Brad Gerbe Responses - Sun Times News Questionnaire

Recruitment and retention of staff is crucial to any thriving organization.  

There are two primary factors I think that drive recruitment and retention… Number one is that the organization has to be an attractive choice to potential employees… and number two is that once attained those employees must feel supported and appreciated.

How do we do those things in the Saline Area Schools? First, we have to compensate educators as professionals. Through the collective bargaining process, we have to provide salaries and benefits that are indicative of and rewarding of the talent that educators possess. This goes across all job categories- teachers, yes- but also important support personnel positions (paraprofessionals, bus drivers, clerks, maintenance, grounds, etc.), and our administrative leadership positions as well. If we want the best talent, we have to be competitive.  

Bottom line:  When we take care of our staff, we support our students!  How do we best support our staff?  Take care of their financial and health benefit needs so that they feel validated and feel prideful and loyal as Saline employees. It goes both ways- and we can earn those things by making our employees feel valued.

For the past four years, in particular as the Treasurer and Finance Chair, I have been an active part of discussions and decisions about how to compensate appropriately our talent and how to recruit and maintain the best talent possible for students. We have existing labor agreements with all three of our bargaining units and it is my belief that we have positioned Saline to be competitive in the market. I will continue to advocate both from the table and in committee to make recruiting the best talent and retaining our excellent educators a priority! I’ve done it- I will continue to do it.  

While I am on this topic I do want to see the school district also continue its efforts in recruitment to prioritize hiring practices that reflect the diversity of our student body. We (the Board) have been intentional with this as a goal for our superintendent and as part of our evaluation process for him, and I think it’s important that we continue this focus.

STEAM programs and vocational learning are two points of pride for Saline.  

The voters provided us with the best promotional opportunity when they passed the bond of 2023.  I am so excited about the enhancements that are going to happen to our facilities and resources, and I strongly believe that these enhancements will greatly impact and reward the excellence of our STEAM programs with competition fields, facilities and with state of the art technology. We have state championship level robotics, science olympiad, e-gaming and debate programs who have visit us at the Board table regularly- supporting these thriving programs will drive families to choose Saline. I am also excited that our top notch cosmetology program is going to be coming “home” to the Saline campus. In a world where students (enrollment) and per pupil allowance is essential, these facilities and programs will be enticing to families. These investments will continue to make Saline a destination school district.

Furthermore, as we do these things I have confidence that our Communications director and our Superintendent will be advertising these strengths of Saline. Again, I am hopeful that when families see the strength of our programs, via social media and through district advertising initiatives, this will drive families as they make decisions about where to raise their families and where to send their students to school.

Seeing the bond through, and the incredible opportunities we are going to be able to provide for staff and students- STEAM and CTE improvements- but also the new operations center, senior center updates, technology enhancements, etc., is one of the main reasons that I wish to continue with School Board service for four more years. I am tremendously excited about the future for Saline students! 

It is easy on social media, etc. to be negative- I CHOOSE to be positive!

First, as a teacher myself (science at Manchester High School) I have to say that I am SO glad that student and staff mental health and well-being has become a focus of schools and the State of Michigan and Governor Whitmer. Over the past four years the State of Michigan has been allocating dedicated resources, first through COVID funding, and now through categorical funding and grants to provide mental health services to students. We (the district) has been intentional about hiring additional counseling support and we have also hired social emotional professionals (behavioral technicians, etc.). In addition, we have hired additional dean support at buildings and we have prioritized retention of staff members because we know that students having go-to individuals that they have developed relationships with is important. Academically we have hired additional supports as well in the way of literacy coaches and academic coaches. Furthermore, we have an established Wellness committee, led by Ms. Deneen at the high school, that has been able to utilize funds to prioritize our staff’s health and wellness. The Wellness committee reports to the Board as part of its regularly scheduled reporting cycle. Our efforts to provide strong compensation to staff members also ties to mental health and wellbeing for students.  Again, when we support our staff, we draw stronger connections for students- and be retaining and supporting our staff- we provide better outcomes for students! I strongly support the continuation of all of the above stated initiatives and I support the financial side which requires dedicated funding. 

While I am on this topic- with regards to funding- the fact that mental health and social- emotional funding has been allocated using categorical funding requires that our district leaders, including myself, must maintain a presence with our elected representatives to continue to prioritize this funding. I will do that. I’ve done that. It is important. In fact, we discussed this at our most recent finance committee meeting when analyzing the 2024 school aid budget. This funding is essential as our district is working diligently support student and staff mental health and wellness.

I despise that we live in a world where we continue to require these conversations. As a teacher myself, who conducts ALICE preparation drills and who engages in conversations with students on a regular basis about safety, I think we need to do better as a society!  I know we do!  I am going to be bold- because I think I have to for my students- we need to take a hard look at America’s gun culture as well as how we support mental health services- and makes some difficult policy and law decisions to better support school safety. It is time for gun violence- in any place, but in particular at school- to stop!

As a school district we have done what we can. We train staff and are committed to ALICE preparation for staff and students. We commit time and resources to this training. Over the past few years we have applied for an been awarded funding for the incorporation of the InformaCast system. We have moved the location of our offices and taken additional steps to ensure identification of individuals before they gain access to our school buildings. We (the Board) have made it a focus to regularly review our district’s safety plan. 

One of the ways I plan to continue to make this a focus- is by being intentional with our elected leaders. On October 14th I plan to participate in a MASB (Michigan Association of School Boards) legislative priorities session offered through the Washtenaw and Livingston Intermediate School Districts. My focus is going to be on two things- school funding and school safety.  I plan to ask our elected officials to 100% prioritize additional mechanisms for funding. This past week I wrote our Superintendent and our Technology Director and I was assured that we are keeping at the top of our minds safety mechanisms for staff and students.  For example, the quick alert system that saved lives in Georgia. This is possible for Saline- but it requires Bluetooth and bandwidth.  As we go through the bond update process to buildings I am going to continue to advocate for these enhancements and I am going to continuously ask for these innovative solutions to be a reality in our classrooms.  That said, it requires money. And that is what I’m going to ask our legislature for.  In addition, I am going to ask for and demand the prioritization of sensible solutions with guns- red flag laws, gun storage, secure school entrances. I know these can be hot button topics. But I think whether red or blue, I believe we ALL want our children and the staff that supports them to be 100% safe. This unites us- not divides us! We have to do something real and tangible!  As a teacher who experiences these anxieties in the classroom- I think I can be a strong advocate.

These are delicate conversations. Schools and families are partners. It is important that the curriculum of our schools reflects the diverse experiences of Saline students- this includes race, gender, religion, historical perspective and many other family experiences. 

I trust our professionals! Saline’s education professionals are amongst, if not THE best, in the State and certainly in Washtenaw county. Jessica and I send our kids (Graham, 16 and Bryce, 13) to Saline because of the excellence of our educational professionals and the resources that are available to them. With 100% confidence I entrust the staff of Saline with the education, the safety, the health and wellness, and the co-curricular (sports, clubs, etc.) supports that make Saline great. 

Because I so strongly support our education professionals, I do NOT support censorship of content. I trust that Saline’s leaders and staff will engage in the selection of curriculum that is inclusive and makes all students feel supported for who they are! I want our staff to be brave and to advocate for and select curriculum that validates the valuable diversity of our students.

Now, that said, because I also believe in school- parent partnership I also support our opt-out policy. While Jess and I will rarely if ever be utilizing this opt-out policy, there are situations that are sensitive and important to our families- and I respect the ability of our families to make decisions that support the needs of our students. For example, if a student has experienced a recent loss of a loved one, the opt-out could provide an opportunity for the student and his/ her/ their teacher to engage in conversations about a curricular topic that is about the death of a character, etc. and to choose the best supports for this student family. I value these conversations because I think building positive relationships and connections is the most important thing that we can do to support our students as they live their best authentic lives.