BHS hosted a ‘Meet the Candidates Night’ on Oct. 19 for the Nov. 7 school board election.
The event was facilitated by juniors Radha Pareek, Taia Menefee, Eliana Worku, Shreya Chellu, Amy Zhou and sophomore Lyndia Zheng with the aid of social studies teacher Pam Crossman.
The candidates are running as two-person person tickets for two spots on the school board: Julie Brough & Jen Ferns and Dr. Josephine Chan & Megan Walsh.
Community members were able to meet, gain insight and pose questions to the candidates.
The student facilitators introduced the candidates, asked questions they had prepared and distributed notecards for community members to inquire about their concerns.
The audience was made up of 35 to 40 residents who sat facing the candidates in the community room.
Although the audience did not have the opportunity to directly question the candidates, they submitted questions for a Q&A session toward the end of the event.
To give the speakers a fair chance, the questions were asked in an alternating order, switching off which candidate answered first.
Julie Brough earned her bachelor’s from the University of Wyoming, went to graduate school at Alabama A&M University and works as a clinical athletic trainer at University Hospitals.
She has worked with students for thirty years, eight of those in Beachwood schools.
Brough feels that her experience working in the schools will make her a better school board member.
“During my tenure with the Beachwood schools I have built solid, long-lasting relationships with our students, families, staff and administration,” she said.
Brough explained what she feels makes her stand out from the other candidates.
“The biggest thing that I bring is a true understanding of what our staff needs, what our teachers need and what our principals and our administration need as support,” she said.
She also points out her unique perspective due to her involvement in the schools.
“[Eight years of working in the district] gave me an insight that most people don’t understand—I was able to work with the [former] treasurer, the superintendent and all the administrators.”
Brough’s children attend Beachwood City Schools, and she feels it is important for school board members to send their children to public schools.
“I totally understand [if a parent wants to send their child to a private school for] religious reasons,” she said. “However, I feel like, if you’re going to make decisions for my children then you should feel like that’s a school where you want your children to go.”
The EdChoice Expansion Scholarship Program offers vouchers to every family in Ohio to help pay for private schools. The candidates were asked about how they feel this program could impact Beachwood schools.
“Schools that are not doing as well in the state ranking can have more people move in for those state vouchers, so I would say that as long as … we are paying attention to what we’re doing, the vouchers should not affect us as much as we think,” Brough said.
Brough feels that more could be done to support teachers, especially at the elementary level.
“We need to make sure that we’re investing in our staff and our teachers, and we need to make sure that they feel supported,” Brough said.
At the Sept. 22 football game against Brooklyn, controversy erupted over a ‘Nazi’ play call, which many considered to be antisemitic.
Considering her experience as an athletic trainer, Brough has seen other situations like this and knows how Beachwood typically handles it.
“[I appreciate] that the administration really knows how to tackle those issues, they don’t let it go by the wayside, they address the administration at the other schools, they make sure that they talk to the coaches and they talk to the kids,” Brough said.
Dr. Josephine Chan has a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Chicago, and her Doctorate in Genetics at Case Western University School of Medicine. She also obtained a postgraduate degree in Master of Business Administration from the Weatherhead School of Management.
With 20 years of experience in cancer research, Chan is now the Director of the Clinical Trials Unit at the Seidman Cancer Center at University Hospitals. She has been on the school board since January 2022.
“My passion for my career can be translated to my role as a school board member,” she said. “I believe that we should address [every student’s] emotional, educational and social needs.”
Chan feels that the obstacles she experienced in her own education have prepared her to guide the education of Beachwood City students.
“[My] journey helped me develop my communication skills, my problem-solving skills and also collaboration skills,” she said.
Chan believes that her exposure to an under-diversified education gives a unique perspective of someone who didn’t feel included.
“Back when I was in elementary school, I was one of the three Chinese students…I felt isolated [and like] people didn’t understand me,” she said.
Chan doesn’t want other students to feel culturally isolated the way she did growing up.
“[I want] new families and new students [to] fit in,” she said.
Chan has one child who attends private school; she believes in the city’s schools but explains that this was a chance her son felt he had to take.
“He received a full tuition merit scholarship…I want to thank the school; they developed him [and] they nurtured him,” she said.
The bond levy that voters passed in the spring allows Beachwood schools to invest in new elementary buildings. Chan urges that some of this money be spent on school security.
“There are so many new facilities that we can put in,” she said.
Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) is a model that Ohio is now mandating for public schools. Chan shared that part of what makes the PBIS program so successful is when they use incentives.
“One of the biggest things that I think work is the incentives. it’s amazing what an ice cream party can do in Middle School to enforce positive behavior,” she said.
Jen Ferns emphasized that her three children are the third generation in her family to attend Beachwood schools.
“We are choosing to stay in Beachwood for the education and for the diverse population that Beachwood has to offer,” she said.
Her mother graduated from BHS in 1972, and she graduated in 2002, then went on to work at her parents’ family business, Joshen Paper.
“Technically, I started working there when I was in about the sixth grade,” she said. “But in the 20 years I was on the payroll, I managed the procurement department. We prepared products for ten warehouses throughout the United States and handled an inventory of $350 million.”
Ferns is currently an interior designer and president of the Beachwood Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO).
“[My experience] since becoming the vice president of the PTO in 2018–and for the past few years being the president–has allowed me to be highly involved with our schools and teachers, and has given me a first-hand perspective on what goes on,” she said.”I am already present on so many levels.”
“[Being PTO President] has allowed me to gain in-depth knowledge and to know what needs to be addressed as a future board member,” she said.
Ferns explains that her involvement in the schools differentiates her from the other candidates.
“I am in the schools on a regular basis,” she said. “I go to most home football games and any other activities that my children are in.”
She believes that the candidates’ kids should be enrolled in the city schools.
“I don’t judge anyone, but I believe that every school board member must only be invested in the Beachwood City Schools.”
Ferns believes that a portion of the school’s expenditures should go towards safety features within the buildings.
“We passed a $65 million bond to basically knock down and rebuild our two elementary schools and provide some needed updates to Fairmount… [but] we need to have a couple of new safety features—I’ve heard stories that kids are vaping in the bathrooms at Hilltop.”
Ferns also said her experience running an interior design business will help her oversee the elementary school construction.
Ferns is concerned about the impact of the state’s expanded voucher program on school districts such as Beachwood, which have a large number of students attending private schools.
“This will cause all the impacted school districts to probably have to raise taxes,” she said.
Megan Walsh earned a degree in psychology and a minor in business at Indiana University, then attended Case Western University to get her Master’s in psychology. She is currently a social worker as well as current president of the Beachwood Board of Education.
Before becoming school board president, Walsh served on the board for about five years.
Walsh was interested in being involved in the Beachwood Board of Education after she saw the positive impact the district schools had on her children.
“When I applied for the vacancy, it was with my boys in mind but perhaps not in the way you would expect,” she said. “I knew the experiences they had in Beachwood schools, I knew they benefited from their teacher’s individualized attention and intentional action.”
Her career as a social worker inspires her care and dedication to the students.
“I am very passionate about my career…[I love seeing] people being able to be themselves; to feel that they belong,” Walsh said.
“As a social worker, my focus was, and is, on ensuring that all of our 1,481 students receive what I know my boys receive,” she said. “My priority as a board member is for all of our students to feel that they belong in Beachwood schools, that each of our students feels that they can show up as their authentic selves.”
Walsh values the diverse experiences that she and her children have had in public schools.
“I was a public school kid…looking back on it, I learned a lot of what I was looking for for my own kids…I wanted them to attend school with kids that were not like them and learn about different cultures and religions, and the way that people experience the world,” she said.
Walsh believes that her experience as a board member separates her qualifications from the other candidates.
“Just having those relationships, working with the administration, [and] being present at many events for the last two years [has given me insight different from others],” she said.
Walsh does not believe that Ohio’s voucher program is beneficial for public schooling.
“[The program] is one of the many things that is harmful to all public districts…We’re fortunate here at Beachwood we won’t be as impacted as many other districts will be because their funding base is not as solid as ours.”
Regarding school lunches at the elementary level, Walsh pointed out that the new Bryden and Hilltop buildings will likely provide fresher lunches.
“One of the benefits of our new Elementary buildings will be that they’ll both have kitchens where lunches can be prepared for those students on-site in the building,” she said.
She also feels that hearing from students about what they want to eat for lunch would help the school board know what to serve so that every kid can go about their day feeling nourished and fueled.
Walsh feels that the district leadership handled the situation well in the wake of the Beachwood v. Brooklyn football game, but also feels that more can be done.
“We do a great job of helping our students understand that ‘when you see something, say something,’ but I think what Brooklyn taught us is that we need to be able to operationalize that for our kids and [teach them how to act in troubling situations],” she said.
Following the student-prepared questions, the candidates responded to questions on notecards submitted from the audience.
The candidates were each asked why the school rankings went down.
Actually, Beachwood City Schools earned a five-star rating in all components on the Ohio Department of Education’s 2023 school report card, tying sixth in the state. The school’s performance index rose from 97.5 in 2022 to 103.5 in 2023.
The questioner may have been referring to the U.S. News & World Report rankings, in which Beachwood High School ranked #55 in Ohio this year and #17 in the Cleveland metro area.
Brough does not believe that rankings provide an accurate representation of Beachwood School’s ability.
“What do these rankings mean?” she asked. “For me, it’s about education; I was never somebody that tested well. I think our teachers are given curriculum by the state that has them teaching to a test, to a certain point.”
Ferns argued that the rankings are a problem and that community members must stand up and voice their concerns.
“I think one of the things holding us back is that anyone who dares to criticize is not welcome and is ignored,” she said.
Ferns also said the district had a major loss with Beachwood losing several teachers this past year.
“We are losing teachers, even though our compensation is as competitive as any district,” she said. “We need to examine why this is happening and fix the problem.”
Chan informed the audience that the ranking was distorted due to the Excel Tech Program.
“[Beachwood was] ranked 55…in Ohio [in US News & World Report],” she said. “But I want to point out that the ranking is a little bit flawed. The reason is there are about a hundred students enrolled in the Excel Tech Program, in high school, and they are counted in the denominator. Whereas their test scores are not counted in the numerator.”
Walsh does not trust the reliability of school rankings.
“You can’t measure how our students are feeling; if they feel like they belong here, and that they are seen, heard, and respected, that’s when they can learn,” she said.
School shootings are a constant worry for many parents; the candidates all agreed that school safety is a top priority.
A controversial fix to this issue is arming teachers; all of the candidates agree that this is not a solution.
“We do not want to arm our teachers, we don’t feel that makes our building safer,” Walsh said.
“I believe that [armed teachers] would actually make [schools] more dangerous,” Ferns said.
Chan believes that Beachwood schools should monitor students for mental health indicators to ensure a safe campus.
“If we identify [when students are] under stress, if we build that trust, and we collaborate with them to solve their problems, then we can try to have a safer environment within the school,” she said.
