Board of Director Applicant Information – 2023
Tiffany Blagmon
Application (PDF) »
Interview Responses
1. We have multiple sub committees, what areas are you most passionate about?
I think my job and life are both setting policies and the standards. If there is no structure on the budget and policy, then we will overspend and not stay within our guidelines. When we put these structures and standard work into place, the finance will follow. If there is not a standard of work or policy the budget will not stand.
2. In your opinion, what is the responsibility of the Board?
The biggest responsibility of the Board is our children and the staff. My son took the PSAT and struggled with the math portion because of the turnover of staff and not having a math teacher his sophomore year and COVID the previous year. The biggest thing for the BOD is considering the kids. What could we do in those situations to not have that. We need to look at the structures and where this is going to go for our kids. This is the generation that is going to be our senators, nurses, doctors and if we don’t invest in our kids we are not going to be investing in our future.
3. In full transparency, the BOD is a high visibility position. How would you feel about the community, students, teachers, and staff knowing who you are and your role on the Board?
I would be okay with it. I think my kids’ teachers and principals know who I am. I am one of those parents who is involved. I feel bad that I was more involved with my oldest kid in D49 than my younger kids. I felt that the structure of Banning was great and took a step back. When I came to the last meeting, I saw that there is a need and opportunity to get more involved. For me, definitely as an African American woman it is important to get involved as a diverse member and representation. We cannot sit back and complain. We need to get involved.
4. Tell us about a time you experienced conflict personally and/or professionally and how you were able to come to a resolution?
I always say it is not what you say it’s how you say it. I work in employee relations with Amazon where my job is to make all our associates and managers happy so everyone can get their packages on time. I have been at sites where an associate has thrown a hotdog at me, been called the N-word. I have a son who plays lacrosse and had racial slurs yelled at us. I share with my children that we can be the bigger person and not stoop to their level and just leave. We can kill them more with kindness. Instead of jumping to the gun and engaging more with the conflict, just taking a step back and having a conversation with them in attempting to resolve the conflict without jumping to being the loudest person in the room. We may understand and get more to the root of the problem and bring resolution.
Amanda Grant
Application (PDF) »
Resume (PDF) »
Interview Responses
1. We have multiple sub committees, what areas are you most passionate about?
Overall, I am pretty passionate about strategic planning. I have a lot of background in strategic planning. Once you put that plan in place you can look at incremental check points and as you follow those everything falls into place. You need that overarching plan in place for the rest to flow and follow.
2. In your opinion, what is the responsibility of the Board?
The BOD has a responsibility to make sure all the stakeholders’ needs are being met: staff, students, and parents. The BOD serves all those stakeholders. Being the collective voice to ensure that all those needs are being met within parameters is an important role of the BOD.
3. In full transparency, the BOD is a high visibility position. How would you feel about the community, students, teachers, and staff knowing who you are and your role on the Board?
I am comfortable with that. I have been in public service my entire life. I work in a public position in El Paso County. Some decisions are made that are not popular but if they are ethical and done correctly, I am fine with attaching my name to that.
4. Tell us about a time you experienced conflict personally and/or professionally and how you were able to come to a resolution?
I work on a Regional Planning Council. My position on that council is as staff support where I do a lot of budgeting and planning. We have differently minded members on the council who have different priorities. This slowed down the planning process. We had a deadline to meet. What I came up with was a two-year plan. The one-year plan was to spend all the money on what we agreed on matters most, the kids. Then we can continue to develop funding strategies for the rest of the funding.
Guin Leeder
Application (PDF) »
Interview Responses
1. We have multiple sub committees, what areas are you most passionate about?
I am very passionate about policy. I have a strong appreciation for policy and strategy from my active-duty space operations career, from higher guidance and translating that down. The Policy and Governance Committee is important to ensure that we are compliant and putting these practices into place to provide the best experience for our students and Banning.
2. In your opinion, what is the responsibility of the Board?
The BOD has many responsibilities, notably the compliance aspects to make sure the school is complying with the charter contract, by-laws, statutory guidance and engaging with the stakeholders and making sure that we are supporting them: students, parents, community, staff. The BOD must take finite resources and figure out how to allocate those effectively to achieve its mission and goals to work with all its stakeholders to create a clear growth path forward.
3. In full transparency, the BOD is a high visibility position. How would you feel about the community, students, teachers, and staff knowing who you are and your role on the Board?
I would be perfectly comfortable with that. I have accepted that as a Board member this last year. I do not mind being visible and hearing concerns and issues from parents and trying to be fair and equitable and willing to negotiate on difficult issues.
4. Tell us about a time you experienced conflict personally and/or professionally and how you were able to come to a resolution?
About 6 years ago I was a contract worker after retirement. There was senior leadership that was not speaking and acting appropriately. I looked up best practice and policy, and it stated to work at the lowest level first. I followed that policy and spoke with my company, the company and I met with the senior leader to speak about the concerns and what was not appropriate. It was an extremely uncomfortable situation, but it was the right thing to do. It helped me learn not to fear engaging person to person with these concerns and situations. It created empathy within me and care for others who have to go through similar situations.
Clifford Marrier
Application (PDF) »
Interview Responses
1. We have multiple sub committees, what areas are you most passionate about?
I haven’t researched the committees that are available to join. I am interested in learning and seeing what is available and what I would be interested in. I am just interested in what is best for the school and where I see I could have some positive impact without having the best knowledge of what is available. I really want to get involved and have an impact. Dad’s helping at the school sounds great. I like the community, moving from Florida, seeing how open the community is, the involvement, and being apart of that sounds good.
2. In your opinion, what is the responsibility of the Board?
As the previous applicants stated, taking care of the stakeholders and the community, and the students that go to school here. There is so much in the news of fears that are present. Those items come to the BOD. Having that even keel that is what is best for the community, schools, parents during those situations is so important.
3. In full transparency, the BOD is a high visibility position. How would you feel about the community, students, teachers, and staff knowing who you are and your role on the Board?
I would be perfectly comfortable with that. My current position is Vice President of Business Operations at a manufacturer on the West side of town. I am comfortable with everyone knowing everything about me. My previous position was with the prime custodial contract with NASA at the Kennedy Space Center with 100 different people underneath me. I am very comfortable being the point of contact, being the person that people are comfortable coming to.
4. Tell us about a time you experienced conflict personally and/or professionally and how you were able to come to a resolution?
I am a one-man HR man currently. Previously, I was a part of a small HR team. I had a head manager that did not like me. They were saying things in open meetings about me and emails. It was brought to my attention, and as soon as that happened, I reached out to HR. It was difficult to sit in meetings with that person. I was their direct supervisor. I do not have a problem with others saying things negative about me in a professional manner and following policy even though it was hurtful at the time. Later he retired. It was cordial, and I do not harbor any ill feelings towards him.
Kimberly Witten-Chung
Application (PDF) »
Interview Responses
1. We have multiple sub committees, what areas are you most passionate about?
I am currently on the BOD and my subcommittee that I have offered to serve on is our Charter Review Committee. My background is in education. Next week I will complete my dissertation. In addition to being passionate about the school and the direction we are going; I am personally interested in our accreditation. I manage these at my current school: PPSC – director of operations at the Center for Healthcare Education and Simulation. To be on the charter review committee is my wheelhouse and why I have chosen to be on that.
2. In your opinion, what is the responsibility of the Board?
The BOD has the responsibility to be receptive to our stakeholders: our students, staff, teachers, parents, community and then we are responsible to ensuring we are responsive, that we listen to those stakeholders and at times the stakeholders may be at odds with each other. As BOD members we need to be responsive to each other and make decisions based off the information that we know and the decisions that are in the best interests of the school. One of the things we have done well in the past several months is the obligation to be transparent to the decisions we make and why we have made those decisions and above all that those decisions are made in the best interests of the school for the school.
3. In full transparency, the BOD is a high visibility position. How would you feel about the community, students, teachers, and staff knowing who you are and your role on the Board?
I have spent many years in a highly visible role, my position at the college is highly visible, I have been in public services my entire adult life. I believe that is my role – public service. As a BOD member our role is to be in public service. I find it easy because it has not been as tumultuous or contentious as it has been in the past. I do not shy away from conflict. I don’t shy away from difficult conversations. I don’t have any challenges with owning my decisions and responsibilities. My interest in this position is not for some sort of recognition, but I do not have a problem with having the responsibility of recognition.
4. Tell us about a time you experienced conflict personally and/or professionally and how you were able to come to a resolution?
In my current role, unfortunately there is a fair amount of conflict. My first choice is to always approach a person one on one. It is important to seek understanding. A lot of conflict is based on misunderstanding. Having a one-on-one conversation helps us gain understanding and come to resolution. Specifically, I am thinking of one employee that has been put under my leadership who does not care for me. In seeking to understand, I focused on the job description and aligning to that. Numerous conversations, coaching, observations of the work being done and how I could play on strengths because it is important to feel safe, appreciated and feeling heard. If we are ultimately arriving at the same goal, there is more than one way to get there. With this individual, as we work through these challenges, my goal is to recognize the value they bring to the team and recognize that I value them, that the ship is steering in a different direction and that I need them to get on board. Sometimes that leads to very difficult and frank conversations. I will take a softer approach until it is time to have a challenging conversation. I like to oreo these conversations. I like to have a good challenge and end on a good note.
