Matt Hymas for USBE 10

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hi, Matt. [00:00:01] Speaker B: Hi, guys. How are you? [00:00:02] Speaker C: Good. How are you? [00:00:03] Speaker A: We were just discussing a story of one of our friends, Adam Bartholomew shared today out of Mount Nebo Middle school. A number of children walked out in protest of furries being allowed to distract their classes, attacking kids with biting, scratching, and spraying of chemicals in their faces. [00:00:21] Speaker B: I got this actually quite, quite sad and disappointing. Right. [00:00:29] Speaker A: How does this happen? Like, is this where teachers and administrators just decide, look, we don't want to get involved, and it just kind of grows through social acceptance? [00:00:40] Speaker C: No, you've got to ask, how does this happen? Did mom and dad check out in life and decide to allow their kids to. I don't know. I don't. Is it a mental thing, like they think they're an animal, or is it just a new style trend? [00:00:59] Speaker B: Well, regardless of what it is, one thing that should be made clear is that in our public education, we educate children. Kids. Animals. Right. So I don't accommodate, not in my school anyway. And nor should it should happen in any school. I don't accommodate animals in the school and in the classroom. So, yeah, somebody asked me this question earlier today. They said, hey, where did we get, I mean, we are Utah. We have Utah values. How did we get here? [00:01:32] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:01:33] Speaker B: You know, and I don't know where, you know, it seems like it just happened so fast. And let's be honest, Utah, Utahans are kind people. We're just kind people. And so I see what happened is sometimes we just, people have been able to just push and push, and the next thing you know, we're having this, this problem, and it's like, why did we let it get this far? [00:01:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:01:58] Speaker B: You know, as a, you know, you talk about, well, is this acceptable? Or, you know, is this where we are now? Well, it should never be acceptable that we could say, well, if you're a furry, if you, if you fall inside this box, then you can spray chemicals on somebody. I don't even care if it's water. You don't get to do that. Right. [00:02:18] Speaker C: Yeah. That's assault. [00:02:19] Speaker A: It's assault because you don't know what it is. [00:02:21] Speaker B: So, so why are we saying, well, because they check this box. It's okay. It's not okay. [00:02:27] Speaker C: What's that? What's that? A famous tv show, dog trainer. [00:02:33] Speaker A: Dog whisper. [00:02:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Caesar. [00:02:36] Speaker C: Some or another. [00:02:37] Speaker A: But listen, I see if he'll train some kids. Yeah. So, full disclosure, Matt, you are the principal the school that my children have attended since kindergarten, and I have said this in every, every interview I've had with the school. Board members, is that I'm a very proud parent of my children. I chose the school on purpose for the values of the seven habits of highly successful people. I think it teaches individuality, personal responsibility and accountability. It teaches, I don't know, you control your own destiny, how to. It teaches manners. You talk about doing to others as you have done to yourself. And it's got a really important part, which I notice some other schools don't have. And it's history focused at even a very young age. My child learned about the emancipation proclamation in kindergarten. Both kids did, and I think that's phenomenal. And it was taught so well and classy, I should say so. This is the principal of Excelsior Academy and our incumbent, this is Mister Matt Hymas. And you've been on the show before. [00:03:50] Speaker B: Yeah. And before you, before you go there, I want to address what you just said here, because this is important. One of the things that has been happening since the early years of Excelsior Academy is the Veterans day Assembly. Every year we take a chunk of time out of the education schedule, of the learning schedule, and we invite veterans from all over the county and even beyond. We tell kids, invite your parents, grandparents, and then we send out invites because we believe one in America and we believe in those who have fought and signed up to fight and sometimes die for our country. And so every year we honor those veterans and they come in and we have a veteran speaker. And I don't know, Holly, if you've ever been able to attend one or not. [00:04:44] Speaker A: Every single one. In fact, my stepfather is a veteran. You have his picture on the wall. And my father, my late father, also a Vietnam veteran, and so we would go every year. In fact, I think this last year is the first year we missed it because my stepfather wasn't feeling good. But that is one of the greatest assemblies that I've ever been to, and it is. The kids love it. All the kids get engaged and I think the veterans love it. I mean, Mister Marston's father's a veteran and he even spoke, who's the principal of the junior high. [00:05:16] Speaker B: Yeah, he spoke a couple years ago. Yeah, my father came and spoke. I invited him this last year and he did a great job. A marine corvette. [00:05:27] Speaker A: Oh, wow. [00:05:28] Speaker B: And just, anyway, just a special moment and just recognizing, and this goes along with my philosophy, and this is why I stop you here, is because we feel that it's important. We feel it's important for kids of all ages, whether they're in public education or not, kindergarten or younger, all the way up through 12th grade. And if we had a high school, we would do it in the high school as well. But it's important for them to see and visit with, and we ask our veterans to go visit classes, talk to these kids. It's that important to take time to have that experience. So anyway, sorry to interrupt. [00:06:10] Speaker C: No, no, that's good. It's good. You start them off young on a right foot. [00:06:16] Speaker A: Well, it teaches them pride in where they're from and what the possibilities are. And it teach them love of their country and appreciation for the sacrifice. I mean, the assembly, if you haven't been to one, you're a veteran. And I think you would really, really enjoy it because it's so touching. And then the kids will take their grandparents to their classroom or their dad or mom, and the, and they, the classroom gets to ask questions, and I've heard the funniest questions as my kids have gotten older in their classes, and my stepfather enjoyed it tremendously. [00:06:50] Speaker B: Yeah. And, Jared, you don't look like a crier, but I think we might be able to get a tear out of it. Yeah, it gets pretty emotional. Good. [00:06:58] Speaker A: So, Matt, I, I'm excited for a few things. One is that, you know, out of all the candidates in the races, you're actually, you're in a school and your job and your success depends on the very standards that that board brings down. And I think that's important. I think that's really important. And I want people to understand that. Like, when you can say what you want to do and it's, it's great. But now you've been there. Now you know how things work. It was your first term this last time, correct? [00:07:37] Speaker B: Yep. Yes. [00:07:38] Speaker A: So now you're there, you're at an elementary school that you put your own children in, and you've established standards, and this school already had great standards. I mean, I loved the school even before you got there, but then when you got there, it got even better. So I see that you implement these standards in your daily practice. And I know because it affects my children, it affects your own children. So I think that is something that people should really know about you, is that you are living the practice. You're walking the walk, and you're not just a board member. You're a principal administrator of a charter school. And I'm hoping that with someone like you, that with what you've done at Excelsior, I'm hoping that you could help improve other charters and make them, make them up to that standard, because I think it's charters that are starting to really shine. Right. [00:08:37] Speaker B: Charters have. We've seen huge growth in charters, but not only are we trying to help other charters, and when I say we, I mean I personally am trying to help other charters and say, hey, here's a way to do it that will educate children. Right. And there's different methods, of course. We know that. But we found here at Excelsior, again, with my philosophy, and I've tried to implement this at the state level as well, is that when we make parents partners, it has huge dividends. Right. And the state level is a little bit different right. Here. I can call a student's parent or have a parent come in and work with us. At the state level, I get to visit with parents and gain perspective and understanding and then take that back for votes or for even policy changes. But understanding that parents, that it's you and I and our neighbors and our friends who really know their kids best and want to help their kids, that's where we can really focus on educating students. I have never met a parent who is not interested in their child's education. And I heard when I first started teaching, it was like, ah, these parents don't care. You're on your own. That's not true. And the heartbreaking thing is, I see other schools, including district schools, that they're either not reaching out to parents or they're not demanding the support from parents. And I think when I got here, that was one of the things that we changed, was we said, make sure that parents are involved in all aspects. Right? Right. We tried to give them more information quicker on their child when they could see a difference in their grade level. And, Holly, you might get frustrated with the amount of things coming in. [00:10:33] Speaker A: I know when my son has been tardy to his fifth period. Right. At the moment, he's been marked Hardy. I know when my son has an assignment missing before he's even home from school. So I have a conversation starter right. [00:10:46] Speaker C: There in the car. She's already taken away his iPad, so. [00:10:51] Speaker B: Yeah, well, we need to focus on things of that nature, right. These kids have to be prepared to run schools or organizations to hold meetings like this. And putting a phone or a screen in front of them is not the answer. Right. There's work to be done, and we need to do it now. [00:11:13] Speaker A: I was in a meeting with a candidate for this last night, and she mentioned that our districts are throwing screens in front of kids all day long, and they're teaching off of Chromebooks. [00:11:26] Speaker C: I don't think that, that they are, I can attest. [00:11:30] Speaker A: And so I'm, you know, we've talked about this and I also got this perspective from another lady that said, well, charters tend to be for parents who can actually drive their child because most charters are commuter schools. So you're going to get a different type of child or a different class of, of family. And I can, I can understand that. But at our school I see all types of kids and there's, there's, you know, carpool groups and everything else. But I'm wondering why. Because I know they think that these kids are going to be on computers when they're adults and that's their, their thought. But for one, I hate to be in charge of something like that where my child doesn't break it. And two, I don't like my kids on endless screen time at home. Why would I want it at school? School. Three, how does that get changed? Because I think you said it, that being a local school board member has far greater effect on our local schools than, say, the state school board. Is that correct? [00:12:31] Speaker C: Let me ask this question with this. This is, with this. Is it more cost effective for the schools to have a chromebook versus buying textbooks? [00:12:44] Speaker B: Uh, cost effective? You know, that's a great question. I don't know. I don't know. You know, I know college have gone to ebooks, a lot of colleges have gone to ebooks. And you know, back in my day, I was buying the paper book and buying and selling at college, growing up in high school. Right. There's, to me, there's something magical about holding a book, about turning its pages, about wondering what's coming next. Screens don't necessarily offer that. Even, even reading on a screen, it's not the same. I have a more difficult time reading off of a screen than I do from actual paper, an actual book. So, you know, a couple of things here. Yeah, absolutely. Screens are important here. We are having a very important conversation online, right? So there's no question that we want our kids to be familiar with it. What the problem that I'm seeing is we're asking kids to replace things with it, right? And we're seeing sometimes kids, their babysitters are our phones and, and you know, this is, this is their source of entertainment all the time. It's, it's not to go outside and play like we did. It's just a little bit, it's different now. So anyway, yeah, there's dangers and screens. One of the things that we can do at the state level now, we've talked about local control. I've talked about local control. There's online schooling, which obviously you're going to have to have some sort of interaction similar to this. But when you talk about how can the state help mitigate some of this or minimize some of this, then we can write it into our standards. We can say, hey, we actually want you to write, not type. We want you to write. We want you to read classical literature. And I hope that classical literature is being read from an actual book. And so, yeah, to push more of this pencil to paper is a huge push for me. I would love to see that recognizing that there's a time and a place for screens and it's not all the time, which some districts have adopted. And I think, if I'm honest with you, I think that they've seen, I've seen some districts go back say, hey, we are a little hasty on this, but not all of them have. And I hope that they get back to where they respect the pencil to paper process. [00:15:15] Speaker A: Matt, you've mentioned more than once in the meetings that I've attended, you are adamant about local control, which to me it rings very true. And we talk about this all the time. How you vote locally will, will far more affect your life than how you're voting on the state and national level every day of the week. But you know that word control, I feel like you could maybe describe exactly what your job is on the board. Because I don't think, because I didn't understand until I started going down this with, with these candidates, I didn't understand exactly what a school board members powers are and their responsibilities are because I just learned that you don't write legislation, your job is to enforce it. But please explain what you on the school board with, with 15 people total, right? [00:16:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:16:12] Speaker A: What it is that board is for. What do you do? [00:16:15] Speaker B: So we, we will write, we will take legislation, we will take law and some of those laws, especially educational laws or education bills, you'll see that it will say the state board shall. And it'll say, like, make a rule or, you know what I mean, something along those lines. And so then what we have to do at the state level is we have to take that law and we have to make a rule that aligns with that law so that districts or charters have the ability to understand or not have the ability, but can understand and follow that process. [00:16:54] Speaker C: You make it digestible for the district. [00:16:58] Speaker B: Yes. [00:16:59] Speaker A: And you define things better maybe because. [00:17:01] Speaker B: Laws can be, laws are, laws are oftentimes they're general. [00:17:05] Speaker A: Right. [00:17:06] Speaker B: So we'll make. We'll put it into practice and say, here's what it will look like at the. At the school level. Right. And then even on top of that, like, some of our rules will say a school needs to have a policy on fees. Right. And there's not a whole lot of flexibility, but each school then has their own policy. So we don't write. We don't write direct policies for schools on all subjects. But what we do is we can say, this is the rule, and you have to. Your policy has to align with that rule, and it cannot break it, and the rule can never go against law. [00:17:46] Speaker A: And that. And this. This definitions that you provide, they then go to the local school boards. Correct. To implement within the districts. [00:17:56] Speaker B: Yes. [00:17:57] Speaker A: Okay. So your power essentially is. Is to get from the legislature what their bill says, then to add to it in a way that defines that bill. So that's workable for schools and parents and teachers to understand, and then you implement it and then put it down to the. To this local school boards, who then put it into the district. See, I. A lot of people sometimes think that the school boards up there writing curriculum, writing bills at the Capitol. Now, I know that a lot of you do spend time with the Capitol. [00:18:33] Speaker C: I thought you guys just did Tweed try ons and then went home, but. [00:18:36] Speaker B: Well, you were. You were close, Jared, but I see. [00:18:40] Speaker C: You'Re not wearing tweed, and there's no leather elbows in sight. [00:18:44] Speaker B: I gave you a heads up. It wasn't happening. [00:18:47] Speaker A: I've noticed that legislation in 2024, for example. Can you give us an idea of legislation that you think is. Because here's what everyone's upset about. They're upset about pornography in schools. That's the big topic. And I believe that it was covered or disgust during session. And I know so many minds and so many different people and chefs are in that kitchen to build that, but that was a big one. The next one is teachers. As the fine line between teacher and ally, lgbt versus gender equality. The gender. What do they call it when you identify as something? It's different than sexual, but it's gender identity. Identity. So these things all got discussed right this year. Is there legislation that's come out that you think is positive that. That we can look forward to as parents? [00:19:47] Speaker B: Absolutely. I've noticed that there's this narrative out there that the state board hasn't done anything and that they don't want to change these things. For me, that is not true. Absolutely. I am eager to get pornography out of our schools not only eager to get pornography out, but determined not to let it in. And I think that's a huge part of this, is that we don't want to continue this battle. This is not an ongoing battle. It never should have been a battle in the first place. Right. And so thank you to Representative Ivory, who worked so hard in the legislature and worked with so many others to make sure that by, I believe it's, by July 1, it's before the school year will begin, that that stuff should be removed from our libraries. [00:20:42] Speaker A: And is that on a level of how are they deciding? Cause, you know, someone mentioned it at a meeting last night. Books should maybe be rated like a movie theater rates book. So if a book is over 13 years old, should read it, maybe they should be rated. Now, I don't necessarily want them in the library, but I'm the last person to say ban books because extraordinary books may have some mature content, but again, it's age appropriate. You get it in high school, you're not getting it in elementary school. And so I'm curious with his bill, did it, did it give some definitions of what pornography looks like? [00:21:22] Speaker B: So we're looking at, and there was a special standards and assessment meeting a couple days ago. I think on the 16th is today. I'm losing track of days here. [00:21:37] Speaker C: That would have been yesterday, probably yesterday. [00:21:40] Speaker B: And they're talking about what this is going to look like and how this is going to come through. So you're gonna, you're gonna see that at the next may board meeting on specifics with that. But it is, it is coming, you know, you talk about like a rating system. Here's, here's the thing. If there is a rating system, it's in, if it's in an elementary library, a junior high or a high school, right? And then for, for me, I don't, I don't think it's appropriate. I think a school library should be for school subjects. [00:22:16] Speaker A: Right. That's. Public libraries are for that. [00:22:18] Speaker B: Maybe you want to go to a public library. You want to search the Internet. That's between you and your child or your child or that child and the parent. Right. That's not for the school to get involved and say, oh, your parent won't let you read this. Well, let me show you. Here's a book that I think you can connect with. That's not our role. [00:22:37] Speaker A: No. In fact, that's considered grooming in, according to the law, if you're going to show a child pornography, be a teacher being an ally or just regular teacher. And that's so cringe I can't even imagine. [00:22:49] Speaker C: It's an interesting thought, I think, to the most popular children books of all time, the Harry Potter numbers, they would have, they would have, every four books had to change their rating because they got the books aged with the kids who read them. They got more detailed and more, you know, it starts out kind of plushy toy, scary nightmare, you know, and then it gets to. But what I would like to ask is, has there been a look, a study into how these books got into school libraries? [00:23:27] Speaker B: You know, I don't know if I have exact information for you, but from what I've heard or from what I understand, and again, I could be wrong because I don't want to put anybody under. [00:23:38] Speaker A: Nobody really knows. [00:23:40] Speaker B: But there's some organizations that kind of just sent material to schools, kind of came in a pack with good stuff, right? So it's like, oh, here's, here's a bundle of stuff. [00:23:53] Speaker C: So that could be just a publisher saying, I just want to get more of my books on the shelves, or that could have been insidious. You know, it could have been anything. [00:24:04] Speaker B: But. [00:24:04] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a, that's a big question. [00:24:06] Speaker A: I think, about these organizations. I know that the state school board works with a number of different organizations. And have you, as a board, audited these organizations to maybe see what, what their intentions are, maybe what their, maybe what their social justice stuff is? I mean, has anyone really gone into these organizations to see exactly who we are trusting with our kids? [00:24:31] Speaker B: As far as curriculum, we have individuals at the, from the state, from the staff, and take that for however you will that have to vet these. And then we've also put processes in place that say any books or any material that comes into your library. Schools you have to look at. You can't just accept the Trojan horse, right? So that's where the state can come in and say, no, here's a process that says you have to look at what you're putting into your libraries. And if it doesn't, if it goes against the law, then don't do it. Don't try to put it behind the counter and say it's for special occasions. Just don't do it. [00:25:14] Speaker C: So would that be something that you'd put a, a librarian in charge or maybe the administration or where would the control point for that be? [00:25:25] Speaker B: Well, of course, the administrator is responsible for anything that happens in his school or her school, however, yes, most likely they put a librarian in charge. Maybe a couple of people to have some processes in place for security, but, yeah, it would most likely be assigned. [00:25:43] Speaker A: So I have a comment offline that says Fallette just sends books to school. And I'm not sure what fallet is. Is that an organization? [00:25:54] Speaker B: It could, it could just be. I don't know if it's what organization it would be or if it's a distributor or whatever, but, you know, these, these organizations, they're about making money, right? [00:26:09] Speaker C: Yeah. Of course. If I was a publisher and I could add something into a pack, I would do that. [00:26:16] Speaker B: Right. They just want to make money. So, okay, I'm going to get a lot of money and I'm just going to push a bunch of materials to school. Well, that's what happened. There was nothing. There was no process in place. [00:26:27] Speaker C: And how many, how many principals and librarians would be like, hey, look, they're offering me to get 20 books for the price of 15. And so maybe one of those books is one that is unacceptable, that are pushing it. Principal would, you know, accept that? [00:26:47] Speaker A: It says they're a leading campus retail partner that offers academic programs, merchandise and services for over 1000 campuses nationwide. Now this came from a very reliable source. They're a book vendor and they aren't reviewed. They send databases that aren't reviewed, too. I'd like to get into that, but I'm hoping that this young lady will get into the chat because I would, I would love to have these questions asked directly to Matt because he's going to understand what I don't. But. So you really like Ivory's bill and you see potential there to where we can, you know, what are some of the things, I mean, beside from rating these books, how are they pulling books right now after, when this bill kicks in? [00:27:38] Speaker B: So I had to, admittedly, I don't have the bill in front of me, and there were a lot of education bills that came through. [00:27:44] Speaker A: Right. [00:27:45] Speaker B: I do know that this bill should and, well, has, it has the direction of saying we're not tolerating it, we're not putting it in our schools. And I don't even know, I mean, you talk about a rating here. I don't know what that means because the filth that I've been reading, that has been read to me or that I have seen it, doesn't it mean x rating? Yeah, it's, it's not for schools at all. I don't even know why it would be even considered. Right. [00:28:13] Speaker A: Well, I figured if you can't read that book aloud in a, in a public meeting, how, how is it sitting in a library for kids. [00:28:22] Speaker B: It's a pretty obvious removal process at that point, isn't it? [00:28:26] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, yeah. [00:28:27] Speaker B: Yeah. We're not. We're not. Why is this even debated? [00:28:31] Speaker A: Well, and so then you also have talked about Kira Birkeland. This is something that I really have noticed about you as a candidate, that you're not getting any limelight for yourself. Have you noticed this? You're obviously very humble, but you celebrate the legislators that are doing the work. You have mentioned in so many meetings that have been, you know, sit down meetings with delegates. You're talking about the team, and you're talking about, you know, I've seen you with parents. You're talking about, we are a team as parents, as teachers and administration. So you. You talk about Kira Birkeland and her bill. So I would like to. We'll get to that comment next. I would like to know what you think about Kira Birkeland's bill, which was the bathrooms bill. [00:29:31] Speaker B: Okay. Yes. So I know I've said this before. I don't know why we would put the rights of others above somebody else's. Right. So here I have. Oh, my. [00:29:50] Speaker A: Is that here? [00:29:51] Speaker C: Yeah, it's okay. You could try fighting to make your computer quiet, and that'll be a fight that'll take you three weeks. The show will be long over. [00:30:03] Speaker B: I got it. And I'll be honest with you. Somebody's wanting to play pickleball tomorrow night, so I might. Wow some more coming. Anyway, we're talking about rights here. So again, this goes back to just because I check a box or I fit inside of a box, does that mean my rights are better than sorry, that threw me off here soon. [00:30:32] Speaker C: That wasn't us. [00:30:33] Speaker B: Somebody else's rights? Absolutely not. So I 100% agree with Representative Birkeland that we need to protect the privacy boys and girls in Utah's bathrooms and locker rooms sex designated privacy areas. Right. While proving. And I have it right here. While providing flexibility for unique student situations without violating the privacy of others. That, again, I mentioned this. I can't remember when we were having a conversation. I was probably in a debate. That swimmer who has spoken out. Right. Just horrifying. And I don't see why that would be appropriate to say. Oh, you identify as a female. Well, go ahead. Violate the rights and privacy of the other, you know, students who go in there. Absolutely not. Not appropriate. And so very appreciative of what she's done on here. And you talk about, you know, I. I don't like to use the word I. A lot because I'm one person, even, you know, the. And I recognize that the legislature has a job to do, and I support them in that. And sometimes I don't always agree, but I support them in that. And I always support them in that. And then even referring to the board, there are 15 board members, and if I stand alone, I get nothing done. And I. That doesn't mean to say that I don't fight for specific rights and conservative ideas. That doesn't mean that at all. What it means is that I have to work with others, and I have to get to a point and convince, if you will, through discussion and sometimes even argument that what needs to happen is best for kids, that these, in my opinion, conservative ideas, what's best for kids, and we need to push for that. And again, I'm glad it's not just me. And I will always say we because obviously, we have great legislatures and great people who are pushing our legislatures to do the right thing for our families. [00:32:47] Speaker A: You know, Salt Lake county had just decided that with the. If you identify, you can go into locker room in the, you know, in. [00:32:55] Speaker C: The local city, it's the county properties like the county rec centers and such. [00:33:03] Speaker A: But here's what I tell parents all the time. I mean, this. You, you can love trans kids just as much as you love other kids. It, it doesn't matter, but they're in danger. Both the little girls that are in a room with a male just as much as a trans boy in a room with a bunch of boys, you have to protect women, and we've lost sight of that. And I don't know what world we're going to get rid of, all for one, when there's obviously ways to assist that child who is going through whatever, and they get to change in a bathroom or a separate area, whatever. But it's keeping children safe. That's your job as an administrator. [00:33:49] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:50] Speaker A: And I hope it's the thought of the state school board. So I know that you mentioned, um, Kira Birkeland and the locker rooms being, um. Protected. [00:34:02] Speaker B: Protected, right. [00:34:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:34:05] Speaker B: So locker rooms. [00:34:06] Speaker A: One of the comments, which I think you can see it, but I'll just read it. The. The state board will be revising the state math standards soon. I would like Matt to comment on his vision for the revision process and how he would like to improve the standards. Also, what are key things do our students need to know and do in mathematics that will help them be successful in their lives? I would also like to hear about the vision for improving reading and language arts for our kids. That is a great question, Mary. [00:34:43] Speaker C: Wait, that's not a. That's not a social subject. I mean, you'd think we were talking to an educator. [00:34:50] Speaker A: I'm sure we are talking to an educator, actually. [00:34:53] Speaker B: Well, I really do appreciate this question. I have been on the board for four years. We're wrapping up my fourth year here. I've been waiting for math standards. I started out as a math teacher, so this is my passion. [00:35:08] Speaker C: And still no tweed. [00:35:10] Speaker B: Still no tweed. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'll get one. We'll talk about that later. [00:35:15] Speaker A: No, you won't. [00:35:20] Speaker B: You talk about my vision for the revision process and how I'd like to improve the standards. One, I would love to see our state come back and focus on arithmetic. I would love to get to a place where parents can actually help their children do math again. Do you remember those days? Because, you know, a lot of newer parents don't. Even my own child. I just told you I taught math. I majored in math. I actually know a little bit about math, but I'm looking at my own children's book and I'm like, what? What are they wanting you to do? Right. [00:36:00] Speaker A: Yeah. You have to literally YouTube how to do this common core math to figure out how to help your seven year old. [00:36:07] Speaker C: Is this the common core thing? I've always heard about it where they use different processes to get to the end and it's thrown all the parents off, you know? [00:36:19] Speaker B: Yes, yes. And it's been kind of adopted, I think. You know, common court was brought up, what, it's been about 15 years. We've written it out of a lot of our standards. That's why I'm looking forward to this math standard. So if I address the last part of that, what do I want to see? I want to see foundational knowledge being taught to our k through three students. I'm tired of kids having to pull out a calculator in middle school for three divided by three. And the answer is one. Spoiler alert, it's one. Anything divided by itself is one. Right. But kids are having to pull out a calculator for that. I'm going to share a first. [00:37:02] Speaker A: So many extra steps to come to an answer that you and I had to memorize in third grade are times tables. Right now you have to go by hundreds or tens, and then you go above, then you have to subtract, and there's so many extra steps. And I thought this was by design to separate kids from parents because my dad would get frustrated with me doing math. I mean, we get really frustrated. I don't get it. Well, why don't you understand? You know, parents already have enough homework ilks, but this. When I have to go Google to figure out how to help my child because their answer matters and they're being. The answer was less important than the method. And I was like, don't you want them to have the right answer? [00:37:45] Speaker B: Right. [00:37:46] Speaker A: And memorization is how we did it. [00:37:49] Speaker B: It should. It should be an instant recall. If I ask you what seven times six is, it should be an instant 42. It should not be a. Plug it into my calculator. But. But we're not getting that. We're seeing now. We're seeing kids draw a chart or a graph on their. On the board of their paper to figure out double digit multiplication, where it's like, no, there's such a simpler way. And if you don't have your foundation, then you're going to struggle for the rest of your educational existence. Right. [00:38:21] Speaker A: Any job you have that deals with money, you'll struggle giving change back. [00:38:25] Speaker B: Well, and I. And I would argue that if you can't, if you don't have foundational knowledge in anything, you're going to struggle. Right. Not just math, but. So anyway, that's what I want to get to with math is I want to see, in our early phases, is I want to see more of a grammar stage, teach the kids what it means, and then we can break it apart. Right? If I know that two plus three is five and now I'm talking low level, if I know that it's five, then I can say I can look at it differently, but if I spend 20 minutes figuring out that two items here and three items here make five, and then I saw a curriculum where they wanted you to discuss it with first graders or second graders for about 20 minutes, that's. That's a waste of time. It's a huge waste of time, in my opinion. We need to get back to this stuff where we're, we're teaching kids, and part of teaching is sometimes we tell them and they regurgitate, and sometimes people have referred to it as drill and kill. Well, if you want them to make logical decisions, they have to have a strong foundation of grammar, and we're going to see the same thing in reading. Reading is key to everything. And that was another comment talking about the reading. What are we doing? We have at the state level, and we want to keep this going. I want to keep this going, is we have pushed the science of reading, so that all these teachers are trained in the science of reading. We have to understand that if you cannot read, it will, it will dictate the rest of your life. [00:40:08] Speaker A: It's true. [00:40:09] Speaker B: And so this is crucial. And I would dare say, again, as a math major, I would dare say that reading is the top priority that education should focus on, you know? [00:40:23] Speaker C: Yeah. Communication. [00:40:24] Speaker A: Prager institute put out a small video once that really, really resonated with me. And it was about young boys growing up in elementary to junior high to high school, and that young boys, they struggle. There's a lot that don't know how to read or read to their level. And I'm just, I'm putting girls out just for a second, because girls, girls too, but boys especially. And they get to grades where now they get to do creative writing. And a boy will write a paper about. Well, a girl will write her paper about a story that has a beginning, and then there's a lot of mushy love and, and feels and all of that in the end. And a boy will write a paper and it'll include robots and explosions and invasions, and he'll get a lower grade, and yet he did the assignment. But teachers are looking for something more. And these boys, rather than, okay, I'll fix it if it's not what you're looking for, but I did the assignment. And a parent standing there going, what is the problem? This is what you asked for. Boys tend to shut down, and yet their brains think differently. That's magic to them, the explosions and robots. And I feel like we're not, we're not teaching these kids and grading them based on, you know, what they really know. How was your punctuation? Did you make complete sentences? Did you have a start of middle and an end? It's more about, well, it's not as good as hers. And then when boys fall behind, they're less likely to go to college or graduate, and that affects their whole life. And I think that we have to figure out a way to teach both boys and girls, but to also in, in our school. I mean, our kids every year go, they're in their grade. But my child had accelerated so much in spelling and vocabulary. He was going to the junior high when he was in fourth grade for those classes because you were teaching at his level. And he passed his civics test this week or last couple weeks ago. Now you won't have to take it in high school. Why are more schools not following the type of successes that you found personally in the school? You're a principal of. Because I know not all charters do what you do. [00:42:47] Speaker B: Well, one of the things that, that we do at our school is there's a philosophy that I go by, and it's, if the kid doesn't know it, you haven't taught it. Or if the, if the child doesn't do it, you haven't taught it well enough. Right. And so we don't blame the child for not knowing. We don't just assume that because they're not doing it, that they're dumb or that they can't do it or that they don't want to do it. Right. We assume, we look inward. And I don't know if, you know, I don't want to put other schools down because I don't know what their capacity is and I don't know what they are doing. But it's my firm belief that if you want a child to do something, set an expectation, help them understand that they can reach that expectation and then teach them how to do it. So you talk about these differences in boys and girls. Well, if you're getting papers like that, as a, as a teacher, for me, I'm looking inward and saying, okay, I wasn't clear on my expectation. I wasn't clear on what the assignment was about. And so I need to not punish the student, but reinforce, like, okay, make sure whether it's in that moment or the next time. And a teacher just ages like good cheese. Right. So you've got to make sure that you, you get better over time, is what I'm saying. I don't drink wine or else I would have used that analogy. But anyway, we, I would hope that as an educator, that they would say, okay, how do I do this better? Because kids are kids. You know, you talked about earlier, like, what kind of kids are going into which kind of schools. I believe the input is pretty much the same everywhere. It's not exactly the same, but the input is pretty much the same. It's the output because of, because of my ideals and my philosophies. It's the output that you're going to see kids rise and meet those expectations. It's because we've taught critical thinking skills. We haven't pushed an agenda. We don't want to push agendas. We want them to think for themselves. We want them to have self governance. When a student gets. Does something inappropriate. I sat down with one today, and I said, do you really think that that was the appropriate response? And the answer was no. Now, that was my choice to have a, you know, the conversation was more than that. But is it to have a conversation and teach the child or just say, you know what, you are a problem. I am getting rid of you? You know, what is that? What does that do for our kids? Nothing. Nothing good anyway. What your negative. [00:45:41] Speaker A: What you're, what you're actually doing. And I don't know if people realize it, but just my years at Franklin Quest in my old days, by setting a goal with a child, an expectation with a child, then teaching them, then celebrating when they meet that goal, that is how they get self esteem, and that's what children are lacking. And you can't give self esteem to a child, but you sure can give them ways to find it within themselves by accomplishing goals that they set for themselves. [00:46:12] Speaker B: Absolutely. The most. The only thing that a student can do for themselves is effortless. Right? They could be smart or not as smart, let's say. But if they put in the effort, you're going to see rewards come through. Right? And you talk about self esteem. This, to me, is the greatest SEl program. We talk about Sel being a hot topic, and I don't mean to change this subject here. [00:46:41] Speaker C: What is Sel for everyone? [00:46:44] Speaker B: This is social emotional learning, okay? And what has happened is this has become this thing where academics has been placed aside and we're going to spend hours during the day talking about how, you know, it reminds me of that old SNL skit where I think it's Patrick looks in the mirror and says, you're good enough, you're smart enough, and doggone it, people like you. [00:47:09] Speaker C: Well, is the Sel just to kind of socialize everyone first and then educate them second? [00:47:18] Speaker B: Is that what it's about? It's. It's about, a lot of these programs are about educating students to change their views in order to accept another's views. [00:47:33] Speaker C: Oh, sorry. What would you call that? [00:47:36] Speaker A: I call that communist Russia. [00:47:38] Speaker C: Yeah, the Red Guard training camp. [00:47:42] Speaker B: The greatest thing that I can see for an individual is if you want to talk about what actual social and emotional learning is, and social and emotional development, in my opinion, is finding success in academics. You want a student who is self confident, you teach them how to read and do math. And I'll tell you, as a math teacher, everybody says, man, you must be smart. Well, no, I'm pretty good at math. That doesn't mean I'm smart. But that's, that's the thing. If you can succeed in academics, not only are you going to feel confident, but people are going to be confident about you. [00:48:21] Speaker A: It's true. And at the very youngest level, my child used to be, you know, my son and daughter, totally different kids, totally. My son would do all of his assignments, never turn them in. My daughter would feel terrible if she missed one assignment. On top of it. On top of it, boys and girls are different, but it took, I think, teacher at your school and I'll call her out, misses Larson sat down with him and just explained to him, like, you're not getting credit. You're doing all this work for nothing. And if you see it through to the end and you stay on the path, you're going to see that reflect. And it was like I say that all day. He doesn't listen. She sits down at his level and explains it to him and it was like, oh, okay. And then, holy cow, all the assignments are getting turned in now. We still have some, but I think that that goes with your life. These are life skills you're teaching. If you see something to ascend that you're committed to, you will find success in it. And another comment from Mary that she'd added is she'd like to, she would like you to remind listeners that there are not federal standards are developed by the board. I'm kind of confused there, Mary. There are not federal standards are developed by the board. [00:49:42] Speaker C: She's trying to say that you don't. [00:49:44] Speaker B: Develop the federal standards, so the standards are developed by the board, by the state board, and that's what we're looking at. Like I said, when we talk about these math standards, they're not federal. But the state board gets together and says, okay, this is what we want our kids to learn. This is what we want them to know by the end of first grade. Now, we don't dictate how, again, with the curriculum. And I can't go into every teacher's classroom and say, no, this is how you're going to do it. But we can say, they need to know how to do this. They need to know their multiplication up to a certain point by the time they leave this grade level. And hopefully we can put them in a way and, sorry, hopefully they can be put in a way where there's no time for this nonsense that we talked about earlier. There's no time for drawing a diagram out to find this. There's no time for discussions because we're teaching kids how to do math, arithmetic specifically in those lower grades, and then again use those, that foundational knowledge to gain access, to make logical connections. [00:51:01] Speaker A: When you're talking, you're not talking about ideas and ideologies. You're talking about numbers. Nothing's more concrete than numbers. [00:51:08] Speaker B: I don't know. [00:51:09] Speaker A: They're arguing that right now from some are called racist. I mean, just the social justice stuff is a nightmare. [00:51:18] Speaker B: I believe that. We teach math as math. Right. There's, there's. I don't need to get into some weird left field. We teach math as math. [00:51:28] Speaker C: And so you have a, you have a standard. And the different schools and districts, depending on their, whether it's their economic makeup or demographics, can adjust inside of there. As long as they meet the standard. [00:51:48] Speaker B: They have to. So they have to hit every standard. So it's not like it's a standard. As, like, you have to hit this bar, right. There's a list of standards that say, again, your students need to know how to, by the end of grade one, know how to add double digits. [00:52:08] Speaker A: Okay, so what if they don't meet that standard? [00:52:11] Speaker B: Then the students suffer. Now, I don't know if there's. We'll see. So that's a good question. And I don't know if the. I'm trying to think of how the state board staff polices. That is. That's not something that, that has been brought to us from my knowledge. But what we do see is we see student or we see schools fall behind and then they get put in this status of like a turnaround school or something where the, where they'll need to get additional supports in order to meet the requirements. [00:52:50] Speaker C: I've. I've got a question. Over the last 20 years, male graduation has fallen and male attending college has plummeted. And at first they thought, you know, ten years ago, they thought, oh, we're just meeting equilibrium. But that has proven to be incorrect. Where I think now it's. It's, what is it? 55 45 or even in a lot of cases, 60 40 to females attending college to males. And it kind of concerns me that men are dropping out of society because, uh, I don't know if you guys know this, but when boys drop out of society, society gets real sketchy. [00:53:43] Speaker A: Thank you for that. [00:53:44] Speaker C: It does. It gets, you know, it gets. That's when you see violence. That's when you see. That's when you see, uh, poverty, rebellions and civil wars. And so what? I don't know, sir. Any momentum on that, or is that a concern that's on not just you guys, but is that a concern on the education system nationally? Because we're not hearing it. I'm just wondering, is it. [00:54:13] Speaker A: That's exactly what Prageru was putting their video out to kind of explain that. If we don't focus on boys learning these key, key fundamental subjects, that's one of the reasons is they're getting by through public school. [00:54:28] Speaker C: It seems like they're drop off because. [00:54:30] Speaker A: They don't know how to read. [00:54:31] Speaker C: It seems like they're moving away from it. Eliminating recess in school, which burns energy off of boys when boys need to burn energy off. And so it seems like we're failing young men. [00:54:45] Speaker B: So I'm actually, I'm glad you brought this up. It has been a concern of the board. And before I get into that, you know, we, we saw this push, and we've seen it with, with multiple things as well, not only gender, but we saw it with race and ethnicity and with, like, some demographics. And there's this push to just get this one group. Like, oh, if we could just push this one group. Well, what happens when you just focus on one group? Exactly what we're seeing here. I don't have a problem. Of course, I'm ecstatic that more girls who have grown into womanhood. Right. Have taken on these other, these additional opportunities. I love it. I'm all for it. But we can't neglect the other people in our society while doing it. Right. [00:55:33] Speaker C: Yes. [00:55:34] Speaker B: At the state level, we, as board members, actually, in our audit committee, we talked about, and maybe it wasn't audit. It was in one of the meetings, we talked about having research done to find out what's happening to our young men because there needs to be an even balance. [00:55:54] Speaker A: Yes. [00:55:55] Speaker B: You know, and it, I agree that when we had x amount of males doing this and females down here. Yeah. Let's, let's see what we can do to bring them up. But what happened is we, we ignore the males and then bring up the females, and now we're like this. It's the same thing. Right. And so now we have to bring it back. So we're trying to find out, to your point, jared, we're trying to find out what happened to our young men. Why have we not supported them the way that they needed support, along with our young women so that we can have a good, balanced society. And I think we missed the mark on that as a society, as many organizations have started these different programs specifically for different organizations. We've left out the white male. [00:56:46] Speaker C: Well, yeah, white males, the bottom rung. I mean, they may as well be mascot poop under the total poll push. [00:56:54] Speaker B: That we were inherently racist or. [00:56:58] Speaker C: Yeah, they, I mean, you, I looked one time at a list of scholarships and, like, literally thousands of scholarships. And I think, like, four of them could apply to white males, but they. [00:57:12] Speaker A: Also included all the others. [00:57:13] Speaker C: But they included all the others, but white males. [00:57:16] Speaker A: Tell me, matt, did. We did. Because it seems like over the years, we've gotten rid of shop and home ec or mechanics. I mean, I know a lot of boys in my high school were always out in the shop, out in the mechanic shop, and. And they. They loved it. And they actually grew a love of building things. And I feel like a lot of classes are those classes just left public education because. [00:57:45] Speaker B: Go ahead. Sorry. [00:57:47] Speaker A: I took home ec and I learned the basics of cooking, and I had a great time, and I took sewing, and then I took shop, and I have all my fingers. Hi, mom. But what I'm wondering is, I know money was an issue, and they were starting to get rid of those extracurriculars they called them. But in the meantime, those were ways that. That really spoke to boys sometimes and girls and enhanced their love of school or maybe taught them a trade while they were still young, and maybe they went to trade school instead of college, but we're seeing that even trade schools could use more. [00:58:26] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, so first off, I took home ec. I learned how to sew and cook. And I remember sitting in an 8th grade class thinking, this wasn't for me. But I did it, and I was very appreciative. It comes in handy later in life. Right. Even in eight grade in high school. [00:58:46] Speaker A: All the girls are in that class with you, so you're no dummy. [00:58:51] Speaker B: In high school, I took some metal shop and some woodworking and you know what I mean? Auto mechanics. These are great programs, and they really do give students, males and females, the opportunity to see, hey, I like this, or I don't like this. CTE, which has all these programs that we're talking about, career and technical education, the program has continued to grow, so they're still out there. But we would always like to see more, and we do see a lot of these males fall into these categories in the trades, and that's not a bad thing. And one of the things that I really appreciate about expanding these is it gives the student an opportunity to find out what they like. Right? And you guys know this. It's like, well, we have more males in, I don't know, construction than females. So we need to fix that, really? Because I know more males who like construction more than females. So it's natural. Right? [00:59:51] Speaker C: You want a mutiny? Go kidnap women and make them go into construction in October, November. [00:59:58] Speaker A: Our work in sewer, February. Yeah. There's just ideals that women prefer different jobs than others. That's not all women, but I mean, that's common sense. You're going to find more women. I wanted, I know we don't have a lot of time. Are you getting signatures? Are you going caucus, convention? [01:00:19] Speaker B: I am all, uh, in the hands of the delegates. So we. They are going to decide in, uh, what is it, a week and a half? It's all in their hands, so. [01:00:32] Speaker A: Excellent. [01:00:33] Speaker C: Well, it's a week and a half. Or is it this Friday? [01:00:36] Speaker A: No, he gets, he gets elected at state. [01:00:38] Speaker B: Oh. [01:00:38] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. You're at state. [01:00:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:00:40] Speaker A: So state delegates, if you haven't had a chance to meet Matt and you want to leave a comment for him, do it right now where he can answer it. Or, Matt, how do people get ahold of you if they want to reach out to you before convention? You are, are you going to be at our county convention Friday night? [01:00:57] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. And I'd love to talk to as many people who are willing and just let's, let's get some conversation going. Let me answer some questions. I know if I'm honest with you, there's been some false narrative out there, and I want to clear it up. So I've been reaching out to individuals and, you know, I want to make sure that you understand that I'm here for you. I'm here to do the work. I have conservative ideals, and we want to make sure that we keep Utah. Utah. [01:01:28] Speaker C: So what are you packing here? Five kids? [01:01:32] Speaker B: I've got five kids. Yes. [01:01:34] Speaker C: I like it. A very handsome family, good looking kids. I have one more question, kind of to follow up on this males getting left behind thing, because granted, I'm sure there's things that schools and the primary education can do to help this out, but colleges tend to also have a problem with this. Is the school board. Do they have anything to do with the higher education at all, or is that something totally different? [01:02:07] Speaker B: So there is a higher, higher board of education, so we don't get to mess with that. There might, I'm sure there's committees and individuals who work with them and give them ideas, but we don't make policy for the higher ed or anything of that nature. [01:02:29] Speaker A: That's, I mean, it kind of be nice if you did with this legislation that has just come out regarding HB 261, you mentioned that, and that is no longer going to be permitted in schools, which for people that didn't, that don't know that's the policy programs on initiatives like anti racism bias, critical race theory, implicit bias, intersectionality, racial privilege. This is, I can't believe that we have to actually address this but definitely needs addressing because a lot of people are a lot worried about CRT in schools, and that's just come up over the last few years. Children are taught to hate themselves for the color of their skin, something they have no control over whatsoever. And, you know, when I ask, what are some of the, I think I asked you what are the positive bills that have come out? I go to your flyer, and you mentioned all of them. [01:03:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:03:32] Speaker A: And I'm just, I'm impressed because, you know, I, I appreciate who has time to babysit and know everything about the legislator, aside from my friend Nicholeen Peck, who is up there all the time for fun. She's, she is just a wealth of knowledge. And one question I asked another candidate was who on the board? And you don't have to give exact names, but who on the board do you see as people you can work with that you found you've been able to work with? [01:04:08] Speaker B: I mean, you give me numbers like, you know what? I have found that I can work with most of them. I'd say easy ten. [01:04:18] Speaker A: Easy ten. [01:04:20] Speaker B: And there's a reason for that, though. And the reason is, as it was kind of maybe alluded to, that I work with people. I listen to people. Right? I listen to my parents when they come in and say, I have a concern. That doesn't mean I change everything at the drop of a hat, but it gives me perspective, and it gives me an idea of where people are seeing things and how we can improve it. And that's what this is about. This is improving. And so when I have at least ten other board members who are willing to not only listen, but share and work with and say, you know what? You're right, we can. We can make this happen, then. That's huge. We can get a lot of work done when we work with each other. And again, we don't have, that doesn't mean we have to compromise principles. [01:05:11] Speaker A: Right. [01:05:11] Speaker B: We have to wordsmith things, right and make it, make it sound correct and make sure that everything's in there. And so we do that, and it takes time. And if I'm, if I'm honest, again, you don't hear me a whole lot at the board meetings. I don't speak a whole lot. It's because I've done the work behind the scenes. I'm, by the time that gets to the table, discovery is gone. There's no time for that. You guys have seen these 15 hours boards. [01:05:37] Speaker A: That is a great point. Please elaborate, because I think people see these school board meetings. They're exhausted by them, some of us. I mean, I would like you to, if you are elected, I would like to make these school board meetings maybe more often and in the evening so parents can attend. But elaborate on that, because you see the fighting, and I don't know if it's fighting for the show, because the ones who aren't fighting are the ones, like you said, you've already done the discovery prior to even having the vote. So you don't need to discuss it. You've, you've gone over it with your fellow board. So explain that a little. [01:06:19] Speaker B: Yeah. First off, if education is huge, this is not a game.