Albany County School District questionnaire answers

A questionnaire was sent to the following candidates for the 2020 election consisting of these questions:

1. How should Albany County address the COVID-19 pandemic for the rest of 2020 and 2021?
2. What do you think the role Albany County has in providing free COVID-19 testing and vaccines to its citizens?
3. What is the common ground between Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter? How do we get there?
4. With the state and university budget shortfalls, how will this affect Albany County? What are you prepared to do about this? 

Here are each of the candidates responses:

Area A:

Jennifer Hess

• No Submission

Kirsten Holles

1. The School Board needs to take care when approaching the impact on our students, teachers, and staff. Tier 2 approach a good start. As we work towards Tier 1, we need to take care as we modify life as temperatures drop. We need to monitor our air quality in the classroom. The citizens of Albany County need to help by limiting gatherings, physically distancing, and wearing masks giving our students the best chance to return to the classroom. We need to empower our administrators to help the students who are struggling with additional learning opportunities.
2. At the moment, after masks, physically distancing, and washing hands, testing is our best defense to help with limited the spread of COVID-19.  Once a safe vaccine is available, that will give us another tool to help protect our citizens and keep our students in school safely.  Insurance should cover these first, but when a community member does not have insurance, we need to find a way to make sure everyone has access.
3. This is an extremely complex issue.  I think the common ground has to come from respect. I’m really not sure how we get their – but I fear we need a change in our culture to listen to each other more instead of trying to win the argument.
4. The Board needs to approach income shortfalls without an agenda.  The majority of the school budget consists of salary and building maintenance, thus making cuts to the budget difficult. My experience as a cost accountant and with developing budgets will aid me at looking at how we can identify efficiencies. But we need to ensure that we work on keeping the education for our students of a high quality while protecting our teachers and staff.

Jamin Johnson

• No Submission

Victoria Kent

1. As cases continue to rise not only in Wyoming, but in Albany county itself, we have a duty to our community and fellow citizens to treat the pandemic with the utmost severity and importance. This includes introducing more stringent following of medical guidelines and current scientific literature as they are updated, which currently include social distancing as much as possible and wearing masks when in contact with others. We are currently seeing record cases in Wyoming and as such, the district should not continue to open up, imperiling members of the community.
2. The school district should do everything in its power to make vaccines and testing available and free to students. While the district is going to be facing a budget shortfall, student health and safety is paramount, and preventing the spread of COVID-19 both throughout the district and into our community needs to be prioritized.
3. Both Black Lives Matter and blue lives matter are groups wanting to protect their communities, and within this a common ground. For a safer community to be reached, we need to see broader community and empathy to the situations others are in and a willingness to work with those of different backgrounds.
4. Due to the budget shortfalls within the state and university, Albany County will face many budget cuts, especially within its school districts. I will fight to prioritize programs for the wellbeing of teachers and students as my top priority. It is essential we keep services such as school lunches and mental health access completely intact.

Rachel Suarez Lebeau

1. Albany County has done the right thing in requiring masks for attendance and maintaining distancing for K-12 students. Schools are tasked with so much more than teaching core material – it is our duty to support teachers and staff in those efforts – to ensure students’ physical, emotional, and academic needs are met while adhering to the science around COVID mitigation in schools. At all levels, schools are working hard to ensure academic support. I am confident this will continue to be improved upon throughout the next year, along with increased efforts to support students’ emotional wellness while navigating extreme uncertainty.
2. Albany County’s highest duty is in protecting its citizens, as is true for schools protecting students. Schools should first be safe, and right now that looks different than it ever has before. We must support our community through access to and resources for free COVID-19 testing and vaccination when available. It is Albany County’s responsibility to identify and direct people to resources to maintain their own health and health of the community at large.
3. The common ground between Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter is compassion. The BLM movement stems from centuries-long abuse and trauma. While it pains law enforcement to have their profession questioned, empathy and compassion – likely catalysts for choosing the career– should lead to consideration of what’s being asked by the movement. We don’t get to tell hurting people that they aren’t hurt. If the goal of law enforcement is to protect and serve all, then it should be a welcomed and desired process to reflect and reform, rather than deny, when masses of people identify that as necessary.
4. As a trustee of the Albany County School District, I will not decide how much money we have to work with, but rather how to best distribute it in support of students. I will protect student services including continued support of their teachers and support staff. I will advocate for increased funding allocated to student mental health services which have increased in necessity with the pandemic. Students are facing uncertainty at unprecedented levels and schools should remain a safe place for their needs to be met.

Jason Satkunam

1. Right now ACSD1 is managing the pandemic by following the recommendations by our County Health Official, Dr. Alias. We are mandating masks for all individuals in the school system and are maintaining 6 feet distance in classrooms and outside. We must continue to be responsible to our students, staff, and community by maintaining these standards and only relaxing them when we can ensure the health and safety of everyone in the school system. Currently there is no spread of COVID within the schools as a direct result of our mitigation strategies, a fact I am very proud of.   
2. ACSD1 has partnered with the State of Wyoming in providing free testing for district employees.  As long as we are dealing with this pandemic we must ensure that our employees are tested regularly to ensure the health and safety of the district community.  In terms of student testing, that is a decision best left to the parents/guardians.  I feel that the County and the State must be prepared to meet the demands of the community in providing testing for its citizens who request it by modeling the Universities approach to testing.     
3. Both groups value change in their communities and must work together to improve police/community relations. Each group must be willing to give and take in order to best determine a new course of action to improve the relationship between the police and the community. Police must be held accountable however, we also need to look at the burdens we place upon our police officers and how we can better allow them to serve their communities. We need to ensure that reasonable, appropriate solutions are discussed and that both sides go in with open minds and attitudes in order to achieve real change.  
4. The school board and district personnel have already begun discussing potential cuts as we await final word from the Legislature. Unfortunately our largest expenditure is personnel so we may have to face the unpleasant possibility of removing positions.  Thankfully we can accomplish most of this from natural attrition that we see every year so the impact to existing personnel should be small. The Board must be responsible and work with all district stakeholders to determine how best to meet the demands placed by the State Legislature. Sadly any reduction in budget will greatly affect how education is taught in Albany County.   

Emily Seigel Stanton

1. We have never seen a health crisis like this in our lifetime, and everyone is working to adapt and cope.  Now is the time to come together and accept that small personal inconveniences can translate into large gains for our community.  Several restaurants downtown have  to close temporarily because of positive infections, but settings where masks are required, such as classrooms, have not spread the virus. To protect our economy as well as each other, we should follow recommendations of masks and social distancing to keep our businesses and schools open.  
2. COVID tests are crucial to slowing the spread of the disease; a COVID vaccine, when one is available, will be crucial to stopping it. Both should be free of charge and easily accessible for every citizen of Albany County.  
3. The common ground here is the sanctity of all human life.  As a therapist I work with law enforcement officers whose jobs are stressful and whose goal when they leave home in the morning is to return safely.  I also serve clients who have suffered gravely from systemic racism. Black Lives Matter was started to highlight the fact that black people lose their lives in police custody at nearly twice the rate of white people. We must change that. To quote (with permission) Cheyenne Police Chief Brian Kozak, “when we take someone into custody we are responsible for their safety.”
4. Everyone is going to feel the impact of the coming budget cuts, and if I am voted onto the school board, this issue will be front and center from day one.  Even as I have stated that I want to protect student services from budget cuts and maintain an excellent education that includes electives, I know the situation will be harder to deal with from the inside.  What I can say is that I will commit to a process of transparency that includes constituent connections and advocacy on the state level to diversify education funding from the state.

Jalyn Anderson

• No Submission

Mark Bittner

• No Submission

Christopher Dixon

• No Submission

At-Large:

Denise Deem

1. Washing hands, eating healthy, and physical exercise are the best practices. The message was to “Slow the Spread”, not “Stop the Spread”. People are going to get flu, colds, and COVID-19. If you are compromised, wear a mask and limit your contact with the public. Our students need in-school instruction, social interaction, nourishment, and physical activity. The risk of our youth not receiving these is far greater than the risk of COVID-19. 
2. Albany County has done a good job in providing free testing. All people should have the opportunity to receive any vaccines free of charge. 
3. These are not mutually exclusive. We need good police practices and those practices need to be fair for all citizens. Since I’m running for school board, I’ll address my support of the importance of School Resource Officers (SROs). Beyond law enforcement, SROs also serve as educators, emergency managers, and informal counselors. The relationship with students and SROs builds trust. These officers help troubled youth change behaviors that might otherwise lead to involvement with the criminal justice system. 
4. The Albany County School District #1 budget will be one of the top challenges in 2021. I have worked on several non-profit and for-profit budgets over the years and am dedicated to learn, as well as bring past experiences to the future budgets of ACSD#1. We can learn from past under and over spends and make the necessary adjustments. Although this will be difficult, we will prevail.

Steve Gosar

• No Submission

Pamela Mason

1. The first priority is to utilize the scientific and research date available, and adapt that information to match the culture and economic needs of the community.
2. When available, testing and vaccine application should be provided to any citizen who requests it/them.  Vaccinations should not be mandated, but should be provided on a voluntary basis.
3. These movements can be interfaced when the leadership of both sit down together to come to common understandings.  Both movements are passionate and valid, and are not necessarily opposing forces.
4. I will not support any cuts to personnel or programming.  I will aggressively pursue federal funding through grants, foundations, and private organizations to help with funding shortfalls.

Kim Sorenson

• Chose not to respond