Ferras Abdalla says his two daughters are a major reason he is running for the Hamilton Southeastern School Board. One already attends HSE schools, and the other will follow when she is old enough.

Abdalla, a candidate in District 2, joins me for the latest installment in my series of podcasts with HSE School Board candidates. We discuss school finances, supporting teachers, academic priorities and how board members should listen to the people they represent.

His background in property management includes working with boards, managing budgets and bringing people with different viewpoints together. Abdalla says that experience would help him serve on the school board, where he wants to emphasize cooperation and transparency.

The HSE referendum is an important part of our conversation. Abdalla supports it, pointing to teacher compensation and retention as his primary reasons. But he says conversations with voters have given him a better understanding of concerns about the cost, including those raised by residents without children in the schools.

I also ask how he would approach spending decisions. Abdalla suggests reviewing vendor contracts, seeking competitive bids and exploring opportunities to work with other school districts on purchasing. If the referendum fails, he would look for additional support through sponsorships, private-sector partnerships and alumni donations.

On academics, Abdalla praises the work of HSE teachers and staff while calling for more opportunities for students to explore skilled trades. He sees standardized tests as one useful measure of learning, while recognizing that test scores cannot capture everything students know or can do.

Supporting teachers, in his view, also means giving them opportunities to be heard, access to district leadership and a positive working environment.

We discuss how to make the board more accessible to parents, how to weigh differing views from families, teachers and students, and where to draw the line between board oversight and the superintendent’s day-to-day responsibilities. Student safety, mental health and making students from different backgrounds feel welcome are also part of the conversation.

My thanks to Citizens State Bank for sponsoring this episode of LarryInFishers.

Listen to my full conversation with Ferras Abdalla at this link, or the link below.