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| FREE: You Never Know Whos Watching, and Why Getting Seen Matters |
| Posted on Friday, October 02 @ 00:02:19 PDT (12 reads) | |
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More than 150 college coaches shared this article. Join prepdig and get 30% off with code “digdakotas30.”
follow on instagram @prepdigdakotas.
recruiting in the volleyball world is challenging. I have seen it as a scout, but i have also lived it as a parent. I know the excitement that comes when a coach shows interest, the frustration when an email goes unanswered, and the questions that come with trying to figure out where a player fits. So many talented athletes are trying to be seen, and no two recruiting journeys look the same. Players need people who will support them, advocate for them, and help create opportunities. That is one of the biggest reasons i love what i get to do through prep dig.
prep dig is about more than rankings. It gives volleyball players another chance to be seen through scouting, articles, rankings, events, and continued coverage. That is a big reason prep dig matters to me. The midwest is full of volleyball talent, including athletes in gyms and communities that don’t always get much attention. Some players are already well known, while others are still developing or simply waiting for the right person to notice what they can do.
one of my favorite examples of why this matters happened last club season in utah. I was on a freeze volleyball court at a north dakota club when a college coach from hawaii sat down. We began discussing the players, and, of course, he asked about how we manage the north dakota cold. Eventually, he started asking who had committed. I turned the question around and asked him what he was looking for. That conversation led to alayna foster devold.
i knew alayna could play at that level, and i knew hawaii was high on her list. When he started asking me about her, the first thing i talked about wasn’t how hard she could hit a volleyball. I talked about who she was. What kind of person was she? What kind of teammate was she? To me, that is huge. A college coach isn’t just bringing a volleyball player onto campus. They are bringing someone into their program and team for the next four years.
then he asked me if she was coachable. Absolutely. From there, i talked about what made alayna stand out to me on the court. One of the most significant things was her versatility. She could play anywhere across the net and handle different roles depending on what her team needed. I had watched her enough to know what she could do, and i believed she could play at that level. So i told him what i knew.
what stayed with me most from that conversation was how impressed he was with the dakota players he had been watching. He didn’t know much about the athletes on that court before sitting down, and he kept asking questions and wanting to learn more. Before he left, he thanked me for the insight i had given him on alayna and the players from our area. Then he said something i still remember: he felt he had discovered a gem.
that meant a lot to me, not because i needed the thank-you, but because it showed me exactly why having scouts in these gyms is so important. A college coach from hawaii was sitting at a court in utah watching athletes from north dakota, and i could provide him information he couldn’t get from a stat sheet or a roster. I knew these players. I had watched them compete. I knew more about their games, versatility, development, and often the type of teammates they were. When he wanted to know more, i could help him understand those details.
i didn’t go into that tournament expecting that conversation. I didn’t have some master plan to connect a player with a college coach. I was sitting at a volleyball court when we started talking, and when he told me what he was looking for, i knew of a player he needed to watch. Later, alayna’s family reached out during their trip and thanked me. That meant a lot. Alayna earned her opportunities because of the player, teammate, and person she had become. I just happened to be in a position to help someone see her.
and that is just one story. I’ve shared information with college coaches about gems in gyms all over the midwest. That is one reason midwest players are becoming so exciting to recruit. These kids know how to work. Many of them learn multiple positions because their team needs them to. They travel hours for club practices, tournaments, camps, and training. They compete, adapt, and learn to pursue opportunities that aren’t always obvious. That toughness comes with it, and it is worth paying attention to.
that is what i am looking for when i walk into a gym. I am not just looking for the tallest player, the hardest swing, or the biggest stat line. I watch the whole court. How does a player respond after making a mistake? How does she treat her teammates? What happens when a coach corrects her? What does she do when she isn’t getting set? Can she adjust when her team needs her somewhere else? Those things don’t always show up in the stats, but they tell me a lot about a player.
one part of this role i have really come to appreciate is being able to bring what i see beyond just an article or ranking. I have had opportunities to provide input for breakdown sports in minnesota and for the gatorade player of the year process in both north dakota and south dakota. I don’t take those opportunities lightly. When someone asks me about a player, i want to offer more than numbers. I want to talk about what i have actually seen, how that athlete impacts a match, what kind of competitor she is, and what separates her from other players. That’s another reason being in the gyms and truly knowing these athletes matters to me.
i also want players and parents to know that i don’t believe college volleyball begins and ends with division i. I want those athletes to discover homes. Period. Division i, division ii, division iii, naia, or junior college, opportunities exist everywhere. The best fit will look different for every athlete. If a player finds a school where she loves the coaches, can contribute, gets the education she wants, and is fulfilled, that is something worth celebrating.
sometimes helping a player get there starts with something really small. It could be a ranking update, a watch list, an article, a tournament evaluation, or a conversation sitting beside a court in utah. When i write about a player, i don’t want just to repeat her height, position, and statistics. I want a college coach to learn something about her. What makes her different? What kind of teammate is she? Is she coachable? Is she versatile? What does she do that could translate to the college game? Most importantly, is there something there that makes me think, “you need to watch this kid?”
being a parent who has gone through the recruiting journey has shaped how i scout, too. I know how exciting it can be, but also how confusing and frustrating it is to figure out where your player fits. There is a kid and a family behind every name i write about, and i don’t take that lightly. I know how much one conversation, one coach showing interest, or simply having someone believe a player deserves another look can mean to a family.
at the end of the day, this is what i want my role with prep dig to be. I want to identify players. I want to follow them as they develop. I want established players to receive the recognition they have earned, but i also want to find the kid whose name people don’t know yet. I want to be someone college coaches can talk to when they come into our region and want to know more about the players. I want to sit next to a coach, hear what they are looking for, and think, “i know someone you should watch.”
there are gems in gyms all across the midwest. Some have already been discovered. Others are still waiting for someone to see them.
that’s why i keep looking. ~Theresa@prepdigdakotas |
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| Only one student jailed in NAU hazing death despite claims others lied |
| Posted on Friday, October 02 @ 00:02:19 PDT (14 reads) | |
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Only one student jailed in nau hazing death despite claims others lied
flagstaff, az (azfamily) — carter eslick was sentenced wednesday to at least 60 days in jail and three years of probation in connection with a fraternity rush event that left 18-year-old colin martinez dead.
eslick is the only person facing jail time in the case, though he was not the only person arrested.
judge cites honesty in sentencing
during the sentencing, attorneys and the judge said others at the delta tau delta fraternity covered up evidence or lied to police. Those individuals are not facing criminal charges because prosecutors said they do not have enough evidence.
judge stacy krueger said eslick was the only one honest from the beginning but said someone has to be held accountable.
“and yet you stand here alone and i know part of that is because you choose to be honest while other people flat out lies to police,” krueger said.
why others have not been charged
brenna fisher, a defense attorney in phoenix, said prosecutors in large cases often focus on the person they are most likely to convict.
“even if you know someone lied to the police, while that technically is a crime, sometimes in bigger cases like this the police or the prosecutor are going to look for who has the strongest case overall, right,” fisher said. “Who are we most likely to get a conviction on.”
fisher said charges against other students could still be filed in the future.
“so the prosecutor usually have about 7 years to charge people with felony crimes,” she said. “So there could in theory be criminal charges coming for other people at anytime in the future within that seven year limit.”
students react to case
senior harlie smith said she is not surprised other people who may have been involved could have lied to police.
“because they don’t want a bad rep,” smith said. “So they’re trying to cover it up so that totally makes sense.”
freshman ethan ferrer said he has never been to a fraternity event but understands the pressure pledges could face.
“most kids, i think it’s cause they’re so new to college life they need something to like, fit in,” ferrer said.
during the sentencing, colin martinez’s father spoke about courage. He said the night of colin’s death, students needed courage to step up and stop the heavy drinking. Instead, peers chose their reputation that night, and now their son is gone.
resources for students
there are laws that protect students who are with someone under the influence of drugs or alcohol. A person can call police, and as long as it is done with the intent to get the person to safety or medical attention, the caller cannot be criminally charged, even if they were drinking underage.
see a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
copyright 2026 ktvk/kpho. All rights reserved. |
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| The College Rape Crisis |
| Posted on Friday, October 02 @ 00:02:19 PDT (13 reads) | |
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The “college rape culture” propaganda machine has been cranked up again, in the wake of the cornell 7 case. Liberals are dusting off their claim that one quarter of all college girls will be raped or be the victims of rape attempts before they graduate. That is an absurd assertion, as heather mac donald points out:
if the one-in-four statistic is correct—it is sometimes modified to “one-in-five to one-in-four”—campus rape represents a crime wave of unprecedented proportions. No crime, much less one as serious as rape, has a victimization rate remotely approaching 20 or 25 percent, even over many years. The 2006 violent crime rate in detroit, one of the most violent cities in america, was 2,400 murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults per 100,000 inhabitants—a rate of 2.4 percent. The one-in-four statistic would mean that every year, millions of young women graduate who have suffered the most terrifying assault, short of murder, that a woman can experience. Such a crime wave would require nothing less than a state of emergency—take back the night rallies and 24-hour hotlines would hardly be adequate to counter this tsunami of sexual violence. Admissions policies letting in tens of thousands of vicious criminals would require a complete revision, perhaps banning boys entirely. The nation’s nearly 10 million female undergrads would need to take the most stringent safety precautions. Certainly, they would have to alter their sexual behavior radically to avoid falling prey to the rape epidemic.
heh. Just kidding. That isn’t happening. What is really going on on university campuses is completely different:
it’s a lonely job, working the phones at a college rape crisis center. Day after day, you wait for the casualties to show up from the alleged campus rape epidemic—but no one calls.
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federal law requires colleges to publish reported crimes affecting their students. The numbers of reported sexual assaults—the law does not require their confirmation—usually run under half a dozen a year on private campuses and maybe two to three times that at large public universities. You might think that having so few reports of sexual assault a year would be a point of pride; in fact, it’s a source of gall for students and administrators alike. Yale’s associate general counsel and vice president were clearly on the defensive when asked by the yale alumni magazine in 2004 about harvard’s higher numbers of reported assaults; the reporter might as well have been needling them about a harvard-yale football rout. “Harvard must have double-counted or included incidents not required by federal law,” groused the officials. The university of virginia does not publish the number of its sexual-assault hearings because it is so low. “We’re reticent to publicize it when we have such a small ‘n’ number,” says nicole eramu, virginia’s associate dean of students.Campuses do everything they can to get their numbers of reported and adjudicated sexual assaults up—adding new categories of lesser offenses, lowering the burden of proof, and devising hearing procedures that will elicit more assault charges.
it’s remarkable–colleges do all they can to get their rape statistics up. If anyone took those numbers seriously, parents would stop sending their daughters to such dens of criminality.
but of course, no one takes the liberals’ claims seriously. Everyone knows their “statistics” are bogus. But the rape hype industry persists, because it generates income. It generates income for those who are employed, waiting for the phones to ring, or in university administrations enacting anti-sexual assault (or anti-male) measures. And above all, it generates income for lawyers who sue institutions like cornell and rely on the left’s fabricated statistics to convict those institutions of negligence.
and the universities go along with it. Why? |
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| Iowa City bus driver campaigns for a seat in the Iowa House |
| Posted on Friday, October 02 @ 00:02:19 PDT (13 reads) | |
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As a bus driver for the city of iowa city’s transit system, the people daniel arch drives everyday are the same ones he hopes to represent in the statehouse.
running for state representative of iowa house’s 89th district as an independent, the lifelong iowa city resident is making the case that problems he has seen close up — such as homelessness and rising tuition — need a stronger voice in des moines.
arch said his choice to run with no party affiliation is both a matter of principle and political strategy. He said he wants to represent the 33,000 constituents in his district without being bound by party agendas.
“there has never been a stronger independent movement than there is now in the u.S., And i think people really want to have somebody who is outside the duopoly of how american politics work,” he said. “I feel like running as an independent is what people actually truly want.”
arch, a university of iowa graduate, said growing up in iowa city gave him a firsthand view of its challenges. He graduated from iowa city high in 2021, and went on to obtain a degree in business management and leadership through the tippie college of business.
arch said his campaign is centered on five priorities: investigating school district finances, addressing the homeless population in iowa city, freezing public university tuition for five years, expanding the number of district judges, and limiting the use of eminent domain by private companies.
“at the end of the day, a private corporation only has numbers in mind. So i would rather have my government run by an actual government, not a corporation,” he said.
arch decided to run for office in response to the financial issues iowa city community school district is currently facing. If elected, arch plans to launch an investigation of the school district and pursue a state audit of the district’s financial records.
related: first-time candidate enters iowa’s education debate
“iowa city is supposed to be a school district with great education standards,” he said. “We’re really well renowned for that, it’s even a unesco city of literature.”
higher education costs are another target of his campaign. Arch proposed freezing tuition for five years at iowa’s three public universities, saying the rising price of a degree can leave graduates like himself burdened by debt, and even force them to leave the state.
according to the state higher education finance organization, tuition at iowa’s public universities has been raised on average 2.7 percent since the 1980s. Arch hopes to explore a loan forgiveness program for iowa students who stay and work in the state after graduation.
“iowa is facing a growing population decline and labor shortage,” he said. “I would love to be able to get kids who have grown up here in iowa and study in iowa to stay in iowa.”
arch also wants to expand iowa’s judiciary, arguing that a shortage of judges in district courts leaves cases waiting years to be heard. He proposes increasing the number of district judges by 20 percent.
“you should know your rights, and you should be able to have your rights that you’ve been promised,” he said. “Under the sixth amendment, you’re promised a fair and speedy trial. Waiting two plus years is not speedy.”
chris arch, daniel arch’s father, described arch as hardworking, self-directed, and motivated to serve his community.
“trying to run an independent campaign with very limited funds, you have to be a go-getter,” he said. “You have to be hardworking, and i love watching how he interacts with people.”
arch has received $650 in donations to his campaign according to his website. The rest of his campaign has been funded from his own bank account. Arch estimates he has spent a few thousand on marketing, yard signs, and door knocking.
chris arch said daniel is a fourth-generation iowan, and really wants to make a difference in the lives of iowans in his community. He also said he is inspired by his son’s campaign efforts over the past year.
“i think a lot of young people are completely disillusioned with the political system today, and to see some young people that are demonstrating an interest, i think it’s really admirable,” chris arch said. |
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| Caitlin Clark, Nike launch new shoe in exclusive IC drop |
| Posted on Friday, October 02 @ 00:02:19 PDT (14 reads) | |
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A line of people adorned with caitlin clark merchandise stretched down the block in the rain, all waiting for the opening of a large, light yellow trailer. The trailer reads, “nothing to see here*,” but the back of the trailer, where security guards manage the line, reads “*except the caitlin 1s.”
the caitlin 1s are the first major shoe drop of the former university of iowa women’s basketball player and current indiana fever guard’s career.
the excitement for the drop, which blocked off iowa avenue from north clinton street to north dubuque street, was palpable among the people in the streets. Ui students, adults, kids, and senior citizens waited in line, all in black-and-gold attire, many with clark’s logo, image, or words adorned onto them.
clark was the star guard for the hawkeyes nearly all four years of her career, but particularly her junior and senior years, where she went back to back in unanimously sweeping several women’s basketball awards.
the sentiment of clark’s absolute fame was shared by many students and fans alike. She has broken several all-time records for the wnba, and also notably broke the women’s basketball all-time scoring record with 3,951 total points scored during her career.
“i’m a big fan, i went to a bunch of games the year she graduated. I was there when she broke the scoring record,” ryan duffy, a fourth-year electrical engineering student, said. “It was so cool to see. She was such a national figure by that point, and such a huge deal not only on campus but in sports.”
related: caitlin clark to reveal her signature in iowa city
especially in iowa, the prospect of a star-studded figure being homegrown within the state and attending the largest state school was a massive draw to her popularity. People who had never watched a single women’s basketball game found themselves turning on the tv for every game just to watch clark play.
“there just really hasn’t been an experience like that in college, up until caitlin clark,” jacob frankel, a master’s business analytics student, said. “She was really the first of her time, she defined the era, and created such a spectacle. I think a drop like this, with a turnout like this, shows just how big her legacy actually is.”
clark’s career popularity also contributed to a boost in interest, tv ratings, ticket sales, and financial investment into women’s basketball and all of women’s sports that many have coined the “caitlin clark effect.”
“it was so electric to be on campus when she was playing. She helped bring a lot of light to women’s sports in all, especially as someone working in athletics myself,” grace burns, a second-year master’s sports and recreation management student, said.
with her background in sports, burns said the event and the turnout was empowering.
“she’s such a driver within women’s sports, and she’s just showing through her shoe drop to athletes and other people how you can continue to grow,” she said.
stephanie hoffmeyer, a ui quality project manager, became emotional when recounting what clark’s career and legacy meant to her.
“i used to play basketball all through college, so seeing her and all the attention she garnered was so great to see,” she said. “You know, you’re sitting on the bench as an eighth-grader saying ‘someday,’ and so her someday, was all of our somedays.” |
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| October 2, 2026 - Magnus Financial Group Ron Deutsch and Tough Enough Matt Hunte |
| Posted on Friday, October 02 @ 00:02:19 PDT (13 reads) | |
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01 oct october 2, 2026 – magnus financial group ron deutsch and tough enough matt hunter
sfs radio
00:04 intro 1: in the am, radio network, broadcasting from am and fm stations around the country. Welcome to the small business administration award-winning school for startups radio, while we talk all things small business and entrepreneurship. Now, here is your host, the guy that believes anyone can be a successful entrepreneur, because entrepreneurship is not about creativity, risk or passion, jim beach.
00:20 jim beach: hello, everyone, welcome to another exciting edition of school for startups radio. Thank you so much for being with us today. Really appreciate you, loyal listeners. Tell your friends. Let them know that we’re paying everyone $20 a day to listen. First up today, ron deutsch, an amazing story. We’re talking about buying and selling, and then matt hunter on tough leadership. Let’s go ahead and get started right now. Here we go. Very excited to introduce you to another great leader. Please welcome ron deutsch to the show. He is the managing director of magnus financial group. He has been at all of the big companies. He worked at prudential securities, kidder, peabody, sage financial group, a lot of different firms on his career. He is a chartered financial analyst and has an mba from northwestern kellogg. I’ve actually lectured there myself. He’s an avid tennis player sports enthusiast and gives back actively to his universities and serves on investment committees. There. Ron, welcome to the show. How are you doing today?
01:21 ron deutsch: i’m doing well. It’s, uh… we’re getting over the summer blues at this point, so we’re moving into the fall and i’m actually all re-energized moving forward here, but nice to be on the show. Thank you.
01:34 jim beach: is it a boost in new york energy when everyone gets back from the hamptons and everyone?
01:39 ron deutsch: i think that’s a fair statement. I wasn’t a hamptons guy, but i did a lot of, a lot of fooling around and lying around the pool and whatnot over the summer and it kind of got a little bit lazy, but now i’m re-energized, and i’m ready to go. The weather was a very hot summer too here. So it was, it was actually a long, hot summer, but now i’m, uh, weather’s turning and uh, and uh, i’m ready to give it a strong, strong uh, push going here, going to your end with uh, with, with my business.
02:14 jim beach: and how does that affect? How does that affect the market, ron? September bump.
02:19 ron deutsch: well, no, usually actually september, october, 10th is not great periods in the market because they tend to be, it’s just seasonally and it just, you pick up a lot of the major events and they’ve all, all the, all the negative events over the past 20, 25 years in the market, they’ve all happened, many of them happened in september, october, uh, going way back to the market, the stock market crash of 1987 in october. It’s a great financial crisis when that really hits striving. Lehman brothers went on business in september of 08. And i mean, i could probably go through the list, but it tends to be a weak seasonal period. And obviously we’re now at a point geopolitically here in this world where, you know, we got between interest rates moving higher, currently, uh, oil price, obviously, have been high and moving higher again because without getting into politics, you know, the war is getting worse, it seems like day by day, not better.
03:17 ron deutsch: and on top of that also is you got a lot of other geopolitical problems, which are further aggravating things. And inflation is becoming more of a sticky problem too. So there’s a lot of headwinds here against the market, despite the fact the market has actually held up fairly well this year and it continues to, but i’m just telling you that being an nx fixed income guy, um, keep your own interest rates because interest rates have moved up markedly higher here in the last month or 2 and they could go higher again, depending what the fed decides to do next week or 2 as well.
03:54 jim beach: okay, so if the interest rates go up, the economy slows down, right?
03:59 ron deutsch: that’s the intention, the intention also is to slow, is to really try to stamp that inflation over the long term as well, which is the big, the biggest, the biggest concern right now. I mean, the economy seems to be doing well, but, you know, i don’t want to get into a whole, uh, economic impact, but, you know, ai is offsetting a lot of that to date, but now there’s all sorts of stuff going on today with ai in regard to people worrying about it wanting regulation on it. So there’s just a lot of headwinds and tailwinds going back and forth with a lot of these things and i don’t think people will know what the result is to wait down the road as far as whether ai helped inflation, rated her inflation, as well as what’s good, what role ai is going to play.
04:50 ron deutsch: it’s going to be a large role, but there seems to be a lot of, a lot of concern here in the, the papers in the media the last couple, couple of days actually regarding that. Has been.
05:04 jim beach: so many negative articles. Sam altman said that they’re slowing down their ipo because of security threats. I heard anthropic was trying to get money from nvidia to help prop up their ipo. I’ve also heard that there’s only room in the market for one of them to get public and that they’re both overpriced at this point already. How do we resolve all of that, ron?
05:27 ron deutsch: don’t know. I’m not going to play. I an advisor. I’m not a prognosticator. So i can tell you, you know, i don’t know. I mean, the markets will determine the long run, but, but right now there’s just so much, um, there’s a lot of stuff going on that we just don’t know about and understand, and a lot of people, you know, i, you know, i mean, ai has become ai and the data center is just all this is now becoming a political football as much as an economic football. So, it’s not, it’s kind of out of my field and i don’t want to get into it, but, but it’s, um, you know, you know, it’s something which, uh, you know, we’ll have to see where the winds blow at this point. I can’t i can’t prognosticate in that regard.
06:16 jim beach: are you overall net positive ai or net negative? Meaning from the statepoint of using it or what i think it could do for the world? The happiness of your 3 sons. Overall.
06:28 ron deutsch: no, well, luckily my sons are old enough that, you know, if i had kids come out of college, i would not be happy. I’d be worried. I would be. My kids are old enough now. They’re all will be in their 2nd, you know, by now beyond 3 or 4 years of working, so they’ve already established themselves. And once i think once you get to middle levels of business, of management or working as opposed to the entry level positions, which i think are the most threaded, obviously, at this point, it’s not as big a deal.
07:02 ron deutsch: but if i had kids coming, go in a, by juniors in college right now, i’d be very, i’d be concerned because i wouldn’t know, you know, it’s like when the, you know, it’s kind of like when the internet broke 20 years ago and, you know, a lot of, a lot of businesses, which were vibrant, were vibrating, more, and they were replaced, but, you know, people got retrained, you know, there’s all sorts of jobs within the, within the digital media and digital, everything in the media and the, you know, by virtual and viral space that didn’t exist in too. Ai, i don’t know. Again, i don’t know. It’s, i know, i really, really don’t know what what it, you know, what people should go. I know that the plumbers in the electrician schools are very popular right now because people know, well, that they’re not going to be replaced, but, you know, i’m not sure many people want to go into that also.
07:59 ron deutsch: it’s a limited, you know, it’s a, you have to be a 75 person. So again, we’re kind of straying away from my expertise, so i don’t want to, i don’t want to get too far into it.
08:12 jim beach: let’s talk about… tell me about the group, what you specialize in, how you measure yourself in terms of assets or accounts. Tell us about the firm.
08:22 ron deutsch: so, magnus financial group, we’re a registered investment adviser. We started 2017. I joined it for a year later. The firm started out with a group of there was one advisor, michael schwartz, who found the firm and he had about 6 support people, and that was the firm to start. I joined a year later, and i brought on a couple of other people afterwards that i recruited to bring on as well. The firm basically started out with about $3000000 back way back in 2017. And as of today, we’ve grown up to $25000000 under management, which is a growth rate of, i don’t know what it is, 20%, 25% a year, something like that. Um, we are an independent advisor. So basically, um, you know, we managed people’s money in a totally objective way. We use everything from etfs, individual securities. Um, you know, we don’t make any money from anyone other than the client. We charge the client management fee and that’s it. There are no underlying fees, no commissions, nothing.
09:22 ron deutsch: so we are not uh, motivated to use investments for clients that either a aren’t appropriate or b already cost effective because we don’t, we, our, our interests are completely aligned with our clients, you know, as opposed to a lot of broker dealers where they are not, uh, have, they don’t use the same model. We was in our open architecture. So we can use any, any, any, any, any, any security, et cetera, that they want. You know, a lot of bigger firms have their own internal models and investments they use and to, you know, a lot of their platforms that the big guys, you know, big brokers, firms or banks like morgan stanley’s and goldman sachs, they use a lot of their own products or you have to pay a fee to get on their platform. We have none of that. So as a result, we’re totally objective in choosing what we choose for clients.
10:17 ron deutsch: and if the client does well, we do well if client doesn’t just do well, we don’t do as well. So where our interests are totally aligned with them. Um, you know, me personally, you know, before i joined the firm, i was with a couple other similar firms before that. As i say, we’re an independent ria. Um, so we are, uh, monitor regulated by, uh, by the sec, um, and basically, you know, um, i worked for brokerage firms prior to entering this business, uh, before i became an advisor with magnus and became, came into the business, which i’ve been doing this now for about 17 years.
10:55 ron deutsch: i had a career on wall street, uh, for almost 25 years, which was to predominantly, um, an investment banking, and then i became a fixed income institutional salesman, which meant that i was dealing mostly in fixed income, which are bonds basically, but as opposed to individual investors like we deal with now, all my clients were institutions, the jp morgan asset management, the pimco’s, uh, mass financial, you know, life insurance, you know, life. I mean, all the big institutions for my clients. So i learned my, i cut my teeth in the bond business for my whole career, um, and by dealing with all these institutions. I was dealing with a lot of burgers, smart decision makers, which made me think and learn a lot more about how the markets work, how things income works, and i became kind of a specialist at fixed income because of that career.
11:47 ron deutsch: uh, toward, in my career, i decided i was finally going to, by the time i turned 40, 45, i was not going to stick around. It was more of a young man’s business. The hours weren’t long. Um, the stress is great. You know, you do your kind of training floor most of the day. Um, and as a result, i took my cfa exam toward the end of my career, i passed that. 3 year exam. So that would enable me to have a pretty good basis for being able to basically manage both stocks and bonds and private investments and everything. So i did that. And then i needed my career, i, i flipped over from basically being a fixed income institutional guide to become a registered investment adviser.
12:32 ron deutsch: i went to work for a small friend in new york with no clients and nothing and or the next 5 years, i got to tell lawyers and accountants and built up my business and then after that i made a couple of moves until i ended up with magnus, which is where i am today.
12:52 ron deutsch: so, my, um, my fixed income background is a, is a big, it’s made my whole business that much stronger because, you know, a lot of bigger clients that i have, um, in addition to putting together a diversified portfolio, putting together a financial plan for them, you know, with doing a whole budget, doing retirement planning, i’m also able to build out individual bond, bond portfolios, meaning they’re individual securities i’m building out for them myself, rather than either farming it out to another firm and paying an extra fee to them. Or using just neutral funds and the like, which are very high expense, and not only as effective as owning an individual bond portfolio of specific securities, that can be structured to meet the goals of the client and match what i view is an interesting environment that’s appropriate. So that’s that’s briefly what we do, what the firm does, what i do.
13:45 ron deutsch: we’ve, the firm itself, we offer financial planning, obviously, as i mentioned, investment management, and we also have an insurance group as well that will review people’s insurance policies, determine what they may, they have, whether it’s appropriate, what they may need, and what they should be thinking about. And indeed, if people want, you know, want to purchase insurance policies, i will very often price r for now versus other firms to make sure that they’re getting the, you know, the lowest cost and the best policy they can. I, i, um, i don’t deal insurance directly. So, that’s kind of a brief overview of how we work, what i do. As a firm and basically, you know, we have, i, i run my practice with basically 4 meetings a year at a minimum with every client. Um, the practice itself i have. I try to, you know, i try to run a medium-sized practice in regard to number of clients.
14:41 ron deutsch: i try to maintain a one on one with all my clients and try to customize everybody’s portfolios to a reasonable extent too, running doing the typical just straight model portfolio that most of the bigger firms do because it’s quicker, easier. And it’s, it’s, it’s less, uh, just less work. But in my case, i’m trying to keep my business to a natural number of clients. I can’t.
15:05 jim beach: what is that number, ron? Sorry to interrupt. What is that?
15:09 ron deutsch: that’s all right. That’s got about 40. It’s not. I managed money for about 40, 40 to 45.
15:15 jim beach: okay. 40, 45 families.
15:16 ron deutsch: individuals. It’s more than that. It’s probably about 70 individuals, but many of them are family members like. So that’s what i’m trying to keep trying. I mean, i’ve been growing and slowing you cheer, but, you know, as i’m with people longer, longer. I know them like the back of my hand. They know me. So i don’t have to, you know, i know, i know what i’m supposed to be doing for them and whatnot, but when i’m starting it. I try to maintain it. Um, much more communication contact with them up front at the beginning, we’re just getting things going. So that’s kind of, that’s kind of about, about what the, the, my practice looks like. The firm, as i said, has, i don’t know how many accounts we have, 900, 800 accounts with the firm. So even though my assets are a reasonable percentage of the firms, my number of my clients, a much smaller number because i just found a different business.
16:14 ron deutsch: i try to have bigger, bigger clients and just try to um, try to uh, maintain that customization. I can do. And like i said, i do build out individual portfolios with individual bonds and then away from the stocks and as a result of, i can only do that if i’ve got a manageable number of clients as well. So that’s that’s in a nutshell kind of how we work as a firm and how i work kind of as well. Um, so.
16:44 jim beach: so you grew the firm sixfold over 7 years. How do you grow a firm like that, ron? Do you run it?
16:50 ron deutsch: it’s a team effort. Not just me. Team effort. Most of it’s organically. We haven’t hired like 20 advisors within the firm either. I would say a lot of it, you know, some of it. You know, i can talk to the very large fur accounts, the firm is, is, we do team up, we do teamwork. So i, i, myself and the ceo michael and i work together in a couple of big account, very big accounts with the firm. And it’s a, it’s a team approach. There’s another gentleman at the firm that i work with on a few large accounts also. So by, you know, what is it?
17:28 ron deutsch: you know, knowledge is in, uh, 2 heads are great or better than one, and very often we found it, you know, when you approach, when you approach uh, new clients or otherwise, you know, if you’ve got depth in a couple of smart people, rather than just one person, it carries a lot more weight and it enables you to just show your, your metal and your, your knowledge base. I mean, i can speak for myself. I know what my strengths are. Everyone’s got their strength and their weaknesses. So, you know, if i’m going to see a particular client or michael or someone else is, you know, you try to bring someone else who can compliment what your skills are, and then you can, you can be fairly proficient in all the skills that they’re needed to, to convince people why you’re firm and your, your, your group make the most medicines for them to consider using basically. Um, and, and, and that’s been really it.
18:26 ron deutsch: i mean, you know, referrals for another reason. Obviously, if you do well, your clients like you. They’re going to refer people to you as well. You know, um, and in general, i think that’s been probably 2 biggest reasons why i’ve been able to do it. I mean, i will say that, that i’m kind of shocked. I didn’t think i didn’t think i’ve never been with a firm that’s grown as quickly. So this had been, you know, but it’s been a very pleasant surprise and, and, um, you know, people could do good for people, things just follow after that. So it’s been, um, it’s been a good. It’s been a good, good adventure so far, i guess, is what i would say. And, um, you know, and i would tell you too that, uh, we’ve also expanded bit as well into alternative investments and private investments. So we, you know, we’re dealing with some things a lot of the smaller, but the smaller advisor for us won’t do.
19:25 ron deutsch: and, um, you know, we built our own platform of, of, of, whether it be real estate or whether it be, venture capital, whether it be private equity, whether it be oil and gas. I mean, we we kind of find some of the, some of the kind of mid-size off the, off the, um, the grid, um, private managers to use as well and and, and they tend to be, um, a lot, find a lot more inefficient ways to invest money, make money, and then think a lot of the, the big guys do too. So, that’s kind of just an additional point to bring out.
20:02 jim beach: if i come in as a client with $1000000, am i going to invest in different things than someone with 10 or a $100000000?
20:11 ron deutsch: a 1000000 yeah. Yeah, maybe hard, what i would say is someone with, you know, usually if you hit 3 to 5000000, it’s not the portfolio, the ideas and stuff aren’t getting markedly different necessarily than if someone with 50 or $100 million. The only difference might be, depending on look on what your personal situation is how we allocate the money amongst all the different investments as opposed to changing them up markedly. You know, if we have a, if, if, if we have a, a view on, on the market or viewing sectors, we’re going to have everybody, you know, pretty much invested the same way across sectors. But as far as across asset classes, that’s a function of your living situation and your personal situation, regard to what percent in private investments you might want to be versus fixed income versus equities, and then even with inequities, you know, how much between growth and growth and income based.
21:07 ron deutsch: so that’s the growth and income or the 2 kind of linchpins in the sense of a seesaw that you make money on. I mean, you can make money through growing or investments, you can make money by collecting cash every quarter every day by being investing in dividends or interest paying or other distribution oriented private investments too. Those are the main ways we can differentiate people. And those are determined by people’s demographics, so they were tired. Are they no longer bringing a salary, so they need their salary replaced.
21:39 ron deutsch: if that’s the case, you know, i’ll reverse engineer and figure out, well, how much, what do we need to produce and wave cash goes to cover your, your, your, your budget or your shortfall, and then the balance, we can then have different risk buckets, what we can, what we can take as far as high, lower medium risk, you know, in regard to what, what we, we can afford to do without blowing up your, your need for cash to pay your bills and whatnot if you, for instance, in retirement or whatnot. On the flip side, if you’re a younger person, we’ll go the other way, and it’ll be more growth oriented as well, as opposed to value your dividends as well. So it’s, it’s, you know, it, it’s really a function of each person’s, um, uh, their, their, their needs are and what their, what their, how their, their profile needs in regards to their, their life and lifestyle and what, what stage of life they’re at.
22:39 jim beach: you mentioned replacing income. Are annuities a good idea? I’ve heard every idea about annuities, every take. What’s your thought on it, ron?
22:46 ron deutsch: well, like i said at the beginning, i don’t, uh, insurance and annuities are not something that i’m, i’ve got specialists who will deal with that stuff in general. You know, i’ve found that i’ve tend to steer people away from me. They’re very high cost in general. And a lot of them also, um, you know, depending who you’re dealing with, you know, a lot of are being sold rather than bought, i guess, i would say, in that regard. A lot of insurances take a lot of money on those things. And a lot of them are sold rather than bought. So a lot of times i’ll, i’ll, you know, i guess the question will be, okay, why do we want to use the annuity as opposed to, what can, what can we not do in the public markets that they knew will do for us?
23:37 ron deutsch: and if there are reasons for that, then i’m willing to listen, at which point i’ll steer you to one of my specialists and have them walk you through it, but i want to understand 1st what i would get out of the annuity that i can’t get by keeping liquidity and keeping people in more liquid public things. And that would be the questions i would ask. In that regard. But yeah, i know what he said had a lot of hair on them over the year and over the years and, you know, a lot of people don’t understand them. I mean, it’s hard to get it by stuff that you don’t understand. And, you know, i know what i’m good at. I know what i know well, and i know what i’m less good at and what i can’t focus on. That’s what we have. Like i said, we, we use people at the firm to complement each other.
24:32 ron deutsch: you know, if someone wants to, someone’s advisor, they can talk to me, if someone wants someone who also just bonds it as a specialty, they can talk to me because i know bonds better than most people, you’re going to be in business as well, for sure. And that’s that’s a misunderstood uh, medicine class as well.
24:52 jim beach: how so? What’s misunderstood about bonds?
24:55 ron deutsch: well, it’s just a misunderstood. Bonds are are are the hard. I mean. Bonds there tend to be a hard concept for people to understand how they work and and what they should be doing and basically, you know, you throw out the concepts of pre-payments and duration and credit quality and how you combine all of them to pick the right and put together the right portfolio to meet your needs is not something most people can do on the side. A lot of people, on the equity side, you know, can do it yourself because they all think that everyone thinks they know equities, which we all know if we don’t, but everyone thinks they do, or a lot of people think they do and like picking stocks, but picking bonds, not many people are going to find, are going to just be able to pick a bond that makes sense because most people just don’t understand it incorrectly if i’m wrong, but i think that’s fairly accurate statement.
25:54 jim beach: oh no, i would agree. You’re certainly the expert on this is too. What about the rare metals? Gold, silver, the light.
26:02 ron deutsch: oh, yeah, we, yeah, within within what i, i, i, when i, when i, when i build out portfolios within my alternative section, i use, you know, i, i, i use, you know, actually, the gold, gold miners. I been using enough for the last year and a half within all my portfolios and in my gold, they’ve done even better because they’re tend to be more of a leverage bed. But yeah, gold, silver. Um, i use an etf that kind of combines palladium and platinum and gold and silver all in one. So you kind of get exposure to a bunch of medals in one in one shot. Um, you know, a lot of what i use are sectary tfs because, you know, much of the returns when people have equity returns are, it’s as much a function of what sector of the market you’re in as opposed to necessarily the one, the one uh, particular stock that you picked.
26:58 ron deutsch: i mean, the sectors are about 80% of the return on equity portfolios, visa v, just picking individual stocks. I mean, if you tell me i want to own oil and gas, i mean, you know, i’ve owned individual stocks and energy and this and that, but, you know, if you buy the oil and gas, etf, that has exxonmobil and chevron is almost half of the constituent right there. So if you buy exeter mobile, you buy the etf, it kind of isn’t that much different between the three. So just not diverting from what you ask, but metals are something that we use. Um, you know, i tend to, to use medals. I tend to use oil, yes, i tend to use some hedged equity products, which use options overlays and whatnot. I can both protect you from a down, you know, protect you from a down market as well as creating a level of income too. So i’m pretty, very open in the different things i use.
27:57 ron deutsch: i use closed in funds in some cases. Which are leverage leverage funds that basically can create a better level of income, especially if it’s a fund that you would be particularly like that you’re confident in as well. So closed influence train a whole nother world themselves. They treated discount in that acid belly or premium. It’s a whole nother science, so to speak, but, but i use, i use a bunch of different kinds of, um, off the run things in that regard to, um, and then on the bond side, i’ll even use all these floating rate prefers. Uh, reset bonds. I’ll use, you know, munis on occasion where they haven’t been very cheap. Um, you know, collateralized loan obligations. I mean, it’s, it’s, uh, we, we kind of use a pretty mixed bag of stuff and it’s not your, a lot of visit, your plane with stuff that you, uh, you see a lot of other people either.
28:53 jim beach: how do we get into the industry? How do i become you? What should i do?
28:58 ron deutsch: oh, god forbid. My wife would kill you if you became with me. Tell me right now. One of me’s better. My wife couldn’t believe there were 2 of us, god forbid. So you don’t want to become like me, but as far as learning the things i do or whatnot. Um, i guess to get into the industry, look, i did a switch from the institutional side to decide. It wasn’t easy. Um, i basically took a shot. I had no business, no clientele. When i joined a firm. I worked with a guy. I helped him out on his clients and they made very little money, but i want to learn the business and, you know, after a while because of my, my background, my financial skills and everything else. Um, i picked it up and then you just got to network at that point with, with kind of, uh, i guess, fears of influence, so they’d be accountants, so they’d be lawyers. Uh, honestly, podcasters too.
29:55 ron deutsch: you know, if i’ve made a, i’ve had a relationship with one podcaster right now, we’re, we’re working together to, with some of his network to see what, what i can drum up there as well as far as meeting people. So it requires a lot of, a lot of dedication, a lot of uh, taking, look, it’s a lot of risk taking any time you make a change like that. Um, and but there’s no one exam, you can just take and become it. Um, but, you know, if you join insurance, you can go to, you know, insurance companies have, have programs where they, they teach people to be same, they, you can join them, become a financial planner and work with their clients to start and see where it goes in there.
30:41 ron deutsch: but the guy who runs my firm, michael, um, came out of northwestern mutual, and he was a, i’m sorry as a planner, and they became kind of planner in a, in an advisor of sorts, and now he, and he started the firm himself, and uh, and it’s grown from there. So there are ways to do it. It’s not easy, but, but, you know, if you’ve got the, the, the drive and you’re willing to take some risk, it’s doable. And confidence in yourself, i guess, and the other thing. You know, that’s number one. So that would be one.
31:16 jim beach: more follow online, get in touch.
31:21 ron deutsch: so with me. So there’s a few ways, um, our website is, it’s magnusfinancial.Com, com that’s m-a-g-n-us financial.Com. We’re in we’re at 90 park avenue in manhattan, new york city. Um, you can also uh, go to our linkedin page. I’m on linkedin as well. It’s it’s ron deutsch. My email address is ron. Deutsch, d-e-u-t-s-c-h, at magnusfinancial.Com. Linkedin, like i said. Um, and then also, uh, you know, my, uh, i mean, my phone number is pretty much available to all my clients all the time. So if you’re really interested and want to set up a, you know, i won’t say we give, we give free meetings like uh, introductory meetings where we’ll, we’ll happily review your, your current situation and come back with the recommendations, tell you what we think, and after that, if you decide to go with this, great, if you know it, that’s okay also. But they’re basically free of charge. So we’ll give you a couple one hour meetings with us.
32:19 ron deutsch: we’ll do a good work for you too. Um, my phone number is 914-384-4802. And the rest of my information is on my profile, which is all on our website, as i said before. So that’s probably your best bet, and um, hope to hear from somebody if you guys are all interested.
32:37 jim beach: ron, thank you so much for being with us. Great information and we’d love to have you back. Thanks a lot.
32:44 ron deutsch: thank you. Appreciate it.
32:45 jim beach: and we will be right back to talk about tough leadership. We’ll be right back. He is an executive leadership coach, an entrepreneur, and an author. He started a company called turnstile, which used wi-fi data to help businesses understand their customers better. It was acquired by yelp in 2017 for $9 billion. That might not be right. I don’t know how much he got for it. But anyway, it was a bunch of money. He is also a very active member in the founders pledge, which is helping entrepreneurs give back and create opportunities for charitable causes. The organization has already given out $17000000000 very impressive. He is also author of a new book called tough enough, how to lead a team to greatness without being the jerk. Matt hunter, welcome to the show. How you doing today?
interview 2: matt hunter
33:36 matt hunter: i’m doing great. Thank you so much for having me here.
33:36 jim beach: it is our pleasure. One. 7 billion. Is very impressive. I have not heard of the founders pledge. I’ve heard of the billionaire’s pledge or the thing that bill gates is doing with warren buffett. What’s the founders pledge?
33:51 matt hunter: the founders pledge is an organization, a nonprofit organization that gathers a community of startup founders. So if you think of the warren buffett one, they’re doing the wealthiest people in the world, right? They’re focusing on the maybe top 3 to 500 wealthiest folks in the world. Uh, whereas for founders pledge, uh, which by the way, i don’t work there anymore. I’m not a part of that, um, organization, but they they do that with startup founders, uh, and they get them to make commitments on paper as their startup is growing to give to charity if they sell their company. And then when they do, they go ahead and donate that money into the charitable sector. So it’s an amazing organization. If you’re a startup founder, i would highly recommend you look into it.
34:37 jim beach: that is a great idea. I love that. And i didn’t know that you weren’t part of that anymore, but, uh, nevertheless, it’s good to learn about the organization. Very cool.
34:48 matt hunter: yeah.
34:49 jim beach: tell us a little bit of your history. Tell us about turnstile and what got you to your point here today.
34:56 matt hunter: yeah, so i i’m originally from canada, and i was a big athlete as a kid. I mean, still am today. Uh, but that was a huge part of my family was athletics and sports and uh, uh, just having a, having a passion for that and understanding what it takes to work hard and uh, build a winning culture on a team. So i was always really passionate about leadership, uh, as a kid. Uh, and then growing up going to uh, business school and then eventually starting a band with one of my best friends, we were making music and wanted to… it was, uh, it was like indie electronic pop music. So, yeah, the band was yeah, the band is called natural animals, so people want to look it up. They can, there’s some music. We’ve been out of practice for probably 10 years. We haven’t made any music, but, um, but yeah, in the kind of 2010s, we were doing our thing.
35:54 matt hunter: and we wanted to understand who was coming to our show so we could start to recognize them, reward those people, take care of them. And we built the technology to do that. And that technology ended up being really useful for cafes and restaurants and coffee shops. So we turned that into a startup and scaled it up and it was acquired by yelp in 2017. Uh, and then i wanted to go ahead and have uh, you know, an impact. I wanted to really focus on impacting the world and that’s when i teamed up with founders pledge and helped run that organization for a handful years. Uh, and then i actually was being coached by one of the top silicon valley executive coaches, he’s coached, uh, a bunch of amazing entrepreneurs.
36:40 matt hunter: he’s coached the ceo of apple, of nike, doordash, masterclass, a bunch of awesome companies, and when i left that role, he encouraged me to become an executive coach with him, something that would marry my passions for business as well as leadership. And i’ve been doing that for 5 years. And him and i, a few years ago, uh, him being, you know, he’s one of my mentors, he, he started to, uh, share that he was obsessed with this same kind of question that i was obsessed with, which is, what is it about these really successful founders and leaders that we’re coaching? Um, why is it that so many of them are souls or jerks? What’s the deal there? Is it is being a hole? Does that really move the needle as a leader? And he happened to coach many of the c. Just hands, uh, how intense and aggressive and sometimes uh, poorly behaved. Steve jobs was, but also how it led to these incredible results.
37:39 matt hunter: and so him and i, we were obsessed with this question. We did a bunch of research and we actually discovered that, no, it’s not being an asshole that moves a needle. It’s actually being tough and it’s being tough in these 7 specific ways. And if you can do that, you can get these incredible results. And by the way, you can decouple the toughness from behaving like a jerk from being disrespectful to your people. And so once we discover that, we put that into a book, which is called tough enough, how to lead a team to greatness without being a jerk. And yeah, excited to kind of share more about that today.
38:19 jim beach: well, that is a great story. Thank you for sharing that with us. And it is amazing. The value that a great coach can bring to a person that is so well documented. What is your niche at what type of coaching issues are you dealing with?
38:33 matt hunter: yeah, so i’d coach mainly growth and later stage founders and ceos of startups. So these are venture-backed startups going from, you know, uh, let’s say, uh, uh, $50000000 valuation all the way up to 10s of 1000000000s valuation. Uh, and then i also work with executives at fortune 50 companies, executives and leadership teams of fortune 50 companies. So i’m dealing with most of the problems are, you know, most of them are kind of people problems when you really get down to the bottom of it. We’re coordinating humans to make something awesome happen. And the problems seem, although these are different businesses, a big public company from a gross stage startup, you do see a lot of the same challenges, how to manage well, how to hold people accountable, how to set an inspiring vision, how to fiercely pursue the truth, how to build an amazing team. Uh, it’s, it’s to me, it seems like a lot of the same problems.
39:30 jim beach: how do you get clients like that? Such an amazing list of clients? How do you acquire a client from a fortune 50 company?
39:40 matt hunter: uh, well. Some of it is word of mouth, some of it is a lot of the great work i do with john. Uh, he’s he’s been a coach for over 3 decades and has a bunch of amazing relationships. Uh, so yeah.
39:55 jim beach: okay. Well, tell us about the book. Let’s go through some of these 7 ways to get tougher.
39:58 matt hunter: sure. Yeah, happy to.
40:02 jim beach: all right.
40:02 matt hunter: so, so essentially, what we’re, what we’re saying, the thesis of the book is that all great companies and all great teams are built by tough leaders. So if you want to have good results, you need to have high levels of toughness. That’s that’s the thesis of our book. And it’s a specific kind of toughness, there’s these 7 areas where we think it matters the most. And jim, if you’d like, i can kind of walk people through just a very high level of those sevens. Yes, yes. Great. Great. So, uh, so the 1st one is to live your manifesto. We call them 7 habits. The 1st habit is live your manifesto. Define an inspiring vision, mission, values, and enforceable standards, and live them with visible, unshakable conviction. So you want to be clear on what your mission vision, values, and standards are. And then you want to have very high levels of conviction. So that’s the 1st habit. The 2nd habit is called manifesto.
41:02 jim beach: isn’t that like one step away from a life sentence? Wait, say more about that. Well, all these guys that end up, you know, killing a bunch of, like kaczinski has a manifesto, you know?
41:12 matt hunter: sure, yeah.
41:15 jim beach: i don’t have a manifesto. Matt, i don’t even know where to start with a manifesto. How do i write my own manifesto that doesn’t get me in jail for, you know, all the deep, dark thoughts that i have.
41:25 matt hunter: yeah, for sure. Well, a manifesto, as you’ve rightly pointed out, can be many different things. A manifesto can be a dark negative thing, right? It can have some kind of dark commentary on humanity and inspire people to, you know, see the world that way or to take some kind of action. Uh, in that way. But similarly, it can be a positive thing. It can be a way to inspire your group of people to do something amazing. And so it’s, it’s, uh, when i say manifesto, it’s essentially a story that you tell, that inspires uh, employees, potential employees, investors, potential customers, it’s a tool, right? It’s a tool and a story that you use to tell those things. Now, we break it down into 4 specific components. So you’ve, you know, if you’re a business leader, you’ve probably heard a lot about, well, you want to have your vision and your mission and your values. And most companies already have that.
42:23 matt hunter: uh, they are word salads at best, many of those companies. Uh, they don’t mean anything clearly. And so what we want to encourage people to do is to for for a vision, you want to state some kind of future state in the world that your company is working towards.
42:41 jim beach: well, you don’t have so you don’t have to be, right?
42:44 matt hunter: so here’s the, so you’re talking about kind of, at least what i call.
42:51 jim beach: i’d make them better, you said, you know, uh, i got to, i said, i actually said… i can’t make the world better. My little company, the 5 of us, you know, we’re just trying to get the lights on, you know? The idea that we make the world a better place is ridiculous.
43:08 matt hunter: yeah, so, so, so, jim, you’ll notice that i actually said oral, right? So the 2 main stories you’re going to see in business that motivate people at scale are, sure, what simon sinek espouses, which is to change the world. But for many companies, that’s not realistic. So then you want to use this other story, which is we’re going to be the best at something. Whether that is, we’re going to serve the best coffee in this neighborhood, whether that is, we are going to be like yeti, we’re going to make the best outdoor products for your food and beverage consumption. So you need something aspirational that your small group is going to go after. Okay? And you can niche it down. You can chunk it down into something that is realistic. But if you if, but if you’re not, and rightfully so, if you are not changing the world, don’t say that you are. And that’s a big problem that a lot of large companies get into, right?
44:07 matt hunter: they’re coca-cola or pepsi and they’re talking about and how they’re changing the world. And it’s disingenuous and i really don’t think it works. I think it backfires.
44:17 jim beach: well, it’s true for coca-cola, just not for pepsi. Coca-cola is true. Pepsi’s the lying company, so.
44:22 matt hunter: wait, say more about that.
44:25 jim beach: i used to work at coke. So, you know, i’m an attic guy, so i bleed coca-cola. I bleed coca-cola.
44:31 matt hunter: okay. And we back up see the opportunity. Okay, got it. Got it. Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. Um, so anyways, that shall i move on to another next topic?
44:44 jim beach: yes, go to number two.
44:45 matt hunter: okay, great. So habit number 2 is called make your pursuit relentless. You want to sustain high intensity effort and hunger towards your mission without burning out by managing your energy well. So the idea here is that, um, you know, our book is all about pursuing greatness, which is a very intense playbook, right? This is not for everyone. So i want you to take what resonates and leave behind what doesn’t. But at the highest levels of business, uh, work-life balance does not apply anymore. It’s now actually much more about an endurance event and being smart about how hard you can push without burning yourself out, without losing your mind, without really hurting yourself from a health standpoint. Uh, so that at a high level, that’s habit number two.
45:31 jim beach: all right, i like it. Number three.
45:32 matt hunter: cool.
45:33 jim beach: all right.
45:33 matt hunter: i have it number 3 is to assemble a cult of incredibles. So you want to build and continually upgrade. Excuse me, a high caliber team of mission converts who share your standards and complement your strengths. So this this habit is all about assembling what we call a healthy business cult. So once again, jim, i imagine the word called. If the word manifesto sets you off, i think the word cult also will set you off. But a cult is a, once again, it’s a tool. It’s a way to powerfully motivate a group of people to do something positive or negative. And ideally, it’s positive in what in a vehicle that we call a healthy business cult. Uh, so, so, if you do that, you’re deliberately indoctrinating people into your manifesto, into the way you see the world, into your mission, right? You’re getting these people to believe and be excited about what you’re up to. Uh, and so that they will ultimately uh, work hard towards your goals.
46:31 matt hunter: so that’s happened, number three.
46:33 jim beach: okay. I have a great idea. The bad ideas jumping into my mind. I immediately thought of the elizabeth holmes movie where she’s just been destroyed by the wall street journal, but yet she goes out and has a team meeting and riles everyone up based on a bunch of lies as the movie shows us, but, um, she was very good at keeping her team very enthusiastic. So.
46:58 matt hunter: she was, she was, yeah, she was actually one of the best in the world at habit number one, living your manifesto, right? She was so fired up about her mission and got all of these people, all of these prominent successful leaders in the world to believe that she and her team were the people that would pull it off. But part of her challenge, and we talk about this in the book, if she went so tough on that particular habit, that, and as well as some of these other habits, that she got into what we call the danger zone, which is where you’re all of your empathy falls away, even your commitment to your mission is so strong that you lose even a basic fundamental commitment to ethics. Right? So she doesn’t ethics be damned. This mission is more important. She’s going to do the ends justify the means. She’s going to do whatever it takes to make it happen, right?
47:53 matt hunter: so she’s in what we call the danger zone, which few people get to, but there are some other modern examples. Jeffrey skilling and enron, sam bankman-fried at ftx, uh, and it’s a, it’s a horrible place to lead from.
48:06 jim beach: yes, quite a, uh, group of people you just listed there. Have you seen the new documentary or heard about the new documentary about elizabeth holmes that was at the…
48:20 matt hunter: with yeah, with nathan fielder.
48:21 jim beach: yeah, i just i read this story on that. I’m excited to watch it. You’ve seen the preview. It’s just scary is get out. I mean, she looks so psychotic. I mean, they have a, for 45 seconds that she doesn’t blink once and her eyes are open, you know, about 12 feet wide. Oh boy, it’s scary. Okay. Nutcase.
48:42 matt hunter: i will check that out. Yeah, i’m excited to watch that.
48:47 jim beach: all right, number four.
48:48 matt hunter: nice. Number 4 is harness emotional thunder. So how can you channel authentic emotion and productive tension to drive urgency and clarity without crossing into abuse? So this is where we see a lot of, let’s say, sports coaches. We see a lot of sports coaches. Delivering negative emotion to their team or we see a lot of powerful business leaders doing the same thing. Well, why are they doing that? They’re not just doing that to be an abusive jerk. They’re actually doing that to make their points land and to motivate people to change course. And so we teach you with this habit how to do that, but do it in a way that’s respectful.
49:27 jim beach: like bobby knight throwing the chair is that in the personal…
49:32 matt hunter: so, so, bobby knight? Yeah, so bobby knight throwing the chair would be doing that in a way that is disrespectful.
49:37 jim beach: yes.
49:40 matt hunter: right? And and there’s, so they’ve actually studied, so berkeley studied, uh, uh, through over 300 uh, basketball teams, college and high school basketball teams. And they had some incredible findings, which is that if a coach delivered a halftime speech that included what they called negative emotion. So this is going to be some kind of anger, disappointment, concern. If they had any kind of negative emotion in there, uh, they uh, increased the team’s chances of winning. By going out. So the team actually would play better in the 2nd half. Now they also discovered that if the coach went way too hard, like if they tipped into kind of hostile abuse, this would actually not increase performance. Uh, they discovered the same thing in the nba. If a coach was being hostile. To a player, they were much more likely to get technical fouls. Their player efficiency rating would go down. So it’s really about finding that sweet spot of sharing negative emotion.
50:35 matt hunter: uh, but not doing it in a way uh, that is abusive or kind of too much to their people.
50:42 jim beach: yeah, i think we’ve seen some examples of the too much.
50:47 matt hunter: absolutely. Absolutely. Well, let’s not, let’s not, let that cloud the facts. That actually sharing negative emotions really does improve performance. They’ve studied this with technological teams, with startup teams as well. Uh, and if a team is comfortable sharing their negative emotions, budget adherence goes up, uh, uh, they deliver faster. There’s all kinds of amazing findings, studying to use that share negative emotions. So anyways, that’s that’s habit number four.
51:11 jim beach: all right, number five.
51:12 matt hunter: number 5 is to fiercely pursue the truth. So you want to prioritize the unvarnished reality over the polite comfort of what’s happening. Okay, through passionate debate, through truth telling, through giving and receiving feedback, through ensuring that bad news travels fast. So if you can, so for example, this is where you mentioned elizabeth holmes. This is where theranos really fell down. There were people on her team that were constantly questioning the viability of the products. Those people were silenced, they were fired. They were pressured. Uh, you want the opposite of that. You want your people to, uh, continually debate things, scrutinize ideas such that you land on an accurate picture of reality and you make good decisions. So that’s habit number five.
51:57 jim beach: all right. We only have time for one more. So give us number 6 or seven. Which one’s better?
52:03 matt hunter: great. Number 6 is to build your accountability stack. This is, so in any company that delivers great work, they all have what we call an accountability stack. This is a system that helps you hold your team accountable. And do it in a way that drives performance. And one of the most surprising things about this area is how many leaders will shy away from not intervening when the work isn’t going well. And how many leaders will not enforce negative consequences when things are going well. And if you can lean into those 2 things, if you can courageously intervene and have the awkward conversation, as well as introduce some negative consequences that are clear, fair, and consistent, uh, then you can really hold your team accountable well, uh, and deliver great results.
52:47 jim beach: the book is tough enough how to lead a team to greatness without being a jerk. Matt, hunter, and john baird, or the authors. How do you want us to get in touch with you, matt? Find no more about you. Get some coaching, buy a book, all that, please.
53:05 matt hunter: yeah, you can head to toughenoughleaders.Com. Toughenoughleaders.Com. You’re there, you can read about the book. You can also check out my coaching work. So that’s where you can also get in touch with me. You can buy a copy of the book. There’s all kinds of extra resources. So there’s a couple of assessments where you can see how tough you are and how tough you stack up on each of the 7 habits. There’s also a workbook that you can download to use as your kind of companion guide as you work through the book. So that would be the best place.
53:42 jim beach: fantastic. Matt, great stuff. Congratulations on a really interesting, great career, and congratulations on the book. I see that it is 5 star rated on that amazon thing. Great stuff. Thanks for being with us and we’d love to have you back.
53:58 matt hunter: thank you so much jim. Really appreciate it.
ron deutsch – managing director of magnus financial group
i know what my strengths are. Everyone’s got
their strength and their weaknesses
ron deutsch is the managing director of magnus financial group and a wealth management professional with more than 30 years of experience in portfolio management, financial advisory services, and the fixed income markets. He works with entrepreneurs, business owners, high net worth individuals, retirees, pre-retirees, and institutional clients to develop diversified investment strategies designed to support long-term financial goals. His areas of expertise include strategic asset allocation, portfolio diversification, income-focused investing, risk management, and taxable fixed income, with particular experience in investment grade and high yield corporate bonds, mortgages, and sovereign debt. Before his work in private wealth management, ron built an extensive career on wall street. He held senior positions in the fixed income departments at bear stearns, bnp paribas, prudential securities, and kidder peabody, and began his career in investment banking at drexel burnham lambert. His wealth management experience has also included roles with dynasty private wealth, sage capital, and lebenthal asset management. This combination of institutional market experience and personal financial advisory work gives ron a broad perspective on how investment decisions, market conditions, business growth, and risk can affect long-term wealth. Ron focuses on helping clients make informed financial decisions while building portfolios and financial plans that can remain resilient through changing economic and market environments. For entrepreneurs and business owners, his work extends beyond simply growing business revenue to understanding how to diversify wealth, manage financial risk, generate income, and protect the assets they have worked to build. He holds the chartered financial analyst designation and earned an mba from northwestern university’s kellogg school of management. Outside of his professional work, ron is an avid tennis player and sports enthusiast and serves on the investment committee for the binghamton university foundation.Matt hunter – executive leadership coach & author of tough enough: how to lead a team to greatness without being a jerk
and by the way, you can decouple the toughness from behaving
like a jerk from being disrespectful to your people.
matt hunter is an executive leadership coach, entrepreneur, and author who works with founders and ceos to grow their businesses, build winning cultures, and become more effective leaders. He brings two decades of experience founding, leading, and coaching companies and now advises leaders of fast growing and later stage businesses, including companies backed by venture firms such as andreessen horowitz, accel, and nea. His clients represent companies with a combined market value in the tens of billions of dollars, and his work is expanding to include public companies and elite sports teams. Before becoming an executive coach, matt was an entrepreneur and company builder himself. He co-founded turnstyle, a technology company that used wifi data to help businesses better understand and engage customers. Turnstyle was acquired by yelp in 2017. Matt later joined founders pledge, eventually serving as president and u.S. Ceo. Founders pledge is a global community of entrepreneurs who commit a portion of their personal proceeds from successful companies to charitable causes. The organization has now recorded more than $12.9 billion in charitable commitments, with more than $1.7 billion already deployed. Matt’s experience as both a founder and organizational leader gives his coaching a practical foundation rooted in the challenges executives encounter while building and scaling companies. Matt’s leadership approach draws from a wide range of disciplines, including negotiation, organizational behavior, communication, psychology, executive coaching, athletic performance, and personal development. He has studied approaches associated with the harvard negotiation project, stanford graduate school of business, nonviolent communication, the conscious leadership group, the co-active training institute, and other leadership and coaching traditions. He also brings lessons from his own athletic background in college basketball, competitive golf, and endurance sports. Across these influences, his focus remains highly practical: helping leaders set clearer standards, handle difficult conversations, make better decisions, and create cultures capable of sustained high performance. Matt is the co-author, with executive coach john baird, of the forthcoming tough enough: how to lead a team to greatness without being a jerk. The book challenges the idea that leaders must choose between demanding exceptional performance and treating people with humanity. Matt and john argue for a form of leadership that is firm, fair, respectful, and appropriately demanding. Drawing on decades of coaching founders, ceos, and senior executives, they introduce seven leadership habits and a toughness spectrum designed to help leaders recognize when they need to push harder, when they need greater compassion, and how to maintain high standards without creating a destructive culture. Tough enough is scheduled for publication by basic venture on september 29, 2026. |
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| A review of Freak Lip: Essays of the Unsaid by Julia Cohen |
| Posted on Friday, October 02 @ 00:02:19 PDT (13 reads) | |
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Reviewed by anna rollins
freak lip: volume 5: essays of the unsaid
by julia cohen
texas review press
november 2026, paperback, 137 pages, isbn-13: 978-1680034240
the first sentence that goes unsaid in julia cohen’s freak lip: essays of the unsaid is this: “i got my period.” This fact, never uttered, “wilts like a bird covered in coal dust, a negative velocity.” Cohen contextualizes her shame: she is not in a family plagued with religious guilt, she has not internalized a morality that prohibits sexuality. Her household was “flush with acceptance but little privacy.” She simply didn’t want to shift the way she was experienced by others. She did not fear the change; she feared the unanticipated response.
cohen begins the narrative with the image of a silver-grey drawstring bag containing her bloodied underwear. She keeps this bag of bloodied underwear hidden in a paper mache snoopy mask, a craft she made as a kid. The underwear sit for so long that maggots begin chewing their way through the blood and cotton. Eventually, she buries the contents of the bag near oaks, acorns, skunk cabbage, dry dirt, and crabapple trees on the acreage close to her childhood home. This, she writes, was an act of trying to “create a sentence outside [herself].” Eventually, though, her budding sexuality is recognized by her mother and celebrated with an “i got my period” cake.
cohen’s book is as much about the body as it is about sentences. The trapped kind. To parse through her experiences of shame and embodiment, cohen references the work of gertrude stein. Cohen is introduced to stein’s work in college, and she is immediately drawn to her because she is one of the “few writers who feels her way through a sentence without trying to affix a set meaning to her experience.” She describes feeling both love and jealousy toward stein’s ability to craft a sentence, “feelings, like baby foxes making their way out of the dark den into the clover.” She wonders, later, when stein started menstruating, and if she and her partner, alice b. Toklas, shared the same period cycle.
cohen writes of stein’s observation that recognition always leads to limitation. Memory, too, functions like a corset. Both lead to restrictive relationships in the way one can continue to embody the self. Or, in cohen’s words: “language crystallizes into a crisp divide between bodies. How an unsaid sentence trenches, existing both as the moat & the drawbridge sealed tight.”
the book’s title is a reference to the narrator overhearing a group of boys making fun of a girl’s body: she had a third labia, and they referred to it as her “freak lip.” Cohen writes, “accidental eavesdropping turns to fear of having the parts of my body that should attract sexual attention cause repulsion.” This, the fear of having something recognized that she had not identified as shameful, limits her freedom and imagination. She begins looking at her body and tries to clock the ways it could be mocked, bracing herself for judgment in moments of peak vulnerability.
at age sixteen, cohen visits an obgyn who tells her, after a pelvic exam, that she’d be lucky to get a pinkie inside of her. Her vaginal walls are reported as too tight. When cohen goes to the doctor and is unable to have a pelvic exam due, the doctor reports this to cohen’s mother who responds with care and concern. Cohen is given a list of measures to take to remedy the issue – but she buries the shame of her clenched body by turning inward still. She states, “i’ve never used tampons. Touch my fingertips to the window. Look out & see the maples blurring into a green season that feels nothing like me. I point at nothing. Everything is outside”
inhibited by her physical limits, she envies the sexual freedom of her peers and pushes relationships away just as they get a bit too close. She lies to friends about having lost her virginity by tossing out a vague and fictionalized story about it happening in the backseat of a car.
for the next near-decade, she keeps her shame private; but even after her body finally yields enough to surrender to desire, her fear that she is inadequate and prone to disappointment, hovers over every syllable of her account.
a meditation on embodiment, desire, and the ineffability of language, cohen braids scenic vignettes, text message transcripts, and literary theory with mesmerizing sensuality. She parses her insecurities covertly in iphone transcripts where she narrates existential feelings, attachments, her own favorite body parts, and her dislike (the word “dick” is used) of jonathan franzen. The entire collection probes the secrets bodies hold close, the truths better realized in the world than in words.
about the reviewer: anna rollins’ memoir, famished: on food, sex, and growing up as a good girl, examines the rhyming scripts of evangelical purity culture and diet culture. Her work has appeared in the new york times, slate, salon, electric literature, joyland magazine, nbcnews think, huffpost personal, newsweek, and other outlets. She is an award-winning instructor who taught english in higher education for nearly 15 years and a 2025 west virginia creative network literary arts fellow. |
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| Jennifer Lopez has tense moment at Paris Fashion Week amid unexpected drama |
| Posted on Friday, October 02 @ 00:02:19 PDT (13 reads) | |
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Jennifer lopez caused quite the stir at stella mccartneys spring/summer 2027 fashion show in paris on wednesday, after the event was hit with a bout of rain.
the 57-year-old looked incredible in a brown monochromatic look, featuring a skirt suit under a large faux-fur shawl, which she paired with a brown belt, pointed-toe heels, a large clutch and a delicate veil over her face.
jennifer left her brown-blonde locks down in subtle waves, and wore bronzed makeup with a brown smoky eye and a dark lip.
when the entertainer arrived at the british embassy in paris for the fashion show, she waited until her security guard wiped her chair dry before sitting in the front row.
one of her team members sat behind her at the show and held a black umbrella over her head to keep the rain off, but security staff quickly confiscated the item, leaving her sitting in the drizzling rain.
jennifer looked visibly annoyed after her umbrella was taken away, yet complied with the security team and waited for the show to start.
fashion week encounters
the get on the floor singer has been in the thick of it at paris fashion week, particularly during her encounter with the overeager paparazzi on the parisian streets.
while walking around the city of love in a stunning white sundress, jennifer grew overwhelmed with the paparazzis intensity and confronted them directly. Guys, can you stop acting crazy? She said. Relax. Nobodys running anywhere. Were not doing anything. You can take a quick breath.
empty nester
jennifers trip to paris comes mere weeks after she said goodbye to her 18-year-old twins, max and oskar, who moved out of home in september to start their college careers. The mom of two got candid about becoming an empty nester in a video shared to instagram in late september, which saw the bare-faced beauty addressing her fans directly.
when they go away, and im sitting here being an empty nester – crying, thinking about them, looking at baby pictures of them and all that stuff – these routines are the things that are going to keep me kind of sane, she said of her skincare routine.
its a scary time. Its a transitional time. Its a new beginning in a lot of ways for them, certainly, but also for you.
youre so excited for them to step into this new era of their life, but we have to remember its a new era of our lives too, she continued.
maybe its time to revive some old dreams that you had, something you put aside during the time that you were raising your kids, or things you didnt have time for, even if its just reading books…you start these new rituals and routines that can fill the space for when they go away, and theyre not down the hall anymore.
she concluded: stay hydrated. Stay happy. Stay joyful. Stay productive…beauty starts from the inside out. |
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| Community Day and Fall Celebration at the Mead Art Museum | Events & Calendars | |
| Posted on Friday, October 02 @ 00:02:19 PDT (14 reads) | |
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Amherst college
you’re invited to the mead for an all-ages event in honor of the newest exhibition at the mead. Remittance explores the multifaceted impact of sending money across borders and back home through a selection of contemporary artworks. Together the artworks invite viewers to reflect on themes of resilience, displacement, and interdependence, while considering their global implications. Remittance offers a poignant meditation on the bonds that connect people across time, borders, and generations.
join the mead team and partners from the jones library kids room, along with presenting artists keith tallett, victoria grace canby, and guest curator trisha lagaso goldberg, for a convening with art-making, food, reading, and music. Keith tallet will lead a hands-on artmaking workshop at 2pm and again at 3pm, while victoria grace canby will host a coyote storytime in the exhibition at 3pm.
more details are available in the registration form. Registration is highly encouraged but not mandatory. |
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| Meet the School Board Candidates |
| Posted on Friday, October 02 @ 00:02:19 PDT (14 reads) | |
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Meet the school board candidates
on november 3rd, residents within the portland school district will have the opportunity to cast their vote for three of five candidates for the portland public schools board of education.
the five candidates are angela shinaver, douglas a. Logel, jr., Roy atherton, greg smith, and nathan smith.
in the last few weeks, the portland beacon has put out multiple calls to our readers to submit their questions for the candidates. On september 17th, the beacon sent the final 16 questions selected by our staff to each of the candidates, and requested a reply by september 24th.
below you will find these questions and the responses received from each candidate. The instructions to the candidates included a statement saying, “please be sure to make it clear which response corresponds with which question.” If a question was not answered by the candidate, or if their response did not identify which question they were responding to, you will see red text indicating no response received/identified.
angela shinaver
1. Can you please tell us about your employment and professional experience?
i have worked for a nonpartisan audit office for the state of michigan since 1999 and currently serve as a principal audit supervisor. My career in a nonpartisan office has taught me the importance of approaching issues objectively, following the facts, and making decisions based on evidence rather than politics. These are values i believe are essential to serving on a nonpartisan school board and keeping the focus on what matters most to our students and their education. Throughout my career, i have been responsible for overseeing audits, analyzing financial and operational information, evaluating internal controls and ensuring that public resources are managed responsibly and in accordance with applicable laws and requirements. Specifically, i have led multiple audits related to education, which helped develop my understanding of the regulations imposed on schools and led to my desire to serve on the board.
2. What is your educational background? Please include high school, college, graduate schools and/or technical schools attended and degrees/certificates received.
i attended portland public schools and have been a raider since kindergarten. After graduating from phs in 1994, i attended grand valley state university, where i earned my bachelor of business administration in accounting in 1998. Specific to my role on the board of education, i have achieved level 3 of the masb certified board member program, earning the award of distinction and the data skills specialty certification.
3. Have you served on the board of any other companies or nonprofit organizations? If so, what were those companies/organizations and when were you in those roles?
since 2023, i have been serving as a trustee for the portland foundation for public education, which supports pps teachers and classrooms.
4. Why are you running for the school board?
i am running for re-election for the school board because i believe in our students, our teachers, and the future of our district. After six years of serving on the board, i have seen firsthand the difference strong leadership, responsible decision-making, and collaboration can make. As a parent, i want every student to have the opportunity to succeed in a safe and supportive environment. Another unique viewpoint i bring is i am a parent of an educator. I see the hard work that teachers put into their day to day and the commitment that goes into the job. I want to be able to provide them support wherever is needed and be a listening ear. As an auditor, i bring a strong focus on accountability, transparency, data, and making sure we are good stewards of the community’s resources. I want to continue working with our teachers, staff, families, administration, and community to focus on student achievement, student safety, and mental health while ensuring our district remains financially responsible. I am proud of what we have accomplished over the past six years, and i am running because i believe there is still important work to do. I’m committed to keeping students at the center of our decisions, supporting the people who work with them every day, and helping build a strong future for pps.
5. How will you plan to support effect positive change to the educational framework for teachers and students at pps?
the board has a responsibility to approve, fund, and oversee the educational framework, and ensure it aligns with state standards and community values. In making our decisions, it is important that we listen to our teachers, staff, students, and families. Over the last six years, i have seen the importance of making data-driven decisions while actively considering the staff’s input. One of our previous administrators shared that i “demonstrated a genuine commitment to understanding classroom needs and supporting educators in delivering quality outcomes for students.” If reelected, my approach will remain the same: keeping students and staff at the heart of every discussion and ensuring my decisions directly reflect what is best for the students and their daily classroom experience.
6. What are two critical areas of district operations that you feel deserve intense focus?
i believe the two areas that most deserve our focus are improving student achievement and addressing mental health and school safety, which go hand in hand. Over the last six years, the board has approved the purchase of several new curriculums and allocated resources to hire additional interventionists to support struggling students with math and/or reading. Improving academic performance does not happen overnight, but the district’s administration and teachers, with the board’s support, has been and is continuing to take steps to help students be successful. To measure if the interventions and support are making a difference, we need to use data to understand where our students are succeeding, where more support is needed, and to determine if the interventions are producing the desired results. This year, i led the board’s efforts to develop a measurable literacy goal for our superintendent’s evaluation, marking the first time the board has created a measurable academic goal focused specifically on 1st grade reading interventions.
mental health and school safety are equally important because students cannot learn effectively if they do not feel safe, supported, and connected. The board will need to continue allocating financial resources to make needed improvements to physical safety measures across our facilities, as well as continuing to build upon the district’s anti-bullying and mental health programs. I am proud to have been a driving force behind the district’s participation in the school assistance program, which provides free, confidential mental health support and resources to students, staff, and their households. Additionally, i am proud of my role in establishing the mental health advisory board (mhab), which brings professionals, parents, students, and staff together to ensure our district’s mental health decisions are guided by research and expertise. I, like many others, in the community have seen the first hand impact of mental health and want to do the best i can to help it.
7. What role, if any, should religion play in public school education?
as a board member, i believe our responsibility is to uphold religious freedom while ensuring every student feels welcome, valued, and respected regardless of their religious beliefs or whether they hold religious beliefs at all. Students should be free to practice their own faith, or choose not to practice any faith, without discrimination. Public schools can teach about religion including its role in history, government, literature, and different cultures; public schools can not promote any specific belief system. Pps permits students to organize peer groups and use school facilities for meetings, for any purpose, including religious studies. Michigan allows students to be released from public schools for two hours per week to attend religious instruction. I believe that students should be able to utilize this resource.
8. School boards govern through policy, budgets, and evaluating the superintendent, not managing day-to-day operations. Can you give an example of an issue where a board member should step back and defer to professional educators?
as a board member, it is important that we stay in our lane and respect the roles within the district. When the board makes decisions, our responsibility is to consider all information shared and listen to the administrators, teachers, and staff who are trained in education and know what is best for our students. For example, when the board reviews curriculum purchases, we rely on the team of teachers who reviewed the options, piloted the curriculum, evaluated the programs, and made a recommendation to the board as to what would be best. The board has a responsibility to approve and allocate funding for these resources, but board members are not classroom experts.
9. How would you plan to evaluate whether district resources are being distributed equitably to serve struggling students, including special education and at-risks populations, alongside high achievers?
an equitable education means students have the resources they need to be successful rather than giving every student the exact same resources. Providing equitable resources to support struggling students does not mean we are taking resources or opportunities away from high achieving students. This is an example where board members, who typically do not have a career in education, must rely on the district’s educators and administrators to determine how the resources should be allocated.
the board’s responsibility is to ensure the district has the resources they need, ask the right questions, monitor results, and ensure resources are being used to support success for all students. Specifically, with my auditor background, i would approach this by looking at data to determine where resources are going, which students are being served, whether staff are regularly evaluating data to determine if outcomes are being achieved, and how to help develop district goals that support student success.
10. If a constituent approaches you with a personal complaint about a specific teacher or administrator, what step by step process would you follow?
the district developed a “point of contact progression chart” for parents and community members to use to easily identify who they should contact when they have a question or concern. As a board member it is important to listen to the community, but our role does not involve managing the day-to-day operations of the district. When parents or community members reach out to me, i listen to their concern, and then help them identify the appropriate person to contact.
11. When a group of passionate community members demands a policy change that directly conflicts with educational research or legal requirements, how will you handle the conflict?
during my time on the board, we have already faced situations where passionate community members have strongly made demands for policy changes that did not always align with research, district policy, or legal requirements. Board members have a responsibility to always listen to community members, and my experiences have reinforced the importance of listening respectfully while ultimately making decisions based on facts, research, the law, and what is in the best interest of all students. The board must make decisions that are legally sound, fiscally responsible, and support the educational needs of all students.
12. In addition to the high school, middle school, westwood and oakwood, the board of education also oversees the operations of pace. Pace is an often-overlooked part of the district. If elected/reelected to the board, what would you do to promote community awareness of pace offerings?
since joining the board, i have realized what an important role pace serves for our students and families and i promote and praise the work of the staff at pace every chance i get. I share my thoughts about this program with parents and regularly share pace facebook posts to surrounding communities because i know what an outstanding program we have in portland and students in other areas may not have the same opportunities.
one of the most meaningful events i attend every year as a board member is the pace graduation. Hearing students share with the audience how the pace staff impacted their lives and expressing their appreciation for the program is amazing. If reelected, my support for pace will only continue to grow.
13. What is your understanding of current bullying policies in the portland public schools, and what if anything would you do to change those policies?
i believe pps has clear policy addressing bullying and harassment, including expectations for reporting, investigating, and responding to incidents. Policy is focused on student safety, intervention, appropriate consequences, and support for students involved. I understand addressing bullying is about more than having a policy in place. It requires consistent implementation, communication with families, appropriate follow-up, and making sure students feel safe reporting instances. We need to continue reviewing whether our policies and practices are working as intended, using information and feedback from students, families, teachers and administrators. This is exactly why i helped establish the mental health advisory board. We have asked for mhab’s first project to focus on reviewing the current bullying policies, practices, consequences and much more. Mhab is composed of trained experts who will be advising and making recommendations to the board and district on where improvements are needed.
14. Twenty years ago, portland high school presented two plays per school year. A decision was made to cut the plays to one per year and they would move back to two once the funding was more balanced. This hasn’t happened. The arts are always first to be cut when budgets are reduced. What are your thoughts on that thinking?
when reviewing this question, i reached out to the director of the drama department to learn more about this topic. This is correct, originally the 2nd play was eliminated from the budget due to funding cuts, however, this is not the reason we do not have two plays currently. The choice by the drama department to only produce one play per year allows our students to be well-rounded and participate in a variety of extracurricular activities, including band, choir, clubs, and various sports. In addition to the spring play, our students can participate in the annual arts fest, audition for colleges, and perform in marching and concert band competitions. For several years, students also have had the opportunity to participate in the state competition in may. This is a perfect example for question #8. The educators know what is best for pps students and have designed their program to meet the needs of what works for them rather than trying to produce 2 plays and requiring students to make choices between their extracurricular activities; as a board member we could have worked to try and find funding for 2 plays but that is not what is best for our students.
15. What are your thoughts regarding censorship of books in the school libraries? Should parents have a say in this or should it be entrusted to the school librarian and educators based on curriculum and changing times?
parents, school librarians, and educators know what is best for our students and children. The board is responsible for establishing and ensuring compliance with district policies regarding library materials; board members do not select or purchase library books. The board relies on the educated district staff who know what is needed to supplement the curriculum and meet the educational needs of our students.
pps has many resources and options available to parents related to library books. On the district website, the “destiny library collection” link allows parents to view the titles of all books within our collections. Additionally, pps provides parents with the ability to request to be notified if or when their students check out a specific book or can request their children be restricted from checking out specific books. Our board policy 9130 outlines a process for instructional matters, addressing how parents can file a complaint about specific library books and how to request reviews of specific books. I think it is important to remember portland is a diverse community and we need to recognize what may be considered a controversial book to one parent may not be to another and the board has adopted policies to support all parents.
16. Is there anything else you would like to share about your qualifications for this elected position?
i believe my qualifications come from a combination of my professional experience, my six years serving on the board, and my lifelong connection to this community. My career has taught me to look at the facts, ask questions, pay attention to the details, and be accountable for the decisions i make. I have been able to bring those same skills to my work on the school board, particularly when it comes to budgeting, financial oversight, and making sure we are getting the results our students deserve. Over the past six years on the board, including serving as board president, i have learned a great deal about what it takes to govern a school district, including continuing my own education through masb. I’ve been involved in difficult decisions, budgeting, negotiations, strategic planning, superintendent evaluation, and working through issues that affect our students, staff and families. Beyond my professional experience, i think what makes me qualified is how much i genuinely care about this community. I’m a lifelong resident, a phs graduate, a parent and a grandparent of pps students. Being a raider has been part of my life for as long as i can remember, and i want to see our schools continue to be a place where students are supported, teachers have the tools they need, and families feel confident in their schools. I bring experience, accountability and a personal connection to the community i serve. Most importantly, i care about getting this right for our students and making decisions that keep pps moving forward.
douglas a. Logel, jr.
1. Can you please tell us about your employment and professional experience?
i am a board certified audiologist with 25 years of experience. I have owned grand hearing center, in portland, for over 15 years. In addition to ghc, i also own 7 rental properties in the city of portland. I also work on-call for lehman funeral homes.
2. What is your educational background? Please include high school, college, graduate schools and/or technical schools attended and degrees/certificates received.
i graduated high school from portland st. Patrick’s in 1996. I attended central michigan university where i received my bachelor’s degree in communication disorders. I then attended michigan state university to complete my master’s degree in audiology.
3. Have you served on the board of any other companies or nonprofit organizations? If so, what were those companies/organizations and when were you in those roles?
i am a very community focused, volunteer driven person:
i am currently a trustee on the board of education with over five years of combined service.
i am the secretary of the portland community fund - 9/2021-present
i am the secretary for the portland foundation for public education – 6/2023- present
i am the co-treasurer of l.O.V.E. – 12/2024-present
i am the social media guy on the portland athletic association. – 2020-present
i am on the danby township tax board of review – 2/2025 - present
i was on the portland fire department from 2003-2021
i was a board member of the portland area chamber of commerce before they disbanded.
i am a regular volunteer with portland backpacks for bellies; the soup project; the friends of the red mill and i have been donating blood through the arc for over 13 years with over 8 gallons donated.
4. Why are you running for the school board?
i am a lifelong resident of the portland community. I have a great deal of pride in our community. I have 3 children who are currently enrolled or have graduated from pps. I believe in leaving this community better than i found it and i would like to take an active approach to effect change and not sit back and complain. I have no agenda, as stated in the previous answer, i just want to give back to the community that has done so much for me.
5. How will you plan to support effect positive change to the educational framework for teachers and students at pps?
i plan to continue working collaboratively with other board members and administrators as well as listening to staff about positive changes for the district. I always welcome ideas to solve an identified area of improvement. If there is something that i have learned in all of my years of leadership, it is hard to listen if you are always the one talking.
6. What are two critical areas of district operations that you feel deserve intense focus?
infrastructure/facilities. The district, along with a third-party contractor, have identified nearly $40 million in repairs/maintenance that needs to be addressed at each of our 6 buildings. Our facilities are an investment in how we deliver the best service/education to our community and we need to take care of them.
recruitment/retention of all staff. I would like to see us continue the momentum of providing a fair living wage for our employees no matter what position they hold. We have done a good job of filling vacancies using creative solutions. One example is finding bus drivers, so that we can run all of our routes, by offering signing bonuses and referral bonuses. We need to make portland an attractive place to work and keep good people and not lose them to neighboring districts because of pay.
7. What role, if any, should religion play in public school education?
portland is blessed with two wonderful schools. As a graduate of st. Patrick’s, i can tell you they provide a first-class educational experience where religion is the cornerstone. Portland public schools are just that, public institutions. We receive roughly 85% of our $29 million budget from the state of michigan. The som sets law about religion in public schools. We are required to let students, with parental consent, have release during the school day for religious reasons. We are also allowed to let students pray/worship freely on their own. The separation of church and state is still in full effect, as dictated by law, and we are required to follow the law or lose funding. Therefore, there will be no curriculum or support from the district as it pertains to religion.
8. School boards govern through policy, budgets, and evaluating the superintendent, not managing day-to-day operations. Can you give an example of an issue where a board member should step back and defer to professional educators?
curriculum. Our educators are second to none. They are passionate about teaching. They have invested a good deal of their lives into understanding how students learn, alternative methods to traditional pathways, state standards and what gets kids excited about learning. I have seen first-hand many times when several of our teachers collaborate in small groups to evaluate and ultimately recommend curriculum that is both horizontally aligned and vertically aligned. When their recommendation comes to the board, i know it is the right fit for our students and staff. We as board members don’t possess the knowledge base to make informed decisions about curriculum. So we should step back and let the pros go to work.
9. How would you plan to evaluate whether district resources are being distributed equitably to serve struggling students, including special education and at-risks populations, alongside high achievers?
our tiered system of supports allows us to meet students where they are at. A student that is a high achiever can excel in the classroom (elementary) or select a more advanced course (ms/hs) and those students would receive a tier 1 approach to instruction. Students that need a little extra help with certain subject matter get tier 2 instruction from an interventional teacher in small groups. Our special education students many times, but not always, receive tier 3 one-on-one instruction to achieve proficiency in the area of study. With the integration of special ed students into mainstream classrooms, test scores don’t always tell the whole story.
10. If a constituent approaches you with a personal complaint about a specific teacher or administrator, what step by step process would you follow?
the pps board has adopted a “flow chart” of the chain to bring concerns to. For example, if a student or parent is having an issue on a sports team, the appropriate course of action would be to take the matter up with the coach first, if there is no resolution, then the athletic director, if still no satisfactory resolution, the superintendent. Lastly, if there is no resolution, the matter can be brought to the board as a whole, but not an individual board member. I would encourage the student/parent to follow this established protocol.
11. When a group of passionate community members demands a policy change that directly conflicts with educational research or legal requirements, how will you handle the conflict?
law and research will always guide my decisions. Much of what the board does is guided by law and there is no real opinion on the matter. We have thurn law on contract to guide us on what legally we can do policy-wise. We expect our students to do research for their science project, right? History report. They better cite their references. Future career path assignment? Better find out job duties and pay. Research. Why would we make any decisions that shape future generations without following the educational research? I would give them these examples and explain process that the pps board follows to change/evaluate policy.
12. In addition to the high school, middle school, westwood and oakwood, the board of education also oversees the operations of pace. Pace is an often-overlooked part of the district. If elected/reelected to the board, what would you do to promote community awareness of pace offerings?
i have attended several graduation ceremonies of our pace students. If you have not taken the opportunity to do so, i highly recommend you do. I have been a voice for our pace curriculum since the beginning of my time on the board. Currently, you will see a sign at my business for our pace offerings. Not everyone’s journey through education looks the same and our pace program allows flexibility for those that learn in a non-traditional way. When you see those students who struggle in a typical classroom thrive and ultimately graduate when they may not have otherwise, you really start to see the value of what we have in our community.
13. What is your understanding of current bullying policies in the portland public schools, and what if anything would you do to change those policies?
this is a hot topic as of late. We have established protocols that we follow to determine if a student was simply having a disagreement with another student (as kids often do) or if it was truly a case of bullying. As part of the protocols there are established consequences based on severity and frequency. Our policies are designed with restorative consequences and not simply punitive consequences, as required. These policies, along with all pps policies, are revisited annually for consistency and improvements.
14. Twenty years ago, portland high school presented two plays per school year. A decision was made to cut the plays to one per year and they would move back to two once the funding was more balanced. This hasn’t happened. The arts are always first to be cut when budgets are reduced. What are your thoughts on that thinking?
currently, the auditorium is undergoing a facelift of every surface. It would be a shame to not utilize the space for its main intended purpose. Now that the auditorium will be safe to use (as it was not previously due to curtains, etc being used beyond their life expectancy), i would like to see the space be utilized to its maximum potential, including bringing back two plays a year.
15. What are your thoughts regarding censorship of books in the school libraries? Should parents have a say in this or should it be entrusted to the school librarian and educators based on curriculum and changing times?
the librarian and/or educators have selected the books because they provide educational supplement, historical reference or age-appropriate reading enjoyment. Our world is filled with lots of things that we don’t understand or agree with, but it is our job as adults to prepare our children for a world that will not shelter them. Parents are not involved in our curriculum selection process so why would they be involved in our library offerings? Again, let the pros go to work doing what they do best.
16. Is there anything else you would like to share about your qualifications for this elected position?
go raiders!! Beat lcc!!!!
roy atherton
1. Can you please tell us about your employment and professional experience?
no response received/identified.
2. What is your educational background? Please include high school, college, graduate schools and/or technical schools attended and degrees/certificates received.
no response received/identified.
3. Have you served on the board of any other companies or nonprofit organizations? If so, what were those companies/organizations and when were you in those roles?
no response received/identified.
4. Why are you running for the school board?
no response received/identified.
5. How will you plan to support effect positive change to the educational framework for teachers and students at pps?
no response received/identified.
6. What are two critical areas of district operations that you feel deserve intense focus?
no response received/identified.
7. What role, if any, should religion play in public school education?
no response received/identified.
8. School boards govern through policy, budgets, and evaluating the superintendent, not managing day-to-day operations. Can you give an example of an issue where a board member should step back and defer to professional educators?
no response received/identified.
9. How would you plan to evaluate whether district resources are being distributed equitably to serve struggling students, including special education and at-risks populations, alongside high achievers?
no response received/identified.
10. If a constituent approaches you with a personal complaint about a specific teacher or administrator, what step by step process would you follow?
no response received/identified.
11. When a group of passionate community members demands a policy change that directly conflicts with educational research or legal requirements, how will you handle the conflict?
no response received/identified.
12. In addition to the high school, middle school, westwood and oakwood, the board of education also oversees the operations of pace. Pace is an often-overlooked part of the district. If elected/reelected to the board, what would you do to promote community awareness of pace offerings?
no response received/identified.
13. What is your understanding of current bullying policies in the portland public schools, and what if anything would you do to change those policies?
no response received/identified.
14. Twenty years ago, portland high school presented two plays per school year. A decision was made to cut the plays to one per year and they would move back to two once the funding was more balanced. This hasn’t happened. The arts are always first to be cut when budgets are reduced. What are your thoughts on that thinking?
no response received/identified.
15. What are your thoughts regarding censorship of books in the school libraries? Should parents have a say in this or should it be entrusted to the school librarian and educators based on curriculum and changing times?
no response received/identified.
16. Is there anything else you would like to share about your qualifications for this elected position?
i would like to say that i am thankful that we live in a country that allows community
members to run for office. I have chosen to answer what i feel are the most relevant and
pertinent questions for me as a school board candidate. I also have a question of my own.
1. What skills or education do you have that might help you as a school board
member?
answer: my mother was a teacher in the portland district. I have a b.A. Degree in
education, and over 50 years of experience working with people on various boards. I
am currently a chaplain in a local fire department, and i help to man a hot line for
those struggling with mental health issues.
2. What will be your priorities?
answer: safety for the students, teachers, and all the staff. Getting back to teaching
skilled trades, hands on learning, practical skills, and good work ethics. There are
other schools in our district that are going back to this, and it is setting the graduates
up for success in the real world.
i have attended some of the portland board meetings and observed a lack of communication between the school, administration, and the parents. Honest and transparent communication is critical to having a successful school system.
3. What should be done to improve student achievement? Answer: graduation diplomas should be tied to individual proficiency rates. The school needs to stop lowering the standards to get graduation numbers up. Preparation and solid standards are crucial for the success of the students.
4. What are the most important issues facing portland public schools? Answer: safety and improving the overall atmosphere of our educational system. The number of student suicides is an indicator of the lack of safety and overall wellbeing. This is not acceptable and shows that a lot of improvements need to be made to our portland educational system.
it seems the proof of the ability to make a difference should weigh heavily on those who have been in this position of leadership for years. We are living in challenging times, but there is a reason term limits should be placed on leaders in the political elections.
i appreciate the opportunity to answer the beacon questions. My question as a school board candidate to the current board is this: how many terms does it take to be on the school board to say, “this isn’t working”?
i would like to finish my response with this. We are living in challenging times. Some politicians are promising things that they can never deliver on. I do not think any one school board member can promise to fix all problems, but we can be a part in working towards that. The decision is up to the voters, if you like what is going on in the portland schools, you have an opportunity to vote in that direction. On the other hand, if you don’t feel safe when you send your children off to school, or if your child is frustrated in trying to learn in the school environment, then as a parent, grand parent, or community member, you have an option to vote for something different.
greg smith
1. Can you please tell us about your employment and professional experience?
no response received/identified.
2. What is your educational background? Please include high school, college, graduate schools and/or technical schools attended and degrees/certificates received.
no response received/identified.
3. Have you served on the board of any other companies or nonprofit organizations? If so, what were those companies/organizations and when were you in those roles?
no response received/identified.
4. Why are you running for the school board?
no response received/identified.
5. How will you plan to support effect positive change to the educational framework for teachers and students at pps?
no response received/identified.
6. What are two critical areas of district operations that you feel deserve intense focus?
no response received/identified.
7. What role, if any, should religion play in public school education?
no response received/identified.
8. School boards govern through policy, budgets, and evaluating the superintendent, not managing day-to-day operations. Can you give an example of an issue where a board member should step back and defer to professional educators?
no response received/identified.
9. How would you plan to evaluate whether district resources are being distributed equitably to serve struggling students, including special education and at-risks populations, alongside high achievers?
no response received/identified.
10. If a constituent approaches you with a personal complaint about a specific teacher or administrator, what step by step process would you follow?
no response received/identified.
11. When a group of passionate community members demands a policy change that directly conflicts with educational research or legal requirements, how will you handle the conflict?
no response received/identified.
12. In addition to the high school, middle school, westwood and oakwood, the board of education also oversees the operations of pace. Pace is an often-overlooked part of the district. If elected/reelected to the board, what would you do to promote community awareness of pace offerings?
no response received/identified.
13. What is your understanding of current bullying policies in the portland public schools, and what if anything would you do to change those policies?
no response received/identified.
14. Twenty years ago, portland high school presented two plays per school year. A decision was made to cut the plays to one per year and they would move back to two once the funding was more balanced. This hasn’t happened. The arts are always first to be cut when budgets are reduced. What are your thoughts on that thinking?
no response received/identified.
15. What are your thoughts regarding censorship of books in the school libraries? Should parents have a say in this or should it be entrusted to the school librarian and educators based on curriculum and changing times?
no response received/identified.
16. Is there anything else you would like to share about your qualifications for this elected position?
while i appreciate the topics covered in the beacon questionnaire, our community needs a sharper focus on the critical issues affecting our classrooms today. With the ongoing concerns about bullying and failing academic proficiency, we must draw the line. These challenges shouldnt be accepted as routine. It is time for change.
safety and academic excellence must go hand in hand. A student cannot learn if they dont feel safe, and they cannot thrive after graduation if they arent reaching true academic proficiency. While graduation rates may look good on paper, state assessment scores show that many of our children are being left behind. Pointing this out isnt about blaming our hardworking teachers or our kids, its about holding the entire educational system accountable.
i would like to encourage the restoration of the skilled trades programs. For too long, many young people have been told there is only one path to success. We know that is not true. Careers in the skilled trades-such as construction, welding, electrical work, automotive technology, and healthcare support – offer competitive wages, job security, and the satisfaction of creating something tangible and lasting.
i am running for the board of education because our kids deserve better. I am committed to asking the hard questions, supporting our school staff, and working alongside parents to create a safe, rigorous learning environment for every child.
nathan smith
1. Can you please tell us about your employment and professional experience?
i am a journeyman lineworker in-charge, where i lead crews, train apprentices, solve complex field problems, and prioritize safety and accountability. I also served as a union steward and trustee for local 107 afl-cio, representing employees, resolving workplace concerns, and overseeing organizational finances. In addition, i am a licensed michigan real estate salesperson and real estate entrepreneur, managing short-term rentals, major renovations, contractors, budgets, and day-to-day business operations.
2. What is your educational background? Please include high school, college, graduate schools and/or technical schools attended and degrees/certificates received.
eaton rapids senior high school; lansing community college electrical lineman program; general associate degree, earning highest honors.
3. Have you served on the board of any other companies or nonprofit organizations? If so, what were those companies/organizations and when were you in those roles?
no response received/identified.
4. Why are you running for the school board?
no response received/identified.
5. How will you plan to support effect positive change to the educational framework for teachers and students at pps?
no response received/identified.
6. What are two critical areas of district operations that you feel deserve intense focus?
no response received/identified.
7. What role, if any, should religion play in public school education?
no response received/identified.
8. School boards govern through policy, budgets, and evaluating the superintendent, not managing day-to-day operations. Can you give an example of an issue where a board member should step back and defer to professional educators?
no response received/identified.
9. How would you plan to evaluate whether district resources are being distributed equitably to serve struggling students, including special education and at-risks populations, alongside high achievers?
no response received/identified.
10. If a constituent approaches you with a personal complaint about a specific teacher or administrator, what step by step process would you follow?
no response received/identified.
11. When a group of passionate community members demands a policy change that directly conflicts with educational research or legal requirements, how will you handle the conflict?
no response received/identified.
12. In addition to the high school, middle school, westwood and oakwood, the board of education also oversees the operations of pace. Pace is an often-overlooked part of the district. If elected/reelected to the board, what would you do to promote community awareness of pace offerings?
no response received/identified.
13. What is your understanding of current bullying policies in the portland public schools, and what if anything would you do to change those policies?
no response received/identified.
14. Twenty years ago, portland high school presented two plays per school year. A decision was made to cut the plays to one per year and they would move back to two once the funding was more balanced. This hasn’t happened. The arts are always first to be cut when budgets are reduced. What are your thoughts on that thinking?
no response received/identified.
15. What are your thoughts regarding censorship of books in the school libraries? Should parents have a say in this or should it be entrusted to the school librarian and educators based on curriculum and changing times?
no response received/identified.
16. Is there anything else you would like to share about your qualifications for this elected position?
while this questionnaire addresses many important topics, i believe some of the most pressing issues facing our schools deserve greater attention.
we have already experienced two threats of violence this school year. Academic proficiency remains an area of serious concern, and bullying continues to be an issue raised by students and families. Almost every person i spoke with brought up bullying and most had stories to back up their statements.
these are not issues i am willing to simply accept as normal.
student safety must be a top priority. Every student deserves to walk into school feeling safe, supported, and able to focus on learning. At the same time, i believe we need to take an honest look at academic performance and ask difficult questions about whether our students are truly being prepared for life after graduation.
graduation rates and proficiency rates measure different things, and we should be careful not to confuse the two. But when a significant percentage of students are not demonstrating proficiency on state assessments, i believe it is fair to ask: are our academic standards where they need to be? Are we identifying struggling students early enough? Are we providing them with the support they need to succeed? And most importantly, when we hand a student a diploma, are we confident that diploma represents the level of preparation our community expects?
these questions are not about blaming our teachers or our students. They are about accountability throughout the entire system and making sure every student has both the opportunity and the expectation to succeed.
i am running for the portland board of education because i believe we can do better. I will bring a willingness to ask difficult questions, demand accountability, support our teachers and staff, listen to parents and students, and keep student safety and academic achievement at the center of the decisions i make.
i believe strong leadership means being willing to address difficult issues directly while working with others to find solutions. Our students deserve schools where they are safe, challenged academically, supported when they struggle, and prepared for what comes next. That is what i will work toward as a member of the board of education. |
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