m very proud of the fact that I’m one of a handful of parents that shows up at many board meetings. I’m proud of the fact that I stood at that mic and that I supported them twice. I can’t answer as to why the district fought so hard. I do know a board of education should be very critical of the budget, and there should be a budget that supports its faculty and staff, because they are the frontline individuals who support our kids. My three children have had very supportive and loving relationships with aides through the years. And to hear that they were making as little as they were was very disturbing to me. I don’t know why, but as a person who is highly analytical, an economics major who has had to handle budgets, I probably would have investigated every single school district and had a spreadsheet done within a week.

I would have done a very critical analysis of what the payments were in each of the school districts, and then I would have gone back with the superintendent and proposed to the board that we look at where we can have cost savings to address how we can find cost savings so we can support these aides having a living wage. It would have been based on data, on analysis, and rational thought. If it were budgetary issues, I would have hoped that would have been verbalized earlier, that it would have been addressed. The aides spoke at board meetings, and they weren’t responded to. It’s extremely important that people are responded to. I want to go back to the days when things were brought up at board meetings, sometimes they were responded to, by the administration, and most certainly they were responded to by the next day.

Certainly those people who ensure the happiness and success of our children should be treated justly.

ALLISON:  A budget does wind up being a combination of the contractual obligations, and also what are your values as a district. We want a budget that prioritizes teachers and students.

LESLIE:  And staff members.

ALLISON:  It’s probably more important that we have an adequate ratio of aides throughout the school than every kid have an iPad. At every grade.

LESLIE:  In talking about other things the district could do better, I don’t think we are doing a good enough job in providing cutting edge curriculum pertaining to technology or STEAM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics.] Let’s just say STEAM. It was proposed, but then it sort of went away. I know we’re looking at these innovative interdisciplinary courses, but we are so missing the boat of keeping up with other districts in terms of innovative curriculum.

Another area, we believe that co-curricular and extra-curricular athletics, and the arts, are extremely important to the overall experience of our children. And we do believe these programs really need to be supported.

CHRONICLE:  Do you think they are not supported enough now?

LESLIE:  Children have had great experiences. Two of my children have gone through the music program. One of my children is still in the music program. The teachers are phenomenal. We just need to make sure we are doing a good job of providing leadership in terms of athletic coaches, and making sure we are doing all we can so that children can maximize their potential in athletics as much as academics, and in the arts. We can do a better job in providing more innovative facilities, and curriculum to a degree in the arts, which Allison can probably speak to.

ALLISON:  There’s a very good foundation, but kids are involved in these activities in different capacities, sometimes just fun recreational, and for some kids this is their passion and what they’re going to do in life, or it’s their ticket to college and scholarships. We could do a better job in increasing the range of why students are engaged in these activities, particularly for kids who really want to do this post K-12.

CHRONICLE:  Well, I am sure there are many more things we could talk about, but I think this interview should give readers a good idea of why you are running and what you hope to accomplish if you are elected. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.

ALLISON:  Thank you.

LESLIE:  Thank you.

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