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>>> live where news comes first, this is “abc-7 xtra.” >>> we talked about how it’s plagued by some problems that were kicked down by prior boards because they were just politically unpopular, at least that’s the assumption. no facilities report in more than 15 years, that $12 million shortfall from last year. all issues that there’s a consensus the prior board could have and should have dealt with. they’ve been very vocal about how ineffective they’ve been. dori, we’ll start with you. >> i think that the first thing we need to do is — [ audio difficulties ] >> and nothing else. and that’s funny because i was talking to a friend one time and we were chatting with each other and saying who could that person be? who could that person be and finally, he said it’s got to be you, al and the reality and we can see what the quality of the candidates that went through and got elected here, and i think i speak for all of us that we’re in this not because of any agendas, we’re not trying to get anything for ourselves. we believe in this community. we believe in el paso, we believe in the districts that we represent and i got in it for that reason and i see a great opportunity here to be able to change that course and take it down the road that it really needs to be and that is focused on our kids. >> how specifically, though? >> in my case we’re going to connect with the communities and the wonderful thing about the campaign is i was able to do that. i met so many people, so many different groups, alumni associations, civic groups, i got to know these people and i talked to them and they talked to me and they shared with me everything thong, their beliefs and so forth and it really came down to a trust issue and so for district representation to do what it’s supposed to do, we’ve got to be communicating with the people who have an interest in the school district and obviously, everybody has that interest because of the tax they have to pay and we need to be communicating and just sharing and being open with them, the issues that are taking place. >> speaking with constituents, going on the campaign trail, what you’re all saying, it sounds essentially like campaign talk. so you’re here, you’ve been elected, policy-wise, though, what specifically do you do to move forward? >> when these policies come to us, when these decisions come to the board, we’re going to evaluate these decisions based on the best interests of the children, of the teachers, of the people that are implementing these things. we’re not going to be thinking about who’s going to get the contract. we’re not going to be thinking about who’s going to benefit from this. it’s going to be truly about making the best decision based on what’s presented to us in order to make this action take place. >> the same question for you. how are you going to — [ indiscernible ] >> i think as i look at my partners here, how do i personally look at this? i have children that go to episd so the policies that i’m going to be looking at are policies that will help all of our children. that impacts my family as well so we had to do the campaign thing and that was important because it connected us with the community but in addition to that, we have our own children who are engaged in the school district and so we’ve got to do the right thing for our children. >> okay we have a tweet from jamie who says all three have been given huge amounts of money by some of the most wealthy el pasoans. will they commit to protecting public education? >> well, sure absolutely, we were elected to protect public education. we weren’t elected to protect private education. >> well, but the — a lot of people are very leery of it. they talk about bringing business practices to schools, expanding charter schools, and that makes some educators very worried. >> sure absolutely. and, you know, at the end of the day we have to do what’s right for our children who are in public education. we can learn a lot from the private sector but we need to protect the public school education system. that’s what we were elected to do. we were not elected to turn everything into private but to support our community with the public education system. >> al, do you want to respond to that? >> the tweet was about the money that was raised and, you know, this is a very unique election, because of what’s going on. there’s a lot of interest taking place. the el paso independent district has a big role in the community and the people who wanted to get behind that are people that have an interest in this community as well and they want to see episd succeed and so i’m proud to say they picked me, many of them picked me to help me with my campaign because they believe that i am the right person to be able to do what they’re expecting of a board. and i heard this all along the way, it’s nothing about buying off candidates but about interested people who have a huge stake in this community that have a future in this community and they want to see the children educated in the school district that’s not going to be going through the issues that it’s been facing. >> but a group like t.r. does have an agenda, though. some people say it’s a great agenda, some people say it’s not a great agenda, it’s a bad agenda. so i mean, there is an agenda to some of the groups, for example, the t.r. that’s committed money to your campaign. so the question is are you beholden to their interests, dori? >> well, i had over 200 supporters at my campaign so it’s difficult to say i’m going to be beholden to every one of them. i agree with al that these are people that care very much about the progress of our city, of our community, and we are here to advocate for public education. i have two sons in high school. trent has his kids in public education here. this is where our passion is that’s what we’re here to advocate for and that’s what we’re going to do. >> specifically, do you support charter school expansion? >> al’s going now. >> charter schools, it seems like it’s the buzz word coming out of austin now and they’re wanting to see that. i can’t say that options are a bad thing, but the truth is with respect to a public school, it’s not a good thing because for every child that moves from the public school over to the charter school, that child goes and so does the funding for that child. so then the challenge for the school district is to find a way to be able to provide that education so that episd is the school of choice, so there is not a need for additional charter schools to come into this community to address things that episd is not already doing. so options are good, but the reality is they don’t help public schools just because the funding shifts from one school to the charrer school, and then of course, we have to face that when it comes to budgets. >> now for taxpayers and for parents i wonder who children at episd and who say hey, i’m a taxpayer, i pay my property taxes to episd every year. and i looked around at the public schools. and i want my child to go to a charter school. and if i’m a tax-paying citizen, why can’t i choose to do that? >> i think what al talked about is that episd needs to be the district of choice and we as a board working with mr. ca brera, the superintendent and the other administrators in the district, we need to provide an opportunity for every parent to have their child educated at episd. we cannot afford to continue to lose students. it impacts our budget, the way we educate our children. so we’ve got to work together. we’ve got to work efficiently and effectively to make sure we’re not going to lose those students to a charter school because we are and we were elected to represent the public school education. >> okay, dori? >> i agree, that, you know, i think in the general sense, choice kind of makes you focus and you have to become more competitive. and so because there are existing charters in our community, we have to work to make episd the school of choice for our families, and i think it is and i think it will continue to be, and it’s only going to get better and that’s what we’re focused on is building opportunities for our children. and i think that there’s too much being made about whether we go left or right. it’s let’s be proactive and let’s figure out about what programming is relevant, what careers are going to help our children in this community, opportunities to bring our children back to el paso. that’s what we’re focused on. and we have 92 schools at which to do that. >> we have to take a commercial break. when we come back, we’re going to talk about the budget, coming up. >>> we spent a tremendous amount of time listening to people, talking to people, wanting to understand what their concerns are and that’s how i think we build trust is that sincerity of being connected to our community and regarding the language, i couldn’t agree more that we have a geological advantage in el paso and every child should be graduating fluent in english and fluent in spanish and that’s an advantage, it’s a necessity here in el paso but it’s going to be a leg up for these kids anywhere else, anywhere they go and we’re already committed to it and i think we certainly would be committed to it. >> let’s talk about the budget, it has to be approved by the end of june, the tax rate, as well. do you foresee going to the voters for an increase? >> right now, it’s really early to say what we’re going to be able to do or not. we haven’t even been sworn in. we’re kind of speculating what we will do ’02 board. what we’re going to need to do is gather the data and the facts that the district will provide to us and work closely with the other four trustees who have been elected just as www.kvia.com and we need to look and see the impact of where those dollars are being spent. our commitment is to not increase taxes. i know that was something that i heard early in the campaign, please please do not increase my taxes. we’re all taxpayers. we’re not exempt from paying taxes. we’re definitely going to look at these items and look at the tax rate and we’re going to be methodical and we’re not going to make rash decisions immediately. we’ll need to look at that. we don’t have a lot of time but we’ll take the data that’s going to be provided to us and make decisions that we feel is best for the community and our students. >> what do you foresee on the budget? >> it’s too early for us to be able to predict what’s going to happen with the outcome of the tax rate that gets set. at this point really what’s happening is we’re getting some training on this budget. they’re presenting us the figures. we’re going through and we’re asking questions. and we’re going line by line by line and we’re asking what is this for, why is it needed? and we’re talking about a $460 million budget so there’s a lot of questions to be asked. there’s still more traing to go on. i couldn’t even begin to tell you where we’re going to be at the end of june when it comes time to decide how we’re going to move forward with this budget. we do have a learning curve to go through. >> we have a tweet from jamie who writes e.p.’s largest district only has one latino member. do they feel they reflect el paso? it takes more than stump speeches. >> can i address that? so i was born and raised in mexico, lived there for 18 years so one thing i’ve enjoyed doing on the campaign trail was to really engage with the hispanics of el paso because i am one, as well. you don’t judge the book by its cover so that’s really how i truly feel. i know how the people feel and so we don’t have just one hispanic on the board. that’s not correct. we have two at least. but that’s not going to shape the way we think. we’re going to do what’s right for the community, for all kids and the students in the school district and so yeah, i appreciate that question but it’s not accurate. >> you know you obviously were given a directive by voters who chose you, who elected you. but 80% hispanic community, two hispanic people on the board, you could say that’s a legitimate question. do you reflect el paso? >> i ran against three hispanics and was successful by quite a wide margin and so i think this community understands the candidates and selects the candidate they think is best for the job. it’s not about — it doesn’t have to be down ethnic lines, and i think that’s a really good model for us to think about, that this is not because who you are, where you’re born doesn’t mean that you can’t be compassionate and care about the entire community. so i would really encourage us to change that narrative in our community and we are in this together. a rising tide raises all boats and we live here, we all want to succeed. >> the board of managers spent a lot of time leaving a blueprint so that you all won’t have half-empty schools in a few years but ultimately, the decision is up to you. i know you worked on the facilities plan, dori. what are your general thoughts on that? do you plan to tweak it? if it so, what specifically will you tweet? we can start with you, dori. >> well, i have studied the jacobs engineering report and i know it very well and it is clear that our facilities are in dire need of some capital infusion. the problem is we don’t have the capital and i don’t see an avenue to having access to capital on the near horizon. i think that that’s something that we need to address in terms of within the budget, and then educate our community about the condition of our facility, where we want to move our programming and our technology in our classrooms and how our children are going to ultimately benefit by doing it and then come up with the right package that is going to make sense for the community. >> okay. and that blueprint i should say would leave episd’s 10 high schools intact, reduce the number of middle schools from 15 to nine and increase k-8 campuses. do you agree generally with that plan, al, or do you plan to tweak it? >> generally, i do agree with it. i think the plan is prepared fairly well but obviously, we have not been a part of the development of that plan, and i think it’s going to be important that we go back and take a look at everything that’s within that plan to make sure that it is the absolute necessary project that needs to go forth in order to make the plan. am i willing to say let’s go with that plan? no. i think we’ve got to do a lot of work on it. if changes need to be made, we’re going to make those changes. i have no problem with that. >> i agree with that. everything needs to be put back on the table. it needs to be analyzed and reviewed within a timely manner so we make the right decision for the future of el paso. we’re in this position because of decisions that were made 15 years ago. we need to be able to put ourselves in a better position for our future, for our children, for our teachers, for our administrators, for the central office, for everybody. >> so obviously, some school closures still an option? how do you ensure that children whose school closes end up in a better situation, whether it be a better campus or a campus with more opportunities with more programs, how do you ensure that? >> i would like to answer that one. part of what i’m going to look at, and i think the plan does spell it out pretty good is we’re not going to close one school just to fill another. if we’re going to do a consolidation, it’s going to be because one of those schools is going to be completely rebuilt, completely remodernize asked those children that go from the school that’s going to be closing r. are going to go and join other kids in a much neuro, 21st century school with all the latest learning amenities that are provided. that’s going to be my one golden rule, and i think that i can speak for many others on that, too. it’s not about just shifting kids from one old school to another. it’s going to be providing better facilities, proved education for our kids, that really is going to be the goal of the entire project, so that all kids have access to improved education. >> dori, do you want to answer the question, how do you ensure that a killed gets better opportunities if their school is closed? >> i had never heard of k-8 or didn’t understand the evolution of why we don’t have k-8 now. and i just googled it and i invite anybody else to do it themselves. there’s been an incredible amount of research put into that and there are many benefits of a k-8. greater parental engagement in the middle years, that transition creates a lot of anxiety for kids. so that tends to be eliminated. there’s just a couple of examples of why that particular reconfiguration i think makes sense. technology, if you look at the high school in my district, built out of cinderblocks. that’s a terrible way to try to conduct wi-fi throughout your high school. so we have access to an incredible amount of information now through the internet and our schools are a great opportunity for us to address the digital divide of families who have access to the internet and families who don’t because in our schools we can create a portal where everybody does and that is where you can learn and engage in a 21st century way. so we have to create a learning environment that’s going to allow that to happen. >> we have to take a break. when we come back, we’re going to take more of your tweets and questions. >>> i just want to find out what they’re going to do about reducing central office administration. i feel it’s too top heavy there. and also what are you going to do about enforcing student accountability as far as discipline and academics? >> so his first question, reducing central office personnel. >> well, that’s going to fall within the budget, as well. those are things that are going to have to be looked at. last year, they did reduce significantly within central office. so the question remains can you continue to cut within there without hampering the organization and the operation of that? everything is going to be on the table. >> dori, trent, what are your thoughts on that? >> we need an environment where we attract the best talent. we’re educating our children. i think that sometimes, that’s forgotten and so we need the best teachers, we need the best administrators, we need a central office and a group of individuals there who will support that cause. ultimately, we’re educating children and so we have to look at everything al mentioned. that’s within the budget. we might have to make some tough decisions match not so much us but superintendent cabrera and staff are going to have to look at if we’re lean or not. we have to be efficient and effective and to ensure that we’re able to operate on a budget that can help us accomplish our goals. >> also mentioned student accountability. how do you improve that? >> student accountability can be interpreted in many different ways. i’m not sure what he’s looking for but our students need to be accountable. they’ve got to take their education seriously. and first of all, they have to understand why it’s important to be educated and understand that if they are educated, later on they can attend college and if they want to continue down that path for college education, they have the ability to grow and earn more in their lives so that accountability is on the student. i think we as adults, as a student, teachers, administration, we can encourage that and be real supportive of our students to know that there is a greater education other than high school diplomas. >> let’s go to our next caller. we have rick from central. what’s your comment or question? >> when you were running, you promised your constituents in the area that there was going to have to be cutbacks. and the cutbacks would not start with students, nor teachers first, but it would start with administrators. i would like to find out what day are you starting to look at those positions administrative level and what departments in the administration? thank you very much. >> thank you for your question. i don’t recall saying that we were going to cut administrators. i think what i did say is that we were going to prioritize teachers and we’re going to prioritize technology and we’re going to prioritize programming. i do think that if we’re losing 1,000 students a year, that we’re going to have to downsize, and i think we need to down-size the central office. i have said that consistently but we are just now really getting a detail line by line item look at the budget and we’re looking extremely carefully to find out where the nonessential resources are being allocated and that’s where we need to focus. we’re looking at continued deficits, we don’t know what’s going to happen with the potential for added state funding and we’re not proposing to know that until after we have to pass the budget. we’re going to have to come in extremely conservative and i’m committed to making the cuts if necessary so we are running a very efficient organization but that we continue to prioritize our resources where they directly impact our kids. >> okay, a few tweets, i’m very confident in mr. hatch’s decision making, he will do what is best for our kids in episd. eduardo tweets the best learning amenities for students is a well-prepared, well-supported and accountable teacher. too many students fall through the cracks with big schools. we need smaller schools so that students get more individual attention. and also trustees must be prepared to question the data that’s presented by administrators and seek input from parents and teachers. so a lot of tweets coming in about engagement from trustees, seeking input, questioning data. >> i think that’s super important. i’ve been a parent — i have been a parent of three children and they all attend episd schools and we have found a great deal of information as we have been engaged in our students and our children’s education. we need to ask a lot of questions. we need the community in these schools. these are our children. these are our schools. we paid for this and so we invite every parent, a very reasonable parent, to be engaged. that’s what we need. that’s the way — it takes a village to raise our students, not just one person and it really truly does take a village. i’m a big, big proponent of having community involvement, community engagement and the more parents are involved in their children’s education, the more successful students will be in the future in their lives. >> last question. who should be board president? i mean, really, generally, the board looks to somebody with experience to be the board president. but all of you are new to the job. so it’s a very unique situation. what do you think? >> i think there are several individuals on this board who could be fully capable of being able to take that position. i have every confidence in the world that the president that’s going to be select tomorrow is going to be fully supported by the board. i think at this stage until tomorrow, i don’t know that would be right to be able to go beyond that. but the wonderful thing about this board that’s in place is there’s some very good people with some strong background that will be able to fulfill all of the officer seats that are available. >> okay. that’s all the time we have thank you so much for joining us. >> tomorrow’s the big day. >>